Canada beats Russia in final game of Super Series in Halifax

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) all-star team defeated Russia 6-4 on Thursday at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax in the sixth and final game of the hockey series that pitted CHL all-star teams against a team representing Russia.

Fans chanted, drank beer and wore red and white jerseys, and jerseys of their favourite QMJHL teams.

The fans had reason to cheer because the Thursday win meant the Canadian teams won five of the six games in the series.

Mathieu Joseph led the QMJHL team with two goals, while, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Nicolas Meloche, Anthony Beauvillier and Jeremy Lauzon each added a goal.

The Canadian teams almost completed a sweep in the series, but lost game five in Quebec on Tuesday 3-2.

Some of the faces on the bench for game six were well known to Halifax Mooseheads fans. Mooseheads winger Maxime Fortier laced up for the QMJHL all-star team and had an assist in the game. His coach for the Mooseheads, Dominique Ducharme, did double duty and served as the coach for the QMJHL all-star team.

Ducharme spoke with The Signal prior to Thursday’s game.

“It’s special to be representing the league at that level and to be working with the best players,” he said. “It’s exciting to be playing one of those games at home. It’s a good environment.” 

Ducharme said he’s enjoying sharing this experience with one of his players and said it’s good to see him be rewarded for playing so well for the Mooseheads by getting to play for the QMJHL team .

Fan reaction

Fans from across Nova Scotia came to cheer on the QMJHL all-star team.

Rob Burke and his son, Brady, wore their Mooseheads jerseys proudly. He said the two of them love to watch the Mooseheads play.

“We are very excited to have this game held in Halifax”, he said.

There were also fans from around the world. Katya Spiridonova is from Russia and came to Canada to learn English.

“I’m for sure cheering for Russia,” she said. “That is my home and I love it.”

Noah Guillermet and Valentin Schünemann are high school students on exchange from Germany.

“We’re cheering for Canada,” Guillermet said. “The only downside of this game is we aren’t allowed to drink beer here.”

Series was played over 1.5 weeks

The annual series kicked off on Nov. 9 in Kelowna, B.C. and the Western Hockey League (WHL) team squared off against Russia. The two teams played again the following night in Kamloops.

The series then shifted to Ontario where two games were played as the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) all-star team represented Canada.

Canada lost to Russia in last year’s series.