Mooseheads Drop A Close One

Losing streak hits seven as Moose waste opportunity to win

The Halifax Mooseheads had pride at stake after losing their last two games with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles by a total of 10 - 2, but let the game slip away tonight losing 2 – 0.

Peter Delmas got his first start for the Mooseheads and played extremely well, with both Cape Breton goals coming from breakdowns by the Halifax defence. Outshooting their opponents 31 – 25, the Moose piled on pressure for much of the game and were unfortunate to walk away without any points.

The Herd came out hard and showed much more spark in their second game in as many nights but just couldn’t solve goalie Olivier Roy. Cape Breton broke the deadlock on the power play when Victor Hertzberg broke in on net and snapped the puck past Delmas for his 15th goal of the season.

A long dump in on Roy caused some controversy as he failed to cover the puck and Gerrad Grant put it in the back of the net, but the Ref was quick on the whistle and had already blown the play dead. Andrew Wigginton was the next Moosehead to have a chance as he broke in on a 2 on 1, opting to pass to Carl Gélinas who shot wide.

The Mooseheads had the run of the play in the third period and Gabriel Desjardins had the two best chances for the Moose as he narrowly missed two golden opportunities.

Charles Bety, in his first game back from suspension, took a late penalty but the Mooseheads killed it off. As Bety came back on the ice, another defensive breakdown saw Delmas left out to dry, with Hertzberg breaking in on net and slipping the puck in for his second goal of the night.
Dylan McGuigan had another physical night and Desjardins played in what may have been his best game of the season, looking dangerous all night and being rewarded with extra ice-time for his solid play.

Announced attendance was 6,735.

Fans can be happy with their team competing with one of the best in the league but will be

disappointed that the Moose wasted a chance to pick up some points.

Three Stars
3rd – Peter Delmas (HAL) – Played well in his first start for the Moose stopping 23 shots
2nd – Olivier Roy (CB) – Earned his 11th career shutout stopping 31 shots on the night
1st – Victor Hertzberg (CB) – Led his team with a two goal effort

The Mooseheads have no time to rest as they head off to Moncton to play the Wildcats tomorrow afternoon for their third game in three nights.

Henry Whitfield is an avid hockey enthusiast who covers all angles of the Halifax Mooseheads. Follow him on Twitter @HenryWhitfield for live game updates.

Juniors Roll Over Mooseheads

Tough night for injury ridden Moose; drop sixth straight

The Mooseheads came into Friday night’s match up against the Montreal Juniors with renewed energy after a flurry of action during the trade deadline.

The game saw the return of rookie Brent Andrews and Tomas Knotek from international tournaments, although neither had much of an impact on the outcome.

The Herd came out hard and almost capitalized on a number of chances but couldn’t convert.

The effort was not enough to hold off the Juniors who battled back and had a four goal second period that saw Moose goalie Mathieu Corbeil pulled from the game.

Newly acquired Delmas came in for relief to a loud cheer from the fans, only to let the first shot he faced right through him for the fourth goal. Eventually settling down, Delmas had a solid third period stopping a dozen shots.

Gerrad Grant finally answered back for the Moose with his 17th goal of the season late in the third period but by then it was too late for a comeback.

With Sawyer Hannay out of the line-up someone had to provide the grit and it was Dylan McGuigan who stood out with a number of big hits and strong physical play. 17-year-old Bradley MacDonald also had a solid night and showed streaks of the speed that scouts have been talking about.

The Mooseheads have now dropped six straight and are in tough to snap that streak with high flying Cape Breton and Moncton the next two teams on the schedule.

Announced attendance was just 4,890.

Three Stars
3rd – Tomas Knotek (HAL) – Worked hard for most of the game and added a helper on the late goal by Grant
2nd – Mathew Brenton (MTL) – Had one goal on the night and finished a +2
1st - Nicolas Chouinard (MTL) – Finished the game with a goal and an assist and was involved in most of the play for Montreal all night.

The last place Mooseheads (8-31-1-2) take on provincial rivals Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (24-15-2-3) Saturday, 7pm at the Metro Center

Henry Whitfield is an avid hockey enthusiast who covers all angles of the Halifax Mooseheads. Follow him on Twitter @HenryWhitfield for live game updates

Juniors Roll Over Mooseheads

Tough night for injury ridden Moose; drop sixth straight

The Mooseheads came into Friday night’s match up against the Montreal Juniors with renewed energy after a flurry of action during the trade deadline.

