Big Victory on National Television

Photo - Shawn Davidson

Halifax took advantage of the exposure that a nationally televised game gives and played a pretty good game that led to a 4-1 victory over the Gatineau Olympiques. Alexis Gravel put on a show by stopping 29 shots while Otto Somppi had two big goals to help the Mooseheads get the win in front of over 8,000 fans on Saturday evening. The game started with a small pre-game ceremony because the Memorial Cup trophy was in the house. Herd alum Brent Andrews and Darcy Ashley came out with the Cup and a few military personnel who were all apart of the ceremonial faceoff. After the anthem, the puck dropped and there wasn't much action in either end for the first 10 minutes but Halifax was able to get a powerplay goal on their second shot to get the early lead. Max Fortier made some nice moves late in the frame putting the home team up 2-0 after the first period. Gravel stayed strong in the second period as Gatineau really came out, outshooting the Moose 10-5 but the score stayed 2-0 through 40 minutes. The Olympiques were able to get one through Alexis in the third but Somppi scored his second to give Halifax the two goal lead again. With about seven minutes to go in the match, the Piques captain Alex Breton got a stick in the gut and was helped off the ice to the dressing room but it seemed to make the away team pissed off as there were a couple of scrums in those final minutes. The first was Raphael Lavoie versus Jeffrey Durocher fighting off the faceoff and as those two players were skating to the dressing rooms, the coaches exploded with not very nice words and Fortier decided to say some choice words as well causing him to be tossed. The second was a short boxing match between Connor Moynihan and Gabriel Bilodeau.

FINAL: Olympiques 1 at Mooseheads 4
Stars: 3. Tristan Berube GAT | 2. Otto Somppi HAL | 1. Alexis Gravel HAL
Attendance: 8,681
MC's Top Herd: Alexis Gravel

GAME LOG
First period
10:12 HAL Otto Somppi (26), PP | A: Zadina & McIsaac
18:16 HAL Maxime Fortier (29) | A: Durandeau

Second period
None

Third period
7:56 GAT William Basque (2) | A: Roy & Breton
9:30 HAL Otto Somppi (27) | A: Barron
19:43 HAL Arnaud Durandeau (18), EN | A: Somppi & Groulx

Shots: 30-25 in favour of Gatineau
Powerplay: GAT - 0-for-5; HAL - 1-for-3

NOT DRESSED - Patrick Kyte (injured), Ryan Barbosa (healthy) and Joel Bishop (injured)

SCORES
Drummondville 5 at Moncton 4
Val-d'Or 4 at Baie-Comeau 5
Chicoutimi 2 at Quebec 8
Rouyn-Noranda 3 at Rimouski 5


UP NEXT: The Mooseheads will host Dom Ducharme and the Drummondville Voltigeurs tomorrow afternoon. Puck drops at 3pm.