Oceanic win fierce battle in Halifax
2024-10-06
It was no friendly affair on the ice on Sunday afternoon at Scotiabank Centre where the Rimouski Oceanic fought back to beat the Mooseheads 4-3 thanks to a late Mathieu Cataford goal.
The reigning QMJHL MVP and former Mooseheads star had a goal and an assist in the Rimouski win but also laid a first period hit on Halifax Captain Brady Schultz that knocked the defenceman out for the game with an upper body injury. Schultz, who was in a sling in the press box, is out indefinitely pending further examination.
The blueline was further depleted for the Mooseheads when Jack Martin was tossed with a five minute major and a game misconduct for a hit to the head near the midway point of the second period which proved to be a turning point in the game.
It was a game that featured plenty of rough stuff during play and after the whistle. Braeden MacPhee was particularly fired up during a scrum in the crease with Cataford early in the second period that resulted in full penalty boxes on both sides.
Halifax built up a 3-1 lead after a first period goal by Logan Crosby and tallies from Antoine Fontaine and Owen Phillips 3:45 apart early in the second period. The Memorial Cup hosting Oceanic mounted more and more pressure as the period wore on and first star Pavel Simek cut into the lead to make it a 3-2 game for the Herd after 40 minutes. It was all Rimouski in the final period as they outshot a tired Halifax squad 19-6. Mathys Dube got the equalizer at the 6:54 mark and Cataford netted the eventual winner at 16:18.
The Moose pulled goalie Mathis Rousseau with 1:40 to play and created a couple of scoring opportunities but couldn’t find the answer. Rousseau was busy all day and finished with 34 saves while Samuel St-Hilaire got the win with 18 stops.
The loss drops Halifax’s record to 5-2 while Rimouski evened their record at 3-3. Next up for the Herd is a road game in Acadie-Bathurst on Wednesday night. Those teams will have a rematch on Friday night back at Scotiabank Centre at 7pm. The Mooseheads will also entertain Sherbrooke next Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.
