Massive Game 1 Comeback Victory
March 28, 2025 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Halifax Mooseheads News Release
The Halifax Mooseheads shocked the Western Conference top seed Voltigeurs with a 3-2 comeback victory in Drummondville to steal Game 1 of their Gilles Courteau Trophy Playoffs First Round series.
Quinn Kennedy's game-winner came with 4:47 remaining in regulation and the Herd reeled off three consecutive goals in the final 9:23 of the game to pull off an absolute stunner of a win. Antoine Fontaine got Halifax on the board at 10:37 after the Voltigeurs had built a 2-0 lead. Fontaine picked up a rebound in front of the net right off the draw to put the Moose in business. Rookie Caylen Blake tied the game 2-2 with a rocket of a shot at 13:18 and the momentum had clearly shifted to the young visitors who hung tough all night. Kennedy then walked in from the right circle and sniped for the first and only lead of the night for Halifax. Jacob Steinman handled the rest as he finished with 33 saves and the Moose took the surprising 1-0 series advantage.
The goal scoring spree all came after Volts veteran and star goalie Riley Mercer was knocked out of the game with an injury in the third period. Mercer went down after Caylen Blake took a hard cross check to the back while coming in on a partial breakaway. Blake went crashing into the net and Mercer took the brunt of the collision. There was no call on the cross check, much to the dismay of the Mooseheads bench. 19-year-old backup goalie Louis-Felix Charrois came on in relief and gave up all three tallies.
Drummondville built up a 2-0 advantage thanks to a second period goal by Luke Woodworth and an early third period strike from Ethan Gauthier. However, Halifax hung around all evening and battled extremely hard despite losing a pair of players to upper body injuries. Rookie Defenceman Justin Chiras and rookie Will Bent were both forced to leave the game while forward Callum Aucoin briefly left with an upper body injury before returning in the final period of regulation.
Halifax played excellent defence to finish off the game and got several blocked shots from blueliner Mathieu Taillefer in the closing minutes of the game as everyone chipped in to pay the price to close out the victory. That included a big penalty kill on a questionable delay of game call against Brady Schultz with only 64 seconds remaining on the clock. The Herd weathered the storm of a 6-on-4 as Drummondville pulled their goalie in favour of the extra attacker.
Mooseheads players to earn assists in the win included Carlos Handel, Danny Walters, Owen Phillips and Liam Kilfoil. Final shots were 35-19 in favour of the Volts.
The focus now shifts to Game 2 which will be held on Saturday night at 8pm ADT in Drummondville at the Marcel Dionne Centre. Halifax will host Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm at Scotiabank Centre. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca. If necessary, Game 5 would also be held in Halifax on Friday at 7pm.
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