Mooseheads capture first President Cup title
The Halifax Mooseheads recorded three unanswered first period goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and capture their first ever Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship in front of a sellout crowd of 10,595 ecstatic fans at the Metro Centre in Halifax.
The Mooseheads power-play did most of the damage in the first period.
Stephen MacAuley registered his seventh goal of the playoffs with the man advantage at 5:32 to give the fan favourites a 1-0 lead. Then, with Raphaël Bussières in the penalty box for slashing, Stefan Fournier collected his league-leading sixteenth marker to put the Mooseheads up 2-0.
Halifax would add another goal before the end of the first twenty minutes of play. Jonathan Drouin pounced on a Nathan MacKinnon shot that hit the post and found itself in the slot before burying a shot past a sprawling Philippe Cadorette.
The intermission seemed to energize the Drakkar who came out strong in the second period. Baie-Comeau outshot the Mooseheads 12-5 and managed to cut the lead by one following Valentin Zykov’s tenth marker of the postseason at 13:10.
Nathan MacKinnon and Stephen MacAuley added an insurance goal before the end of the game.
Jonathan Drouin earned MVP honours after recording 35 points in 17 games.
The MasterCard Memorial Cup kicks off on Friday, May 17th in Saskatoon. The event will be presented live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports. Visit mastercardmemorialcup.ca for all the details.