It was over shortly after it began at the Civic Centre.
The Saint John Sea Dogs lit up the P.E.I. Rocket for double-digit goals in a old-fashioned 10-1 thumping, including four first-period scores and two markers within 10 minutes of puck drop.
Saint John’s Oliver Cooper scored the eventual game-winning goal at 9:58 of the first period of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game.
Then the fights began and over the rest of the first period and into the second frame.
Four fights, including two each by P.E.I.’s Alex Gallant and Saint John's Maxime Villemaire (against different opponents) which earned the pair ejections from the contest, and several roughing penalties later, things settled down into a relatively calm third period.
By the second intermission, Saint John had a 7-0 lead. The Dogs led 4-0 after first period.
“Just put the puck in deep and protect your teammates. Things got a little bit out of hand at times, but I thought we handled ourselves well,” said Cooper, who scored his 10th goal of the season. “(Between periods, head coach Gerard Gallant) told us to stay out of it. Be prepared if we have to, but he doesn’t want us starting a bunch of stuff.”
With the ugly loss, the Rocket drop to 17-34-2-2 and 1-6 against the Dogs this season.
P.E.I.’s lost three straight games including being outscored 15-1 over the last two games versus Saint John (40-14-0-2).
It’s the second time Saint John hit 10 goals against the Rocket this season.
P.E.I. remains two points behind idle Rouyn-Noranad for the last playoff spot.
Jonathan Huberdeau (2-2), Tomas Jurco (2-1), Maxime Villemaire (2), Charles Coyle (1-2), Danick Gauthier (1-1) and Stanislav Galiev scored the other Dogs goals.
Alex Noël netted the lone Rocket goal, his eighth of the season.
“Not a good game. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why we didn't show up,” said Noël. “I think (we can recover). We have a pretty strong-minded team. It’s a hockey game like an other. We can lose 2-1 or 10-1. Either way, we have to be positive about what we did right and work on what we did wrong, a little bit more wrong tonight.”
Rocket goalie Maxime Lagacé was pulled after giving up four goals on eight shots.
Antoine Bibeau stopped 20 shots in relief.
Mathieu Corbeil saw 23 shots in the win in the Saint John nets.
P.E.I. hosts the Victoriaville Tigres on Saturday at 7 p.m. and the Quebec Remparts on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
*****
Sea Dogs-Rocket
Game At A Glance
u The Outcome - Saint John 10 P.E.I. 1.
u The Goalscorers - Saint John: Jonathan Huberdeau 2 (19), Tomas Jurco 2 (27), Maxime Villemaire 2 (12), Oliver Cooper (10), Stanislav Galiev (6), Charles Coyle (8), Danick Gauthier (39); P.E.I.: Alex Noël (8).
u The Assists - Saint John: Charles Coyle 2 (8), Jonathan Huberdeau 2 (30), Ryan Tesink 2 (20), Zack Phillips (44), Tomas Jurco (35), Danick Gauthier (28), Kevin Gagné (19), Pierre Durepos (20), Grant West (10), Oliver Cooper (13), Nathan Beaulieu (31), Charles-Olivier Roussel (23); P.E.I.: Jessyko Bernard (23), Deverick Ottereyes (3).
u The Goalies - Saint John: Mathieu Corbeil, 21-of-22, win (31-9); P.E.I.: Maxime Lagacé, 4-of-8, loss (11-29-2-1), relieved at 14:15 of first period; Antoine Bibeau, 20-of-26.
u Shots By Period - Saint John: 11-13-10, 34; P.E.I.: 3-5-14, 22.
u Power Play - Saint John: 2-for-4; 50 per cent; P.E.I.: 0-for-7.
u Penalty Minutes: Saint John: 48; P.E.I.: 44.
u Hits - Saint John: 19; P.E.I.: 21.
u Attendance - 1,174.
u 50-50 Draw - $945
u Next Up - The Rocket (17-34-2-2) hosts the Victoriaville Tigres (36-16-1-3) on Saturday. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
I will bet that after this season Saint John when Saint John rebuilds, they will be able to rebuild faster than the Rocket for 2 reasons.... 1) Gerard Gallant/Mike Kelly 2) Serge Savard Jr