Metro File

Mooseheads head coach Cam Russell, shown here two seasons ago, wasn't a happy camper on Thursday night.

Cam Russell snapped, literally, on Thursday night.

The Halifax Mooseheads head coach grabbed a player’s stick in the third period of a 6-2 loss to the Montreal Junior and snapped it over the boards in a rare show of emotion. He then held the shaft of the stick in his hand while unleashing a verbal tirade on the officials and earned a two-minute bench minor for his trouble.

Russell, in his fourth season, was absolutely furious after Matthew Brenton scored with 6:07 remaining on a penalty shot and David Stich tallied at with 5:14 to go to thwart a mild Mooseheads’ comeback attempt.

Brenton’s penalty shot was awarded on a fairly innocent tug by Mooseheads defenceman Garrett Clarke. Stich’s goal was the product of a non-call in the offensive zone after Mooseheads forward Brent Andrews was hauled down.

“Our guy was tripped, hauled down, and they got a breakaway and scored,” Russell said. “That was more of a blatant trip than the one they awarded the (penalty shot) for. So I was frustrated. I hate showing signs of frustration on the bench but I just didn’t agree with the call at all. I didn’t agree with a few of them.”

Tomas Knotek had scored back-to-back goals at the end of the second and early in the third to pull the Mooseheads within striking distance. But Russell wasn’t pinning the loss on the officials, he was pinning it on his team coming out flat, and there will be plenty on that in Friday’s Metro.

Here’s a taste of what he had to say: “I just feel, win or lose, you want to make sure the fans don’t leave feeling cheated. I didn’t feel we gave the fans all we had to give.”

Now the Boston fans know what Moose fans had to put up with last year, lots of luck to them, I doubt he stays up with the big club

By ratcat0072

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You hit it right on the head Matthew. We paid dearly for a player we did not need. I believe we could have picked up a couple of solid defencemen for 4th or 5th round picks. The teams chemistry was...

By ratcat0072

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