SUPER SERIES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Team Russia 5, QMJHL All-Stars 4
Team QMJHL Goals: Nicolas Deslauriers, Nathan Beaulieu, Alex Saulnier, and Michael Bournival
Team Russia Goals: Nikita Pivtsakin, Maxim Kitsyn (2), Denis Golubev, and Anton Burdasov
Winning Goaltender: Dmitry Shikin
Losing Goaltenders: Olivier Roy and Jean-Francois Berube
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Russia: 0/3, QMJHL: 1/5
Shots on Goal: Russia: 4+18+9=31, QMJHL: 7+17+16=40
Length: 2:22
Attendance: 6,488
QMJHL SCRATCHES
Unable to play in the game for the QMJHL All-Stars due to injury were Simon Despres, Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, Louis Leblanc, and Louis-Marc Aubry. Three players replaced the four injured players: Eric Gelinas, Alex Saulnier, and Phillip Danault.
NOT AGAIN. RUSSIA WINS 5-4.
A Subway Super Series game doesn’t get much more exciting than that.
A back-and-forth, physical, and goal filled affair ended with the visiting Russian national junior squad taking a 5-4 victory against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League All-Stars last night at a sold-out Harbour Station.
"If you give them space, they're going to beat you,'' Saint John Sea Dogs defenseman Nathan Beaulieu said of the Russians to the Telegraph-Journal. "We just gave them too many opportunities tonight.''
The all-stars opened the scoring early in the first when an Xavier Ouellet point shot went off Beaulieu’s skate and in. But the Russians would tie it less than five minutes. The seesaw battle took off when Nicolas Deslauriers scored at 13:21 of the first only to have Russia tie it again in the second period
Team QMJHL held a 4-3 lead going into the third frame but went into sleep mode for a few minutes in the third and it would be costly. The Russians tied the game 17 seconds in and took the lead at 7:01.
QMJHL had a hard time getting any offense going late, giving the visitors a 5-4 win in Game One of the six game coast-to-coast series.
Station Nation Recap
Telegraph-Journal Recap
CHL.ca/QMJHL.ca Recap
Canadian Press Recap
PRE-GAME STUFF
Unlike in 2008 when Saint John hosted Game Two of the event, both teams lined up on the blue line and were introduced player-by-player. Sea Dogs forward Stanislav Galiev was introduced last for Russians and received a loud ovation. Zach Phillips, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Nathan Beaulieu were introduced last on the QMJHL side.
Former Sea Dogs captain Alex Grant, along with Sea Dogs CEO and majority owner Scott McCain and that overly excited woman from Subway that is in Saint John all the time, performed the ceremonial puck drop. There was a brief video tribute for Grant on the Harbour Station scoreboard as well.
Although Grant, who played for Saint John from 2005-2009, was booed by Saint John fans on a few occasions, he received a loud ovation as honorary captain of the game.
The guy who sang at the 2008 event performed the Russian and Canadian anthems once again.
One of the best moments of the night came when the QMJHL players were being introduced. When it came time to introduced Wildcat players Brandon Gormley and Aelx Saulnier – both were booed. A bunch of people mentioned it on Twitter, so the boos were indeed heard over the Rogers Sportsnet broadcast.
That is awesome.
CURSED
Harbour Station is just like little Moscow to the Russian junior team. After the Canadian Hockey League went 6-0 in last year’s Super Series, the QMJHL All-Stars fell once again to the Russians at Harbour Station. In fact, the Russians last win in the event came back in 2008 in Saint John.
Harbour Station is the now the only Canadian Hockey League venue to have hosted two Super Series games and feature the Canadians losing both times.
LOVING LIFE
Saint John fans will like the looks of the QMJHL website:
SUBWAY SUCKS
After watching this game, we’re not sure how anyone can eat Subway for at least a week.
There were board ads, commercials, ice ads, banners on each staircase, banners on a music stand on the concourse, a Subway tent set up at the entrance, the programs had Subway all over it, and even the players jerseys had the Super Series logo - featuring Subway – on them.
Someone even busted out the old Saint John Flames Subway blimp – which had the Flames dragon marked over.
THE LEGEND
Maxim Kitsyn loves the event. He led the way for Russia in last year’s event and then scored two goals last night. He was one of three Los Angeles Kings prospects to appear in the game.
