Crossley’s late goal sinks Sea Dogs
The Halifax Mooseheads picked up a pre-season road win on Sunday afternoon when they edged the Saint John Sea Dogs 3-2 at the QPlex in Quispamsis, NB.
19-year-old veteran Brett Crossley had the game-winning goal with just 4:47 remaining in regulation when his shot from between the top of the circles beat Saint John goalie Matthew Williams. The defense combination of Jared McIsaac and Justin Barron had the assists in what turned out to be a big day on the stats sheet for the duo. Barron had a three point afternoon and now has six points (three goals – 3 assists) in five games.
The Dogs were first on the board as Samuel LeBlanc scored with the man advantage late in the first period but with the Herd enjoying a power play of their own Justin Barron jumped up in the play and fired in a shot to tie the game 1-1 just 15 seconds into the middle period. Cole Stewart picked up the assist on Barron’s third goal of the pre-season.
The excellent special teams play continued for Halifax as Jared McIsaac got in on the action, scoring from a few feet inside the blue line on the power play at 8:42 of the period. Barron was in on that one too as he grabbed the first of his two assists in the game. Connor Moynihan also had an assist on the goal by McIsaac which came in his first game of the pre-season. The Truro native had only practiced with the team to this point after having his wisdom teeth pulled over a week ago. Three of his four shots were of the dangerous variety on Sunday.
Saint John tied the game about three minutes later when William Poirier beat starting goalie Blade Mann-Dixon from the left circle. Mann-Dixon was seeing his first game action since getting hurt in a game against Moncton on February 5th of last season. The 20-year-old made 34 saves on 36 shots. Sea Dogs starter Alex D’Orio played a little more than 30 minutes before swapping places with Williams. D’Orio stopped 15 of 17.
The Maritime rivals each had plenty of power play opportunities in the game with Halifax going 2-for-7 and the Dogs 1-for-6. Crossley’s goal helped improve the Mooseheads pre-season record to 4-2 which includes the Moncton Rookie Challenge. The Moose now have a long stretch in between games and won’t play again until they host the Moncton Wildcats on Friday, September 8th at 7pm at the Halifax Forum. The Herd will face the Wildcats again the next day in Springhill before closing the pre-season Friday, September 15th at 7pm at Scotiabank Centre.
Tickets for the three Halifax Mooseheads pre-season home games are on sale now through Ticket Atlantic. All games are general admission. Tickets available at the Ticket Atlantic Box Office, Select Superstore Outlets and the Official Mooseheads Shop at Scotia Square Mall. Tickets for the September 15th game only are available online at TicketAtlantic.com
