SEA DOGS ADVANCE TO SEMIFINAL

Press Release

SHAWINIGAN, Que. – Jonathan Huberdeau had three points as the Saint John Sea Dogs beat the Shawinigan Cataractes 4-1 Wednesday to advance to the MasterCard Memorial Cup semifinal.

Huberdeau had two goals and an assist to lead the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Sea Dogs to the win over the host team. Stanislav Galiev and Ryan Tesink added singles and Nathan Beaulieu chipped in two assists. Mathieu Corbeil made 28 saves for the win.

Saint John improved to 2-1 and will play Friday against the winner of Thursday’s tie-breaker game between Shawinigan and the Edmonton Oil Kings, both 1-2.

Anton Zlobin had the Shawinigan goal and Gabriel Girard stopped 34 shots in a losing cause.

Huberdeau opened the scoring at 4:39 when Charlie Coyle found the captain down low to Girard’s left. Girard partially stopped Huberdeau’s first whack but he kicked the rebound to his stick and buried his third of the tournament.

The Sea Dogs had a golden opportunity with a two-man advantage in the final minute of the opening frame, and Galiev converted to make it 2-0. The Russian ripped a shot from the high slot over Girard’s blocker at 19:29. Beaulieu and Huberdeau picked up the assists on the Russian’s first of the tournament.

Saint John appeared to go up 3-0 early in the second period but had a goal disallowed controversially. Danick Gauthier jammed a puck in the net several seconds before referee Nicolas Dutil blew the whistle. Video review confirmed the puck was clearly over the line but Dutil overruled it, claiming the play was dead.

The Dogs did make it 3-0 on Tesink’s goal at 16:05 of the second. Tesink tipped Beaulieu’s point shot down and then swatted it past Girard for his third.

The Cataractes got on the board on a power play at 18:55 of the second when Zlobin jammed one in to get the hosts back within two heading into the break.

But that was all the scoring Shawinigan could muster as Corbeil and the Saint John defence held the fort in the final frame.

Huberdeau deposited an empty-net goal at 18:28 for his fourth, with assists from Gauthier and Charles Roussel.

Several scrums ensued in the final minute, with 10 separate penalties including fighting majors to Saint John’s Grant West and Shawinigan’s Vincent Arseneau. The pair engaged in a spirited bout off a faceoff at 19:18.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)