The game saw the return of rookie Brent Andrews and Tomas Knotek from international tournaments, although neither had much of an impact on the outcome.

The Herd came out hard and almost capitalized on a number of chances but couldn’t convert. The effort was not enough to hold off the Juniors who battled back and had a four goal second period that saw Moose goalie Mathieu Corbeil pulled from the game.

Newly acquired Delmas came in for relief to a loud cheer from the fans, only to let the first shot he faced right through him for the fourth goal. Eventually settling down, Delmas had a solid third period stopping a dozen shots.

Gerrad Grant finally answered back for the Moose with his 17th goal of the season late in the third period but by then it was too late for a comeback.

With Sawyer Hannay out of the line-up someone had to provide the grit and it was Dylan McGuigan who stood out with a number of big hits and strong physical play. 17-year-old Bradley MacDonald also had a solid night and showed streaks of the speed that scouts have been talking about.

The Mooseheads have now dropped six straight and are in tough to snap that streak with high flying Cape Breton and Moncton the next two teams on the schedule.

Announced attendance was just 4,890.

Dirty Nelly Three Star
3rd – Tomas Knotek (HAL) – Worked hard for most of the game and added a helper on the late goal by Grant
2nd – Mathew Brenton (MTL) – Had one goal on the night and finished a +2
1st - Nicolas Chouinard (MTL) – Finished the game with a goal and an assist and was involved in most of the play for Montreal all night.

The last place Mooseheads (8-31-1-2) take on their provincial rivals the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (24-15-2-3) Saturday, 7pm at the Metro Center

Henry Whitfield is an avid hockey enthusiast who covers all angles of theHalifax Mooseheads. Follow him on Twitter @HenryWhitfield for live game updates.

Editor's Note: The Mooseheads have traded for local 17 year old Bradley Macdonald and called him up from the Halifax Lions of the MJAHL.

Mooseheads First Half Recap

Hard Times Ahead in Herd Nation; Patience Will Be Rewarded
Article by Henry Whitfield

Moose Country knew this season would be a tough one. But they could not have imagined it would be this tough.
Looking for positives this season is like looking for a needle in a haystack. They are in there; you just need to look really hard.
Prior to the season Cam Russell had reinforced the fact that the Mooseheads would continue to rebuild and get younger in a bid to get back to being a powerhouse in the QMJHL again. Now sitting at the bottom of the league with just 19 points in their first forty one games, we recap the first half of the season and pick out the bright spots as Moose fight to make it into the playoffs and turn around the season.

The “Bash Brothers”
When Cam Russell acquired 19-year-old Spencer Metcalfe in the preseason one thing was in mind: Toughness.
As the season moves on, Metcalfe leads the league with 113 penalty minutes, dropping the gloves on a frequent basis with 13 fighting majors. Draft pick Sawyer Hannay has picked up the fighting touch and trails with 9 fighting majors, while Garret Clarke has 8. With a league leading total 51 fighting majors this season, the Moose have taken a turn towards being a much more physical and gritty team on the ice. Being able to protect their younger players as they find their footing in the league will help the Moose as they rebuild for the future.
Moose Migration
With Cam Russell acknowledging before the season that the team would be getting younger, it was the end of the road for fan favourites Ben MacAskill and Eric Louis-Seize, while the door was opened for highly touted draft picks Brent Andrews and Konrad Abeltshauser to step up and make the team. Yuri Cheremetiev was the next player to fall victim to the youth movement as he was traded to the Bathurst Titan in October.
Heading into the trade deadline, Russell was active dealing enforcer 19-year-old Spencer Metcalfe to the Moncton Wildcats for a seventh-round draft pick in 2011. The Moose wrapped up deadline day by dealing Guillaume Pelletier to P.E.I. for 17-year-old winger Bradley MacDonald and picking up Veteran goalie Peter Delmas from the Quebec Remparts for a sixth-round draft pick in 2011.

Injury Bug
Injury to the team has seen a dozen players miss games, hurting the on ice chemistry. Most significant being the injuries to Gerrad Grant, who started the season out of the action, and knee injuries to young defencemen Clarke and Abeltshauser. Over the holiday season, the Moose ran into more injury trouble as they lost Clarke again, this time to a concussion, and Linden Bahm to a broken wrist.

