[plaugher]

October rolls around and Halifax is a middling 2-3-1. Morgan Nauss is back off of the injured list, an in the lineup to face the league-leading Sherbrooke Phoenix.

Game 7: Halifax 6 @ Sherbrooke 5 (OT)

Brassard and Evan Fitzpatrick are between the pipes. As they have done regularly so far this season, Sherbrooke gets on the board first with a point shot from Thomas Gregoire 14 minutes into the first. Daniel Audette doubled the lead on a floating wrist shot from the hash-marks less than two minutes into the second period. It only took ten seconds for Halifax to answer this second goal, as Vince Watt crashed the net to bury a rebound past Fitzpatrick to bring the Mooseheads back within one. The Halifax second line comes through again midway through the second, with Ilya Putintsev wristing one home to even the score. Cody Donaghey put Halifax up by one on a breakaway backhanded goal after having been sprung by Fitzgerald, for Halifax's third straight marker. Vincent Deslauriers tied the game late in the second with his first of the season. Audette notched his second a mere 30 seconds into the third. The Phoenix had been dominating the third period shot-wise, until Logan Johnston picked up a slashing penalty. Otto Somppi evened the score on the subsequent powerplay. Another powerplay, and a second Somppi powerplay goal put Halifax back up with about seven minutes remaining. Sherbrooke kept pumping shots at the next, trying to tie the game, and succeeded with a goal by Imbeault with the goalie pulled. 5-5. Off to overtime; a very short overtime. Somppi wins the draw back to Fitzgerald and bolts up ice, Fitzgerald banks the puck off the glass and Somppi gets in behind the D, burying his third of the game on the breakaway barely 10 seconds into OT. Halifax wins a thriller, handing the Phoenix their first loss of the season. The second line of Somppi, Watt, and Putintsev combined for 8 points.

0-1 SHE Gregoire (1) (Lafontaine) 13:46
0-2 SHE Audette (5) (Imbeault) 22:09 PP
1-2 HAL Watt (3) (Putintsev, Jones) 22:19
2-2 HAL Putintsev (5) (Somppi, Watt) 33:53
3-2 HAL Donaghey (3) (Fitzgerald, Bishop) 35:36
3-3 SHE Deslauriers (1) (Schweri, Poulin) 36:25
3-4 SHE Audette 2(6) (Sabourin, Imbeault) 40:30
4-4 HAL Somppi (2) (Fortier, Meier) 50:18 PP
5-4 HAL Somppi 2(3) (Donaghey, Fortier) 52:16 PP
5-5 SHE Imbeault (2) (Audette, Sabourin) 58:21
6-5 HAL Somppi 3(4) (Fitzgerald) 60:10

HAL: Brassard 32/37, 2/3 PP ; SHE: Fitzpatrick 15/21, 1/2 PP
3 stars: 1. Somppi; 2. Imbeault; 3. Watt

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Game 8: Halifax 5 @ Blainville-Boisbriand 3

Two games in two nights means Halifax counters with Kevin Resop in goal. Arnaud Durandeau makes his season debut after having missed several weeks with a tailbone injury. Halifax controls the paly for much of the first, with Danny Moynihan burying the lone goal on a feed from Max Fortier. Halifax had a golden opportunity early in the second with a two-man advantage that they failed to capitalize on, while the Armada, after killing the penalties, notched an even-up marker shortly after they expired from Hylland. Teasdale put the Armada up with a wrister eight minutes later. Timo Meier had a magnificent chance with about ten seconds left in the middle frame, but rang it off the crossbar. Another powerplay early in the third, and Halifax made no mistake, after a series of perimeter passes, Brett Crossley banged home a Meier point shot to even the score. Barely a minute later Halifax was out front again, with Otto Somppi banging in a mad scramble in front of Leclerc's crease, for a 3-2 lead. The Halifax lead lasted barely 30 seconds, as Connor Bramwell redirected a Teasdale shot from the faceoff dot to knot the score at 3. Back to the powerplay again, and this time it was Timo Meier who buried a shot from the hash marks after some great puck control, and Halifax led again. Cooper Jones put the game out of reach with a point blast past Leclerc with about two minutes remaining.

1-0 HFX D.Moynihan (2) (Fortier) 15:53
1-1 BBA Hylland (1) (Liggett, Pospisil) 25:30
1-2 BBA Teasdale (4) (Pospisil) 33:01 PP
2-2 HFX Crossley (2) (Meier, C.Moynihan) 47:51 PP
3-2 HFX Somppi (5) (Crossley, Donaghey) 49:01
3-3 BBA Bramwell (4) (Teasdale) 49:37
4-3 HFX Meier (2) (Fitzgerald, C.Moynihan) 52:44 PP
5-3 HFX Jones (2) (C.Moynihan, Blain-Dupuis) 57:39

HFX: Resop 15/18, PP: 2/9 ; BBA: Leclerc 32/37, PP: 1/4
3 stars: 1. Meier; 2. Pospisil; 3. Crossley

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Game 9: Halifax 1 @ Drummondville 3

Halifax finishes their three-games-in-three-nights road swing, looking to complete the swing in front of 2700 in what many nights appears to be an actual barn. With Fitzgerald in the box, Michael Carcone broke the deadlock with a powerplay marker 7 minutes into the game. Drummondville made it a two-goal lead after an errant clearing attempt by J.S. Taillefer bounced onto the stick of Gaumond, who trickled the puck past Brassard. Halifax was gifted a golden two-man advantage opportunity late in the period but couldn't muster a shot. A 2-0 deficit after 1. After some back-and-forth action and a Moynihan/Doucet tilt, Drummondville padded their lead with Joey Ratelle's first of the season, on the powerplay again. Halifax pumped 17 shots at the Volts in the third, trying to get back into it, but were only able to notch one goal, as Cavan Fitzgerald broke Dumont-Bouchard's shutout bid with only 57 seconds reamining. 3-1 final.

0-1 DRU Carcone (4) (Theander, Sevigny) 6:49 PP
0-2 DRU Gaumond (4) (Doucet) 15:00
0-3 DRU Ratelle (1) (Gaumond, Aucoin) 37:17 PP
1-3 HFX Fitzgerald (2) (Jones) 59:03 PP

HFX: Brassard 18/21, PP: 1/3 ; DRU Dumont-Bouchard 36/37, PP: 2/5
3 stars: 1. Gaumond; 2. Fitzgerald; 3. Dumont-Bouchard