The Rock Report: IceCaps wrap up pre-Christmas slate

Thursday, December 27^th, 2012                                                     

ICECAPS WRAP UP PRE-CHRISTMAS SLATE

St. John’s sandwiches win between two tough losses; play resumes with stops in Hamilton, Syracuse

The IceCaps finished up their pre-Christmas schedule with a trio of games on the road, losing to Adirondack and Toronto but beating Hamilton to snag a pair of points. The overall eight-game road trip continues this week when the IceCaps rematch against the Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum Friday then visit the Syracuse Crunch the following night.

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WEEK IN REVIEW:

Wednesday, December 19 – Adirondack Phantoms 3 St. John’s IceCaps 2
Glens Falls Civic Center – Glens Falls, NY
St. John’s Goals:               Machacek (7), Redmond (8)
Adirondack Goals:           Manning (3), Wellwood (2), Schenn (12)
Goaltending:                     STJ – Pasquale (L – 34 shots, 31 saves) / ADK – Munroe (W – 25 shots, 23 saves)
Power Play:                        STJ 1/4 | ADK 1/6
Three Stars:                        1) ADK – Eric Wellwood 2) ADK – Sean Couturier 3) ADK – Zack FitzGerald
Mary Brown’s HWP:       Zach Redmond
Attendance:                       2,394

The St. John’s IceCaps saw their two-game winning streak come to an end with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Adirondack Phantoms Wednesday night at Glens Falls Civic Center.

Brayden Schenn scored the winner in the third period while Sean Couturier added a pair of assists. Scott Munroe picked up the win, making 23 saves.

Eddie Pasquale took the loss, stopping 31 shots. Spencer Machacek and Zach Redmond both scored for St. John’s, while Kael Mouillierat notched two assists.

Full Recap | Box Score | Highlights

Friday, December 21 – St. John’s IceCaps 2 Hamilton Bulldogs 1
Copps Coliseum – Hamilton, ON
St. John’s Goals:               Gregoire (5), Mouillierat (2)
Hamilton Goals:               Gallagher (9)
Goaltending:                     STJ – Dekanich (W – 27 shots, 26 saves) / HAM – Desjardins (L – 25 shots, 23 saves)
Power Play:                        STJ 1/1 | HAM 0/2
Three Stars:                        1) STJ – Mark Dekanich 2) HAM – Brandon Gallagher 3) STJ – Derek Meech
Mary Brown’s HWP:       Ben Chiarot
Attendance:                       4,546

Goaltender Mark Dekanich stopped 26 shots and Kael Mouillierat scored the game-winner as the St. John’s IceCaps edged the Hamilton Bulldogs 2-1 Friday night at the Copps Coliseum.

Jason Gregoire scored his fifth goal of the season for the IceCaps with the only other tally on a night when all scoring took place in the second period.

The win was the IceCaps 11th victory in one-goal games, and means the team is now 3-1 on their current road trip, with one game to go before the Christmas break.

Full Recap | Box Score | Highlights

Saturday, December 22 – Toronto Marlies 4 St. John’s IceCaps 2
Ricoh Coliseum – Toronto, ON
St. John’s Goals:               Sawada (7), Maxwell (2)
Toronto Goals:                  Abbott (2), Hamilton (12), Gysbers (2), Aucoin (6)
Goaltending:                     STJ – Pasquale (L – 26 shots, 23 saves) / TOR – Scrivens (W – 32 shots, 30 saves)
Power Play:                        STJ 0/2 | HAM 1/4
Three Stars:                        1) TOR – Keith Aucoin 2) TOR – Spencer Abbott 3) TOR – Ryan Hamilton
Mary Brown’s HWP:       Ben Maxwell
Attendance:                       5,991

The St. John’s IceCaps dropped a hard-fought 4-2 decision to the Toronto Marlies Saturday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum.

Ben Scrivens made 30 saves while Keith Aucoin had a goal and two assists for a first-star performance in the win. For St. John’s, Ray Sawada and Ben Maxwell found the back of the net and Eddie Pasquale made 24 saves.

The IceCaps finish up their five-game pre-Christmas road trip at 3-2-0-0.

Full Recap | Box Score | Highlights

ST. JOHN’S ICECAPS UPCOMING SCHEDULE:  All Times NL (practices not open to the public)
Thursday, December 27^th             Travel to Hamilton, ON
Friday, December 28^th                    St. John’s IceCaps at Hamilton Bulldogs: 9:00 p.m. (Hamilton Bulldogs)
Saturday, December 29^th              St. John’s IceCaps at Syracuse Crunch: 9:00 p.m. (War Memorial Arena)
Sunday, December 30^th                 Travel to Binghamton, NY

ATLANTIC DIVISION STANDINGS

(As of Thursday, December 27, 2012)

ICE-CAPSules

Getting Healthy: A pair of injured IceCaps made their return to the lineup last week: centres Patrice Cormier and Eric O’Dell. Cormier, who had missed all but three games this season, returned in Friday’s win over the Hamilton Bulldogs and played in Saturday afternoon’s contest in Toronto. O’Dell also drew into the lineup Saturday after missing the previous 14 games but failed to extend his four-game point streak.

Who’s Hot: F Kael Mouillierat has a five-game point streak (1G, 5A), the longest streak by an IceCap this season. Mouillierat has seven points (2G, 5A) in just nine games with St. John’s this season. The Edmonton native has also notched four points (1G, 3A) on the power play.

Split Duties: Goaltenders Eddie Pasquale and Mark Dekanich have been splitting netminding duties recently. Coach Keith McCambridge has alternated the pair for each of the last six contests. Pasquale’s season-high for consecutive games started is six, while Dekanich’s is four.

Punch from the Back End: Scoring has been at a premium for St. John’s so far this season – the club is 28^th in goals per game at 2.32 – but the defence corps has more than held up its end of the bargain offensively. Derek Meech leads the club with 17 points (19^th in the AHL) while Zach Redmond is first on the team in goals with eight. His 84 shots are good for third in the league amongst rearguards. Three of the IceCaps top four scorers are defencemen (Meech, Redmond and Paul Postma).

A December to Forget: The month of December has not been kind to the IceCaps. The club is just 3-7-0-0, by far the worst mark of any month in its brief existence. The only other month during which St. John’s finished under .500 was last April, when the team went 3-4-0-0. Last December, the IceCaps went 7-3-0-1.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

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 ICECAPS SEASON LEADERS

 COORS LIGHT THREE STARS LEADERBOARD

(1^st Star – 3 points, 2^nd Star – 2 points, 3^rd Star – 1 point)

MARY BROWN’S HARDEST WORKING PLAYER STANDINGS:

(1 point each win – Hardest working St. John’s IceCaps player)

LISTEN TO EVERY ICECAPS GAME LIVE

Listen to every IceCaps game this season online at www.stjohnsicecaps.com by clicking the ‘Listen Live’ link on the homepage. Play-by-play broadcaster Brian Rogers brings you all the action on the ice, including a pregame show that starts 30 minutes before the drop of the puck. Fans can also listen on the radio at 930AM This Is Newfoundland Labrador. And, watch all the games streaming live online at www.ahllive.com!

NEXT HOME ACTION:
Friday, January 5, 7:30 PM                                            St. John’s IceCaps vs. Manchester Monarchs
Saturday, January 6, 7:30 PM                                      St. John’s IceCaps vs. Manchester Monarchs
Friday, January 11, 7:30 PM                                         St. John’s IceCaps vs. Toronto Marlies
Saturday, January 12, 7:30 PM                                    St. John’s IceCaps vs. Toronto Marlies