WHO: Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs
WHEN: Tonight, 7:30 pm
WHERE: Harbour Station
VISITING TEAM: Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Record: 17-9-0-0 (2nd in Maritime Division)
Last Game: 7-1 win vs Rouyn-Noranda Sunday
Leading Scorer: Gabriel Levesque (26GP-11G-29A-40Pts)
Notes: The Acadie-Bathurst Titan come into tonight’s match with a 17-9-0-0 record which places them in a tie with the Moncton Wildcats for second in the Maritime Division. The Titan sit tied with the Wildcats and Gatineau Olympiques for sixth overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League… Bathurst is coming off a 7-1 win over the lowly Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Sunday at the KC Irving Regional Centre. Gabriel Levesque scored twice while singles came courtesy of Brett Turnbull, Vincent Arseneau, Sebastien Trudeau, and Christophe Losier. Backup goaltender Robert Steeves made 29 for the win. The Huskies, not exactly an offensively gifted team, matched the Titan shot-for-shot with each team posting 11 shots in the first period, 11 in the second, and eight in the third… 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 games and have won two consecutive matches – Sunday’s win over Rouyn-Noranda and a 4-2 win on November 17 against the PEI Rocket… on the road this season, the Titan are 8-5-0-0 and have outscored their competition 38-30 along the way… Bathurst has the seventh best power play in the league. They are currently operating at 0.216… the Titan have been strong on the penalty kill this season. They are currently second in the league with a kill off rating of 0.847 while a man down. Their penalty kill is tops on the road among QMJHL teams with a rating of 0.879… Gabriel Levesque continues to lead the Titan in scoring by a large margin. He has a team high 40 points, 15 more than Sebastien Trudeau who is second in team scoring. His 40 points place him third in league scoring… Levesque leads the Titan in assists with 29 which is good for second in the league… Trudeau leads the northern New Brunswick club in goals with 14… super pest Vincent Arseneau leads the Titan in penalty minutes with 60 in 26 games. His minutes in the sin bin place him sixth among QMJHL bad boys… star goaltender Olivier Roy will likely get the call between the pipes this evening. The Team Canada hopeful has a record of 9-7-0-0, a goals against average of 2.80, and a save percentage of 0.913… the Titan have dropped the gloves 23 times this season which places them ninth in the league. Losier leads the way with seven fights.
HOME TEAM: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 19-3-0-1 (1st in Maritimes Division)
Last Game: 9-7 win at Moncton Sunday
Leading Scorer: Jonathan Huberdeau (24GP-15G-17A-32Pts)
Notes: The Saint John Sea Dogs enter action tonight with a record of 19-3-0-1 which is good for first place in the Maritime Division and a tie with the Lewiston MAINEiacs for second overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Although Saint John sits second in the league with 40 points, they have played three fewer games than the first place Quebec Remparts and five fewer than the Maineiacs… Saint John was ranked third in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top Rankings this week… the Sea Dogs are coming off a wild 9-7 win in Moncton on Sunday. Saint John was down 4-0 in the first period but stormed back in the second period and hung on in the third for the victory. Stanislav Galiev, Jonathan Huberdeau, Zack Phillips, Guillaume Cloutier, Mike Thomas, Steven Anthony, Ryan Tesink, Stephen MacAulay, and Simon Despres all scored for Saint John. Frederic Piche was pulled in the first, forcing Jacob DeSerres to help the Dogs to victory… the Sea Dogs are 9-0-0-1 in their last 10 games and have picked up at least a point in their last 10 games… Saint John has not lost in regulation since October 22nd, a 5-1 loss in Bathurst against the Titan… tied with the Quebec Remparts for the most goals scored this season in the QMJHL with 115 in 24 games… the Sea Dogs have allowed the second fewest goals against this year with 66. Only the Shawinigan Cataractes are better with 64… Jonathan Huberdeau still leads Saint John in scoring with 32 points in 24 games. Huberdeau also leads Saint John in plus/minus with a +29 rating and penalty minutes with 33… Huberdeau and Zach Phillips are tied for the team lead in goals with 15… Michael Kirkpatrick leads the Dogs in assists with 22. Huberdeau is second with 17… if the goaltending rotation holds true, Jacob DeSerres should get the start tonight. He has a record of 6-1-0-0, a goals against average of 2.71, and a save percentage of 0.898. DeSerres played most of the game on Sunday in Moncton after Frederic Piche was pulled. Piche has a record of 9-1-0-2, a GAA of 2.47, and a SV% of 0.912.
SUSPENDED
Michael Kirkpatrick will serve the first game of his three-game suspension this evening. The 20-year old received the suspension after he hit Moncton Wildcat Alex MacDonald from behind on Sunday.
Saint John’s lines have been producing of late and it will be interesting to see how the Sea Dogs coaching stuff juggles them.
LAST SEASON
From the Sea Dogs website (a long time ago):
The Sea Dogs won all eight of their matchups with the Titan in 2009-10, outscoring their regional adversaries 47-19 in the process. Michael Kirkpatrick (7GP-7G-6A-13P), Stanislav Galiev (8GP-3G-8A-11P), Nathan Beaulieu (8GP-1G-10A-11P), Simon Després (7GP-3G-4A-7P), and Kevin Gagné (7GP-1G-6A-7P) all averaged a point-per-game or better versus Acadie-Bathurst last year.BLACK FRIDAY
It’s Black Friday in the US.
PROMOTIONAL JUNK
The always solid Prospect Hockey Magazine will be given out to fans tonight. This issue features Montreal Juniors forward Louis Leblanc on the cover and contains several interesting QMJHL-related articles.
JERSEY AUCTION
From the Sea Dogs website, tonight’s 2009-10 game worn jerseys being auctioned off are:
Marco Cousineau #79The Hoffman jersey should bring in a fair amount.
Kevin Gagné #21
Mike Hoffman #27
Aidan Kelly #22
Karel St-Laurent #35
ROY SCOUTING REPORT
Bathurst goaltender Olivier Roy is, well, pretty good. The Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper and Blue had a question and answer session with Alex Arsenault of The Scouting Report earlier this week on the netminder.
On his strengths:
His quickness and reflexes are definitely his greatest strengths. He has to ability to make game changing saves that give his team a boost.On the possibility of making the Canadian world junior team:
I would say it’s his job to lose. A lot can happen before then so I won’t go as far as saying that he’s a lock however if the team was made today he would definitely be on the team.YOUR WEBSITE SUCKS
The Titan have the worst website in the Canadian Hockey League. Period.
The site is nicely designed, but hasn’t been updated since August. And they wonder why they have such a small fan base.
ARENA INFO
Venue: Harbour Station
Seating Capacity: 6,297
Year Built: 1993
QMJHL Arena Guide
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Live Blog: Station Nation
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Telegraph-Journal, L’Acadie Nouvelle
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in-game updates, scores, stats, and live coverage during tonight’s game.
AFTER THE BUZZER
The Halifax Mooseheads play at Harbour Station Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Marc Grandmaison
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