Bright Future
Don’t worry Moose fans, the future is bright. There are eight rookies currently seeing regular ice time for the Moose, including backup goalie Joel Grondin and first round draft pick Brent Andrews.
At the start of the season, the Mooseheads chose to give promising young players Matthew Boudreau, Trey Lewis and Jamie Bishop another season to develop. Halfway through the season Boudreau leads the Quebec midget AAA with 39 points in 24 games and both Lewis and Bishop have looked solid with their respective teams.
As injuries plague the Moose heading into the second half of the season, look to some of these young players to get a shot at cracking the second half roster.

Three Stars of the First Half
3rd Star – Spencer Metcalfe – Not only did he lead the league with 13 fighting majors and make players think twice before going after our talented players, he was the only Moose to have a positive plus/minus with a +3 rating. Metcalfe made up for his low offensive output with solid defensive play and hard work on a nightly basis.
2nd Star - Tomas Knotek – In a season with few highlights, Knotek has provided some exciting play on the ice and continued to score without a lot of talent up front to feed him the puck. The Moose Captain looked great before flying off to the World Juniors and will hopefully return with a new energy to boost the club down the stretch.
1st Star – Mathieu Corbeil - It’s hard to play for a losing team but it is even harder to do it in your first season as a starter. All eight Moosehead wins have come with him in net and without his solid play in net it would be hard to see the Moose having any at all. His play has improved and he will be a key to any Moose success in the second half.

The Mooseheads face the Montreal Juniors on Friday before taking on their provincial rivals Saturday when the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles come to the Metro Center.

Henry Whitfield is an avid hockey enthusiast who covers all angles of theHalifax Mooseheads. Follow him on Twitter @HenryWhitfield for live game updates.

Huskies Beat X-Men to win Rod Shoveller Classic

Ikeobi Uchegbu Wins MVP; Upshaw and Dunn Named All Stars

In a tournament hyped as a battle of several of the best backcourts in Canada, it was the brilliant play of the Saint Mary’s Huskies frontcourt that made the difference in the Rod Shoveller classic this past weekend at Dalplex on the campus of Dalhousie University.
5th year senior Ikeobi Uchegbu was named Tournament MVP and sophomore Simon Marr received all star nomination as the dynamic duo led the Huskies to the championship with a 71-66 victory over the rival Saint Francis Xavier X-Men.
The nationally ranked X-Men had been the story of the tournament before Sunday. Coach Steve Konchalski’s team had made easy work of Laurier and Ottawa with a devastating full court pressure defence, and an offence triggered by a trio of outstanding guards, led by the nation’s 2nd leading scorer, Halifax’s Christian Upshaw.
The veteran Huskies with seniors Uchegbu, Mark Mclaughlin, and the savvy Joey Haywood, bent but refused to break under the relentless pressure of the X-Men, and slowly began taking the game over in the 4th quarter with a half court passing game that seemed to give Ross Quackenbush’s troops an open look at the basket on every possession.
Leading the way was Uchegbu and Marr, working together with brilliant precision throughout the second half to spur the Huskies comeback. Uchegbu finished the game with 18 points and 9 rebounds, 1 day after a brilliant performance vs. the Dalhousie Tigers in the semi finals.
Miguel Pink came off the bench to add 11 points while Mclaughin and Haywood combined for 28 points for the Huskies.
Christian Upshaw led the way in defeat for St FX with 21 points and 8 rebounds.
Ottawa’s Josh Gibson-Bascombe and Dalhousie’s Simon Farine were also named to the All Star team.
The Huskies and X-Men will now prepare for conference play beginning next weekend. The X-Men are undefeated in the AUS this season and start the second term in Newfoundland for a 2 game set with the Memorial Seahawks. The Huskies will open at the Tower with 2 weekend games vs.UPEI.
The Dalhousie Tigers will host the Acadia Axemen this Friday at Dalplex. The game can be seen on ssncanada.ca. Tip time is 8:00 approximate.
Notes and Observations
Despite Saturday’s loss to the X-Men by 15, the Ottawa Gee Gee’s looked very impressive this weekend and should be a tough team to beat in the OUA. The Gee Gees posted double digit victories over the Acadia Axemen and Dalhousie Tigers. Josh Gibson-Bascombe, Warren Ward, and Donnie Gibson are an outstanding trio of guards and a great deal of fun to watch.....one of the intriguing sights this weekend were the sons of Victoria legend Eli Pasquale, Manny and Isiah, playing for the Laurentian Voyageurs. The pair combined for an exciting performance in Friday’s nightcap vs. the Tigers, hoisting up three point shots with little discretion.....The Laurentian/Laurier connection was also an interesting storyline. Peter Campbell used to be the coach of Laurentian and is now with Laurier. Campbell’s son, Jamie, plays at Laurentian for Shawn Swords, who played for Peter at Laurentian. John Campbell, another son of Peter, used to be the Head Coach of Women’s basketball at Laurentian, and is now the Head Coach at Dalhousie.....one official at Saturday’s semi final between Dal and SMU found himself sandwiched between the Campbell family after he assessed a technical foul to the Tiger’s head coach. As John yelled from the bench, Peter berated the official from the baseline seats......Mari Peoples-Wong has returned home to Ontario and will not finish the season with the Tigers. The athletic swingman has family concerns that he needs to address. To fill the roster spot, Campbell has recruited Cole Taylor to the program. Taylor is a speedy point guard from the Detroit area. Taylor saw regular minutes this weekend and looked impressive at times......Saturday’s semi final between the Huskies and Tigers was certainly the game of the weekend. The Tigers led 66-64 with about 12 seconds left but ended up losing the game 69-66 after a bizarre sequence of plays triggered by some craftiness from Uchebu of SMU. Uchegbu poked the ball away from Simon Farine on an inbounds pass; moments later snuck in for a rebound on a missed foul shot from teammate Demitri Harris; and finally pressured Tigers’ Joe Schow to lose the ball out of bounds in a wild finish to give the Huskies the win.....The Tigers still seemed shocked from the collapse in today’s game vs. Ottawa. The Gee Gees out scored Dalhousie 42-16 in the second half. After cruising through pre-season and the first three games of the regular season, the Tigers have now lost 5 of 6 games and will likely drop out of the national rankings this week after getting as high as 4th in the weekly poll.

