FINAL: Titan 3, Sea Dogs 5
SAINT JOHN – It was your typical Saint John Sea Dogs – Acadie-Bathurst Titan match. There were lots of physical play and hits, a great fight, and a good dose of goals.
In the end, the Sea Dogs ended up with a 5-3 victory over the Titan Saturday night at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
Simon Despres, Michael Kirkpatrick, Steven Anthony, Scott Oke, and Tomas Jurco all scored for the winners. Frederic Piche played well in net, making some key saves to ensure the win. He made 30 saves on the night.
Olivier Hotte, Gabriel Levesque, and Zach O’Brien all scored for Bathurst. Team Canada hopeful Olivier Roy was sensational in goal despite picking up the loss. Roy made some huge stops throughout the game and showed why is on the world junior radar. The Edmonton Oilers prospect made 34 stops in the loss, Bathurst’s second straight.
Despres made it 1-0 Saint John at 2:34 of the first period when he beat Roy with a point shot through traffic. Saint John would dominate most of the period.
Fast forward to the final minute of the opening frame, Hotte tied the match on the power play. A point shot went past the glove of Piche at 19:55 to make it 1-1 going into intermission.
At 2:13, a Kirkpatrick shot from the hash marks was stopped by Roy but the rebound was released into the crease. Stanislav Galiev tried the get the puck but failed, allowing it to slide to the side of the goal for Anthony who had an open cage to make it 2-1.
After the goal, Christophe Losier and Mike Thomas dropped the gloves in a great tilt between two of the leagues heavyweights. Both players landed some solid shots but Thomas got the better of Losier and earned the victory.
Saint John jumped out to a 3-1 lead at 8:32 on the power play. Bourret stood on the Telus ad below the blue line and sent a perfect pass to Kirkpatrick down low. The 20-year old fired a wrister into the open net to give the Sea Dogs a two goal lead.
But the Titan wouldn’t go away as they made it a one goal game again at 17:06 on a man advantage. Levesque released a point shot that just trickled through the pads of Piche to make it a 3-2 game going into intermission.
The Sea Dogs jumped out to a 4-2 lead at 5:44. Aidan Kelly had possession of the puck in the corner and fired it on net where Oke was. Oke tipped the shot beautifully up and over Roy to give Saint John their two goal lead back.
But Bathurst came right back once again. At 10:16, a rebound went to the side of the net for O’Brien who unleashed a backhander into the net to make it 4-3.
The Sea Dogs would close the game out on the man advantage when Bourret fed Jurco who was parked along the side boards. Jurco fired a wrist shot that beat Roy low glove side to make it a 5-3 final.
Shots were 39-33 Saint John.
The Sea Dogs went 2/5 on the power play while the Titan went 2/4.
SCRATCHES
Defenseman Kevin Gagne and forward Ryan Tesink were out of the Saint John lineup.
THE NUMBERS
Acadie-Bathurst Titan 3 at Saint John Sea Dogs 5 - Status Final
Saturday, November 13, 2010 - Harbour Station
Acadie-Bathurst 1 1 1 - 3
Saint John 1 2 2 - 5
1st Game Period-1, Saint John, Després 4 (Gauthier), 2:34. 2, Acadie-Bathurst, Hotte 5 (Trudeau, Gilbert), 19:55 (pp). Penalties-Losier Bat (roughing), 6:34; Gauthier Snb (high-sticking), 13:18; Bourret Snb (hooking), 16:03; Kirkpatrick Snb (delay of game), 19:25.
2nd Game Period-3, Saint John, Anthony 7 (Kirkpatrick, Galiev), 2:13. 4, Saint John, Kirkpatrick 8 (Bourret, Galiev), 8:32 (pp). 5, Acadie-Bathurst, Lévesque 9 (Trudeau, Hotte), 17:06 (pp). Penalties-Losier Bat (fighting), 2:14; Thomas Snb (fighting), 2:14; Turnbull Bat (charging), 5:01; Pulis Bat (tripping), 8:04; served by Pulis Bat (too many men on the ice), 11:32; Huberdeau Snb (slashing), 16:20; Malouin Bat (roughing), 20:00; Després Snb (roughing), 20:00.
3rd Game Period-6, Saint John, Oke 3 (Kelly), 5:44. 7, Acadie-Bathurst, O'Brien 9 (Lévesque, Trudeau), 10:16. 8, Saint John, Jurco 11 (Bourret, Phillips), 13:04 (pp). Penalties-Houle Bat (tripping), 12:06.
Shots on Goal-Acadie-Bathurst 33. Saint John 39.
Power Play Opportunities-Acadie-Bathurst 2 of 4; Saint John 2 of 5.
Goalies-Acadie-Bathurst, Roy 8-7-0-0 (39 shots-34 saves). Saint John, Piché 9-1-0-2 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-4,129
Referees-Tom Clarkson (11), Tim Hamel (19).
Linesmen-Justin Burchell (49), Jeff Heron (96).
NOTES
Jonathan Huberdeau was named the Irving Oil Player of the Month for October prior to the game… Kevin Gagne was named the Marks Work Wearhouse Academic Player of the Month for October… there were a few Titan fans at the game… it was only the second time this season a goaltender made back-to-back starts for Saint John as Frederic Piche started in net… Jacob DeSerres took part in most of warm-up and showed no obvious signs of his groin injury… it was Mike Thomas’ first fight of the season.
NEXT GAME
A battle of the heavyweight goes down Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station when the Sea Dogs, ranked 4th in Canada, host the Quebec Remparts, ranked 3rd in Canada, at 4pm.
Photo Credit: Vince Chan
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