There was nothing normal about Friday's game at the Scotiabank Centre for Bo Groulx.
He came in a different door, put his equipment on in an unfamiliar dressing room and sat on the visitors' bench for the first time in four seasons in the QMJHL. And most surreal of all was looking across the ice at 20 opponents wearing Halifax Mooseheads jerseys while he had the logo of one of his biggest rivals on his own chest.
The new Moncton Wildcats centre eventually found his bearings and scored a goal in a 7-3 win against the team he joined as a 16-year-old and left by trade a week and a half ago as the seventh-leading scorer in franchise history.
"My first game here without the Mooseheads jersey on felt really weird," Groulx said. "It felt pretty good to get the win against them but it also felt really strange. I had four amazing years here in Halifax so it was really special to me to come back."
The most emotional moments came early for Groulx. He seemed out of sorts at the other end of the ice for warmups and on the opposing blue line during the national anthem before taking the opening faceoff.
A video tribute from the Mooseheads during a first-period timeout eventually broke the tension, with Groulx patting his heart and gesturing to the fans in a moment of mutual appreciation.
"When I first stepped on the ice, I felt like I was on the wrong side," he said. "I made a lot of great friendships here and the video shows how classy the Mooseheads organization is. I was pretty pleased with that."
Groulx was one of five Wildcats players who scored in the first two periods to put them comfortably ahead 5-0 by the game's midway point. In fact, it was his goal that chased Cole McLaren from the Halifax net in favour of Alexis Gravel.
"It's always fun scoring a goal, but it's never fun scoring against a friend and making your friend look bad," Groulx said. "It's my first game here and I enjoyed it but at the same time I don't want to play against them any more. It's all love. I'm happy to get this one out of the way."
The Mooseheads managed to make it 5-3 early in the third to make it feel like there might be a chance for a rally but had to settle for the moral victory of playing hard against a tough opponent.
"I'm happy with the way we played," Gravel said. "Right after I came in, the boys scored two goals and that gave us a lot of momentum. We scored another one and it could've been a comeback but it's tough when you're down five. We showed character. We never gave up and guys were all blocking shots and working. I'm proud of the guys."
Mika Cyr, with two, Axel Andersson, Gabriel Fortier, Elliot Desnoyers and Zachary L'Heureux also scored for the Wildcats (27-10-0-0). Kevin Gursoy, Denis Toner and Samuel Dube had the goals for the Mooseheads (15-19-2-1).
Dakota Lund-Cornish made 18 saves for Moncton and Cole McLaren and Gravel combined to stop 47 shots for Halifax.
Gravel and Groulx were drafted the same year and were teammates their entire QMJHL careers before the trade.
"In the warmup, I looked over at him and it was so strange," Gravel said. "During our meeting this morning, we looked at Moncton's power play and Bo was there. I just thought 'Oh my God, that's so weird.' Then we looked at our PK and it was an old clip and Bo was on the ice for us so it was really funny.
"But I wish him the best. He deserves it and I'm happy for him."
The Mooseheads have now lost their past six games and are back at home on Saturday against the Bathurst Titan.
"Our goal is to win evey game, but that one's a huge opportunity for two points," Gravel said. "It's a must-win tomorrow."
Notes: Winger Ozzie King made his Mooseheads debut after they traded a 10th-round pick to the Wildcats for him on Thursday. ... Cole Foston, Gavin Hart, Abi Said-Faycal and Justin Barron did not dress for Halifax and Jared McIsaac and Raphael Lavoie remain with Team Canada at the world junior championship in the Czech Republic. ... It was also Fortier's first game for the Wildcats after being acquired from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar earlier this week. His older brother Maxime was the Mooseheads captain in 2017-18. ... Halifax winger Senna Peeters left the game in the second period with a facial injury.
