Czech mate
Sea Dogs import scores winning goal as Cape Breton suffers first loss
Call it the Game of Firsts. Czech import Radim Salda scored his first Québec Major Junior Hockey League goal to lead the Saint John Sea Dogs to their first win of the season while handing the host Cape Breton Screaming Eagles their first loss of the 2017-2018 campaign.
The final result was a 3-1 victory for the visitors before a crowd of 2,437 at Centre 200.
Following a scoreless first period during which the hosts were outshot 17-6, the Screaming Eagles needed just 43 seconds of the second frame to take a 1-0 lead after Drake Batherson stole the puck, raced in alone on the Saint John net and beat Alex D’Orio.
Daniel Hardie equalized for the Sea Dogs later in the period and the two teams traded chances until just past halfway through the third period when Cape Breton’s Sacha Roy was assessed a double-minor penalty, the first call for interference and the second for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Screaming Eagles killed off the first penalty and were just 22 second away from escaping their short-handed situation unscathed when Salda stepped into a quick shot from the top of the left circle that eluded Kevin Mandolese.
The visitors added an emptynet marker courtesy of Landon Quinney and that was the game.
Afterwards, Screaming Eagles general manager and head coach Marc-André Dumont refused to single out Roy’s untimely penalty as the sole cause for the loss.
“The winning goal was scored on an unsportsmanlike penalty and there’s not a coach in the sport who would say that was an acceptable penalty,” admitted Dumont, who called the defeat a ‘team loss’.
“All four of our games so far have been one-goal games and most of the games in our division are one-goal games, so small details will determine the outcome - I think there were certain habits we got away from and that hurt our momentum.”
The loss gives the Screaming Eagles a 3-1-0-0 record as they head out for a four-game road trip that begins with a Tuesday contest in Moncton against the Wildcats. The team then visits Québec for games against the Rimouski Océanic, Shawinigan Cataractes and Drummondville Voltigeurs.
Cape Breton’s next home game is slated for Oct. 11, when the Screaming Eagles take on the Charlottetown Islanders.