Mooseheads down Sea Dogs on home ice

The Halifax Mooseheads were back in action Saturday night as they welcomed the Saint John Sea Dogs to the Scotiabank Centre for the Herd’s first game since last Friday’s 7-3 loss to the Cape Breton Eagles. Defenseman Mathieu Taillefer made his Mooseheads debut on the third pairing, joining the Herd from the Brooks Bandits of the BCHL. In 18 BCHL games for the Bandits, Taillerfer notched 1 goal and 9 assists.

Jan Sprynar opened the scoring for the Herd, sending a missile up high on the Sea Dog goaltender before driving hard to the net and burying his own rebound 8:47 into the 1st period.  The Sea Dogs responded as Jacob Beaulieu tied the game with 4:34 remaining in the period, beating Mathis Rousseau on the breakaway after disrupting a Mooseheads play on his own end.

Saint John added another, and Nicolas Bilodeau threw a shot from the point on Rousseau. The puck bounced off Rousseau, and William Yared knocked it into the Halifax net to give the Sea Dogs the lead.

Liam Kilfoil tied the game on a penalty shot, beating the Saint John goaltender on the blocker side after Sea Dog Defenseman Nicolas Bilodeau disrupted a shorthanded breakaway opportunity for the Moosehead’s leading scorer.

Lou Levesque kept the party going for the Herd as Carlos Handel banked a pass of the skate of a Sea Dog player and onto the stick of Levesque, who sniped a shot over the shoulder of the Saint John Goaltender and into the goal.

The Sea Dog’s net was left empty after a timeout, with one minute left in the period in hopes of tying the game. Time ran out for the Saint John Sea Dogs, and the Herd claimed a 3-2 victory.

Halifax improved to 10-12-3 with the win, and the Sea Dogs fell to 13-14-0.

Halifax Earned the three stars of the game. Lou Levesque earned the first star with his game-winning goal in the third period. Liam Kilfoil was awarded the second star with a goal and an assist, and Mathis Rousseau took the third star with his 35-save effort in the win.

The Mooseheads are back tomorrow, Sunday, Dec 1st, as they host the Gatineau Olympiques at 3 p.m. You can catch all the action here on 95.7 news radio starting at 2:30 with the Mr. Lube pre-game show.