Sunday, May 8, 2005 | By Philip Croucher, Halifax Daily News

They may be in a hole, but the Halifax Mooseheads are staying very upbeat.

Despite losing the first two games of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final to the Rimouski Oceanic, by scores of 9-4 and 7-5, the Mooseheads are back home and looking forward to their chance with home-ice advantage.

Games 3 and 4 go tomorrow and Tuesday at the sold-out Halifax Metro Centre. The start time for both games is 7 p.m.

Halifax was pounded in the series opener, trailing by as much as 8-0 at one point, before making things somewhat respectable. The Mooseheads looked much better in Friday night's Game 2, putting a real scare into a Rimouski team that has now gone 20 games without a home loss.

In fact, the Mooseheads could have easily won that game, and been back home with the split.

"That's the way you have to look at it in the playoffs," said Mooseheads forward Petr Vrana, of staying positive. "The series is not a best-out-of-three, or best-out-of-five, it's a best-out-of-seven.

"Even though we're losing 2-0, we have to believe we can come back, and I personally believe we can do it. I think we're a better team and we have to keep working hard and go in the right direction."

The Mooseheads just have to think about two years ago to know they can come back from down 2-0 to the league's top-rated team.

In the 2003 playoffs, the Mooseheads lost the first two games on the road to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, then reeled off four wins in the next five games to advance to the league final.

"It was about the same kind of thing. We lost the first game by a high score, then lost the second game," said Mooseheads defenceman Alexandre Picard, one of six current Mooseheads who played for that 2002-03 team. "We didn't get a break by the (referees), and it's been done, so why not this year?"

If the Mooseheads want to get back in the series, they'll have to find a way to slow down the Oceanic's explosive offence.

Halifax, which allowed the fewest goals in the regular season, has watched Rimouski score 16 times in two games. That is three fewer than the 19 the Mooseheads allowed in the quarterfinals and semifinals combined.

"I don't think it's been a problem. I just think they have a good offence, which we respect," said Picard, as Rimouski is the league's highest-scoring team. "But at the same time, we've been scoring a lot of goals too. It's been going both ways, but obviously it's something we need to get better at. But we're going home now, and we'll see what happens."

In the defensive zone, the Mooseheads have struggled getting the puck outside their blueline, which has cost them several times, including on the game-winning goal Friday night.

"We know how to play defence. We know we have to get pucks out on the boards," Picard said. "They're a turnover team and everything that goes through the middle, they're going to take advantage of it.

"I think we learned from our mistakes in the first two games and it's only going to help us in the future."