Mooseheads win 50th to set up Playoff Series vs Cape Breton
2023-03-25
Saturday marked a dramatic end to the regular season for the Halifax Mooseheads who captured their 50th victory of the season with a 10-5 rout of the Islanders as Jordan Dumais set a new franchise scoring record and Josh Lawrence had a banner game with six points.
Not long after the game ended, the Mooseheads found out that they will be starting the QMJHL Playoffs with a round one series versus the provincial rival Cape Breton Eagles. A Baie-Comeau win in Chicoutimi, coupled with an Eagles loss to Moncton set up the first Battle of Nova Scotia since the Jakub Voracek era in 2007-08. Halifax will host Game #1 on Friday night followed by Game #2 on Saturday with the puck set to drop at 7pm in both games. The full first round schedule will be released in the coming days.
Jordan Dumais became the first member of the Mooseheads to capture the Jean Beliveau Trophy as the QMJHL’s top scorer, finishing with 140 points after a four assist afternoon versus Charlottetown. He surpassed the previous team record of 137 points in a single season was set by Ramzi Abid in 1999-2000.
Josh Lawrence had a monstrous game in his final regular season competition in the QMJHL. He was part of a special pregame ceremony along with Alex Doucet and Evan Boucher as the Mooseheads honoured the three graduating overage forwards. Lawrence then went out and scored a hat trick while racking up three assists in a first star effort. By reaching the 50 goal plateau with his hat trick, he joined Doucet and Dumais as the first three QMJHL teammates to have at least 50 goals each since Shawinigan in 1993-94.
Just a beauty for goal #50 on the season.
🚨 Lawrence 3 (50) 2:48 3rd period
🍎 Schultz, Phillips | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/PSUnsjk0H4— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) March 25, 2023
Doucet scored once in the win to finish with a league best 58 goals this season and Boucher also chipped in with his 28th as each of the three 20-year-old players lit the lamp in their final regular season outing. Zachary L’Heureux had a pair of goals in the win but was later given a five-minute major and a game misconduct in the second period. The agressor penalty comes with an automatic one-game suspension. It was part of an extremely chippy game between both teams that saw five misconducts and a combined 70 penalty minutes. Charlottetown’s Lucas Romeo was tossed from the game for a check to the head of Logan Crosby.
Head Coach Sylvain Favreau reflects on a 50-win season and some remarkable achievements. #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/ndvYORMQWM
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) March 25, 2023
Other goal scorers for the Mooseheads included Markus Vidicek, Brody Fournier and Owen Phillips. Brady James earned the win in goal with 21 saves.
The Herd will now rest up and practice for the quest for the Gilles Courteau Trophy which will begin on home ice Friday night at 7pm against Cape Breton. Tickets for Games one and two are on sale now at TicketAtlantic.com.
