Major Fire Power to Conclude the Regular Season
March 23, 2024 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Halifax Mooseheads News Release
The Mooseheads will come barreling into the QMJHL Playoffs next weekend fresh off an exhilarating victory to wrap up the regular season. Halifax scored five times in the third period on Saturday to rally in Saint John with a 7-4 win in game number 68. The Herd finish the year with a 42-18-7-1 record.
Markus Vidicek scored twice for his team-leading 44th and 45th goals. Mathieu Cataford buried his career-best 40th of the season and Jack Martin, Logan Crosby, Dylan MacKinnon and Jan Sprynar also scored. Lou-Felix Denis contributed three assists and five players had multi-point efforts.
Box Score
Mathis Rousseau was able to hold the fort by making 32 saves and he set a new Mooseheads single season record with a .925 save percentage. Alexei Volkov set the previous record in 1998-99 at .916, a mark shattered by Rousseau. Unfortunately, the 19-year-old goalie let another single season team record slip through his hands as he fell just short of surpassing Zach Fucale's best goals against average of 2.26. Rousseau ended the year at 2.27.
Halifax got off to a nice start in the game by building a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes on goals from Cataford and Mackinnon but Saint John bounced back quickly in the second period with two goals in the opening 84 seconds to take a 3-2 advantage. That's how the score looked to begin the final period of regulation and the Mooseheads saved their best for last. Jan Sprynar buried a wicked one-timer on the power play 25 seconds into the third period to tie the game and it was all Halifax from there. Jack Martin put the visitors ahead 4-3 as part of a great game by the blueliner. Then it was Vidicek firing in his 44th goal right off the face-off for what turned out to be the game-winner at 14:33. Logan Crosby deflected a Martin shot over the goal-line just 16 seconds later for a 6-3 lead. Former Mooseheads forward Brody Fournier knocked in his second of the game to give the Dogs some life at 6-4 but Vidicek sealed the win with an empty netter late in the game.
Halifax once again played without many of their regulars as Jordan Dumais, Jake Furlong, David Moravec, Lou Levesque, Peter Reynolds and Braeden MacPhee all sat out.
Cataford and Vidicek each had three point efforts and will finish third and fourth in league scoring. Cataford, a Vegas Golden Knights prospect scored 40 goals and 89 points to lead the Moose in scoring this season while Vidicek was right behind him with 89 points and his team-best 45 goals. Vidicek is now fourth in franchise scoring history with 264 points while Cataford is climbing the charts as well and sits ninth with 210.
Despite the Sea Dogs' loss, Saint John will still make the playoffs as the final seed. They clinched when Quebec fell in regulation to Rimouski and the Dogs will cross over to the Western Conference to meet Drummondville in Round 1. The Mooseheads are ready for battle with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in a series that will begin on Friday night at Scotiabank Centre at 7pm. Game 2 will also be played in Halifax on Saturday, March 30th at 7pm. General Public tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2024
- Cats Clinch Third With Wild 7-5 Win Over Titan - Moncton Wildcats
- Isles Close out Regular Season Losing in Overtime 3-2 to the Eagles - Charlottetown Islanders
- Playoffs 1st Round Schedule Set - QMJHL
- Eagles End Season with Nine Game Win Streak, Will Face Rimouski in Playoffs - Cape Breton Eagles
- Major Fire Power to Conclude the Regular Season - Halifax Mooseheads
- Titan Rally to Take Down Wildcats 7-4 - Moncton Wildcats
- Eagles Look to Finish Season on Winning Streak in Charlottetown - Cape Breton Eagles
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