Tigers Hockey Recap

Laura Shearer’s Tigers are poised for an AUS Championship run.

Photo Credit: Nick Pierce

Women good: Men bad... but Improving.

Last week I reviewed the first term performances of the Men’s and Women’s Soccer and Basketball teams.

This week I’ll be writing about the AUS championship contending women’s hockey team and the rebuilt Tigers men’s hockey team.

Tigers Women’s Hockey

The women’s hockey team have definitely met expectations in Tiger Town after one term of play. The only thing that slowed down this team was the swine flu in early November. The Tigers came into the season looking to make the jump from middle of the pack to contender in a conference that has been dominated in recent years by Moncton and Saint FX.

Mission accomplished.

Dalhousie has been very tough against Tier 2 teams like Saint Mary’s and St.Thomas, while taking care of business against the weaker teams in the conference. They finished the term with a 7-3 record for third place, but they had 2 games with teams from New Brunswick postponed due to the swine flu epidemic.

Head Coach Lesley Jordan and Captain Laura Shearer have both said they expect to win the AUS conference championship. Heading into the second term this ambitious team will need to find someone who can score on a regular basis besides Jocelyn Lemieux. Lemieux leads the team with 19 points, 11 greater than Robin Nicholson and Fielding Montgomery, tied for second with 8.

The Tigers have a losing record this season against the X-Women and Blue Eagles, although they

have played both teams tight on route to a combined 1-2 record.

The Tigers are loaded on the defensive end with a crop of big solid players mixed in with feisty skaters who can move the puck and quarterback the powerplay.

Goaltender Ashley Boutlier has been stellar with a 2.26 G.A.A.

The Tigers will need scoring output from other players if they are going to take down St FX and Moncton. The team gets an early test with a pivotal match up vs. the Blue Eagles on January 9th at the Dalhousie Arena.

Tigers Men’s Hockey

Revamped, reloaded, and rebuilding were all adjectives used in September to describe the Dalhousie Tigers. Pete Belliveau spent the entire summer on planes, trains, and automobiles to try and turn around a program that has been the worst in the country since 2003.

“Honestly I thought things would be a little bit better by this point,” said Coach Belliveau in an interview last month, referring to the team’s 2-8-2 record. That interview came an hour before the Tigers biggest win of the season, a drubbing of the St FX X-Men at the Dalhousie Memorial Arena. The Tigers finished the term the next night with a gritty overtime loss to the powerhouse SMU Huskies. Dalhousie has 9 points heading into January, 3 less than Belliveau’s anticipated goal of 12.

