EP.57.0 SEA DOGS VS WILDCATS

SEA DOGS EARN 3-2 COMEBACK WIN OVER WILDCATS The second game of the 2009-10 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup Challenge was staged at Harbour Station on Saturday night, with another thrilling contest between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats taking place as the regional adversaries each gave a 110% effort throughout what was a thoroughly entertaining hockey game. After battling to a 2-2 deadlock over the course of sixty minutes of intense back-and-forth action, star Sea Dogs winger Mike Hoffman netted an instant-victory-clinching goal on the first shot of overtime to send the nearly five thousand fans in attendance into a frenzy as the Port Citys major junior squad captured their second extra-time home win of the year versus their archrivals. Jonathan Huberdeau and Gabriel Bourret also scored for Saint John on Saturday, with Matthew Bissonnette and Alex Saulnier responding for Moncton in a losing effort. Marc-Antoine Gelinas picked up his sixth win of the year between the pipes for the home team, making 18 saves in a relief appearance while not allowing a single goal in 40+ minutes of action. Louis Dominigue, meanwhile, suffered his fifth loss of 2009-10 between the pipes for Moncton, surrendering three goals on 34 shots faced. In addition to capturing two Rivalry Cup points in recognition of their outstanding on-ice performance, the Sea Dogs picked up and additional 1.5 points on the night. The crowd of 4,720 earned Saint John 0.5 while Fleaburns victory over Wild Willie in a first intermission mascot race tallied another. Saint John now leads the season-long competition 5.5 - 2 overall. After rookie forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Alex Saulnier exchanged goals to kick the evening off, Moncton took a 2-1 lead late in period number one when Matthew Bissonnette beat starting Sea Dogs goalie Karel St-Laurent after taking a pass from import winger Kirill Kabanov in Saint John territory. Marc-Antoine Gelinas took over for St-Laurent at the start of the second period, coming up with some big saves throughout the stanza to appropriate a significant amount of momentum for his team. At the 17:40 mark of the middle frame, Gabriel Bourret wired a shot the beat Domingue high, glove side to register the first goal of his QMJHL career at a highly-opportune time. Nick Petersen and Kevin Gagné both picked up assists on the timely offensive strike, which evened the score up at two apiece as Saturdays intraprovincial contest reached the second intermission. Neither team managed to break the deadlock throughout what was a gritty third period, resultantly sending the showdown into overtime. On the very first shift of the extra frame, overage forward Mike Hoffman beat Domingue on a wrist shot to send the Harbour Station faithful home happy as Saint John leapfrogged the idle P.E.I. Rocket to take second place in the QMJHL Atlantic.