The Halifax Mooseheads were back to work Saturday night as they travelled up to Bathurst to take on the Titan, beginning their second half of the QMJHL season. Before the holiday break the team recorded an 11-15-5 standing.
The Mooseheads took an early blow. Veteran Braeden MacPhee was handed a game misconduct only 4:12 into the contest after a blindside hit on Dawson Sharkey. Halifax struck first 15:49 into the first period when Quinn Kennedy buried his first as a Moosehead. Kennedy joined the Herd from Rimouski in a trade that sent Lou Levesque and Jack Martin back to the Oceanic.
The Titan tied the game in the second period when Colby Huggan threw a puck on the net, and Noah Laberge knocked the puck past Rousseau. Justin Breton responded less than 30 seconds later, scoring his first QMJHL goal. Daniel Walters carried the puck into the Titan end and found Breton in front, who sniped it past the opposing netminder.
Acadie Bathurst countered with back-to-back goals halfway through the second period as Mathieu St-Onge scored a shorthanded goal 8:45 into the period, and less than a minute later, Alexandre Lallier recorded his second goal of the season to give the Titan their first lead of the evening. Bathurst kept up the offensive pressure as Dawson Sharkey scored on the powerplay, ripping a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle past Rousseau moments later. Alexandre Lallier added his second of the period to put the Titan’s lead further out of reach as Halifax gave up five goals in the second period.
Two more game misconducts were handed out in the third period. Shawn Carrier and Mathieu St-Onge were both ejected from the game. Louis-François Bélanger extended the Titan’s lead shorthanded with another goal 15:29 into the third period.
With the dominating Bathurst play, the Halifax Mooseheads dropped their first game since the winter break 6-2 and their 12th in a row against the Titan. With the loss, the Herd fell to 11-16-5, while the Titan improved to 19-11-2.
Halifax will be back in action with a home-and-home series starting Monday with the Cape Breton Eagles. The first game will be in Cape Breton with the Eagles hosting on Monday, Dec. 30th, at 7 p.m. Game two will be in Halifax at the Scotiabank Centre on Tuesday, Dec. 31st, at 2 p.m., celebrating New Year’s Eve. You can hear all the action here on 95.7 NewsRadio.
