Halifax Mooseheads’ Nathan MacKinnon throws massive bodycheck in QMJHL semifinal (VIDEO)

If the Rimouski Océanic's Casey Babineau didn't get the licence plate number on that Mac truck which hit him, it's 22.

The Halifax Mooseheads were downed decisively 4-1 by the Océanic in Game 1 of their QMJHL semifinal series on Friday. However, in a post-season where he's already provided plenty of highlights, 16-year-old puck prodigy Nathan MacKinnon delivered another one, only with his shoulder rather than with his soft hands and quick feet. Late in the gamewith the outcome all but decided, MacKinnon sent a message for Game 2 by levelling Babineau with a textbook thunderous bodycheck just outside the Mooseheads blueline, knocking the Océanic defenceman who is 3 1/2 years his elder off his feet. The sold-out crowd at the Halifax Metro Centre loved it.

Imagine that: getting back at someone with a clean and massive bodycheck. It still touched off a brief mêlée.

Océanic coach Serge Beausoleil sounded rather admiring when he told Mooseheads play-by-play man John Moore, "It was a perfectly good hit from MacKinnon and I like tough hockey ... it's tough hockey and we're in playoffs."

That's bound to be remembered as the teams bunker down for what could be a long series. Babineau and the Océanic got the last laugh, though. The native of Beaver Brook, N.S., where the the impact of the check might have been felt, scored his first goal of the playoffs to point his team toward the victory that helped it wrest home-ice advantage in the series.

Meantime, people saw another dimension to Nathan MacKinnon's game on Friday. The Cole Harbour comet and favourite to the NHL's first overall pick in 2013 has scored some dazzling goals and made some sweet setups. On that play, he looked like the young Wendel Clark who inspired a Rheostatics song. Hey, maybe MacKinnon can help that band get back together.

One can only presume that the Océanic, in hockey parlance, took a number after that play. That migth ratchet up the focus on MacKinnon in the next game, but the special players rise to the occasion.

(Stick taps: Patrick King, Jérôme Bérubé.)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (videos: John Moore, Telus).