Eagles, Mooseheads Renew Holiday Rivalry In Halifax

One of the QMJHL’s best traditions resumes this evening in Nova Scotia’s capital, as the Cape Breton Eagles & Halifax Mooseheads begin their annual home & home holiday series. While the QMJHL resumed play on Sunday, it’s game 33 for both teams tonight and the official beginning of the second half of the season. And it’s a pivotal game in the standings, with the Eagles two points ahead of the Mooseheads in the standings.

The Eagles picked up a point in the standings in an eventful game on Sunday against Moncton- the Eagles allowed a large 4-0 lead to slip away, but then rallied with a late goal to send the game to extra time. Noah Jettelson provided the tying goal with his second point of the day. Another player who notched two points was Lewis Gendron, who wearing the “C” as team captain for the first time.

Sunday marked the debut of now Cape Breton defenseman Brady Flynn, but flight delays prevented Olivier Laverdière from getting into the Eagles lineup. The 18 year old forward is expected to make his debut this evening.

Halifax is icing a younger team this season, and while they may not have the biggest name prospects, scouts have taken notice with six different Mooseheads having been ranked by NHL Central Scouting: forwards William Bent, Oleg Kulebyakin, Caylen Blake, Daniel Walters along with defenseman Eddy Doyle & netminder Nicolas Cirka. (This season Cirka has split the goaltending duties this year with Dominion native Owen Bresson, who missed Sunday’s game due to injury.)

After playing the bulk of the season thus far with just one 20 year old, Halifax recently added overage forward Samuel Rousseau who was producing at over a point per game in the BCHL before arriving in Nova Scotia. On the backend, fourth year blueliner Owen Phillips has shouldered much of the responsibility, and now more so with the recent trade of Mathieu Taillefer, and Carlos Handel being away at the World Juniors.

Here’s what else you need to know ahead of tonight’s game!

Venue: Scotiabank Centre, Halifax, NS

Puck drop: 7 PM AST

Web coverage: https://shorturl.at/jbcog

Radio Coverage: 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com

Twitter: @cbehockey

Live stats: https://chl.ca/lhjmq-eagles/gamecentre/32207/