The Tigers are on pace to win 6 – 7 games, but could get close to 10 if Benjamin Breault is as good as advertised. The former 7th round pick of the Buffalo Sabres joins the team after a short career playing professional hockey in the East Coast League. Breault figures to bring some scoring punch to a team that is desperate for a legitimate sniper.

“Three lines of Guy Carbonneaus” is how Tiger’s Colour Commentator on ssncanada.ca, Steve Betts, has described the team, referring to their inability to put the puck in the net. Dalhousie has shown toughness and team speed, but goals have been at a premium.

The team has suffered from undisciplined play, receiving no fewer than 4 suspensions for illegal hits, and has looked completely lost for long stretches in their own zone. The stellar play of rookie netminder Bobby Nadeau has kept the Tigers in many games and given the team opportunities to pull games out late. Nadeau was lost for several weeks in November to swine flu.

With Moncton struggling and UPEI going through turbulent times, the Tigers have a chance to make the AUS playoffs for the first time in several years. Pete Belliveau is in year 2 of his 3 year rebuilding program, and a trip to the second season would be a significant step forward for the program.

Next Week: Men’s and Women’s Volleyball

bill@haligonia.ca
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Haligonia Sports Nation on Facebook!

Playing Santa Claus

Les Berry, the Head Coach of the Halifax Rainmen, hopes Santa brings a PBL championship.

Gifts to Local Halifax Sports Personalities if I was Chris Cringle

Andre Livingston, Owner of the Halifax Rainmen- More Basketball Fans at Rainmen Games
Livingston has done his part to try and make minor professional basketball work in Halifax. The Rainmen brass have put together a very competitive package for the Halifax sports market; A competitive team, local players and coaches, charismatic personalities like Eric Crookshank and John Strickland, games that have an “event” feel, and television coverage. Throw in the Weather Girls, Puddy, and Little Nate, and the Rainmen provide a lot of value for the price of a ticket. With the PBL all star game in Halifax and a Rainmen team that should go deep into the playoffs, this could be the year the franchise makes it big. If not, the writing may be on the wall for Livingston that Professional Basketball is not going to work in a city that has been a Mecca for university basketball in Canada.

Les Berry, Head Coach of the Halifax Rainmen – A PBL Championship
With the amount of talent, depth, and diversity Berry has put together on the Halifax Rainmen, the coach may find himself being held accountable if the team does not make a championship run. Berry’s biggest challenge is going to be distributing playing minutes to a roster that can go 10 deep. The only friction could come from players on the cusp of the starting line-up or eight man rotation. Berry will probably not have to worry about dissention from players like Gary Gallimore, Devon Norris, and John Strickland. Strickland seems to relish his role as a 12th man fan favourite and third assistant coach, while Norris and Gallimore have to be thrilled just to be on the roster. As the season progresses the only thing that could keep this team from the playoffs is dysfunction and coaching. The latter is not likely with the well travelled Coach Berry, but he’ll find himself front and centre in blame distribution if the Rainmen season begins to go south at any point this winter.

Cam Russell, Head Coach and GM of the Mooseheads – Moose keep playing .500 hockey.
Having survived a 12 game losing streak that had gone far past the point of acceptance with the dedicated Mooseheads faithful and local media, Russell has guided the team to 8 wins. After losing 18 of their first 20 games, the Mooseheads have played .500 hockey and miraculously still have a chance at a playoff spot. The Moose even have a win over the Saint John Sea Dogs, far and away the best team in the Q. As Russell continues to build towards year 3 of his rebuilding project, he’ll need to win close to half of the team’s remaining games as a nice show of faith to Moose fans. Herd Nation has been patient to say the least with Russell, enduring a horrific season last year and hanging in there as the team looked awful in October. Russell keeps telling us the Mooseheads are on schedule and will be much better in the second half. For his sake he better be right, another extended losing streak and the local media might finally start putting the heat on Bobby Smith to make a change.

