Eagles Finish Regular Season With Irish Jersey Game Against Sea Dogs
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will have one final game to tune up for the post-season and it’s a special day at Centre 200: the team will don the Irish green as they host the Saint John Sea Dogs on St. Patrick’s Day. After the results of last night’s games the Screaming Eagles know they will open the post-season against the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Saint John is eliminated from playoff contention and today’s game will mark the final QMJHL game for their 20 year old players, including former Screaming Eagle Cole Reginato.
Today’s match up is a rematch from last night’s game which saw the Eagles skate to a 3-2 victory. The line of Phélix Martineau, Brooklyn Kalmikov, and Egor Sokolov was the key to Cape Breton victory as each player chipped in two points last night, with Martineau and Kalmikov scoring goals in the opening period.
Coming into today’s game the Eagles are set in 12th position with a record of 31-28-8 (17-10-6 at home). Saint John is tied for 17th place with Shawinigan, with a record of 14-42-11 (6-23-4 on the road). Today Shawinigan will play the Eagles upcoming playoff opponent, the Voltigeurs. Should Shawinigan and Saint John finish tied in points, Shawinigan will officially finish ahead of Saint John by virtue of having more regulation/overtime wins.
It’s the final regular season game in the QMJHL careers of Eagles 20 year olds Phélix Martineau and Jordan Ty Fournier. This season Martineau has led the Eagles in scoring this year with 62 points in 67 games, and Fournier has 33 points in 66 games this year. Fellow 20 year old Ross MacDougall will miss the contest with the second game of a two game suspension for boarding. Cape Breton will also miss 18 year old forward Peyton Hoyt who will be serving a one game suspension after having removed Brendan O’Reilly’s helmet in a fight last night.
O’Reilly is one of three Sea Dogs concluding his QMJHL career, along with Reginato and Sea Dogs captain Bailey Webster. Webster will be playing his 216th major junior game with the Dogs, while Reginato, a Mira native, will finish his career in his hometown rink against his former club. Reginato is looking to finish strong, having recorded nine points in his last seven games after having missed over a month with an injury earlier this season.
The green jerseys being worn by the Screaming Eagles are in support of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation. The jerseys will be raffled off following the game, and fans can purchase tickets for $5 during the game. It’s the twelfth year for the event. Puck drop is at 4 PM.
Tickets can be purchased at the Centre 200 box office, by phone at 902-564-2200 or online at https://tickets.capebreton.ca/Online/default.asp Go Eagles Go!
