Moose Win Old School Clash in Saint John
Published on March 13, 2026 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Halifax Mooseheads News Release
It was a wild Friday night at TD Station in Saint John where the Halifax Mooseheads hung on to score a 5-4 victory in the first of back-to-back road meetings with the Sea Dogs.
Oleg Kulebiakin led the attack with one goal and two assists, while Quinn Kennedy also had a three-point night with a trio of assists to help the Herd earn their 28th win of the season. Halifax needed to hold off a final push from Saint John who finished the game with a two-man advantage for the final 1:25 of regulation. The Moose blocked a few shots while Nick Cirka came up with some massive saves as the clock wound down.
Cirka entered the game with 7:53 to play in the second period after starting goalies Owen Bresson and Arseni Radkov met at centre ice in a rare goalie fight that grasped the attention of the 5,093 fans inside the arena. The tussle began with Alexis Gauthier of the Dogs taking a couple of extra whacks at the pads of Bresson who took exception to the act and came up swinging against Gauthier while several other players grabbed onto one another. Radkov took notice of Bresson's actions and skated out to neutral ice to get the attention of his counterpart, and it didn't take long for the Mooseheads goalie to accept the invitation and trade haymakers with Radkov. Both goalies were tossed from the game for the incident. Bresson had made 12 saves on 15 shots to that point while Cirka came on to make 10 saves on 11 shots the rest of the way.
Halifax got off to a great start in the game with the first three goals of the contest. Caylen Blake and Sam Rousseau both struck on the power play 2:24 apart early in the first period before Kulebiakin made it a 3-0 game with 51 seconds to go in the opening 20 minutes. The Moose couldn't close out a clean period though as they allowed an Everett Baldwin tally with under nine seconds on the clock and it was a 3-1 advantage going to the intermission.
Liam Kilfoil restored the three-goal cushion early in the second period when he capped off a nice passing play that included Quinn Kennedy and Malik L'Italien. Saint John answered back a few minutes later with an Angelo Fullerton strike. The big 20-year-old forward added another one at the midway mark of the period and it was 4-3 Mooseheads halfway through the contest. The wild second period continued after the goalie tilt as Owen Phillips once again gave the Herd a little breathing room with a hammer on the power play, but the Dogs had another answer from Dylan Rozzi and once again it came in the final minute of the period. It was 5-4 after 40 minutes and that's the way it would stay as things tamed down for the third period.
Final shots were 39-26 in favour of Halifax. The Mooseheads played without Shawn Carrier who served the second game of a two-game suspension. Carlos Handel and Will Bent remained out with their respective injuries.
Mooseheads players to earn assists in the win were Kennedy with three, Kulebiakin (2), Kilfoil, L'Italien, Danny Walters and Cam Minella.
With his three points, Oleg Kulebiakin reached 71 for the season and surpassed Alex Tanguay for ninth place in franchise history for points scored by a rookie. Captain Owen Phillips also celebrated a nice milestone by playing in his 250th career regular season game. That moved him ahead of Austyn Hardie for fourth most games played by a defenceman in team history.
The teams will square off again on Saturday afternoon at 4pm at TD Station in a much-anticipated rematch. The Mooseheads will close the regular season next weekend with back-to-back road games in Newfoundland on Friday and Saturday against the Regiment.
Fans can watch on FloHockey or listen live on 95.7 NewsRadio featuring play by play host Garreth MacDonald.
Tickets for the Mooseheads playoffs are on sale now for Season Ticket Members and will go on sale to the General Public on Wednesday, March 18th at Ticketmaster.ca.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from March 13, 2026
- Islanders Top Eagles in Overtime - Cape Breton Eagles
- Moose Win Old School Clash in Saint John - Halifax Mooseheads
- Eagles Play Final Road Game of Season in Charlottetown - Cape Breton Eagles
- Desnoyers Leads Cats to 5th Straight Win with 3 Assists - Moncton Wildcats
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