Eagles Edged 2-1 In Pre-Season Opener Vs. Halifax
The Cape Breton Eagles kicked off the 2020 pre-season at Centre 200 with a hard-fought 2-1 shootout loss to arch-rival Halifax. Family and billet members were witness to a back and forth game that didn’t find its first goal until past the halfway mark of regulation.
Halifax carried the play in the opening sequence, outshooting the Eagles 13-6, but Cape Breton netminder Jack Cashen stood tall. Neither Cashen (17 saves) nor Halifax’s Brady James (12 saves) would allow a goal in 30:16 of playing time.
It was the home side that broke through first, as while the Eagles couldn’t score on a minor penalty to Keegan Hunt, not long after a point shot by Jacob Squires found its way through Halifax netminder Mathis Rousseau. The goal came at the 16:11 mark of the middle stanza and the Eagles held the lead for almost 20 minutes of play.
A tying goal came for the visitors under similar circumstances- shortly after the Eagles killed a minor to Cole Fraser, William Robitaille batted the puck out of the air past Kenzie MacPhail to tie the game. Neither team could score in the final minutes of regulation and the subsequent overtime, and the game headed to a shootout.
It would take until the sudden death portion of the shootout to find a goal. In the opening three rounds, Rousseau denied Lucas Canning, Kian Bell, and Connor Trenholm while MacPhail turned aside Samuel Dubé, Robert Orr, and Mason Mantzavrakos.
The Eagles missed an opportunity to pull ahead when Blake Deacon rung the puck off the crossbar. Sonny Kabatay was up for the Mooseheads, and he deked around MacPhail to clinch a 2-1 victory for Halifax.
MacPhail took the loss after stopping 14 of 15 shots prior to the shootout. Rousseau collected the victory with 12 saves on 13 shots.
The same two clubs will go at it tomorrow in Dartmouth. Puck drop is 7 PM and the action will be streamed at https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHalifaxMooseheads
Final Shots On Goal: 32-25 in favour of Halifax
Cape Breton Power Play: 0/4
Halifax Power Play: 0/3
