Your Halifax Mooseheads fought until the end as they pushed the #2 ranked Wildcats all the way to Game 7 of the QMJHL Quarter-Finals, but the series finale did not turn out the way the #12 Moose had hoped for by dropping a 6-3 decision on Tuesday night at the Coliseum.

Moncton outlasted the Herd and was simply able to create more chances on offense than the visitors en route to the victory. The Cats will move on to face the Quebec Remaparts in the Semi-Finals. The final shots were 38-26 for the Wildcats.

Anticipation in the building was incredible heading into the winner-take-all matchup. Chants of “Go Moose Go” could be heard well before the players hit the ice for warm-up which was yet another display of the wonderful fan support on the road Halifax has received from its fans throughout the 2015 President Cup Playoffs.

The teams did not hold back on one another in the opening minutes. There was no feeling out process between the rivals in this one as both the Herd and Cats came out skating hard, throwing the body around and created multiple chances.

Eric Brassard was a major factor in the first period making a handful of big saves to keep the game scoreless, but Moncton was the first to break through as Ivan Barbashev gathered the puck in front of the Mooseheads net and roofed it past Brassard with just 39.5 seconds showing on the clock.

Cam Askew then was able to turn around and rip one from the right circle that fooled Brassard just shy of the four-minute mark of the second period. The puck may have tipped something in front before getting by his glove hand.

Danny Moynihan gave the Herd life at 7:18 of the second as he glided from the left to right of Dubeau and waited out the goalie before going top shelf to cut the Wildcats lead to 2-1.

Moncton restored their two-goal advantage when Zack MacEwen slammed in a rebound from the doorstep on the power play after a shot by Conor Garland.

Stephen Johnson added to the lead when he kept the puck on a two-on-one with Garland and shot it low blocker side on Brassard to make it 4-1 late in the second stanza.

Moynihan scored his second goal of the game early in the third period on the power play with his 9th of the playoffs. The Windham, New Hampshire native used some great hand-eye co-ordination to bat the puck out of the air and past Dubeau to make it 4-2 Moncton.

An ill-timed interference penalty was called on Austyn Hardie just as Halifax was increasing their pressure and the Moncton power play unit continued to give the Herd fits as Dominic Talbot-Tassi drilled a shot through the five-hole of Brassard just over seven minutes into the final period.

That goal was a back-breaker for the Mooseheads as the team appeared to be out of steam after the Talbot-Tassi marker.

Halifax coach Dominique Ducharme pulled Brassard with about five minutes remaining in the game as the Herd pushed hard until the end and eventually got a goal from Connor Moynihan, but it was too-little too-late.

Stephen Johnson added an empty net goal with 53 second to go to put the game on ice for the Wildcats.

This was the final game for Hardie and Philippe Gadoury who are the two graduating 20-year-old players on the club. Gadoury started the game on the top line with Moynihan and Timo Meier, but played sparingly as he has battled an upper body injury for a number of weeks.

Despite the loss, the 2014-2015 QMJHL season with undoubtedly go down as a success for the Mooseheads who were in the first year of a rebuilding type process. Going the distance in Round 2 of the playoffs will prove to be invaluable experience for the young team that featured several rookies throughout the year.

The Mooseheads would like to thank the support and dedication of the fans who have proven once again that Moose Country is by far the best fan base in the league.