Blue Moose Pick Up Win At Home

The Halifax Mooseheads wore blue on Saturday but saw lots of red during the afternoon as the home team collected a 5-2 victory over the visiting Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Halifax got off to a slow start but Alexis Gravel stood fairly strong in the first period, letting in just one goal on 13 shots in the opening 20. The Mooseheads played much better in the middle frame and scored three goals in less than six minutes to lead the game 3-1 after 40 minutes. Newly acquired Jake Ryczek picked up his first Q career point this afternoon after passing the puck to Connor Moynihan who scored his 12th goal of the season. In the third period Cape Breton had the upper hand for most of the frame and were able to close the gap to a goal on Leon Gawanke's 3rd of the year but the tides turned towards the Herd once again in the final 5 minutes. Rookie Xavier Parent recorded his first career two goal game, including the insurance marker at the 15:10 point of the final frame. It was a physical game, however the referees decided to mostly let the boys play the game out and only handed out 5 penalties the whole match.

FINAL: Screaming Eagles 2 at Mooseheads 5
Stars: 3. Alexis Gravel HAL | 2. Jake Ryczek HAL | 1. Xavier Parent HAL
Attendance: 8,902
MC's Top Herd: Xavier Parent

GAME LOG
First period
19:02 CAP Brooklyn Kalmikov (11) | A: Martineau & Proulx

Second period
8:45 HAL Xavier Parent (9) | A: Bishop
10:38 HAL Otto Somppi (12), PP | A: Chainey
14:04 HAL Connor Moynihan (12) | A: Ryczek

Third period
11:23 CAP Leon Gawanke (3), PP | A: Martineau & Smith
15:10 HAL Xavier Parent (10) | A: Higgins & Kyte
16:24 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (16), PP | A: Durandeau & Somppi

Shots: 31-27 in favour of Cape Breton
Powerplay: CAP - 1-for-2; HAL - 2-for-3

NOT DRESSED - Cooper Jones (healthy), Jared McIsaac (suspended), Filip Zadina (world juniors) and Barrett Dachyshyn (healthy)

UP NEXT - Game 2 of the Hurley Cup series will go tomorrow in Sydney between your Mooseheads and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Puck drops at 2pm.