EP.147.0 10-08-2011 QMJHL Saint John Sea Dogs VS Rimouski Océanic

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SEA DOGS GET BACK IN WIN COLUMN IN A BIG WAY

New faces made a major impact as the Saint John Sea Dogs cruised to an 8-2 win over the Rimouski Oceanic Saturday in Saint John.

The game featured the 2011-12 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League debuts of Jonathan Huberdeau and Charles Roussel. Huberdeau was Saint John's scoring leader and most valuable player last season, as well as the MVP of the QMJHL playoffs and the MasterCard Memorial Cup championship. The third overall 2011 NHL Entry Draft pick of the Florida Panthers was joined in the lineup by newly acquired 20-year-old defenceman Roussel, a Nashville Predators prospect.

Ryan Tesink had four assists for the Sea Dogs, while linemates Danick Gauthier and Stephen MacAulay scored two goals each. Huberdeau chipped in two assists and linemate Zack Phillips had a goal and a helper. Roussel scored and added two assists, Nathan Beaulieu had two helpers, and Tomas Jurco and Scott Oke scored singles.

Mathieu Corbeil made 19 saves for the win before 4,436 fans at Harbour Station, the biggest crowd of the season since Saint John's home opener Sept. 8.

Alex Belzile and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc scored for Rimouski. Jacob Gervais-Chouinard made 31 saves -- many of them outstanding -- on 31 shots. Carl Hozjan stopped all five shots he faced in 9:12 of relief.

Huberdeau and Roussel were both noticeable early, with Huberdeau taking a high-sticking penalty just 17 seconds in as he drove the net. Roussel then saw his first shift on the ensuing penalty kill and looked solid, as did Corbeil, who made a nice glove save on a Belzile point shot. Gauthier got the Dogs on the board at 5:04 of the first. MacAulay made a great backhand spin pass off the boards that sent Tesink in on the left wing. Tesink fed it in front to Gauthier, who buried the one-timer high to Chouinard's glove side.

Roussel made a great defensive play to preserve the one-goal lead about eight minutes in, sprawling to break up a 2-on-1 after Pierre Durepos lost an edge in the neutral zone. MacAulay then made it 2-0 at 8:47 thanks to a determined effort. Chouinard robbed MacAulay on the doorstep on a great setup by Gauthier, but Rimouski could not clear. On the same shift, MacAulay hit the post, then finally fired it home on his third chance.

The Dogs outshot the Oceanic 18-6 in the opening frame and could have extended the lead further were it not for the efforts of Chouinard. The 19-year-old netminder came up with an outstanding left pad save on Jurco, who was attempting to finish an incredible passing play with Huberdeau and Phillips.

Roussel got his first goal as a Sea Dog on a strange play in the second period. The 20-year-old blueliner blasted a shot from the right-wing circle that appeared to go through the net. Play continued until the next whistle before being reviewed as a good goal, and the clock was reversed to 1:39.

The Dogs got a 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second. Phillips hit the post on one chance but scored later in the power play with the advantage down to 5-on-4. The Fredericton native got some space low in the left-wing circle and wound up a blazing wrist shot that ripped across Chouinard and rang into the top glove-hand corner at 8:27. Beaulieu and Durepos picked up assists on the goal, the third of the year for Phillips.

The Sea Dogs had to defend a full two-minute 5-on-3 shortly thereafter, and Rimouski got one back off the stick of Belzile at 9:54. But Tesink set up a pair of power play goals -- for Gauthier at 16:23 and MacAulay at 19:53 -- to extend the lead to 6-1. Gauthier's goal was his team-high seventh, MacAulay's his second. Roussel picked up assists on both.

Jurco continued to be snakebitten in the second, cutting in front from Chouinard's right and firing a backhander off the post on the late power play, but he finally got his goal 36 seconds into the third. Beaulieu and Huberdeau assisted on the marker, Jurco's third of the season. After Leduc cut the lead to 7-2 at 3:27, Oke restored the six-goal advantage, finishing a nice deke to end Chouinard's night at 10:48. Tyrone Sock recorded the lone assist on the goal, Oke's third.

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[JoshsNHL]

Welcome back Jonathan and welcome aboard Charles-Olivier Roussel!!