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Cape Breton Eagles

Mooseheads Edge Eagles in Shootout Nail Biter

January 18, 2017 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Cape Breton Eagles News Release


SYDNEY- The two goal lead indeed proved to be the most dangerous in hockey as the Mooseheads used the shoutout to edge the Screaming Eagles 5-4 on Tuesday night. Twice Halifax rallied from down two goals but neither team could claim the game in regulation or overtime.

Cape Breton came out of the dressing room barnstorming, recording the first nine shots on goal and earning the first two power plays of the game. With Walter Flower in the box, the Eagles fired four pucks on Alexis Gravel before Peyton Hoyt slid it under the Mooseheads netminder to open the scoring. Just after the halfway mark of the period Hoyt was at it again- his line cycled the puck along the left side of the ice before Hoyt fired the puck to Adam McCormick who jumped into the play and scored from the right faceoff circle.

Halifax was outshot 22-7 in the opening frame but managed to weather the storm and muster a response. It was the big guns coming through as league leading point getter Maxime Fortier wired a pass across the ice to Nico Hischier and the highly rated prospect sniped from a sharp angle. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead to the dressing room.

Both Gravel and Cape Breton's Kyle Jessiman would shine in the middle stanza as there was an abundance of scoring chances but only one would find the back of the net. Halifax would cash in on its first power play of the night as Jake Coughler wired a shot over the shoulder of Jessiman at the 13:38 mark. The Mooseheads outshot the Eagles 14-11 in the second period and it was a tie contest going into the intermission.

Drake Batherson would star in the first half of the third period, setting up two goals for the home side. First Batherson served up a pass from behind the net out to Tyler Hylland who would put Cape Breton up 3-2 at the 3:12 mark. Then Giovanni Fiore and Batherson worked a 2 on 0. Fiore came in selling a shot, dished it to Batherson would fire it back to Fiore who pushed Cape Breton's lead to 4-2 with his league leading 36th goal of the year.

In the second half of the final 20, though, Halifax would dictate the play and Frédéric Aubé would stir the drink from the blueline. Aubé would score on a set play off the faceoff- Hischier won the draw back for Fortier who flipped it over to Aubé who fired it past Jessiman.

Then in the final minutes Halifax would earn their second power play of the night and would cash in with just over two minutes to play. Aubé worked the left point and flipped it towards the goal where it was tipped by Benoit-Olivier Groulx who knotted the game at four. Neither team was able to score in the final minutes and the game headed for the extra session.

After a somewhat wide open sixty minutes of regulation the overtime was almost conservative by comparison. Halifax outshot Cape Breton 4-2 but neither team could find a winner and the game headed to the shootout. And neither team's first shooter- Jake Coughler of the Mooseheads or Drake Batherson of the Screaming Eagles- could score.

Jared McIsaac would open the shootout's scoring, solving Jessiman, and Fiore was unable to counter as he was left little room to beat Gravel after his deke attempt. The door was open for Halifax's Ben Higgins to win the game for his team- and he would do exactly that, with a top shelf backhand over Jessiman.

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Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from January 18, 2017


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