GAMEDAY 8: at Saint John

IT'S GAMEDAY

SAINT JOHN SEA DOGS vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Harbour Station (6,200) ~ Saint John, NB

PREVIEW - He's baack! The Mooseheads leading scorer from a year ago has returned to the Halifax lineup after spending the past month and a half down South in Tampa, Florida. Jonathan Drouin, the third overall pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2013 NHL draft, could not crack the opening night roster for the Bolts. With Steve Yzerman at the helm as general manager, Tampa is taking things slow with their prospects. Yzerman, a product of the Detroit Red Wings, has clearly implemented their philosphy to the Bolts organization. Considering that Drouin is ineligible to play in the American Hockey League becuase of his age and the fact that Tampa has good forwards in Syracuse who deserve the chance to play for the big club, the team felt it was in Jonathan's best interest to be reassigned to Halifax. Jonathan will make his season debut with the Herd tonight when they travel to Saint John to take on the Sea Dogs. No word yet on who he will be on a line with.

That's the big story. Not much more to say. It's a battle of the last two Maritime division Memorial Cup champs. The tables turned last season between these teams. For a few years, Halifax could not muster too many wins against the Dogs but last year they got the better of the New Brunswick team, winning all but one of the 12 games they played agiainst each other. This included four straight in the first round of the playoffs. It's going to be interesting to see if Saint John is still in the rebuilding stage or if Halifax has started that part once again after winning both championships last year.


This is the first of 8 games between these two teams. Moose fans won't have to wait long to see Nathan Noel and the Dogs on Metro Centre ice as they will meet again in 11 days in Halifax.

THE NUMBERS

Leading scorers
HAL: Andrew Ryan (4G, 3A, 7 PTS), Brent Andrews (1G, 6A, 7 PTS), Nikolaj Ehlers (4G, 2A, 6 PTS)
SNB: Stephen Anderson (3G, 3A, 6 PTS), Oliver Cooper (1G, 5A, 6 PTS), Michael Abbott (1G, 4A, 5 PTS)

LAST GAMES
Saint John is coming off a 4-1 win on Saturday night against the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Goalie of the Week Sebastien Auger continued his strong play saving 32 of 33 shots while Olivier LeBlanc led the offense with a goal and 2 assists.

Halifax played Sunday afternoon and couldn't repeat the performance they had the night before, losing 2-1 to the Phoenix. Nikolaj Ehlers scored the only goal for the Mooseheads.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season    0-0-0-0     0GF    0GA
October 1 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Sea Dogs
October 12 @ 7pm  Sea Dogs at Mooseheads
November 9 @ 7pm  Sea Dogs at Mooseheads
November 23 @ 7pm  Sea Dogs at Mooseheads
January 4 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Sea Dogs
January 21 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Sea Dogs
March 8 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Sea Dogs
March 14 @ 7pm  Sea Dogs at Mooseheads
Last season     7-0-1-0    43GF     16GA

NOT PLAYING - Darcy Ashley is still out with a hand injury.

OUT OF TOWN
Tigres at Sagueneens - 8:00pm
Voltigeurs at Remparts - 8:00pm

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @SeaDogsHockey
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7, News 88.9
Post-game: Chronicle Herald

AFTER THE GAME
Halifax will travel to Sherbrooke to take on the Phoenix to start a Quebec road trip. Puck drops at 7pm.