Sports stats



QMJHL Saint John Sea Dogs

Sea Dogs Kick Off Season V With Victory

September 11, 2009 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Saint John Sea Dogs News Release


BATHURST, NB --- The fifth regular season in Saint John Sea Dogs history got off to a sensational start on Friday night, as the Port City's major junior squad skated into the K.C. Irving Regional Centre and earned a dramatic come-from-behind shootout victory at the expense of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

In a back-and-forth affair brimming with intensity, the Sea Dogs and Titan battled to a 3-3 deadlock over the course of sixty highly-competitive minutes of first-rate major junior hockey prior to engaging in a thrilling overtime session which also failed to produce a resolution. At the behest of necessity, a winner-take-all shootout was then staged, with Saint John laying claim to victory thanks to a skate-off goal by rookie Jonathan Huberdeau in the penalty shot showdown's decisive fifth round.

Huberdeau also scored in regulation for the Sea Dogs, as did highly-touted import winger Stanislav Galiev and gritty 20-year old forward Alexandre Leduc.

Karel St-Laurent picked up the win between the pipes for Saint John, turning aside 33 of the 36 shots sent his way by Titan skaters in 65 minutes of action. The 19-year old puck-stopper then went 4-for-5 in the shootout to earn the ninth victory of his career.

At the other end of the ice, Jonathan Lessard (2) and Julien Tremblay provided the offence for Acadie-Bathurst in their Home Opener, while Nicholas Champion suffered the loss in net despite turning in an impressive 33-save performance for the Titan.

Saint John received the first man-up opportunity of the night 2:01 into the first period when Jérémie Malouin was handed a two-minute minor for roughing. The hosts were able to kill off the penalty however, keeping the contest scoreless in doing so.

Freshman forward Zack Phillips came close to breaking the 0-0 tie midway through period number one, forcing Champion to make an acrobatic save after pouncing on his own rebound at the end of a one-man rush into Titan territory. Phillips' self-produced scoring chance gave the visitors a 9-1 advantage on the shot clock.

A few seconds after Karel St-Laurent made a sensational arm save off of a crease-hovering Julien Tremblay, the Titan pulled ahead on a goal from a streaking Jonathan Lessard. The veteran winger redirected a fast-moving pass off the stick of Taylor Lambke to the back of the Sea Dogs' net to tally the first marker of the evening for either team in the eleventh minute of play.

Lessard's goal proved to be the lone offensive strike of the first, as Friday's twenty minute mark was reached with the Titan in possession of a 1-0 lead.

The Sea Dogs opened the second period by applying an extreme amount of pressure upon their opponents. Some exceptional work by Champion in net for the home team was the only thing preventing the visitors from pulling even on the scoreboard as the first half-dozen shots the frame were credited to Saint John, more than one of which was of the dangerous variety.

On the power play, 17-year old Russian sniper Stanislav Galiev finally managed to beat Champion on a Dragunov-esque wrist shot from the slot. Defensemen Kevin Gagné and Gabriel Bourret both picked up assists on the first goal of Galiev's QMJHL career, which came at the 9:48 mark of the central stanza.

Acadie-Bathurst responded 86 seconds later when Julien Tremblay finished off a nifty passing play with a well-placed shot that eluded St-Laurent, giving the Titan both their first PPG of the 09-10 campaign and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Overage winger Alexandre Leduc produced the equalizer for Saint John early in the third period, wiring a rocket of a wrist shot past Champion as he was falling to the ice from thirty feet out. Leduc's goal, his first since February 3, 2008, tied things up at two apiece, setting the stage for a dramatic finish in Friday's season-opening battle.

With 9:16 remaining in regulation, Jonathan Lessard tallied his second goal of the night for the Titan, firing home a high backhand shot from point-blank range to reclaim the lead for his team in the late-going.

Four minutes later, rookie forward Jonathan Huberdeau again re-tied the match on a great individual effort. The über-talented youngster jammed a loose puck past a sprawling Champion from an incredibly-difficult angle, picking up the first goal of his career at a highly-opportune time for the visiting squad from south western New Brunswick.

With 2:47 on the clock, Acadie-Bathurst was awarded their fourth power play of the evening when Sea Dogs blue-liner Benjamin Lecomte was sentenced to two minutes in the sin bin by officials. Saint John came up with a huge 120-second penalty kill, resultantly sending the match into overtime.

Karel St-Laurent came up with his biggest stop of the night early in the extra frame, stoning Rémi Blanchard on a breakaway with a lightning-fast left pad save to keep his team's hopes alive.

Nicholas Champion returned the favour a moment later, stymieing Nicholas Pard at the end of the wily winger's two-on-one rush with Olivier Ouellet to force a game-deciding shootout.

Both goalies continued their strong play into the breakaway contest, with each net minder allowing a single goal over the course of the first four rounds of shooters. In the bottom half of the fifth frame, Jonathan Huberdeau fired a perfect shot across the Titan goal line, delivering the Sea Dogs an instant victory in the process.

Huberdeau picked up Third Star of the Game honours in recognition of his amazing Canadian Hockey League debut.

Up next for Saint John is a Sunday afternoon tilt with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at Sydney's Centre 200. The puck drops at 4pm as the Sea Dogs look to improve to 2-0 on the season against the team that ended their 2009 playoff run.

Check out the Saint John Sea Dogs Statistics



Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from September 11, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central