Game Recap: Baie-Comeau Drakker vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Yes, I'm back semi-regularly-until-I-eventually-tail-off blogging about the Halifax Mooseheads. Last year they went all the way, winning the President's Cup and eventually the Memorial Cup. I'll post some pictures of last year's President Cup win once I get the photos sorted out. In the mean time, this season...

Baie-Comeau Drakkar vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Final Score
Baie-Comeau - 1
Halifax - 2 (SO)

Goalscorers
Baie-Comeau: Denis Gorbunov
Halifax: Andrew Ryan

Goalies
Baie-Comeau: Simon Lemieux (L)
Halifax: Zach Fucale (W)

Fireball Player
(He's so hot, nothing is gonna put this guy out)

Fucale. Fucale-Fucale-Fucale. He basically wrote the definition of stealing a game tonight (minus the one fluky goal).

Snake Bitten Player
(No amount of sucking will help get the poison out of him)

Team Defense. Not just the defensemen, the team. They were completely outworked during the third period. Multiple times they gave up a breakaway. Thankfully, Fucale was on it tonight.

Play of the Game
(Every game has a defining moment, this is probably it)

Jesse Lussier (more on him in a sec) scoring the only shootout goal to restore order in the universe stands out. Other than that, it was Fight Night. Yes, 5 fights with multiple roughing penalties for after-whistle stuff. The Buffalo-Toronto thing has nothing on this (ok, a bit of a different issue). I'm guessing there is still bad blood from the President Cup Final from last year.

Notes

• I would like to see a time on ice sheet for this game. I swear Liam Alcalde didn't get a second after his fight 2 minutes into this game.
• Drakkar player Imama was basically in everything tonight. He got laid out early on and just seemed to be in every scrum afterwards. Surprisingly, only 4 PIMs.
• Funniest thing in the game: a train wreck in front of the Baie-Comeau bench. At least 2 players from each team fell down.
• About Lussier: he wears #10 and plays defense. If you recall from last year, only one man in Mooseheads history should be that guy, and he's  Konrad Abeltshauser. The shootout winner though, my stance may soften.
• Speaking of Abeltshauser, the guy who takes the title of my Euro-player-to-be-fascinated-over is...Timo Meier (would have been real easy to pick Nikolaj Ehlers).
• I do have a few videos of fights/scrums and shootout attempts. I'll put them in a separate post later today.

Pictures

Halifax wore special jerseys to commemorate their 20th season. Here is Fucale in warmup wearing it.



And here is the team's Danish superstar Ehlers.

Wait, the back of the jersey looks tucked in! And he's non-North American! AUTOMATIC CHARACTER ISSUES! (just kidding, and his jersey was fully un-tucked before the opening faceoff).

This was the first period, everything seemed ok (defensively).

Aftermath of the second period scrum and ensuing Murphy-Gregorie tilt



This was in the third period, a rare sight (defensively)

Probably the best opposite end of the ice picture I'll ever take this season

Of course, have to end it with the obligatory Meier picture.