Trevor Steinberg, Head Coach of SMU Huskies Hockey– A Return to CIS National Championships.
After the Huskies collapse last year in the CIS Semi Final to Western, Coach Steinberg and his troops need a return trip to get the program back on track. The AUS champions have looked shaky at times this season but have managed to gain 21 points, good for third place in the AUS, the most competitive conference in the countr. St FX and Acadia have emerged as contenders for number 2 in the standings, as the three schools battle to become fodder for the undefeated UNB Varsity Reds in the AUS Final. However, a trip to the final would get Steinburg back to nationals and an opportunity for redemption from last year’s stunning defeat.

John Campbell, Head Coach of Dal Men’s Basketball – The Return of Josh Beattie to a Tigers line-up that has not received consistent play from 5th year senior Andrew Sullivan and athletic newcomer Mari-Peoples Wong.

Steve Sumarah, Head Coach of SMU Football- A recruiting class with size, size, and more size; Sumarah needs to beef up the lines so that the Huskies can avoid a third straight CIS semi final loss in 2010.

Ross Quackenbush, Head Coach of SMU Men’s Basketball – A fourth player to emerge as an offensive threat so that the team doesn’t have to ride their talented trio of Ikeobi Ucheqbu, Mark Mclaughlin, and Joey Haywood.

Halifax Lions- More butts in the seats at the Halifax Forum. The MJAHL team has played winning hockey the past 2 months and are slowly climbing the standings. However it has yet to translate into any dramatic increase in attendance. The organization does a lot of very good things and hopefully will turn the corner at some point.

Anna Stammburger, Head Coach of Dal Women’s basketball- A healthy Alex Legge and a late season push at a playoff spot. With Legge and April Scott back in the Tigers line up, expectations will increase on the struggling program as March approaches.

Gary Galimore, Halifax Rainmen – A season of good behaviour. The notorious hothead is still remembered for hitting a minor official last year in Cape Breton as an assistant coach at St FX. Gallimore got into a heated exchange with a Quebec player last weekend in a preseason game at the Metro Centre. Gallimore needs to avoid making the news for wrong reasons.

Pete Belliveau, Head Coach of Dal Men’s hockey- Goals. Belliveau’s revamped Tigers have struggled mightily to score. Tigers colour commentator Steve Betts has described the team as “three lines of Guy Carbonneaus”. Help is on the way in the form of Benjamin Breault, a five year player in the QMJHL who was a 7th round selection of the Buffalo Sabres.

Saint Mary’s Athletics- Webcasting. The Huskies may be the most renowned athletics program in Canada that does not offer webcasting of home games. Newscast.com covers the Men’s Hockey team but St FX, Dalhousie, Cape Breton, and UPEI offer extensive webcasting of all their programs. Dalhousie even covers swimming! Get in the game SMU.

ACAA Men’s Basketball – One team that can stay within 10 points of Rick Plato’s Mount Saint Vincent Mystics . MSVU has now about 100 conference games in a row.

Lesley Jordan, Head Coach of Dal women’s basketball – A Secondary Scorer- As her team tries to compete with Moncton and St FX for the AUS championship, Jordan needs another player to step up and help high scoring forward Jocelyn Leblanc.

Halifax Sports Fans- A Mooseheads playoff spot, a Rainmen championship, a packed Metro Centre for the Briar, and a return of championship basketball in March.

Merry Christmas friends!
bill@haligonia.ca
Twitter- haligoniasports

Facebook - CKDU Sports Nation

Lions Ready for Nationally Ranked Slammers

Undefeated Woodstock Visits the Forum Thursday Night

The MJAHL Halifax Lions have been pretty happy with themselves and their play over the last month. Since starting the season with 3 straight losses, the Lions had been 10-7-2 with a 4 game winning streak before being dismantled last week at home in a 9-2 loss to Summerside.

The Lions looked like a team that had grown a little too confident and it showed in their lacklustre play. The Capitals came in aggressive and hungry and led the game from start to finish winning in a rout.

A similar performance vs. the undefeated Woodstock Slammers this week, and the Lions could lose by double digits.

There will be no room for error for Coach Troy Ryan and his troops. However they should have some confidence heading into the highly anticipated match up. The last time Woodstock came to Halifax, the Lions took them to overtime before losing on a goal by Slammer’s star player Brogan Bailey.

This was before the addition of high scoring Brendan Taylor, when the team was struggling to score goals. With Taylor, the newly acquired Brad MacDonald, and the return of Stephen Woodworth and Mike Rofsky, the Lions can score in bunches. The only issue heading into Thursday is which team will show up; the Lions who won 4 games in a row at the start of the month, or the team that looked lethargic and disinterested last week vs. Summerside.

