Las Vegas Raiders

Halifax opens Memorial Cup with 4-1 win over Prince Albert

Published May. 18, 2019 1:17 a.m. ET

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — Samuel Asselin opened the scoring and set up another and the Halifax Mooseheads beat the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 on Friday in the Memorial Cup opener.

Alexis Gravel had 23 saves for Halifax. Xavier Parent, Jake Ryczek and Antoine Morand also scored for the host Mooseheads while Maxim Trepanier added three assists.

The game got off to an aggressive start when the Raiders' Max Martin sent the Mooseheads' Keith Getson flying into the boards with a strong hip check about three minutes into the game.

The 20-year-old Asselin, who won a Memorial Cup with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan last season before a trade sent him to Halifax, led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 48 goals in the regular season and added nine more in the playoffs.

Noah Gregor scored for the Western Hockey League champion Raiders. Ian Scott stopped 33 of 36 shots in defeat.

Round-robin play at the national major junior hockey championship continues Saturday with the Ontario Hockey League champion Guelph Storm against the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who beat the Mooseheads for the President's Cup last week.