Moose agitate, but can’t win

The Halifax Mooseheads got under the skin of the Saint John Sea Dogs, but they didn’t have the last laugh.

With a sideshow centring around agitating Mooseheads defenceman Garrett Clarke for most of the night, the nationally-top-ranked Sea Dogs skated away with a 6-2 win before a crowd of 4,868 at the Metro Centre last night.

Clarke rocked Sea Dogs forwards Nicholas Petersen and Stephen MacAulay with jarring hits that would have made Don Cherry proud, but the Sea Dogs — after chasing Clarke around the ice for the better part of 42 minutes — got down to business in a four-goal third period and took it to the Herd.

“We knew they were going to come at us hard and try to sometimes get dirty, but we stepped up and played a good, solid game,” said Sea Dogs blueliner Yann Sauve, who took at least one retaliatory swat at Clarke. “It’s part of the game.”

The last-place Mooseheads were in position to stun the Sea Dogs early in the third period when Tomas Knotek’s one-timer 1:35 in tied the game at two.

But just 22 seconds later, Zach Phillips kicked off a four-goal Sea Dogs rally, including three goals in a two-minute, 13-second span.

“They just put the puck on the net and scored some lucky goals, but it was a physical third period,” said Charles Bety, who scored Halifax’s first goal and was the third star.

Bodies were flying everywhere at one point. Everybody wanted a piece of Clarke, who landed face-down on the ice after two post-whistle scrums with no penalty called.

“He’s sometimes diving and things like this, but he’s a good player,” Sauve said.

“Every time, if it’s a cheap shot, we’ve got to tell him and say something to him.”

Clarke, who declined invitations to fight and delighted the crowd with his hits, said he was just doing his part.

“I took out Petersen in the first period and it sets the tone for the rest of the game,” he said.
“Every time he sees me coming he’s going to turn away or give the puck away.

“It’s just the way I play.”

The Mooseheads, 13-40-5, open a home-and-home with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tomorrow in Sydney.

Division changes coming to Q
The QMJHL has made some minor changes to its division and playoff formats for the 2010-11 season. The Halifax Mooseheads will remain in a six-team Maritime Division with Saint John, P.E.I., Moncton, Cape Breton and Bathurst, but the three other divisions — Western, Central and Eastern — will be merged into two. The Mooseheads will play eight games against each opponent in the Maritime Division and a minimum of two games against teams from the Eastern and Western divisions. The top 16 teams overall still qualify for the playoffs, with division champions seeded first, second and third. The highest seeds play the lowest seeds in the first round of the playoffs, starting with first versus 16th.