Eagles edged by Islanders in overtime
SYDNEY — The Cape Breton Eagles wrapped up the first half of the season with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Charlottetown Islanders on Saturday at the Eastlink Centre in P.E.I.
The loss was the third in a row for the Eagles who enter the two-week holiday break with a record of 17-13-2-1 for 37 points, good for fifth place in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League's Maritimes Division. All three losses were on a threegame road trip that also included a 5-1 loss to Bathurst Titan on Wednesday and a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Moncton Wildcats on Friday. Cape Breton, which has posted a 3-5-1-1 mark in its past 10 games, now sits seven points behind the Islanders but has three games in hand.
Thomas Casey scored the game-winning goal at the 4:25 mark of overtime after Zachary Beauregard had tied the game for Charlottetown late in the third period. Xavier Bernard scored the other Islanders goal.
Ryan Francis and Mathias Laferriere scored for the Eagles.
Cape Breton outshot the Islanders 41-33, but Islanders goalie Matthew Welsh, who earned first star honours, once again came up big against the Eagles. Kevin Mandolese was named the game's second star after stopping 30 shots in the Cape Breton goal.
The Eagles, who were without goalie William Grimard, defencemen Nathan Larose and Adam McCormick and forwards Egor Sokolov and Cole Fraser, will return to action on Dec. 28 when they travel to Halifax to take on the Mooseheads in the first leg of the annual Hurley Cup. The second game is slated for the next day at Centre 200 in Sydney.
However, it's uncertain just what the Eagles lineup will look in two weeks as the league's limited-window trade period started Sunday. During the opening hours of the trade period, three of the Q's top teams — Sherbrooke Phoenix (27-52-0, 56 points), Chicoutimi Saguenéens (24-6-3-0, 51 points) and Rimouski Océanic (20-83-3, 46 points) — have already shown their championship intent by upgrading their squads with the acquisition of players they hope will carry them to the QMJHL title and a trip to the Memorial Cup. It's also expected that the Wildcats (24-9-0-0, 48 points) will try to improve their already high-flying team.
As of press time on Sunday the Eagles had not made any moves.
Notes: Sokolov sits in fourth place in overall QMJHL scoring with 24 goals and 27 assists for 51 points, 19 behind the leagueleading Alexis Lafreniere, who with 70 points in 32 games and is the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL draft … Ryan Francis also made the Top 10 and with 15 goals, 30 assists and 45 points sits ninth in league scoring.