Mooseheads finish 2025 on a high note
2025-12-31
Oleg Kulebiakin scored twice as part of a potent Mooseheads attack and Halifax finished 2025 with a tidy 5-2 victory over the Eagles in Cape Breton on New Year’s Eve.
The Herd came out of the gates much stronger than in their previous two games and returned to form by taking the decisive victory over their rivals to split the two-game Battle of Nova Scotia series that began less than 24 hours earlier at Scotiabank Centre.
Defenceman Lincoln Waugh scored for the first time in the regular season as a member of the Mooseheads and it came against his former team while Quinn Kennedy and Kulebiakin put the visitors up 3-0 after the opening 20 minutes of play. The Eagles responded with one on the power play from Reece Peitzsche for the only scoring of the second period to cut into the Halifax lead to make it a 3-1 game after 40 minutes.
A wild 57 seconds of action ensued late in the game when Kulebiakin was sprung on a partial breakaway and scored his second of the day at the 15:15 mark. Cape Breton’s Jacob Hartlin responded 40 seconds later but it was Shawn Carrier’s career-high 20th of the season another 17 seconds after Hartlin’s tally that made it a 5-2 game when the dust settled.
A pair of goals on the day for Oleg Kulebiakin 😤@FloHockey | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/Ul0pbYs0XX
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) December 31, 2025
Nick Cirka was solid between the pipes for the Mooseheads with 19 saves on 21 shots. Connor Towle took the loss with 19 saves on 24 shots against.
It was a huge day for 20-year-old veteran Samuel Rousseau for the Herd who not only chipped in with a pair of assists but dished out a game-high eight hits. Rousseau played the centre position for the first time with the Moose and played on the top line with Shawn Carrier and Quinn Kennedy. Malik L’Italien, Eddy Doyle, Danny Walters, Connor MacPherson and Kennedy each had single assists.
The record improved to 18-14-1-1 for the Mooseheads who pulled within two points of the third place Eagles in the Eastern Conference standings. Halifax will return to Scotiabank Centre this weekend to entertain the Moncton Wildcats on Saturday at 7pm. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca
