Mooseheads get back in win column
By WILLY PALOV Sports Reporter
Wed. Nov 7 - 6:30 AM
The Chronicle Herald
www.thechronicleherald.ca

The Halifax Mooseheads got back in the win column on Tuesday with an eventful 6-4 road victory over the Lewiston Maineiacs.

The Mooseheads were the front-runners all night, scoring two goals during a nine-second span in the fourth minute of the game to take a 2-0 lead and then never giving it back. The Maineiacs pressed the Mooseheads hard all night and it wasn’t until Andrew Bodnarchuk scored on the power play with just 4:04 remaining to make it 6-4 that they sealed the win.

"It was a really intense, hard-hitting game," said Mooseheads head coach Cam Russell. "It was a lot like a playoff game. It was two teams battling hard for second place (in the East Division). It was a good win for us."

The game was also stopped for several minutes midway through the second period after Lewiston’s Danick Hudon-Paquette slammed Halifax defenceman Guillaume Monast into the boards with a dangerous charge. Monast lost consciousness after being hammered head-first into the boards and needed medical attention before finding a way back to his feet and to the Mooseheads’ dressing room with the assistance of two teammates. Hudon-Paquette received a major for charging and a game misconduct for the hit.

"It reminded me a little of that (Steve) Downie hit on Dean McAmmond (in the NHL)," said Russell. "It was just a guy in a helpless position and this guy Paquette never has the puck on his stick for more than a second. All he wants to do is put the puck in the corner and hurt somebody. It’s the second time in three games against us he’s been kicked out for a hit like that. He plays a dangerous game and people are going to get hurt the way he plays."

Russell said Monast will miss at least a week because he suffered a head injury, but the early reports are that his neck and back are fine.

Halifax’s P.J. Corsi scored two goals and Daniel Smith, Logan MacMillan and Yuri Cheremetiev had one goal each. Pier-Olivier Pelletier made 18 saves for the win.

Lower Sackville native Alex Beaton had a goal and an assist on his way to being named the third star and Stefan Chaput, Lucas Labelle and Tom Michalik also scored for Lewiston. Jonathan Bernier stopped 30 shots.

The Mooseheads also welcomed forward Colby Pridham back to the line-up and he picked up a nice assist on MacMillan’s shorthanded goal late in the second period.

"It was a good game for Colby," Russell said. "We didn’t plan on playing him a lot but we were shorthanded 12 times so he did a lot of penalty killing and he was out for eight power plays. It’s good to have him back."

The Mooseheads play the Saint John Sea Dogs on Thursday to wrap up their short two-game road trip.

Notes — Defencemen Justin Pender (leg) and Stephen Lund (neck) were out of the Halifax line-up with injuries and forwards Travis Randell and Shawn O’Donnell were healthy scratches.

( wpalov@herald.ca)

Copyright The Chronicle Herald 2007