Regiment lock up 3rd seed in win over Halifax
2026-03-20
It was a struggle on the road for the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday night as they opened the final weekend of the regular season with a 6-1 loss to the Newfoundland Regiment at the Mary Brown’s Centre.
The Herd had a strong first few minutes of the game but it turned around quickly once Regiment rookie-of-the-year Ben Veitch slipped in behind defencemen Brenden Espenell and Lincoln Waugh to bury his 11th goal of the campaign and set the home team off and running in front of more than 6,500 fans in St. John’s.
Six different players lit the lamp for the Regiment as they locked up the Eastern Conference’s third seed for Round 1 of the playoffs. Liam Arsenault and Louis-Francois Belanger also scored in the opening period for a 3-0 lead before Dawson Sharkey increased the advantage to 4-0 at 11:19 of the second period. Alexis Mathieu and Marek Danicek also scored for Newfoundland who will await scores from around the league to determine their opponent in the opening round of the playoffs.
Quinn Kennedy scored the lone goal for the Mooseheads with a second period power play strike, giving him 31 goals on the season. Owen Phillips and Oleg Kulebiakin earned the assists.
Quinn Kennedy 31st goal of the season 🚨@FloHockey | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/PyRCoMy1wU
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) March 20, 2026
Final shots were 31-27 in favour of the Mooseheads but Newfoundland goalie Louis-Antoine Denault was the difference with 30 saves. Nick Cirka made his second straight start in goal for Halifax with Owen Bresson serving the second game of a five-game suspension. Cirka made 21 saves while taking the loss.
The Halifax loss means that the Mooseheads are now officially locked in as the seventh seed in the conference and will face the second seed. Moncton and Chicoutimi both scored wins on Friday night to remain separated by just one point atop the conference with the Wildcats holding the narrow lead heading into the final day of action. A Moncton win tomorrow would set up a Mooseheads vs Sagueneens first round matchup, while a Chicoutimi win coupled with a Moncton loss of any sort would give us a Mooseheads versus Wildcats battle in the first round.
No matter the opponent, Halifax will open the playoffs on the road with Games 1 & 2 coming next Friday and Saturday. The Mooseheads will host Games 3 & 4 at Scotiabank Centre on Tuesday, March 31 and Wednesday, April 1 at 7pm both nights. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca
