Lewiston, ME – The Lewiston Maineiacs didn’t go down easy, but in the end it was the Saint John Sea Dogs earning a four-game sweep in the QMJHL semifinals over the Maineiacs with a 6-5 victory in front of 1,163 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

The Sea Dogs will now face either the Gatineau Olympiques or the Quebec Remparts in the President’s Cup final. Quebec has a 3-1 advantage in that series.

“I wished we won a couple games or make it tighter on the ice,” said Lewiston Maineiacs head coach J.F. Houle. “On the ice, all the games were close and we worked hard. We tried our best. They had luck in the first game and the second game we were undisciplined.”

“Tonight after the first five minutes, I was like man, it’s turning around and now we are getting some luck. They are a good team and bounce back to find a way to win again tonight.”

Saint John Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said the Maineiacs gave it their all although he took exception with some of their play.

“They played a hard game, but I thought they were a little dirty tonight,” Gérard Gallant stated. “I wasn’t too happy with some of the hits, but overall they played a hard game.”

It was a wild opening frame as Lewiston jumped out to the 3-0 lead. Cameron Critchlow got the scoring started as he shot the puck into the open net as Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault mis-played the puck behind the net at the 1:21 mark. Olivier-Dame Malka picked up the lone assist.

”’That was part of our game plan was to shoot everywhere,” Houle said. “We were very fortunate on those goals. We haven’t had much luck in this series. It was nice to get those goals.”

Alex Zafiris ended Corbeil-Theriault’s night as Zafiris made it 2-0 with Samuel Carrier and Bryce Milson set the play up at the 2:43 mark. Corbeil-Theriault saw two shots on the night and let in two goals.

“I thought he was sleeping,” Gallant added. “The two goals that went in I wasn’t happy with. (Corbeil-Theriault) was the key to the series. He played three great games for us. I thought he was tired and I wanted to give (Jacob DeSerres) a chance to get back in there.”

Kevin Gagne would shatter the glass a little over three minutes into the period. After the clean-up, the Maineiacs welcomed Jacob DeSerres to the game as Olivier-Dame Malka’s shot knuckleballed into the net at the 5:05 mark. Antoine-Houde Caron and Critchlow recorded the assists.

Saint John would get on the board off an offensive draw as Zack Phillips shot from the slot beat Andrey Makarov through the five-hole.

“That was key. The Zack Phillips goal gave us a little bit of confidence and we started to play well after that,” Gallant added.

The second period continued where the first period left off.

After Makarov made a dazzling glove save, Nathan Beaulieu fired a shot from the point on the man advantage to get the Sea Dogs within one at the 1:28 mark. The marker was set up by Zack Phillips and Michael Kirkpatrick.

“When you got a team like us, when we want to play and work hard we can battle back against anybody,” said Gallant. “It showed a lot of character by our kids tonight.”

Stefan Fournier would answer right back for Lewiston as he stuffed the puck in at the door step of Saint John crease. Kirill Kabanov set up the goal and Pierre Olivier Morin got the secondary assist at the 3:44 mark.

Saint John dug out of their hole as Scott Oke notched his first of the playoffs at the 5:22 mark with Stephen MacAulay and Mike Thomas recording the assists.

Jonathan Huberdeau tied the game at 4-4 as he slid the puck past Makarov with 6:31 remaining in the period Gabriel Bourret notched the helper.

“We have enough offense. We just need to make sure we play better,” Gallant stated.

Eric Gelinas, the former Maineiac gave Saint John’s the 5-4 lead with a blast from the point 4:35 into the third on the man advantage.

“It doesn’t matter who’s he’s playing against, it happened to be a big goal on the power play to give us the lead,” Gallant said.

Pierre-Olivier Morin would tie the contest as he deflected a Samuel Carrier shot through DeSerres five-hole. Stefan Fournier received the secondary assist.

“I was pleased, we never backed down or quit,” Houle said. “A lot of guys worked hard and care in the locker room. They play with passion. Scoring after they scored I was real happy. I wish we could have done the same thing when they scored with 2:52 left.”

Stephen MacAuley would net the game winner as he and the rest of the Sea Dogs jammed the puck past Makarov with 2:52 remaining in the game.

“When teams have depth anyone can score, third, fourth line. That doesn’t really matter,” Houle said.

Andrey Makarov made 31 saves and Jacob DeSerres turned aside 25 shots.

“Andrey came in relief twice and he played real well. He didn’t allow a goal,” Houle said. “Nick Champion played well in the first and second series. He played pretty good in the beginning too. He looked tired so I decided to go with Makarov to give him a shot because he did real well in the two relief (appearances).”

Lewiston went 0-for-3 on the man advantage and Saint John was 2-for-5.