Point Gained on the Road in OT Loss
December 8, 2024 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Halifax Mooseheads News Release
Dawson Sharkey sent the Mooseheads home with a loss on Sunday afternoon when he buried an overtime goal on an odd-man rush to give the Titan a 2-1 victory at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre.
The goal came after Mooseheads defenceman Brady Schultz jumped up into the rush during three-on-three action and tried to make a between the legs play but turned it over so send the Titan back up the ice on a two-on-one.
Lou Levesque scored late in regulation for Halifax to send the game to an extra period in Acadie-Bathurst. The Moose forward banged in his fifth goal of the season at the 16:06 mark of the third when he grabbed a rebound after a wraparound attempt by rookie Caylen Blake. The first goal of the game didn't come until the 15-minute mark of the second period when Liam Arsenault struck for the home side.
The Mooseheads controlled the play early in the contest and held Bathurst without a shot for the first 12 minutes and 14 seconds of the game and just five at the halfway mark of the game. The puck possession domination was due in part to a trio of Halifax power plays although the team failed to cash in on any of them. The game was a matchup of the two worst power play teams in the QMJHL. The Titan entered the game last out of the 18 teams with a 12.1% success rate while the Moose were second-last at 13.7%. The Herd ended up 0-5 on the man advantage while Bathurst was 0-2.
Overage goalie Josh Fleming earned the first star of the game with 35 saves on 36 shots while Arsenault got the second star and Mathis Rousseau was the third with a 23-save performance.
There was a lot of physicality from both teams in the opening period with the bigger Titan appearing to attempt to bully the Mooseheads' younger squad but the Herd were up to the task and dished it right back. They combined for 32 hits in the game, with Carlos Handel leading all skaters with four hits. Despite a low number of shots, it was Acadie-Bathurst's Louis-Francois Belanger who had the best chance by breaking in alone on Mathis Rousseau but was turned aside by the veteran goalie. Halifax rookie Caylen Blake then had a glorious opportunity late in the second period when he had a wide open side of the net to shoot at but fanned on the attempt. He wasn't pleased with himself and smashed his stick across the post in disgust. The play seemed to change the fortunes for Bathurst and it wasn't long after that moment that the opening goal came off the stick of Arsenault.
The Mooseheads lineup has been getting more depleted by the day after 19-year-old import forward Jan Sprynar joined the lengthy list of walking wounded with an upper body injury and did not suit up for the game. Sprynar was hurt in Friday's home game against Val d'Or when he took a hard hit along the boards by Mathias Bourque. Logan Crosby, Mathieu Taillefer, Cade Moser and Jake Todd also remained out with their respective injuries.
The next game for the Mooseheads is coming up Friday night at 7pm in Charlottetown before the Islanders come to Halifax for a rematch on Saturday night at 7pm at Scotiabank Centre to wrap up the first half schedule. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.
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