2018-08-24

Wolfville, NS turned into Moose Country for one night as the Halifax Mooseheads continued the preseason on Friday night and Halifax finished off back-to-back games against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Jordan Maher had a banner night against his former team with a hat trick to lead the way in a 4-1 victory at Acadia University.

A strong start from goalie Alex Gravel and a power play goal by Raphael Lavoie had the Herd ahead 1-0 early much to the delight of the 1,600 plus in attendance at Andrew H. McCain Arena. Gravel stopped all 15 shots he faced in the period to stymie a fast skating Titan squad. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect was outstanding throughout the game as he played a full 60 minutes making 31 saves.

BOX SCORE

Lavoie cashed in on the man advantage from Bo Groulx and Jocktan Chainey just two-minutes into play with Kingston, NS native Cole Rafuse in the box for checking from behind. The Rafuse hit put defenceman Jake Ryczek out for the game with an upper body injury. The 20-year-old will be re-evaluated on the weekend.

Halifax added to the lead in the second period as Jordan Maher came back to haunt his former team at 12:57 thanks to a nice pass by Kyle Petten. Fellow former Titan player Antoine Morand also earned an assist.

Bathurst came back with a quick one 34 seconds later from Felix-Antoine Drolet but Maher wasn’t done with his old team yet. The Gander, NL native deflected in a shot by Kyle Petten on the power play in the third period for his second goal of the night. Morand was in on that goal as well. Morand grabbed his third assist of the night as he helped Maher score into the empty net for the hat trick late in the game.

The Mooseheads have a long break in preseason action now with the next game coming on Friday, September 7th in Springhill against the Moncton Wildcats. The final home game of the exhibition season is set for Saturday, September 15th at 7pm at the Halifax Forum against Moncton.