Plenty of new faces and a healthy dose of pre-season optimism added up to some familiar results for the Halifax Mooseheads on the weekend.
The Mooseheads, coming off back-to-back last-place finishes, opened a new QMJHL season with more losses at the Metro Centre, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Bathurst Titan Saturday and falling 3-2 to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in Friday’s opener.
“It’s tough losing back-to-back at home, especially because we’re not here for another month,” said Mooseheads rookie Luca Ciampini, referencing the club’s upcoming six-game road trip.
The Mooseheads played well overall, outshooting both the Titan and the Screaming Eagles, but were burned by lapses and untimely penalties.
But the strong play of the club’s rookies leaves reason for optimism going forward. Third overall import draft choice Martin Frk finished with a goal and three assists while Ciampini — the second overall pick in June’s draft — scored his first career goal Saturday.
“Not only goals from Ciampini and Frk, we had three young guys dropping the gloves,” said Mooseheads blue-liner Garrett Clarke.
“Any team that has rookies stepping up puts more pressure on the vets to step up too.”
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