QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads

Disjointed Effort in Road Loss to Eagles

Published on February 16, 2024 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Halifax Mooseheads News Release


Friday night's contest in Cape Breton got away from the Mooseheads as the visitors gave up a pair of leads before falling 5-3 in an uncharacteristic overall effort. Markus Vidicek, Owen Phillips and Brady Schultz each scored in a wild opening half of the first period but could not get anything else behind Eagles goalie Jakub Milota for the rest of the game as he made 27 saves for the win.

Olivier Houde scored twice for Cape Breton, while Cam MacDonald led both squads with a three-point night on a goal and two assists as the Eagles snapped the Herd's modest two-game winning streak and kept pace with the Moncton Wildcats who were also winners on Friday night. Those two teams are in a fight with Rimouski for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference. Cape Breton is fifth with 60 points, one less than idle Rimouski, while the Wildcats now have 64 points.

The Mooseheads saw their own record drop to 33-13-7-1 and they remain second in the conference with 74 points which also leads the Maritimes Division with 14 games to play in the regular season.

Vidicek opened the scoring 3:31 into the game when he turned off the wall near the blue-line and just directed a shot towards the net that beat a partially screened Milota. The 1-0 Halifax lead lasted just 13 seconds before Houde struck for the first of his two goals. Both the Mooseheads and Eagles scored on their first shots of the night. Cape Breton jumped ahead 2-1 at the 6:36 mark on another Houde tally. Mathis Rousseau made the initial stop but couldn't keep out the rebound. That's when the momentum suddenly swung back in favour of the Herd with back-to-back goals by defencemen Owen Phillips and Brady Schultz for a 3-2 advantage. The Phillips goal came from a similar spot as the Vidicek strike from just inside the line, but his was a one-timer on a feed from Cade Moser. The Schultz tally came a couple of minutes later after Cape Breton failed to clear the puck on the penalty kill and the d-man danced around with the puck and fired a hard shot from the circle for the second-and-final Mooseheads lead of the night.

Luke Patterson netted the only goal of the second period and the clubs took a 3-3 tie into the final 20 minutes of regulation. Patterson buried a rebound on a goal just seconds after a face-off outside the Halifax blue-line. Cape Breton went ahead for good only 20 seconds into the third period when Cam MacDonald deflected a point shot by Tomas Cibulka during a four-on-three power play. The insurance marker came off the stick of Charles-Antoine Lavallee when he took advantage of a Peter Reynolds turnover on a clearing attempt. Lavallee grabbed the puck and cut across the ice to beat Rousseau cleanly with a shot from the slot. Rousseau finished with 24 saves on 29 shots and gave up five goals for just the third time this season. Cape Breton has done it twice to the Moose goalie while Blainville-Boisbriand also scored five on him in late November.

The game got chippy at times with a combined 38 hits and 24 penalty minutes and several post-whistle skirmishes. Lou-Felix Denis led the night with six hits to his credit. The Mooseheads and Eagles will meet one final time in the regular season on February 28th back in Halifax.

The Herd will look to turn their fortunes around this Sunday afternoon when they return home to Scotiabank Centre for a 3pm matchup with the Moncton Wildcats. A near sell-out crowd is expected to be on hand for the first of two straight games between the rivals, with the Moose and Cats set to play again on the holiday Monday afternoon at the Avenir Centre. Tickets for Sunday's game in Moose Country are still available at Ticketmaster.ca.

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Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from February 16, 2024


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