Eagles Soar over Mooseheads in Sydney
November 4, 2022 – Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) – Halifax Mooseheads News Release
A win wasn’t in the cards for the Mooseheads on Friday night in Cape Breton where the Herd lost for just the second time in regulation this season by falling 5-3 to the Eagles. Ivan Ivan had a career-high four points for the home squad as he assisted on four of their five goals.
Mathieu Cataford scored a late power play goal to make it a close game but Cape Breton (2-8-2-0) held with a big penalty kill followed by an empty net goal in the final second of regulation to grab the win, which was only their second of the season. Halifax (9-2-2-1) had their fair share of chances in the final period including two great opportunities for Markus Vidicek who was stopped once from point blank range in front of the net and again on a breakaway by 3rd star Nicolas Ruccia who made 36 saves. The Mooseheads outshot their opponents 39-27.
The Eagles scored four of the final five goals in the game, including three in the third period, to pick up the win at Centre 200 in front 1,957 fans. Moose goalie Brady James allowed tallied by Trevor Thurston, Cam Squires, Cam Henderson, and Xavier Daigle on 26 shots while Olivier Houde picked up the empty net goal.
Braeden MacPhee opened the scoring for Halifax when Liam Welsh fed him the puck following an Eagles turnover midway through the first period. The Herd held the lead until the midway mark of the second stanza when Thurston tied it for his first QMJHL goal in his debut with Cape Breton. The B.C. native was signed as a free agent last week after being released by the Prince Albert Raiders. The Mooseheads then regained the lead with 2:25 to go in the period when Jake Furlong passed the puck to fellow defenceman Jack Martin who beat Ruccia with a low point shot. Cam Squires tied the game again on the power play 58 seconds before the horn.
Things opened up even more in the third period as Henderson and Daigle helped Cape Breton mount a 4-2 advantage by the 7:15 mark. Cataford picked up his fourth point in 24 hours when he converted his ninth goal of the season on a set up by Jordan Dumais and Cam Whynot on the power play. The Herd went right back to the man advantage just one second after the Cataford goal on a face-off infraction by Ivan but the Eagles came up with a big kill to snuff out the hopes of the Mooseheads. Brody Fournier had one last great chance but Ruccia came up big. Immediately after the save, Stephane Huard Jr was called for a check to the head in the corner and a melee ensued. Huard Jr was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
Halifax played shorthanded with 11 forwards and six defencemen and had call-ups Brandon Abbass, Bryson Boudreau and Dylan Chisholm in the lineup. The team was without Jake Todd, Logan Crosby and Dylan MacKinnon due to illness and Reece Peitzsche, Zachary L’Heureux and Evan Boucher who are out with upper body injuries, while Owen Phillips is away representing Canada at the World U17 Hockey Challenge in British Columbia.
The Mooseheads will return to Scotiabank Centre ice on Sunday afternoon at 2pm for Kids Day versus Saint John. There will be free special edition posters for the first 2,500 kids at the game. Tickets are on sale now at TicketAtlantic.com.
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