Monday, May 9, 2005 | By Philip Croucher, Halifax Daily News

Ask and ye shall not always receive.

Halifax Mooseheads coach Al MacAdam was tight-lipped when asked what strategies his team might use against the Rimouski Oceanic tonight.

"No comment," he said yesterday from the Halifax Metro Centre. "I don't think it's important for people to know."

The Mooseheads go into tonight's critical Game 3 at the sold-out Metro Centre trailing the Oceanic 2-0 in the best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final. Game time is 7 p.m.

Halifax dropped the first two games of the final on the road, before capacity crowds at the Rimouski Colisee. Halifax was shellacked 9-4 in Game 1, but played much better in Game 2, which they lost 7-5.

"I don't want to talk about the first game. We weren't ready to play," MacAdam said. "The third period (in Game 1), I thought we played hard, and I thought we played pretty well in the second game.

"I thought we had three turnovers that accounted for three goals (in Game 2). We outshot them. They had more power-play opportunities than we did, and I thought five-on-five we played them pretty well."

A big concern for the Mooseheads is the amount of goals against. The Mooseheads were the best defensive team in the regular season and allowed just 19 goals in nine playoff games before the final.

But against the Oceanic, who have plenty of offensive weapons, including Cole Harbour's Sidney Crosby, the Mooseheads have allowed 16 goals in two games.

"I don't want to back off too much," MacAdam said. "You can't have our team - you know what our team is like. We talked about it all year. I don't want to go back into a defensive mode."

Both Jeremy Duchesne and Jason Churchill have seen time in nets against Rimouski. Duchesne, the team's No. 1 all playoffs, started the opener for Halifax, but was yanked following the first period for Churchill after allowing five goals on 14 shots.

Churchill, who saw his first playoff action in Thursday's opener, allowed four goals on 25 shots in the second and third.

In Game 2, Duchesne played the entire game, and couldn't be really blamed for any of the goals. Rimouski scored its seventh goal on an empty netter.

"I'm not telling you what we're doing (tonight), if that's what you're asking," MacAdam said with a smile. "We're confident with both goaltenders."

As for special teams, the Mooseheads did a better job of shutting down the Oceanic power play in Game 2. Rimouski was 5-for-7 with the man advantage in Game 1, but only 2-for-9 in Game 2, which included not scoring on a five-on-three advantage early in the third.

"When it comes to the penalty kill, I think the thing that is going to be more important for us in the next few days is to stay out of the box," said Mooseheads defenceman Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu. "It was way too much. You can't have that against those guys."

As for the power play, the Mooseheads couldn't score in five attempts in Game 1, and were 1-for-6 in Game 2.

"The second game, I think we got a little better. I think (the power play) is working pretty good now," said Vrana, who has three goals in the series. "We did a little adjustments, and we'll see how it goes."