By Station Nation StaffSEA DOGS – FOREURS GAME AT A GLANCEFinal Score: Saint John 5, Val-d’Or 4
Saint John Goals: Aidan Kelly (3), Zach Phillips (9), Jonathan Huberdeau (11), and Ryan Tesink (4, 5)
Val-d’Or Goals: Olivier Archambault (9), Gabriel Beaupre (2), Jean-Francois Leblanc (7), Guillaume Naud (3)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Jacob DeSerres
Losing Goaltender: VAL – Jacob Chouinard
News 88.9 Top Dog: Ryan Tesink
THE NUMBERSPower Play: Foreurs: 0/1, Sea Dogs: 0/3
Shots on Goal: Foreurs: 12+9+15=36, Sea Dogs: 11+12+9=32
Length: 2:19
Attendance: 1,459
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHESNews 88.9 reported that Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Simon Despres has been suffering from a lower body injury and was a game time decision. He did play however, forcing Tyrone Sock out of the lineup. Scott Oke sat out as the extra forward.
DOGS WIN A THRILLERIt was not the prettiest thing ever but it was certainly the most exciting victory of the season for the Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Sea Dogs defeated the Val-d’Or Foreurs 5-4 last evening in dramatic fashion in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at the Air Creebec Centre. Saint John entered the third period down 4-2 but climbed back to win the match 5-4 in a fast paced, action packed third period.
“We played a pretty solid game and we had a lot of scoring chances,’’ Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said to the
Telegraph-Journal, singing a much different tune than after Saturday’s win in Halifax. “We had a couple of little letdowns, but we played hard. I thought for the most part it was a consistent effort from our team.’’
The Foreurs opened the scoring at 4:40 after the bounce in behind the Saint John goal caused a turnover. The puck eventually found the stick on Olivier Archambault to make it a 1-0 game. But the Sea Dogs responded at 12:08 after a Foreurs turnover in the offensive zone. Ryan Tesink threaded a pass to Aidan Kelly at the side of the goal to tie the match at 1-1 heading to intermission.
But the wheels began to fall off for the Sea Dogs in the second period. On a delayed penalty call against the Sea Dogs, Gabriel Beaupre beat Jacob DeSerres up high to give Val-d’Or their lead back. Then Jean-Francois Leblanc deflected a shot past the Sea Dogs goaltender to make it 3-1.
Zach Phillips would make it a one goal game again at 11:09 when he blasted a puck by Jacob Chouinard after a nice cross ice pass. But the home team responded again as Guillaume Naud scored at 17:31 to give his squad a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame.
In the third, Saint John’s comeback began when Ryan Tesink fed Jonathan Huberdeau who scored on a hard wrist shot to make it 4-3. Then the two connected again, this time with Huberdeau picking up the assist and Tesink recording the goal to tie the match at 4-4.
Then at 17:46, a strange play behind the Val-d’Or net left Tesink alone at the side of the goal with the puck bouncing a bit. The Saint John native batted the puck in to give the Sea Dogs their first lead of the game. Despite the light going on, play would resume for over a minute following the goal. It was finally reviewed and awarded a goal, forcing the clock to be reset.
THE TESINK SHOWRyan Tesink was the story of this one. After getting off to a hot start to begin the campaign, the rookie has since cooled down. But the native son caught fire again last night, recording two goals and two assists.
Points are always nice, but the points he recorded were big ones for Saint John. He assisted on Aidan Kelly’s first period goal to tie the game, assisted on Jonathan Huberdeau’s third period goal to put the Sea Dogs within one, and then scored the tying and winning goal in the latter stages of the third period.
“We killed a penalty (early in the third period) and then we scored a big goal after that,’’ Gerard Gallant said speaking of about Huberdeau’s third period marker.
DeSERRES FINALLY GETS HIS GROOVE ONWe debated for awhile on this, but still couldn’t find the right word to describe Jacob DeSerres’ performance last night. You could say that this was DeSerres’ first “normal” game in the QMJHL after his first performance was hardly a test and his second opportunity was awarded with a brutal Saint John defense core.
The WHL castoff was solid in net, stopping 32-of-36 shots on the night. His biggest save may have been in the third period when Simon Despres was the only man back on a Val-d’or three-on-one. The centerman chose to shoot the puck but DeSerres stayed with him and denied him of a goal.
He made several other big saves on the night and definitely deserves some credit for the win.
HESTER HITS CLOUTIERAfter the Foreurs took a 3-1 lead, Brett Hester nailed Guillaume Cloutier in the corner at 8:34 of the second period. Cloutier laid on the ice for a few minutes while a huge scrum went down on top of him with Nathan Beaulieu being very involved.
Cloutier would be okay and skated back to the bench with Sea Dogs athletic therapist Jeff Kelly at his side. Hester was given a game misconduct on the play and a lengthy penalty on the play.
It looked for a moment like chaos was going to go down at the Air Creebec Centre as Mike Thomas was being pushed back to the bench by an official while yelling at someone. Nothing came out of it.
WEIRDDuring the intermissions, music videos were played on Val-d’Or’s bizarre video screen/scoreboard. First they played some weird video full of gangsters and bling doing their business. A few minutes later, video clips from the awesome movie "Stuart Little" were being shown.
GAME CHANGER… ALMOSTThe puck swung in Val-d’Or’s favour during the second period when the puck was thrown out of play by a Foreurs player while the Sea Dogs had just begun a power play. At this point in the game, the Sea Dogs were down 4-2 and a lengthy two-man advantage would have been huge.
It looked as though it would be a delay of game penalty after the disc almost hit the Telus webcast camera. The officials discussed it for a moment and made no call, forcing Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to flip his lid.
“He says some words we can’t say on radio,” said Sea Dogs play-by-play man Tim Roszell of the colourful word chose made by the coach.
CTV FAILIn a
shocking turn of events, the QMJHL website failed to produce the third period results of last nights game. It wasn’t until long after the match was done that the score sheet was changed to show the Sea Dogs’ offensive outburst and ultimate victory.
Unfortunately, CTV Atlantic doesn’t care, and announced last night and this morning that the Sea Dogs lost 4-2 in Val-d’Or. This from the same station that pronounces “Jurco” as “Jerko.”
We’re actually surprised the station realizes that there are teams outside of Halifax.
Thanks to the several people who sent in this info.
OUT OF TOWNFrom
The Canadian Press:
Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was: Lewiston 4, Rimouski 2; Chicoutimi 3, Drummondville 2; and Gatineau 6, Halifax 2.
QUICK HITSVal-d’Or fans hated the officiating crew all game. There were some non-calls that were borderline… the Sea Dogs improved on their road woes with the win. They now have a record of 4-3-0-1 while away from Harbour Station… Gabriel Beaupre had an eventful night for the Foreurs. He got hit in the face with something in the first and was forced to wear the full cage for the rest of the net, then scored a goal, and then blocked a Tomas Jurco one timer… the Foreurs honoured Remembrance Day a little early with a pre-game ceremony prior to puck drop. A few veterans were on hand and a video tribute was played… the Foreurs’ mascot wears suspenders… Saint John improved to 8-3-0-1 all-time at the Air Creebec Centre.
NEXT GAMESame team. Same time. Same place. Different day. The Sea Dogs and Foreurs play again tomorrow night at 8:30 pm.
