2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Montreal Canadiens prospect Nathan Beaulieu saves a goal for Saint John (VIDEO)

SHAWINIGAN, Que. — Well, what else would you expect from Nathan Beaulieu, who plays for Saint John but grew up around the London Knights, the junior hockey team which has made a sacrament out of shot-blocking during the run up to the MasterCard Memorial Cup?

The Montreal Canadiens first-round pick's block was no mere get-in-the-way-of-a-blast-from-the-point gambit, though. The Sea Dogs were in full-on scramble mode during the third period on Wednesday with the Shawinigan Cataractes swirling about the offensive zone. Goalie Mathieu Corbeil was down and out of position after a great feint by Michael Chaput, who slid the puck to Anton Zlobin, a 40-goal scorer who would pop it into the great wide-open goal. Except Beaulieu channeled Serge Savard and bailed out his netminder. Saint John, of course, went on to a 4-1 win.

The Sea Dogs were credited with 13 blocked shots on Wednesday. It's not as big a part of their M.O. like their Memorial Cup rival, the London Knights, whose centre Austin Watson has less regard for life and limb than the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"We're not a big shot-blocking team," Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant said on Wednesday night. "I tell my star players to get out of the way and put their sticks down. I don't want guys getting hurt. That's how we lost [star left wing Jonathan] Huberdeau earlier in the year [with a broken foot]. We try to have better positioning and let our D and our goaltending block those shots.

"I'm not saying we don't block shots," Gallant added. "I'm sort of joking there. We try and play a tight game."

That said, the way Beaulieu laid out to block that shot was impressive. He might have fit in with London, where his father Jacques Beaulieu had two terms as an assistant coach, including one during Nathan's formative years. Instead, since he ended up in Saint John when his pops coached the Sea Dogs, he'll be trying to beat them for the Memorial Cup.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.