Battle of NS Round 1 Goes to Halifax

Connor scoring his goal

The first round of the battle of Nova Scotia during the 2016-17 regular season went to the Halifax Mooseheads who gritted out a 6-4 victory over their provincial rival Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Saturday night. Despite there being quite a few new faces on both teams, there was a lot of animosity between the two teams already this year. Calls that were missed didn't help and neither did a few of the Cape Breton players going after Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Nico Hischier most of the evening. The 17 year old Swiss forward actually was cross checked into the boards from behind with less than a minute to go in the second period which gave Halifax a 5 minute powerplay. Hischier left for the dressing room but was back on the ice during the ensuing man advantage in the final period. The Herd need to work on their PP as they could not convert on in that long extra man advantage or the other three times. Newcomer Keigan Goetz was a welcome addition in the physicality area of the game but it did get him in trouble once. He even scored his first QMJHL goal less than 8 minutes in.

FINAL: Screaming Eagles 4 at Mooseheads 6
Stars: 3. Bradley Kennedy HAL | 2. Jordan Ty Fournier CAP | 1. Keigan Goetz HAL
Attendance: 6,977
MC's Top Herd: Keigan Goetz

GAME LOG
First period
7:48 HAL Brett Crossley (1) | A: none
9:18 CAP Tyler Hylland (2) | A: Gawanke & Fournier
9:48 CAP Drake Batherson (1) | A: Hylland & Glotov
12:10 HAL Keigan Goetz (1) | A: Sorrentino & Groulx
19:53 HAL Taylor Ford (1) | A: Kennedy & Dachyshyn

Second period
8:09 HAL Connor Moynihan (1) | A: Flower & Crossley
9:26 CAP Jordan Ty Fournier (5) | A: Smith & Bertrand
13:17 CAP Drake Batherson (2) | A: Leblanc & Baillargeon

Third period
9:37 HAL Maxime Fortier (3) | A: HIschier
19:52 HAL Maxime Fortier (4) | A: Durandeau

Powerplay: CAP - 0-for-3, HAL - 0-for-4
Shots: 34-29 in favour of Halifax

SCORES
Rouyn-Noranda 5 at Gatineau 1
Moncton 0 at Saint John 5
Val-d'Or 5 at Victoriaville 7

UP NEXT: Halifax will now travel to Charlottetown to take on the Islanders Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 3pm.