As if having advertising on a hockey sweater wasn’t a foul enough, the Russian team went a step further by posting their captain ‘C’ and alternate ‘A’ on their jeresys with hockey tape.
Galiev (pictured) was spotted by the Sea Dogs’ Twitter page at morning practice performing an interview in a snazzy jersey.
THE SEA DOGS
There were supposed to five, but with Simon Despres out of commission with a shoulder and/or hip injury, four Saint John Sea Dogs players played in the game.
Nathan Beaulieu made the biggest impact on the score sheet as an Xavier Ouellet point shot in the first period went off his skate and in to give Team QMJHL and early lead. He also assisted on Nicolas Deslauriers' goal to make it 2-1 for the home team. He played an overall solid game but tried to do too much at times like he has been known to do from time-to-time. Beaulieu finished the game tied for the team high in shots with five.
Jonathan Huberdeau played on the top line with Sean Couturier and Michael Bournival. The line had a ton of ice time and Huberdeau was impressive, making several nice offensive plays. He looked determined to score all night but never could. He did, however, set up Bournival’s second period marker. Huberdeau finished the game with one shot on goal.
Zach Phillips also made his presence felt, making some solid offensive plays and was very involved in the play. His line also saw a lot of ice time. He had a great chance to score in the first period when he was left alone in front but sent the puck high. He finished the match with three shots on goal.
Galiev and Beaulieu’s “feud” has been well documented over the past few weeks. Briggs reported in today’s Telegraph-Journal that the two had some words during a stoppage in play during the third period.
"I told him there's no way they're going to beat us,'' said Beaulieu about his conversation with Galiev. "I had a bitter taste in my mouth when I saw the final (score) on the clock. I know it doesn't count in the standings, but I was very disappointed we didn't come out with the two points.”
Of course, a game of this nature wouldn’t be complete without an odd quote from Galiev.
"I (like) when Russian music is playing in the locker room,'' he said.
RUSSIAN FANS
Saint John doesn’t have the biggest Russian population, but there were a few characters scattered around Harbour Station. The most notable was the group sitting along the side boards in the west end (pictured). After the game, several Russian players skated over and gave a wave following the handshakes.
YAHOO! THOUGHTS
Lost in the excitement of last night’s entertaining affair was the fact that this game does have a purpose. Hockey Canada folks were on hand to watch the assembled QMJHL talent and continue to prepare for the World Juniors in December.
Buzzing The Net has a solid look at some of the risers and fallers from the game.
THE ROY FACTOR
Acadie-Bathurst Titan netminder Olivier Roy was average to say the least. Many have him as one of the leading candidates for the Team Canada job, but he had his struggles last night. Playing half a period in a tournament like this may not hurt your chances of making the team if you play poorly – but it won’t help them either.
Speaking of Roy, @bmwillett2k10 sent in a solid factoid about his new mask:
It's a Boys in Red Tribute mask, with a little photo of Ghengis Khan on the side.ODD SIGN
For some reason, there was a Sea Dogs sign reading “We Want The Cup” at the game. Here is some blurry evidence from @captin_seadog:
Also odd was the fact that the Subway noise clapper things featured “Go Dogs Go” on them.
FULL HIGHLIGHTS
SPORTSNET POST-GAME
QUICK HITS
There was a guy playing the banjo on the concourse for some reason… the very bizarre BMO Bank Card promotion, where fans are asked to wave their card in the air, made its Harbour Station debut. Something just doesn’t seem right about this… looked like a good chunk of cereal was collected for local school breakfast programs… no French public address announcer last night… a picture of former Sea Dog Yann Sauve appeared in the programs.
LOOSE ENDS
The QMJHL website interviewed Nathan Beaulieu after the game.
Station Nation’s official photographer, Marc Henwood, has some of his pictures posted on the Isurus Photography Facebook page. More to come.
SN friend Marc Grandmaison has his pictures posted over on his Facebook page.
The Sea Dogs website has post-game audio featuring Stanislav Galiev.
NEXT GAME
Game Two of the Subway Super Series is Wednesday night at 8:00 pm in Drummondville. The game can be viewed on Rogers Sportsnet, RDS, and online at Sportsnet.ca.
Photo/Image Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, SN Graphics Department, QMJHL Website, Sea Dogs TwitPic, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Blair Cameron Twitter
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