Halifax plays 5 Games in 6 Nights; Acquires Mathew Fortune in Trade
A flurry of activity on the ice and off got the New Year started with a bang for the Halifax Lions of the MJAHL.
The Lions played an unprecedented 5 games in 6 nights in a bizarre scheduling sequence. Halifax lost 4 of the games including a tough defeat to the Weeks Crushers of Pictou County Tuesday
night in overtime on a goal by the Crusher’s leading scorer, Geoffrey Hum.
At the Forum, Hum broke down the left side of the Lions zone and fired a shot from an impossible angle that somehow got past goaltender Kody Bloise in the waning seconds of the overtime session.
The loss dropped Halifax to 13-14-4 on the season good for 30 points and fourth place in the Maurice Bent division. Weeks improved to 19-12-1 on the season strengthening their grip on second place in the division.
Kyle Dilosa scored his 11th goal of the season on the power play to give the Lions a 1-0 lead in the first period. Dan Joyce and Tyler Noseworthy scored in the middle frame to give the Crushers the lead before Kyle Mariani scored in the third period on a pretty setup from Stephen Popovich to tie the game and send it to overtime.
The Lions were 1-2-2 on the five game stretch, the lone victory a 5-2 drubbing of Dieppe at the Forum on Sunday.
The Lions and Crushers will play a rematch in Pictou County Thursday night. The Lions will finally get a couple days off before travelling to Dieppe to play the Commandos on Sunday afternoon.
January will continue to be a busy month for the Lions as they will eventually play 13 games in a 22 day span.
The Lions were also busy trading and signing new players after losing several key members to the QMJHL. In a span of 1 week, Brad Macdonald and Andrew Wigginton were called up to the Mooseheads, Stephen Woodworth was brought up by the Lewiston Mainiacs, and Ian Saab made the jump to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
To compensate the team traded a future draft pick for Defenseman Mathew Fortune who has spent time this season with Gatineau of the Q league, then signed Jordan Kenny as a free agent. Kenny played last season with Dieppe Commandos.
Justin Belanger had also been called up to the Mooseheads and played in several games over the holidays before returning to the Lions over the weekend.
The Lions next home game is Thursday, January 21st vs. the Yarmouth Mariners. Game time is 7:00 at the Forum.
