Game Recap: Charlottetown Islanders vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Charlottetown Islanders vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Final Score
Charlottetown - 4
Halifax - 7

Goalscorers
Charlottetown: Spenser Cobbold, Daniel Sprong, Anthony Cortese, Alexandre Goulet
Halifax: Brian Lovell, Darcy Ashley (2), Andrew Ryan (2), Philippe Gadoury, Nikolaj Ehlers

Goalies
Charlottetown: Eric Brassard (L)
Halifax: Zachary Fucale (W)

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

Philippe Gadoury. I haven't seen much of him beforehand (I've missed quite a few games) but he was very noticeable in the first period. He stood out in a good way, by making plays and generally handling the puck well. He tempered down the rest of the game but did get a goal in the second.

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

Now, he did have a good game (2 goals and an assist), but it looks like Ashley's reputation as a chirper his catching up to him. During a break midway through the second, he was assess an unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct. It wasn't an overly long confrontation too, but the refs saw fit to sit him out for the rest of the period.

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

Outside a ton of fights, I'll go with Andrew Ryan's game winner. He was streaking in late on a 2-on-1 and Brent Andrews hit him with a pass that was easily redirected into an open net.

Notes

• Nice to know I'm not the only one struggling not to call them PEI. Even the jumbotron had them as PEI, not Charlottetown.
• The game was a bit late to start due to power issues. The main lights were fine, but the upper sections and boxes weren't lit up.
• This game was literally three acts. Act one (first period) was the scoring. Act two (second) was the fights and penalties. Act three (third) combined the first two acts in a nice mess of things.
• The Mooseheads should change their name to the Corsis. My god did they ever dominate play in the early going. It seemed like the shot counter was asleep, as it seemed like they should have had more than 11 shots in the first period.
• Brian Lovell scored his first of the season on a lengthy wrist shot. He finished an assist short of a Gordie Howe hat trick.
• Two nice goals in the first (one by both teams). Halifax: Andrew Ryan was on a partial breakaway and roofed a backhand over Brassard. Charlottetown: Daniel Sprong deked past a defender and shot it short-side past Fucale.
• Charlottetown did have a goal called back after a Harlem Shake-type moment happened in Fucale's crease. Just seconds before, Cobbold was alone in front of Fucale and got a few whacks in before the crowd.
• Things got intense when Cobbold cross checked (it was more hit from behind/boarding) Drouin from behind, leading to Matt Murphy to step in and take on Cobbold.
• The fight I was kind of hoping would happened (Brian Lovell vs. Liam Alcalde) was stopped by the linesmen before it could happened. Both ended up with minors for slashing.
• MacKenzie Weegar and Kameron Kielly went after each other, but couldn't do much because the linesmen got between them early (the linesmen stepping in becomes important later in the third)
• Sprong took down a player (Ehlers?) from behind in a slewfooting matter, leading to a scrum. Only roughing penalties came out of that.
• Ok, now he get to the third period and OH MY GOD! COACH FIGHT! Yes, Halifax assistant coach Jim Midgley and Charlottetown head coach Gordie Dwyer get into an argument. Just looking at their HockeyDB pages, my money's on Dwyer if the partition comes down.
• The Islanders score on a 2-man advantage, Ashley gets called for a high stick after the goal, Islanders score on a 2-man advantage again.
• To round out the fights from this game: Danny Moynihan fought Kameron Kielly, and Brian Lovell fought Guillaume Rioux-Legault after Lovell decided to finish a check way late. Conor Moynihan-Bradley Kennedy and Brandon Vuic-Zach Beaton bouts were stopped before they could get going.
• Both teams ended up totaling 106 PIMs. This does not include all the 10-minute misconducts, which was probably over 100 PIMs on it's own. Also I think the refs mislabelled a few penalties.
• These teams meet next week in Charlottetown. Fun!

Pictures

 



Halifax bench with about a minute left in the game.

Murphy - Cobbold Fight

 

Lovell - Rioux-Legault Fight