MacAULAY MIRACLE

SN RECAP
FINAL: Sea Dogs 2, Screaming Eagles 1

SYDNEY – Stephen MacAulay’s late third period goal gave the Saint John Sea Dogs a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Saturday night at Centre 200 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

With just 0.4 remaining on the clock, Ryan Tesink centered the puck off Stephen MacAulay’s stick and in to give the Sea Dogs a thrilling win to close out the first half of the 2010-11 campaign.

Cape Breton took an early first period lead and hung on to it until the third period where the Sea Dogs took the game over. It was quite similar to the October 3 game at Centre 200 between these two, only it was the Eagles pulling off a late third period marker to win that match in regulation.

Eagles’ netminder Alexandre Veronneau was terrific all night long, but despite making 36 saves, he remains without a win this season.

North Sydney native Michael Kirkpatrick had the other Sea Dogs goal while Jacob DeSerres made 22 saves in the win.

Pier-Antoine Dion was the lone Cape Breton goal getter.

FIRST PERIOD
After some great Saint John pressure early on, the Screaming Eagles took advantage of a Sea Dogs turnover. Pier-Antoine Dion came down the wing from the blue line and fired a hard wrist shot that beat Saint John goaltender Jacob DeSerres over the glove to give Cape Breton a 1-0 lead.

Then on a rush a few seconds later, Felix Bergeron almost made it a 2-0 game after he tipped a pass off the post.

Saint John started to get some scoring opportunities after that. Not long after he almost ran over Morgan Ellis, Danick Gauthier made an unreal move to get into the crease area. Gauthier walked straight through downtown but couldn’t get a shot on goal.

A few minutes later, the Sea Dogs’ third line was buzzing again after a point shot was stopped in the crease. A few Saint John forwards were in the paint but could not score.

Steven Anthony then had a good shot after he was given the puck from the corner area. He walked into the slot and fired a shot right on Eagles netminder Alexandre Veronneau but was stopped. Then, Anthony ripped a point shot that produced a rebound in front but Jonathan Huberdeau was not in position to bat the puck home.

Gauthier was back at it in the final minute, firing two shots on goal at the top of the crease but was denied both times.

Shots in the opening frame were 16-3 Saint John.

SECOND PERIOD
Gabriel Bourret went to the box at 3:10 of the second for holding. In the final 30 seconds of the Eagles’ power play, a deflected shot from the circle fooled DeSerres but he managed to keep the puck out by squeezing his pads together.

With the Cape Breton man advantage over, the disc was thrown in the crease where Mike Thomas stood but there was no room to get a decent shot off.

The Sea Dogs had a man advantage of their own at 8:09. Zach Phillips was absolutely robbed by Veronneau’s glove on the power play, which was the best Sea Dogs scoring chance during the two minute span.

About a minute later, Verroneau made a quick save in front with the puck rolling to the side of the crease. The Eagles goaltender somehow got over to make a sensational stop on Ryan Tesink to keep his team in the lead.

At 12:46, Logan Shaw had a partial break but was tied up by Kevin Gagne, giving the Eagles another man advantage opportunity. But Saint John would kill it off with Cape Breton still leading by one.

With teams back at even strength, Veronneau went back into beast mode by denying Stanislav and Scott Oke with a couple of quick saves. Then at the other end, Cory MacIntosh made some nice moves to get a shot off on DeSerres but could not beat the Sea Dogs’ 20-year old.

Shots in the middle stanza were 16-9 Cape Breton.

THIRD PERIOD
Just a few minutes in, Huberdeau split the Eagles defense who were doing their statue impersonation. He made a fake move and went to the forehand but was robbed by the pad of Veronneau yet again.

Huberdeau looked as though he would have another great scoring chance at 4:43. The crafty forward was about to go on a breakaway but was tripped up just inside the blue line. It wasn’t a penalty shot, but the Sea Dogs would have a power play as Brad Cuzner headed to the box.

On that man advantage at 6:38, Gabriel Bourret was able to keep the puck in at the line. The disc then found Michael Kirkpatrick in the slot who snipped a shot past Veronneau to tie the affair at 1-1.

The action started to pickup after the goal. Tesink had a great chance as he cut into the crease but was denied by the Cape Breton backstopper. A few minutes later, a puck was centered for Kirkpatrick in front but he couldn’t get a shot off. The puck was recovered and given out to Galiev at the top of the dot but fired a shot just low enough for Veronneau to get a piece of it and deflect it high.

After about eight minutes of no whistles, Stephen MacAulay walked into the slot and had a clear shooting lane, only to be stopped by Veronneau once again. The rebound caused a semi-major scrum, finally causing for a break in the constant pace.

With just seconds left into the game, Tesink was at the goal line and centered the puck for MacAulay. The pass deflected off MacAulay’s stick and past Veronneau with 0.4 left on the clock to give the Sea Dogs a stunning 2-1 regulation victory.

The goal went under a short review and was quickly ruled to be legit.

Shots in the third were 13-4 in favour of the visitors.

Saint John went one-for two on the power play while Cape Breton went zero-for-two.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.

DEADLINE OPENS: The real fun begins Sunday as the QMJHL trading period opens.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs hit the 10-day holiday break prior to travelling to Charlottetown on December 28 to face the Rocket.