Friday, April 8, 2005 | By Philip Croucher, Halifax Daily News

Game on. After two and a half weeks of practices, practices and - you guessed it - more practices, the Halifax Mooseheads finally return to the ice tonight for their first game of the playoffs.

"We're very hungry," said Mooseheads forward Rane Carnegie. "Anybody who loves playing hockey wants to be in a competitive situation.

"It's getting pretty intense out there in practice. We're taking runs at each other, so it's nice to finally channel some of that anxiety towards an opponent."

Halifax held its last full practice yesterday at Metro Centre, in preparation for tonight's series-opening game at home against the Gatineau Olympiques. Start time is 7 p.m.

The Mooseheads were sharp in the 60-minute morning session, which ended with head coach Al MacAdam talking to his players for about five minutes at centre ice.

"We're as ready as we can be under the circumstances," MacAdam said, referring to the team's layoff.

"Our team is going to have to fight for space. That will be the issue early in (Game 1) - we might have to create.

"They've been able to do it before, but over the last two-and-a-half weeks, they haven't been in that aggresive style where they've had to work for that. But we've made them aware of it."

The Olympiques are coming to town rested well-rested. Gatineau took just five games to down the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the first round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs, a series which ended last Friday.

"They'll come out strong," said Mooseheads forward Marc-Andre Bernier.

"They played the last series and ended it in five games. We had 19 days of rest, so we have to be bang-on, right from the first face-off. We'll try to catch our second breath pretty quick and get back in the game (situation)."

Halifax went 3-0 against the Olympiques during the regular season, outscoring the two-time defending league champions 14-7. They also finished 21 points ahead in the overall standings.

"Playoffs are a totally different ball game," said Carnegie, who was second in team scoring this season with 32 goals and 32 assists. "We know that's going to be a tough match-up. They did well against Cape Breton, obviously, so we know we have to come out hard."

The Mooseheads will sport some different looks for tonight's opener. Some players have left their hair alone, others have mohawks, and then there's Carnegie, who shaved off hair at the top of his head, but left it on the side and back.

"Goofing around. Just trying to loosen the boys up in the dressing room," Carnegie smiled. "Try something different for playoffs."

NOTES: Just over 7,400 tickets have been sold for the series' first two games. Game 2 goes tomorrow night at the Metro Centre ... Mooseheads majority owner Bobby Smith will be in attendance tonight and tomorrow. Smith was flying into Halifax last night from Montreal.

THE TEAMS

REGULAR SEASON: Halifax - 42-16-10-2, 96 points; Gatineau - 33-28-5-4, 75 points.

SEASON SERIES: 3-0 for Halifax - 6-3 at Gatineau on Nov. 26; 6-3 at Halifax on Jan. 7; 2-1 at Gatineau on March 11.

OFFENCE (goals for): Halifax - 242 (Daniel Sparre: 35G, 33A; Rane Carnegie: 32G, 32A; Francois-Pierre Guenette: 21G, 38A).; Gatineau - 216 goals (Guillaume Labrecque: 28G, 52A; David Krejci: 22G, 41A; Petr Pohl: 27G, 32A).

DEFENCE (goals against): Halifax - 172 (Alexandre Picard: 15G, 23A, +18; Jimmy Sharrow: 16G, 31A, +23); Gatineau - 237 (Sam Roberts: 19G, 35A, +2; Martin Frechette: 15PTS, 108PM, +5).

GOALTENDING (goals-against average): Halifax - 2.42 (Jeremy Duchesne: 14-9-2, 2.35 GAA, .918 sav. pct.; Jason Churchill: 28-18-8, 2.59 GAA, .905 sav. pct.); Gatineau - 3.34 (David Tremblay: 24-21-4, 3.05 GAA, .897 sav. pct.; Olivier Laliberte: 6-10-1, 3.66 GAA, .888 sav. pct.).

POWER PLAY: Halifax - 22.8 per cent; Gatineau - 18.6 per cent.

PENALTY KILL: Halifax - 85.0 per cent; Gatineau - 80.7 per cent.

PENALTY MINUTES: Halifax - 1,402 (Kevin Cormier: 235; Kenzie Sheppard: 106); Gatineau - 1,647 (Maxime Rousseau: 228; David Starenky: 179).

ON AIR: Home games available live on webcast, with free access through Mooseheads website www.halifaxmooseheads.ca; Road games will be carried live on AM 920 CJCH.