Eagles Fall To Wildcats, Will Play Halifax In The Playoffs
NOTES FROM THE GAME
– The Moncton Wildcats built a 5-2 lead after two periods and scored four third period goals in a 9-2 victory over the Cape Breton Eagles. Combined with Baie-Comeau’s victory over Chicoutimi on Saturday afternoon, the result puts the Eagles in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Eagles will play the Halifax Mooseheads in the opening round of the playoffs.
– Jacob Newcombe opened the scoring for the Eagles in the opening two minutes on the power play, the first of his two goals on the day.
– Eagles defenseman Conor Shortall was given a game misconduct in the first period for a check to the head of Moncton forward Alex Mercier, who did not return to the game.
– The teams engaged in multiple skirmishes in the third period, with twelve players receiving ten minute misconducts- Cape Breton’s Trevor Thurston, Xavier Daigle, Angelo Fullerton, Olivier Houde, Ivan Ivan, Cameron Henderson, and Brayden Schmitt along with Moncton’s Hugo Marcil, Oscar Plandowski, Gabe Smith, Luke McPhee, Charles Beaudoin.
– Beaudoin led the Moncton attack with two goals & two assists. Beaudoin, along with fellow overagers Anthony Hamel & Vincent Labelle, was honoured before the game and they were named the game’s three stars.
– Nicolas Ruccia came in in relief of the Oliver Satny following the second period of play. Satny took the loss, stopping 28 of 33 shots while Ruccia stopped 13 of 17 in relief. Jacob Steinman stopped 16 of 18 in the win.
Despite the final scoreline, the Eagles started strong, finishing a pass from Cam Squires to score on early power play to make it 1-0. The Eagles strong special teams play continued as they killed off the major penalty to Shortall. However, not long after the Wildcats tied the game as Gabe Smith finished a cross-crease pass from Maxim Barbashev. Before period’s end, the Wildcats took the lead when Yoan Loshing buried a one timer on a Beaudoin pass.
It was still a 2-1 game at the halfway mark of regulation- another feed from Beaudoin, this time to Thomas Auger between the circles, set up what would stand as the winning goal. Moncton added to their lead with a power play marker from Loshing in the right circle, but the Eagles got it back 12 seconds later when Newcombe converted on a pass from behind the net from Cam Squires.
However, Loshing completed his hat trick by beaking through the middle of the ice and putting the puck through Schmitt’s legs and by Satny. Moncton took a 5-2 lead into the final stanza.
The Eagles had a power play to begin the third period, but couldn’t find the back of the net- and moments later the Wildcats made the Eagles pay with their own power play goal, with Moncton captain Alexis Daniel lighting the lamp. Moncton then pulled away, with Barbashev tallying the seventh goal, and Beaudoin notching a pair, the latter coming on the power play.
This marks the fourth time in league history the Cape Breton Eagles will meet the Halifax Mooseheads in the playoffs, the most recent meeting coming in 2008. Halifax has won two of three prior meetings. Game one goes Friday night in Halifax at 7 PM and will be televised on Eastlink TV. The webcast can also be purchased at https://watch.chl.ca/ and fans also hear all the action beginning with the pre-game show with Patrick McNeil at 6:30 PM on 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com
Scratches For Cape Breton: Charles Boutin (upper body injury), Owen Arnold
Scratches For Moncton: Connor Trenholm (injury), Preston Lounsbury (injury), Miles Mueller (injury), Natan Grenier
Final Shots On Goal: 50-18 in favour of Moncton
Cape Breton Power Play: 1/3
Moncton Power Play: 2/6