Lion’s fans hope it’s the former.

Game time is Thursday night at 7:00 at the Forum on Windsor Street.

Slammers to Watch
# 21 Brogan Bailey- 20 Goals and 18 Assists
# 11 Michael Best- 19 Goals and 18 Assists
#26 Andrew Langan- 16 Goals and 21 Assists

The Slammers have 8 players with point totals well above the Lion’s leading scorer (Travis Perry, 19 pts), including 6’4” defenseman Brad Tesnick who has 27....... Brad’s younger brother, Ryan, may be the best prospect on the team. The 16 year old has 14 points on the season and can really fly.......The Slammers are 26-0 with 1 shootout loss. They are currently ranked 8th in the country. The Slammers got a scare last Thursday. Troy Ryan’s former team the Pictou Crushers took the Slammers to OT before eventually faltering in their upset bid.

Troy Ryan hopes to have everyone back on the same page for the game. There was a notable lack of effort by several key players vs. Summerside.......Travis Perry continues to lead the Lions in scoring with 19 points. Robbie Veriker and Wayne Bedecki have 15. Kyle Dilosa is coming up fast on the leaders with 8 goals and 6 assists. Brendan Taylor has 10 points in 6 games.......16 year old Stephen Woodworth is back with the Lions after a couple weeks with Lewiston in the QMJHL. Woodworth is paired up once again with the veteran Kyle Mariani. Brad Macdonald, the brother of John, has joined the team and Coach Ryan has the pair on a line with Stuart Lenihan. The brothers Macdonald look appear to have played allot of hockey together over the years to say the least. The Lions are 2 points behind Amherst for last place in the Maurice Bent division with a record of 10-11-2.

Halifax Lions Update

Summerside Rolls Over Halifax at the Forum
Lion’s 4 Game Winning Streak Snapped in Rout

That loud thud you heard last night on Windsor Street was nothing to be alarmed about. Unless you’re a Halifax Lions fan.

It was simply the sound of the Lions crashing back to earth after getting soundly whipped at the Halifax Forum 9-2 by the visiting Summerside Western Capitals.

The loss snapped the Lions 4 game winning streak and dropped them to 10-11-1 on the season, 5 days after they climbed to .500 and matched the previous year’s win total with a resounding 6-2 victory over the rival Bridgewater Lumberjacks. The Lions had outscored their opponents 26-8 during the streak and had won their games at the Forum in an eerily easy fashion.

It was role reversal by classic definition last night as Summerside cruised to victory after scoring the game’s first four goals. Goaltender Paul Dorsey stopped 53 Lions shots on route to garnering the game’s second star (although in the press box everyone agreed 53 shots was a highly inflated total). Steven Brazil led the Capitals attack with 2 goals and 1 assist. Brazil also gave a Sean Avery type performance, getting under the skin of several Lions with questionable antics that drew the ire of his opponents while firing up his teammates.

In one notable example, Brazil skated by the Lion’s bench and gave an elbow to Wayne Bedecki as he stood watching the game. Brazil’s actions led the way to a series of altercations that should make for an interesting rematch when the 2 teams hook up tomorrow night in Summerside.

The Capitals improve to 15-11 on the season, good for 3rd place in the Meek Division. The Lions remain in the basement of the Bent Division, 1 point behind Yarmouth and Amherst.

Brad Macdonald and Stuart Lenehan scored goals for Halifax.

The Lions next home game is Thursday, December 17 vs. the Woodstock Slammers. The Slammers are ranked nationally and still undefeated after a shootout victory last night in Pictou. Game time is 7:00 at the Halifax Forum.

The New Kid in Town

Newly Acquired Taylor Leads Lions Revival
High Times at the Forum as Lions Beat Campbellton 10-2

Troy Ryan may have solved his team’s lack of scoring prowess with one simple move; the acquisition of Brendan Taylor.

Just last week the Lions were one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. Travis Perry was the team’s leading scorer with a dozen points, while most of the other teams in the MJAHL had 4 or 5 players in the twenties or high teens.

Enter Brendan Taylor.

Since joining the team last week, the former Gatineau Olympique has been the focal point of a Lions offence that literally scored at will vs. visiting Campbellton on Sunday afternoon.

