Halifax@Saint John(Sat Dec 9)

[hfxfan09]

Mooseheads look to continue their winning ways in SJ tonight after wins against Drum and Gatineau at home, with the 4 gone to hockey Canada's camp it's Milner's net now. Milner will get the start backed up by Sam Magdett till Rousseau returns I'd imagine.Have to manage our bench well as this is our 3rd game in 3 days. but after tonight the boys will get a few days rest before staring a busy home stretch.

Cataford is the lone player of the big trio staying behind hoping he gets some help from some of the other players, I'm going 4-2 Halifax Larmand with his first Q goal(he nearly scored last night, I think he'll get going once he gets the monkey of his back)

[trueblue]

Playing 3 in 3 is a lot to ask of any goalie, especially your backup.

[hfxfan2002]

Milner is busy… I watched Madgett play on Wednesday, really didn’t face many shots but the two goals that went in on them were solid goals. Allie MacDonald and another Scout were at the forum taking it in too. It’s obviously Milners crease here on out would love to see the young kid play though.

Three-in-three is no easy task especially when your third game is on the road. Saint John has some scoring up front, our depth hasn’t really proven much offensively lately. Peter Reynolds and Eriks Mateiko have had hot sticks lately, 40/30 points respectively. Their goaltending has been a struggle though and Patrick Leaver hasn’t been the answer.

Curious how the lines look tonight, lots of opportunity. I’m going with a 4-1 Loss today.

Here’s our Goal Stats.

Cataford | 17 goals (29gp)
Fournier | 12 goals (31gp)
Peitzsche | 6 goals (31gp)
Moser | 4 goals (26gp)
Kilfoil | 3 goals (26gp
Todd | 3 goals (31gp)
Moravec | 2 goals (30gp)
Schultz | 2 goals (30gp)
Phillips | 2 goals (31gp)
MacPhee | 2 goals (31gp)
Ponzetto | 1 goal (31gp)
Martin | 1 goal (31gp)
Fontaine | 0 goals
Mackenzie | 0 goals
MacKinnon | 0 goals
Larmand | 0 goals (9gp)

Hurt
+Levesque | 9g (21gp)
+Crosby | 4g (10gp)

[prospectsfinest]

Midgely has clearly decided his way to winning is play the big boys a ton. He’s obviously not in a development mood. His PP plays literally the full two minutes every time.

So what I'm interested to see today against a much weaker team is where does Pietzche/Cyril , Kilfoil, and Phillips stand. All 3 can offer more offensively by watching them but they don’t get any amount of power play minutes to see what they have there.

Larmand, MacPhee, Ponzetto are what they are. All look better than what their hockey sense gives them. I do think Todd is above these guys in that area though.

Hoping for a good sign from some of the young guys today….take the opportunity and run with it fellas!!

[Citris]

Lineup hasn't been posted yet... but if I had to guess -

Peitzsche - Cataford - Fournier
Kilfoil - Larmand - Moser
Ponzetto - Todd - MacPhee
Welsh - A.Fontaine (possible, illness?) - Ben Mercer

Schultz - Phillips
MacKenzie - Moravec
MacKinnon - Martin

Milner
T.Fontaine


Goals are going to be HARD to come by tonight. Peitzche played one of his best games this season I thought last night tho, and Cataford had a much needed breakout night to get off the snide.

We need Brody Fournier to step up tonight, he showed flashes last night of what he can do when he plays with energy and goes into the corners, but too often he tries to do too much with the puck when he has it and not enough to get the puck when he doesn't.

Something from Larmand would also be much appreciated. Both of these guys have to know their coveted spots on this team are on shaky ground... we have 3 games in 7 games against Saint John and 1 against Bathurst, there's no better time to show what you have than now.

Anyway, hoping for a W tonight, but if I had to bet, 4-1 Sea Dogs XD

[hockeydad]

Larmand is a third liner at best there is a reason he passed waivers in OHL no surprise here ! Put Todd on second line the kid plays his heart out every night reward him Coach ?

