Excellent article by Willy, one of his best in a while. The rivalry between these two teams has been absolutely dead the past two years - frankly because Halifax was so bad. But this year, with Halifax better and an underdog Cape Breton team hoping to knock them off, games between the two should be better again - so it was nice to see that article to set the tone a bit.
Although one noticeable theme from that Top Ten list is that the vast majority of the memorable moments were from long ago........ an indication that the rivalry isn't what it once was, and in my opinion it's also a sign that dramatics just don't happen in this league like they once did. Nevertheless, it was a great list and sure sparked some awesome memories.... a few thoughts on some of the moments listed. And I admit these are very CB-biased.
1) Stick Measurement of course was the no-brainer #1, I'll never forget how C200 shook during those three powerplay goals. Patenaude was such a baby afterward, and apparently he and Pascal didn't speak for a while because of the incident. Which makes it hard to believe that just months later, in January 03, they cooked up that infamous Boomerang deal.
3) Kloucek levelling Tanguay was pretty much the hit heard round the junior hockey world at the time. Tanguay had 18 points in 5 games since returning from Colorado's camp, but was out for months after getting splattered by the rookie Czech's open-ice hit. For Eagles fans, the best part was that Kloucek won the fight against Jeff Sullivan in a rematch game - after Sullivan and the Moose had talked much about getting redemption. The fact it was Kloucek's first-ever hockey fight, while Sullivan was a seasoned enforcer, made it even sweeter... CB fans didn't have much to cheer about back then, and that made them stand a bit taller at least for a while.
4) The pre-game brawl of 2000-2001 got replayed a lot over the years in the C200 concourse. It was always cool seeing kids watching it, who would have been too young to remember, and learning a bit about the rivalry's history. There was much debate between the two fanbases after this fight - was Laraque a peacemaker or antagonist? Was there any need of Flinn wailing on him like he did? Stuff like that.... and what should also be remembered is the New Year's Day rematch in Halifax two days later. That game was a beauty. We started Lahache, Flinn and George Davis in our starting lineup. There were three memorable fights in the game's opening minutes, including Flinn and Nick Greenough finally settling the score after the latter beat out Flinn for Halifax's final overage spot that year in training camp. Current CB goaltending coach Scott Gouthro made his first Q start that day, and got a 5-3 win before a capacity Halifax crowd.
5) The Sutherland trade is a little too high on this list in my opinion, but Palov is bang-on when he says it fuelled emotions among fans. CB fans hated the guy after the trade, feeling exactly what Willy said - that it was a city kid turning his nose up at our smaller community. And Halifax fans felt we were just guilty of typical CB "poor mes" when complaining about it.
Who knows what the real story was, but it's worth noting that Sutherland's Q career ended in defeat at C200 in the 2002 playoffs.
6) The Lewis-Ettinger fight I'm surprised isn't in the top 3. I didn't see this live, but it seems almost everyone else did and apparently it was the hockey fight to end all hockey fights. Several laps of the ice, a couple of minutes long, and pats on the back at the end. Two superweights who had respect.
7) This is the first I've heard of that behind-the-scenes drama re the PJ Lynch trade. Interesting, but still don't think it's top-ten worthy.
9) The '08 playoff series is a little low on the list... that hockey was pretty good, it's a shame the series was only five games. The triple-OT Game 3 at C200 was a beauty, could have been list-worthy on its own. Voracek with the winner top shelf after coming out of the corner. Yetman and Roy were awesome in goal. First multiple-OT game in Eagles history. Great job by Palov in remembering the salute to Ouellet at the end, that was an awesome gesture - none of the Eagles would leave the ice without their captain. That day was by far the proudest I've ever been to be an Eagles' fan while watching them get eliminated from the playoffs. Unfortunately, this franchise has a history of exiting the playoffs on a whimpering note... but on April 11/08 they fought to the bitter end in front of a capacity Metro Centre crowd.
A few more memorable moments:
- This one doesn't make the top 10 in the overall scope of the rivalry because while it's very memorable for CB fans, it isn't so much for Halifax. Andre Martineau's overtime winner in Game 2 of the 2002 playoffs in Halifax. Of the 10,500 fans in the sold-out Metro Centre that weekend, I'd say at least a good 1,000 of them were Cape Bretoners who'd made the trip up dying to see their team take at least one of the games on the road. We had trailed that game 2-0, but came back to win 3-2 on Martineau's OT heroics - the difference between heading back to C200 down 0-2 and tied 1-1. CB fans were on Cloud Nine after that win, moreso I'd say than after we clinched the series. Stuart MacRae's awesome effort to split the Halifax D and set up Martineau is a lasting memory.
- The 04-05 season had quite a bit of emotion with the return of the Boomerang Boys to Moose jerseys. It was pretty intense when they came back to C200. But the most memorable game between the two that season was in Halifax. Dec 30/04, an underdog Eagle team embarrassed a powerful Moose team 5-0 in front of a big holiday crowd... it was the final game of Shawn MacKenzie's five-year coaching career with the Moose. He hasn't coached at the major junior level since. That game also featured some dramatics between Halifax's Kevin Cormier and CB's Neil Smith.
- Speaking of Cormier, his ongoing saga with rugged Eagles blueliner David Victor in 05-06 was an interesting storyline. Victor beat on a 16 yo Daniel Smith in preseason, and Cormier vowed revenge. He made good on Oct 2/05, absolutely annihilating Victor in a fight during a game that was arguably CB's most embarrassing loss ever to Halifax - 7-1 at the Metro Centre. But on Dec 30/05, also at the MC, Victor shocked the crowd by challenging Cormier to a rematch and scoring a narrow victory - one of the only times the big kid from Cap-Pele lost in his Q career.
- It's not Top Ten material, but that 12-round shootout between Hali and Cape Breton at C200 in the fall of 2007 sure was fun. Mathieu Brodeur stole a page from Marek Malik's playbook, when the 6'5" rookie defensive defenceman became the most unlikely hero possible with the shootout winner.
With season openers usually being sloppy affairs, I doubt tonight's game ranks up anywhere near any of those moments..... but hopefully it's a decent one, and the trip down memory lane was fun nonetheless. ;D