Taylor has 9 points in the three games, including a six point game vs. the Tigers that featured his first career hat trick.

Taylor has also lit a spark under the Lions big left wing sniper, Kyle Dilosa. Ryan has Taylor on a line with Dilosa and Justin Belanger, and Dilosa has turned into a one man wrecking crew.

Seemingly frustrated and underachieving prior to Taylors acquisition, Dilosa went on a tear this past week, compiling 3 goals and 3 assists while looking dangerous on nearly every shift. Dilosa had so many chances on Sunday it’s a mystery he only scored once.

Taylor’s presence seems to have installed confidence throughout the entire line up. The line of Perry, Robbie Veriker and Wayne Bedecki seem much more comfortable as the #2 combination, while third liners like Andrew Wigginton and Chris Riguse had multiple point games on Sunday.

Two of Taylor’s goals were so impressive that the crowd’s reaction was more of a “jaw drop/what did I just see” reaction rather than a boisterous rise of applause. As the Lions scored their 8th goal halfway through the second period, even Lions fans seemed to feel agony for the struggling Tigers team. Campbellton dropped to 3-18 on the season with the loss.

The Lions improved to 8-10-2 on the season, 8-7-1 in their last 16 games, and just 3 points out of fifth place in the Bent division.

Lions’ fans are starting to get excited for the upcoming rematch with the nationally ranked Woodstock Slammers. The Slammers are 20-0-1 on the season and just cracked the Top 10 rankings in Canada. The last time the Slammers came to Halifax, they barely escaped with an overtime win off a goal from leading scorer Brogan Bailey. Woodstock will be in Halifax for the rematch on Thursday, December 17 at the Forum.

In the meantime, the Lions will try to extend their winning streak to 3 this Thursday, December 3rd, vs. the Dieppe Commandos at the Forum. The Commandos are 7-15-2 for 4th place in the Meek Division. Game time is 7:00.

News and Notes
Defenseman Michael Rosky is back with the Lions after spending time with the Quebec Ramparts in the QMJHL. Lions’ defenseman Ian Saab is back in the Q, he rejoined the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles last week.....Congratulations to SMU Huskies Head Football Coach Steve Sumarah. Sumarah was selected as the CIS Coach of the Year for 2009, earning the 4th year coach the prestigious Frank Tindall trophy last week in Quebec City. Coach Sumarah has been a regular on my radio show, CKDU Sports, and was also on Haligonia Sports during the Tall Ships Festival. Forthcoming, honest, and genuine, the Coach is always an outstanding interview and a class act. Sumarah will add the award to his trophy shelf beside his 3 AUS Coach of the year awards. The Coach will tell you he would trade them all in for a trip to the Vanier Cup I’m sure, but the award is well deserved regardless.....The AUS and QIFC have negotiated an extended deal for interlock football through 2012. The deal will see each AUS team get 1 interlock game a year, while each Quebec team gets 2 games total through 2012. The contract has to be a disappointment for the conference, as the previous contract stipulated 2 games a year for each team. However, considering there was talk of Quebec walking away from an extension, the AUS has to be pleased. Next season we finally get a Laval/SMU game. The Rouge et Or will visit Huskies Stadium on September 18 for a game that will be one of the premier sporting events in Halifax next fall. The AUS conference will still have an 8 game schedule, with two teams having to play each other 3 times. Yikes!.........Rogers is giving away 10000 Halifax Rainmen tickets for their exhibition opener on Dec. 19 at the Metro Centre (see haligonia.ca homepage). Halifax Rainmen home games will be shown all season long on Haligonia.Ca. The regular season starts in early January.......Do you know who the 13th Rider was? There were reports that it was Jason Armstead, the returner in the endzone in case of a missed field goal. This assertion is ridiculous, as the Riders would have wanted a return man back there to bring the ball out in case of a miss. The game was 28-27, and a team can get 1 point on a missed field goal if the ball clears the end zone or is not returned past the goal line. Chances are very good that we’ll never know who the 13th Rider was, and that it was a coaching mistake. But it will be fun to hear the conspiracy theories as time goes on. Personally, I’m going to wait 5 years until things cool down, and then I’m moving to Saskatchewan to write a book. The title: “The Unsolved Mystery of the 13th Rider.” Follow me on Twitter, just search Haligoniasports. Please email me at bill@haligonia.ca.