[trueblue]

Jameson George and Aidan Bent on the lineup card for their Q debuts. Welsh up as well, Fontaine backing up. Surprised they didn't call St-Onge to back up considering he's close by.

[Joe Burrow]

4-1 SNB

[rookieq]

It will be fun to watch, looking forward to it. Not much to be very excited and positive about, but this lineup could look like a rebuilding team next year if we dedide to give away a few of our told players as futures and Dumais will be gone. i am sure that Cam will look at how this team will behave to assess our young guys.

[Citris]

Dec 9, 2023 15:12:01 GMT -4 trueblue said:

Jameson George and Aidan Bent on the lineup card for their Q debuts. Welsh up as well, Fontaine backing up. Surprised they didn't call St-Onge to back up considering he's close by.

Fontaine played in Amherst last night , so, one way or another he was on the way from Halifax to SJ.

Nice to see George get a shot, I actually liked him in Camp, smaller guy but the skills are there.

[hfxfan2002]

LINES

Kilfoil | Cataford | Fournier
Welsh | Larmand | MacPhee
Peitzsche | Todd | Ponzetto
Bent | Moser

Moravec | MacKinnon
Schultz | Phillips
Martin | MacKenzie
George

Milner
Fontaine

[Citris]

Welsh is on the second line and that's kind of interesting.

As a returning player who spent the season so far with Truro to get some ice... and he's been producing at a very respectable pace. This may low-key the most interesting part of a 4 game stretch that has the potential to be really dull.

If Welsh can put some points on the board while inserted into a line-up that can't score outside of three guys... he could find himself here full time after Christmas.

[Marshall]

Dec 9, 2023 18:03:48 GMT -4 Citris said:

Welsh is on the second line and that's kind of interesting.

As a returning player who spent the season so far with Truro to get some ice... and he's been producing at a very respectable pace. This may low-key the most interesting part of a 4 game stretch that has the potential to be really dull.

If Welsh can put some points on the board while inserted into a line-up that can't score outside of three guys... he could find himself here full time after Christmas.

Yeah surprised that kilfoil is not in that spot and Reese (easier to spell lol) is not up with cataford and Fournier they had good chemistry the period they played together !!

[Briwhel]

Dec 9, 2023 18:06:40 GMT -4 Marshall said:

Dec 9, 2023 18:03:48 GMT -4 Citris said:

Welsh is on the second line and that's kind of interesting.

As a returning player who spent the season so far with Truro to get some ice... and he's been producing at a very respectable pace. This may low-key the most interesting part of a 4 game stretch that has the potential to be really dull.

If Welsh can put some points on the board while inserted into a line-up that can't score outside of three guys... he could find himself here full time after Christmas.

Yeah surprised that kilfoil is not in that spot and Reese (easier to spell lol) is not up with cataford and Fournier they had good chemistry the period they played together !!

At this time of year, that would either suggest that Peitzsche has been traded, the other two are being showcased or both

[Citris]

Dec 9, 2023 18:28:07 GMT -4 Briwhel said:

At this time of year, that would either suggest that Peitzsche has been traded, the other two are being showcased or both

If he were already traded he wouldn't be in the lineup at all, and you're not showcasing a guy by pushing him down the roster.

I think this is just a combination of a couple factors -

1 - we know Peitzsche has struggled to produce consistently at the Q level so far. He's been tried in the top 6 plenty of times and he has has limited success there. He's young and talented for sure, but the reality is we're a week away from the break and the trade window, it's put up or shut up time for these players and outside of the top 3 there's been nothing but goose eggs in the goal column recently.

2 - Welsh is a goalscorer. That's his role, hes small and skilled, he's not a guy who's going to have success as a grinder. To stay in this league Welsh needs to be a guy who can give you some offense, it's just the type of player he is. He's now halfway through his 18 year old season, so if he can't break into the league now it's probably not going to happen for him.

The mooseheads think they have an asset in Liam Welsh, he doesn't stay on the roster all year last year if they didn't. They want him to prove it to them... and he's got about an 8 game stretch to make that impression.