Eagles Fall in Overtime on Opening Night in Halifax
October 1, 2022 – Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) – Cape Breton Eagles News Release
HALIFAX- Overtime was needed to settle a hotly contested game between Nova Scotian rivals as the Eagles fell 5-4 to the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night in Halifax.
It was a back and forth contest in which no team ever claim a two goal lead. The game was less then two minutes old when Cam Squires put the visitors up 1-0- a goal assisted by Olivier Houde & Angelo Fullerton, who picked up their first QMJHL points on the play. While that goal was scored at even strength, special teams would be the story of the rest of the period.
New Mooseheads captain Attilio Biasca knotted the score with a power play marker, and Halifax had a chance to take the lead moments later on a another man advantage. However Jake Furlong lost his balance on the ice creating a scoring chance for Squires and Luke Patterson. Squires passed over to Patterson who wired it over Mooseheads goaltender Mathis Rousseau for his first goal in the QMJHL.
Just as the Eagles scored early in the first period, the Mooseheads tallied earlier in the second period- defenseman Brady Schultz jumped into the play to beat Nicolas Ruccia and make the score 2-2. Before the halfway mark of the period, Patterson’s former U18 teammate Jack Martin flipped a shot off Ruccia’s glove that would bounce up and over the goaltender, giving the Mooseheads lead and Martin his first career goal.
20 year old alternate captain Zachary Gravel, playing his first game as an Eagle then had a major impact on the game. Just after the halfway mark of regulation he connected on a pass from new Cape Breton captain Jérémy Langlois to tie the game on the power play. (Fellow overage forward Samuel Johnson picked up an assist on the goal for his first point as an Eagle).
Gravel scored again early in the third period, with Thomas Desruisseaux notching an assist in his first QMJHL game and Charles Boutin collecting a point in his first game in Eagles colours. However, once again, the trailing team would tie as Mathieu Cataford found the back of the net to even the game.
Halfiax had an opportunity to clinch the game late in regulation when Patterson was whistled for a high sticking minor, connecting with Cam Whynott. The Eagles killed the first 21 seconds to send the game to overtime, and the penalty was ticking down in overtime when Langlois was called for closing his hand on the puck.
The Eagles were able to survive the brief 5 on 3 and most of the balance of Langlois’s penalty. However, with the Mooseheads holding a 5 on 4 man advantage, the puck found its way to Markus Vidicek and he put the overtime winner by Ruccia.
Rousseau stopped 28 of 32 shots in the win, while Ruccia turned aside 33 of 38 shots in the loss.
The Eagles will now hit the road for a pair of games in New Brunswick against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Puck drop on Friday is at 7 PM. The game is available for purchase online at https://watch.chl.ca and you can also hear all the action beginning with the pre-game show with Patrick McNeil at 6:30 PM on 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com
THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Attilio Biasca (Halifax) 1 goa, 1 assist, 5 shots
2. Jordan Dumais (Halifax) 3 assists, +2
3. Zachary Gravel (Cape Breton) 2 goals, 7 shots
Scratches For Cape Breton: Preston Pattengale, Ivan Ivan (NHL camp), Owen Arnold
Scratches For Halifax: Zachary L’Heureux (upper body injury), Stéphane Jr Huard (travel), Liam Welsh
Final Shots On Goal: 39-32 in favour of Halifax
Cape Breton Power Play: 1/4
Halifax: Power Play: 2/8
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