Armada snuff out the Mooseheads
The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada showed why they are among the top teams in the QMJHL on Friday night by smothering the Mooseheads attack in a 3-0 victory over Halifax.
Samuel Montembeault earned the shutout with 24 saves in his first game back in nearly a month after recovering from a knee injury. Only 11 of those shots were considered dangerous by QMJHL statisticians as the Armada did a good job of keeping the Mooseheads to the outside.
“Coach told us to hold our heads high. We played a pretty good game but they’re a real strong team and stingy defensively,” said Brett Crossley.
Joel Teasdale got the Armada on the board late in the opening period when he lifted a backhand shot to the far side of Alex Gravel after coming out from the corner. Blainville was almost able to put things into shutdown mode after getting the lead. Crossley said there wasn’t much room to work with for the Moose.
“They close space really quick, great sticks and the passing lanes are thin.”
The visitors had a cheering section or two amongst the 6,734 at Scotiabank Centre. Dartmouth’s Luke Henman and Shaun Miller of East Hants had plenty of family support in attendance as Blainville made its only stop of the season in Halifax. Henman picked up a pair of assists and was named the third star of the game.
The Mooseheads gave up two goals in the second period as Miguel Picard tallied on the power play and Alexandre Alain padded the Armada lead when he banged in a rebound at the 13-minute mark. Montembeault picked up the first star of the game while Teasdale was named the second star. Gravel was tagged with the loss after stopping 23 of 26 shots.
Nico Hischier played his final home game with the Herd before he heads to Oshawa where Switzerland will begin training for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship in Montreal and Toronto. Hischier is looking forward to taking part in the event for the second year in a row.
“We’re a small country but we are a really good team but I think we can surprise some (people),” he said.
Hischier agrees that Switzerland is starting to show that they can hang with the best in the world.
“We have some really good organizations and junior hockey is getting better in Switzerland too.”
Halifax played without defencemen Jared McIsaac and Walter Flower while Connor Moynihan was also sidelined. All three players are battling injuries.
The Mooseheads will visit the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Saturday night at 7pm. The next home game for the Herd is Wednesday night at 7pm against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
Tickets are available now at the Ticket Atlantic Box Office at Scotiabank Centre, select Superstore Outlets, TicketAtlantic.com or by phone at 902-451-1221.
