Opening Night Victory in Cape Breton
QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads

Opening Night Victory in Cape Breton

Published on September 18, 2026 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Halifax Mooseheads News Release


The Halifax Mooseheads and Cape Breton Eagles set the tone for a renewed Battle of Nova Scotia on opening night at Centre 200 in Sydney with a back-and-forth battle that ended in a 5-4 shootout victory for the visiting Moose.

Goalie Jack Fichthorn stopped two-of-three Eagles shooters, including the final opportunity by Eliot Litalien to secure the win after Quinn Kennedy and Nathan Langlois scored on both Halifax shots. The 19-year-old goalie stopped 24-of-28 shots through regulation and overtime to earn the victory in his QMJHL debut.

It was a banner night for Kennedy who factored into every goal in regulation for the Herd. He scored the first goal of the season with a beautiful coast-to-coast tally and then assisted on each of the next three goals to match a career-high in points in a single game.

Halifax twice held two-goal leads at 3-1 and 4-2 but watched the hometown Eagles battle back in a tightly contested affair. Cape Breton has been pegged by most QMJHL experts as the favourites to win the Gilles Courteau Trophy this season while the Mooseheads are also expected to be a contender, making it the first time in about two decades that both clubs have been considered to be at this level at the same time.

Kennedy struck at 6:09 of the first period but the Eagles responded later in the period to tie it off the stick of Eliot Litalien. It didn't take long for the Herd to regain the advantage as Austrian import defenceman Nico Uschan buried the first of his career only 34 seconds later with assists going to Kennedy and Langlois. Halifax then jumped ahead 3-1 as Langlois picked up his first goal in the Moose uniform on a power play scramble in front of Eagles goalie Sam Berthiaume. Kennedy and Malik L'Italien had assists on the third Herd tally.

Cape Breton cut into the deficit 14:44 into the second period with Reece Peitzsche making his former team pay. Big Eddy Doyle put the Moose up 4-2 when he pinched in off the line late in the frame as Kennedy picked up his third assist of the night. The Eagles scored the only two goals of the third period and both came on the power play with Jacob Hartlin and Adam Klaus cashing in.

The Mooseheads scored once in five power play opportunities while Cape Breton notched two goals on five chances on the man advantage. Halifax dished out 20 hits compared to 12 by the Eagles. Patrick McNab led the way with five while Danny Walters had four. These teams will meet again in Halifax on October 23rd.

Both teams were missing a substantial amount of veteran players who remain away at NHL training camps for the time being. Halifax was without forwards Shawn Carrier (Colorado), Oleg Kulebiakin (Tampa Bay) and Mateo Nobert (Vegas) while forward Will Bent remains out until late October as he recovers from shoulder surgery. The Eagles were without goalie Lucas Beckman (Ottawa), forwards Liam Lefebvre (Los Angeles) and Maxim Schafer (Washington). Captain Will Murphy and key forward Romain Litalien were out with injuries.

Attendance at Centre 200 was 4,026.

Halifax returns to the mainland tonight and will host the Moncton Wildcats on Saturday night at 7pm in the Home Opener at Scotiabank Centre. The first 3,000 fans will receive free fridge magnet schedules. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.

Check out the Halifax Mooseheads Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from September 18, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central