Pre-season closes with a loss
A high-scoring first period for the Screaming Eagles decided the final pre-season game of 2016 for the Halifax Mooseheads who dropped a 5-1 decision to Cape Breton on Friday night at the Forum.
“We obviously didn’t have the start we were looking for but at the same time it’s been a long training camp and I don’t want to put too much thought into that game,” Head Coach Andre Tourigny said.
Cape Breton’s Jordan-Ty Fournier opened the scoring at 4:21 when he re-directed a point shot to the left of Mooseheads starting goalie Kevin Resop.
Three more goals from Anthony Beauchamp, Drake Batherson and Massimo Carozza in a span of exactly four minutes chased Resop from the net in favour of rookie Alex Gravel. Resop allowed four goals on 11 shots. Tyler Hylland scored 1:52 after Gravel entered the game to complete the scoring for Cape Breton but the rookie netminder turned aside 20 of the 21 shots he faced in the contest.
Mooseheads sophomore defenceman Walter Flower said Coach Tourigny kept his calm with the club during the intermission.
“He came in and he didn’t freak out or anything he said I’m not like that and just told us to stick to our DNA and I thought we did that the rest of the game.”
As for the result, the new Head Coach isn’t worried by any stretch of the imagination.
“We worked really hard throughout the entire training camp and we won’t let that game effect what we think about our team at this point,” Tourigny said.
The Mooseheads played with a patchwork defence corps with Jordan Lepage sitting out the second game of a four-game suspension, Jared McIsaac out day-to-day with a lower body injury and Jocktan Chainey still sidelined as he recovers from off-season shoulder surgery.
Defenceman Adam Nolan was recalled earlier in the day from the Valley Wildcats while forward Brett Crossley was asked to fill in on the blueline for the third time this pre-season.
Tourigny says there is no exact timetable for Chainey’s return but admits he is slowly but surely getting closer to returning to action.
“He will have contact in practice this week but he will not be ready (to play) next week unless someone tells me otherwise. A week, two weeks maybe three weeks, I don’t really know.”
Bradley Kennedy provided the Mooseheads lone offense when he finished off a pretty passing play from Cooper Jones and Arnaud Durandeau with a tap-in at the side of the net 56 seconds into the third period.
Kyle Jessiman started and went the distance between the pipes for Cape Breton, stopping 29 of 30 shots.
The game certainly took on a rough tone with five players on each team racking up double-digit penalty minutes. The teams combined for a total of 155 minutes in penalties just going to show that there is never any love lost between the provincial rivals, even in the pre-season.
Flower says he’s counting the days until the regular season starts next weekend.
“Oh I can’t wait to play back in our home building. We’ve got the best fans and it’s going to be fun.”
The Mooseheads kick off the 2016-17 campaign on the road next Friday night at 7pm against the Moncton Wildcats before returning to Scotiabank Centre for the home-opener Saturday, September 24th at 7pm when they entertain Joe Veleno and the Saint John Sea Dogs.
Individual Tickets are now on sale
Halifax Mooseheads Full Season and 15-Game Ticket Packages for the 2016-17 season are on sale now. Get yours at the Mooseheads Season Ticket Office in the Scotiabank Centre, by phone at 902-429-FANS(3267), by email at [email protected] or online at www.TicketAtlantic.com
