SUBWAY GAME RECAP: Sea Dogs Fall in Game 1 to Gatineau
 Zachary Dean had a hat trick and an assist to help the Gatineau Olympiques down the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-1 and take a 1-0 lead in their first-round series on Friday night. Tristan Luneau had three assists while Isaac Belliveau added two in the win for Gatineau. Jared Cosman had the lone goal for the Sea Dogs. Francesco Lapenna made 21 saves to get the win in net for the Olympiques while Ventsislav Shingarov put forth a valiant effort in defeat making 45 saves.
The Olympiques had the first high danger chance just over six minutes in as Riley Kidney took a short-side shot off a 2-on-1 but was denied by Shingarov. Gatineau worked a strong forecheck off that chance to keep it in and eventually worked it to Alexis Gendron in front for a shot but Shingarov again came up with the save. Former Sea Dogs Cam MacDonald continued to mount pressure for Gatineau, winning a puck battle and centering it to Dean for another quality chance but Shingarov stood tall again with a great blocker save. Peter Reynolds pushed back five minutes later with a chance for the Sea Dogs, firing a great wrist shot off the rush but Lapenna kept it out with a right pad save. With just under four minutes left in the first, Cole Cormier fired a shot through traffic that Shingarov kicked out with his right pad but it went right to Antonin Verreault who buried the rebound to open the scoring and put the Olympiques up 1-0. Eriks Mateiko almost tied it up on the powerplay with just over two minutes left as the puck came right to his backhand off the end boards, only for Lapenna to come up with a big save to keep the Olympiques lead after 20 minutes Shots after the first were 16-7 for Gatineau. The two teams opened the second with a flurry of back and forth chances, but all being broken up before generating any shots. Gatineau got some control with another wave of pressure that resulted in a pair of quality shots from Cormier and a third from Marcel Marcel, but Shingarov weathered the storm and stopped all three. The Olympiques continued a strong forecheck for the ensuing five minutes before finally adding to their lead as Belliveau circled out from the left half-boards, put a shot through traffic that Shingarov stopped but Olivier Nadeau fought off a Sea Dogs defender to bang home the rebound to put the Olympiques up 2-0. Gatineau nearly added a third in the final two minutes as Dean set up Kidney in the slot off a 2-on-1 but Shingarov leapt across his crease to make his best save of the night and keep the deficit at two heading into the third. Shots after the second were 38-14 for the Olympiques. 20 seconds into the third Belliveau fed Dean down just below the right faceoff dot and he one-timed the puck over the shoulder of Shingarov to make it 3-0 Gatineau. 91 seconds after that, a point shot from Vincent Maisonneuve trickled through the legs of Shingarov and Dean pounced on it for his second to make it 4-0. Four and a half minutes later the Sea Dogs got one back short-handed as Cosman intercepted a Gatineau clearing attempt, made a couple of great moves to get past a pair of defenders and tucked it past Lapenna to break the shutout bid and cut the Olympiques lead to 4-1. That’s as close as Saint John would come though as with just under seven minutes to play Luneau laid the puck off to Dean off a 3-on-2 who snapped home the hat trick goal to make it 5-1. Will Chisholm and Gendron added goals in the final five minutes to make it a 7-1 final. Final shots were 52-22 for Gatineau. Alpine 3 Stars 1 Zachary Dean (3G 1A) 2 Tristan Luneau (3A) 3 Antonin Verreault (1G) Game 2 goes tomorrow night in Gatineau. Puck drop is at 5 PM AST and you can listen to the game on Sea Dogs Radio presented by TD at CFBC 930 AM or watch at watch.chl.ca. The 50/50 pot for Game 3 at TD Station is already growing, so be sure to purchase your tickets from anywhere in New Brunswick here. |
