Rousseau perfect in 2-0 win over Eagles
2023-10-04
Sydney, NS – The reigning goalie of the week in the Canadian Hockey League proved once again that he’s among the elite netminders in the nation with a perfect performance on Wednesday night at Centre 200 in Cape Breton. Mathis Rousseau stopped all 26 shots he faced to secure a 2-0 shutout victory for the Halifax Mooseheads. Logan Crosby scored the game-winning goal midway through the final period and Markus Vidicek put the game out of reach with an empty net tally in the final minute.
Rousseau has been rock solid since returning to the Mooseheads lineup over the weekend and he has been instrumental in three consecutive wins for the team to run Halifax’s record to 3-and-2. The 19-year-old goalie, who was invited to Arizona Coyotes training camp, has been nearly perfect since rejoining the crease for the Herd. He has a 0.67 goals against average and a .978 save percentage, both tops in the QMJHL.
Meantime, the duo of Logan Crosby and Lou Levesque continue to work their magic on the second line as they combined to create the game-winning goal on a night where it was tough to get one by either goalie. First star Nicolas Ruccia was extremely busy and had stymied the Herd for 50 minutes until Crosby finished off a little give-and-go with the rookie Levesque to break the scoreless deadlock. Crosby, the game’s second star, has found the scoresheet in all five Mooseheads games this season and leads the team in scoring with a total of seven points on three goals and four assists. Levesque is coming off a QMJHL Team of the Week nod and has put up six points in his first five career games with two goals and four assists. Brady Schultz also assisted on the Crosby goal.
Cape Breton pushed hard to find the equalizer in the final 10 minutes of action which included a big power play opportunity with 4:48 remaining when Mathieu Cataford was called for boarding. The penalty killing unit held strong despite some close calls and the Eagles came close again with Ruccia on the bench in favour of the extra attacker but could not solve Rousseau. Vidicek picked up his first goal of the season when he fired in an empty net goal from centre ice with Cataford picking up the assist. Surprisingly, Rousseau did not earn a star in the game as Cape Breton’s Conor Shortall got third star honours after delivering a game-high eight hits.
This line stays hot 🔥🔥
🚨 Crosby (3) 10:10 3rd period
🍎 Levesque, Schultz | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/chIGwUx0mn— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) October 5, 2023
Halifax will return home to Scotiabank Centre for a pair of games this weekend when they welcome Victoriaville and Blainville-Boisbriand on consecutive nights. The Tigres got a big boost when star defenceman Noah Warren was returned from Anaheim Ducks camp on Wednesday and he’s expected to be in the lineup against the Mooseheads on Friday night at 7pm. The Armada will be here to battle the Herd on Saturday night at 7pm and the first 3,000 fans at that game will receive free Mooseheads fridge magnet schedules. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca
