LEWISTON – Former Lewiston forward Ryan Murphy led all point-getters with three assists and Austin Corredato had two goals to lead the expansion Saint John Sea Dogs to a 6-1 win over the Maineiacs in Lewiston’s exhibition opener at the Colisee on Wednesday.
“This was a bad night to try and judge the players,” said Maineiacs head coach Clem Jodoin. “Two-thirds of the game we played on the (penalty kill) and the other third we were on the power play.”
In all, referee Marc Muylaert awarded Saint John 21 power plays, while Lewiston skated 10 times with an extra attacker.
“Half of the penalties were just the players being stupid,” said Jodoin, “but the other half, I don’t know what those were.”
Jodoin was also quick to point out that only three forwards and one defenseman on the Maineiacs roster Wednesday had ever played in the QMJHL; the rest were rookies.
“The pace is so much different,” said 16-year-old Rob McCarthy. “I just have to try and get used to that. It’s totally different than last year.”
McCarthy, a Massachusetts native, played in a prep school league last year.
“There’s more flow to it out here,” said McCarthy.”
David Taylor, also a 16-year-old rookie, found it hard to get into a rhythm with the quick whistles.
“They didn’t let us play today,” said Taylor. “But it was better to play against players on a different team.”
Last week, the whole team broke into two sections and played five games against each other.
“It’s better when you don’t play against your friends,” said Taylor. “You play better. It’s tougher out there.”
The lone goal-scorer of the night was Matthew Ricard, a 17-year-old rookie defenseman. His shot from the mid-point hit netminder Jason Churchill in the mask, broke a piece of the mask off and then trickled into the net behind the shaken goaltender.
“The game, it was faster,” said Ricard. “It was closer, tougher.”
That goal had given the Maineiacs a 1-0 lead, and goaltender Travis Fullerton did everything in his power to make that stand up. The Sea Dogs, though, with a power play goal on their 12th opportunity, evened the score. Through two periods, Fullerton stopped 33 of 34 shots and endured 12 Saint John power plays.
In the third, the Sea Dogs poured it on against netminder Claude Garland. Corredato scored both of his goals early, and just 18 seconds apart, both on feeds from Murphy, and Murphy notched a third assist on Ryan Spaulding’s goal to put Saint John ahead 4-1.
Alexandre Labonte and Ryan Moore capped the scoring later in the third. Garland finished with 19 saves on 24 shots.
Notes: Kevin Marshall had a strong game going for the Maineiacs before a slash forced him out of the game…The league’s No. 1 overall pick, Alex Grant, was bloodied after a fight with Lewiston forward Manuel Brunet. The Maineiacs forward was assessed an aggressor penalty in addition to his fighting major and will be suspended automatically for at least one game…Hugo Chevanelle will leave the team today. According to the coaching staff, Chevanelle has a shot at playing Junior AAA with Ste. Jerome, and will report to that team later this week.
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