FINAL: Sea Dogs 11, Wildcats 2
MONCTON – You know the home team is having a rough night when an entire section of fans is turned away from the play in the third period and yelling at Frosted Flakes mascot "Tony the Tiger" to throw something at them.
Following the Moncton Wildcats' performance Friday night against the Saint John Sea Dogs, Tony the Tiger may have gotten first line minutes on the home squad.
The Sea Dogs dominated the Wildcats from top-to-bottom, scoring early and scoring often en route to an 11-2 win in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at the Moncton Coliseum. After years of pain and suffering at the Coliseum, this was surely one of the most satisfying wins in the Sea Dogs – Wildcats rivalry. With the blowout victory, Saint John won all four contests in enemy territory this season.
At times in this game, it looked as though Saint John was on a constant power play. The Sea Dogs got goals from all kinds of role players who scored from all different angles on the ice. It was just a brilliant showing from the Dogs, probably one of their best played games of the year.
Tomas Jurco scored a hat trick while Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals. Stephan MacAulay, Aidan Kelly, Gabriel Bourret, Jason Cameron, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Stanislav Galiev scored singles. Zack Phillips and Steven Anthony each registered three assists in the lopsided win. Despite facing 30 shots, goaltender Jacob DeSerres was not greatly tested to earn the victory.
On the other side, the Wildcats had goals from Alex Saulnir and Simon Jodoin. Steve Gleeson allowed 10 goals on 39 shots while Jordan Kennedy allowed one on six shots.
Moncton was just a mess Friday night. The ‘Cats played the Sea Dogs tough in their two outings previous to this one, but that kind of play was nowhere to be seen on in this match.
The onslaught allowed Saint John to continue streaking. The Sea Dogs have now won eight straight and are on a 14-0-1-0 run.
FIRST PERIOD
The Wildcats’ Daniel Milan had the first chance of the hockey game as he fired a point shot that caused a rebound with Scott Trask at the side of the goal. Sea Dogs’ goaltender Jacob DeSerres went down but Trask couldn’t get the puck up.
Saint John’s Zack Phillips then let a long range wrist go on ‘Cats ‘tender Steve Gleeson who made the arm stop. Then, Allain Saulnier fired a shot from the boards that caught DeSerres in the arm and deflected away.
The Sea Dogs made it 1-0 at 5:41 as Michael Kirkpatrick found the puck and beat Gleeson down low to give the visitors an early lead. Saint John wasn’t down there by any means as Nathan Beaulieu fired a point shot that was deflected nicely by Aidan Kelly in front to make a 2-0 Sea Dogs lead.
Soon after following a turnover, Trask picked up the puck and had a short breakaway but was denied by DeSerres.
At 7:57, Gabriel Bourret let a point shot go that beat Gleeson low to give Saint John a 3-0 lead and control of the match early on. The goal chased the Wildcats goaltender from the match, forcing Jordan Kennedy to take over in net.
Lance Pridham went to the box at 11:25 as he flipped the puck out of play. On the power play at 12:37, Tomas Jurco scored his first marker of the game as he poked it past Gleeson to give the Dogs a 4-0 advantage. The goal put Gleeson back in the Wildcats’ crease.
Ted Stephens had a great chance for the Wildcats moments later, sending a cross crease pass to a streaking player who couldn’t get his stick on the disc.
Moncton got on the board at 18:34 as Alex Saulnier jammed the puck past a fallen DeSerres to give some small momentum to the Wildcats as the period ticked down. But all of that momentum was quickly gone as Jonathan Huberdeau was sprung on a breakaway, pulling off his trademark backhand-forehand deke to give Saint John a 5-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Shots in the opening frame were 20-10 in favour of Saint John.
SECOND PERIOD
Stanislav Galiev had the first scoring opportunity of the frame as he skated down the wing and shot the puck off the far post.
The Sea Dogs got their scoring rolling again in the second period at 1:09. A short pass found Galiev and wired snap shot from between the circles and surprised Gleeson, making it 6-1 Saint John.
Kevin Gagne then came down the wing for the Sea Dogs and threw a backhander on net, forcing Gleeson to make a tricky stop. Then Huberdeau stickhandled around the entire Moncton team to enter the zone and then danced into the crease only to have the puck roll off the bottom of the post.
Moncton went to the power play at 10:05 as Gagne was called for tripping. But despite some decent puck moving, the Wildcats couldn’t get anything past DeSerres and the Sea Dogs’ defense during the two-minute span.
Just after Jason Cameron fired a shot that allowed Stephen MacAulay to just miss a goal on Gleeson, MacAulay had the puck along the boards and sent a perfect cross ice pass to Cameron who tipped the puck into the yawning cage to give the Dogs a 7-1 lead.
At 16:02, Huberdeau went in on another breakaway. While falling, the magic-man somehow chipped the puck up-and-over a stunned Gleeson to complete the beautiful play and extended his team’s lead.
The Sea Dogs closed out their second period scoring at 19:16. A point shot was stopped by Gleeson but MacAulay was right there on the doorstep to slide the puck behind Gleeson and give Saint John a 9-1 lead after 40-minutes.
Shots in the second stanza were 16-8 Sea Dogs.
THIRD PERIOD
The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 2:08. Saint John iced their fourth line for much of the man advantage and even had some decent pressure but little scoring opportunities.
With the power play, Kirkpatrick stole the puck in the slot area and fired a backhand shot on net in close but was denied by Gleeson.
Saint John got things rolling again at 10:06. Jurco stood between the circles and simply fired a wrist shot that beat Gleeson low glove side to get the Dogs into the double-digits.
At 13:00, Jurco was at it again as he completed the hat trick. The ‘Slovakian Showstopper’ went in on a partial break and, while falling, flipped the puck past Gleeson to give Saint John an 11-1 lead and kickoff the parade to the parking lot at the Moncton Coliseum.
Jurco wasn’t done there, feeding Kirkpatrick with a perfect cross ice pass but nailed the post.
Steven Anthony was called for slashing at 18:05. On the power play, Simon Jodoin was able to beat DeSerres in front to cut the lead to nine. But Saint John would not allow nine goals in the final 90 seconds, picking up the victory.
Shots in the third session of play were 12-9 in favour of the home side.
Both teams went 1-for-2 on the man advantage.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Halifax Saturday for a 7pm contest against the Mooseheads.
Photo Credit: Marc Grandmaison
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