How the Moose and Titan stack up
At first glance, there's an obvious narrative heading into the first-round playoff series between the Halifax Mooseheads and Bathurst Titan.
The Mooseheads added players at the trade deadline to help them try to win it all this year, while the Titan traded off as a continuation of their building process. That translated into the Mooseheads finishing 25 points ahead of the Titan in the overall standings, which makes them the clear favourite heading into the best-of-seven.
But Bathurst also played teams hard down the stretch, including Halifax. The Titan beat the Mooseheads three straight times to end the season and also mixed in an upset of the first-overall Baiecomeau Drakkar a few weeks ago. They are not a team to be taken lightly.
Here's a more detailed breakdown of how Halifax and Bathurst compare heading into Game 1 at the Scotiabank Centre on Friday:
OFFENCE
The Mooseheads addressed a need for secondary scoring at the deadline, acquiring Peter Reynolds, Jan Sprynar and Lou-felix Denis to give them an excellent second line behind Mathieu Cataford, Markus Vidicek and Jordan Dumais. Cataford and Vidicek both finished in the top four in league scoring and Dumais ran away with last year's scoring title. Dumais hasn't played a game for the Mooseheads since Dec. 8 because of a surgery and suspension (DUI) but is scheduled to return to the lineup for Game 2. Lou Levesque, Logan Crosby and Liam Kilfoil give Halifax extra scoring on the third line.
Bathurst's top scorer is former Mooseheads winger Bobby Orr, who had 82 points in 64 games. Fellow overager Milo Roelens also averaged more than a point per game and was a thorn in the Mooseheads' side last year in the playoffs when he was a member of the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Colby Huggan is also an underrated finisher and the Titan get regular production from their bottom six. An interesting stat is that Bathurst and Halifax produced exactly the same amount of goals (227) during the regular season.
DEFENCE
Unlike on offence where the teams produced at an identical rate, the respective defensive records are a different story. Bathurst gave up 243 goals, compared to just 184 by Halifax. Losing captain Jake Furlong to season-ending shoulder surgery is a huge blow but David Moravec, Brady Schultz, Dylan Mackinnon, Owen Phillips, Jack Martin and Dominic Mackenzie still form an impressive corps. Schultz was the third highest-scoring defenceman in the league during the regular season.
Bathurst's Emile Perron was a first-round pick back in 2021 and Igor Mburanumwe provided excellent stability after coming over from Victoriaville in an off-season trade. Nova Scotians Drew Maddigan and Cory Macgillivray are some of the less heralded defenders who have done well to fill the void left by the unloading of No. 1 defender Ty Higgins to the Rouynnoranda Huskies at the deadline. Bathurst's real strength is in its overall team defence.
GOALTENDING
There isn't much that hasn't already been said about the sterling resume of Halifax's Mathis Rousseau. He's been one of the very best netminders in the QMJHL for two years already, while also carrying the Mooseheads to the championship playoff series a year ago.
He was also Team Canada’s starter at this year’s world juniors and finished in the top two in the league in every meaningful statistical category.
But Bathurst’s Antoine Keller is no slouch himself. He’s a draft pick of the Washington Capitals and shut out the Mooseheads as recently as a month ago. Keller’s a 19-year-old rookie from France who also backstopped the Titan to a 3-1 win over the Mooseheads on March 8. Crease partner Joshua Fleming was the first star in a 2-1 win in Halifax on Jan. 18 and only gave up one goal in two of his three starts in March.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Halifax’s power play hasn’t been quite the same during Dumais’ absence but still finished the season in a respectable seventh place (24.6 per cent) in the league rankings.
Bathurst had the secondworst numbers (16.9 per cent) so there’s a mismatch in that category on paper. The Mooseheads were fifth in penalty killing (81.1 per cent), while the Titan were 14th (74.5 per cent) so that area favours Halifax as well.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Mooseheads won the season series 5-3-0-1. ... Former Mooseheads winger Yannik Ponzetto plays for the Titan after initially being traded to the Shawinigan Cataractes on Jan. 6 as part of the deal that brought Denis and Sprynar to Halifax. ... Game 2 is in Halifax on Saturday, followed by games in Bathurst on Tuesday and Wednesday.
If necessary, Game 5 will be in Halifax on April 5, Game 6 in Bathurst on April 7 and Game 7 at the Scotiabank Centre on April 9. ... The Titan last won the league championship in 2018 and the Mooseheads captured their only title in 2013.