Mooseheads defeat Sherbrooke to advance to Q league final
For the fifth time in the history of their franchise, the Halifax Mooseheads have advanced to the QMJHL final.
Josh Lawrence scored the only goal in game six, which took place yesterday in Sherbrooke, Que. Halifax beat the Phoenix 1-0 to win their best of seven semi-final series four games to two.
"I'm very proud of the guys, that was a resilient effort and a big show of character by our group," said Mooseheads head coach Sylvain Favreau. "I thought we may have given them a little too much respect early on in the series but obviously we're pretty proud with the finish we had on Sunday."
Halifax lost the first two games of the series on home ice and many people had written them off, as they were getting ready to play games three and four on the road without their top scorer. Jordan Dumais was knocked out of the series when he was injured in game two.
But Halifax won both of those games and then finished off Sherbrooke by defeating them in games five and six.
Mooseheads goaltender Matthis Rousseau is on an incredible hot streak for Halifax, making 68 saves in back-to-back shutouts to close out the series.
"We definitely faced some adversity early on in the series and after game one we really were not happy with our play," said Lawrence, a mid-season trade pickup who broke the 50-goal and 100-point marks in the regular season and has 20 points in 15 playoff games. "To make it to the finals is great but we're still not satisfied because we need to win four more games to take the championship."
Halifax got stronger as the series went on, outscoring Sherbrooke 16-4 in the final four games of the series.
They will now face the Quebec Remparts in the league final.
Quebec and Halifax finished 1-2 in the regular season standings. The series will get underway with games one and two in Quebec City on Friday night and Saturday night. Coached by hockey hall of famer Patrick Roy, the Remparts have steamrolled their way to 12 straight wins in the playoffs. They will have nine days of rest by the time the series starts.
"They have a lot of talent and a really good goaltender but we will use our experience from this past series and I'm sure it will be a hard-fought battle," said Favreau.
Zachary L'Heureux has stepped up his game in the playoffs for Halifax. The Nashville first-round draft pick has 18 points.
The status of Dumais for the league final remains up in the air but having five days off between the semi-final and final could give him enough time to recover for game one.
The team received a big emotional boost in the middle of the Sherbrooke series when forward Braeden MacPhee re-joined the club for game four, after taking some time off from the team following the death of his mother.
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