U-Sports Playoffs Begin Wednesday

The Atlantic University Sport playoffs are set to open on Wednesday night and it will include several former Halifax Mooseheads players. Once again, the post-season includes the Acadia Axemen, Moncton Aigles Bleus, Saint Mary's Huskies, St. Francis X-Men, UNB Reds and UPEI Panthers. 

Here are the final standings  (W-L-OTL-SOL)
#    Team                                            Record     Pts          
1.  University of New Brunswick      28-1-1-0     57
2.  Universite de Moncton                19-9-2-0     40
3.  Saint Mary's University               17-11-2-0    36
4.  St. Francis Xavier University      15-13-1-1   32
5.  Acadia University                        14-14-1-1   30
6.  University of PEI                          9-19-0-2    20
7.  Dalhousie University                    3-26-1-0     7

The Reds and the Aigles Bleus receive a first round bye. The Huskies will take on the Panthers in a series that will start tomorrow night in Halifax. The X-Men go up against the Axemen beginning on Thursday in Antigonish. Both series are a best-of-three. 

Here is the quarter-finals schedule
Feb 19    UPEI at Saint Mary's
Feb 20    Acadia at St. FX
Feb 21    Saint Mary's at UPEI 
Feb 22    St. FX at Acadia
Feb 23    UPEI at Saint Mary's   *if necessary
Feb 24    Acadia at St. FX   *if necessary

Herd alumni on playoff team rosters include; Zack Jones (Acadia), Robert Orr (UPEI), Peter Reynolds (UNB), Cole Stewart (STFX), Brendan Tomilson (Acadia), Denis Toner (Moncton) and Cameron Whynot (Acadia). 

Despite not being local, the road to the Queen's Cup for being the Ontario University Association champion contains a few past Moose players as well. Kevin Gursoy (TMU), Stephane Huard (McGill), David Lafrance (Ottawa) and Ethan Larmand (Queen's). While goaltender Brady James is listed on the Concordia Stingers roster, he only played one game for the team in the regular season so I doubt we will see him in the playoffs. 

Good luck to all the teams and to our former players during the playoffs on the road to the University Cup that will be held in Ottawa later in March. 

MacKinnon Scores 2, Canada Advances

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

The round robin of the 4 Nations Face-Off is over and former Halifax Mooseheads forward Nathan MacKinnon helped his team advance to the championship game. The NHL decided to hold this tournament, that sees the best players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and USA battle each other, instead of the annual all-star game. 

MacKinnon scored twice on Monday afternoon as the tournament moved to Boston for the final two game days. His markers helped Team Canada to a 5-3 victory over Finland which booked the red and white's ticket to the final match. The Herd alum made it 2-0 for Canada at the 4:59 minute mark of the first period and scored what turned out to be the game winning goal with under 15 minutes remaining in the middle frame. Nathan was also named the first star of the game. Fellow Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby, who is captaining the team, scored an empty net goal to seal the win and picked up an assist as well. 

Canada will play in a rematch against the USA on Thursday night in the final. 

Another forward who played for the Moose during his junior career, Brad Marchand is also suiting up for Canada. He had no points yesterday but the Halifax native did score on Wednesday in a 4-3 overtime victory. 

Photo - Bruins Twitter

Good luck to the guys wearing the maple leaf later this week.

Here are the final prelim round results (W-OTW-OTL-L)
USA             6pts  2-0-0-1
Canada         5pts  1-1-0-1
Sweden        5pts  1-0-2-0
Finland         2pts  0-1-0-2

Introducing the Newfoundland Regiment

I'm a few weeks behind on sharing this but I thought I still would. 

What has been rumoured for the last couple of seasons became a reality back in December when the QMJHL announced the purchase of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan by a group named SPS Entertainment. They are business owners who plan to relocate the team to St. John's, Newfoundland in time for the 2025-26 season. Before the club even had a name, season tickets were on sale with fans being able to put down a deposit to hold their spot. 

From a CBC article posted on December 20; "St. John's is a market that the league has kept an eye on since the departure of the Fog Devils more than 15 years ago," said QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini in a new release on Friday. "The ownership is solid, the arena is outstanding, and Newfoundland and Labrador fans love hockey."

Photo - Regiment facebook page

A little over a month later, the team's identity was revealed at a press conference held on January 23 in a military building in St. John's with team ownership and government officials in attendance. The new team will be named the Newfoundland Regiment in honour of the province's military heritage. 

"The name Newfoundland Regiment not only pays homage to the incredible legacy left by these brave soldiers but also embodies the values of courage, unity and resilience. These qualities continue to be displayed by the men and women of the modern Royal Newfoundland Regiment," said Glenn Stanford, president of the new team. 

Video introducing the team name

No jerseys were unveiled during the press conference. I wonder if we will see them when the team makes their first selection at the 2025 Q entry draft on June 6. 

According to the team's press release 'the team's new logo prominently features a Woodland Caribou, the symbol for which the Regiment is known and a nod to the Regiment's past and current cap badge. This symbol, along with the regimental crest and the crown icon in the logo, captures the spirit of excellence and dedication exemplified by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Team colours include puttee blue, legacy maroon and heritage tan.'

This will be the second go around for a QMJHL franchise in the city following the St. John's Fog Devils from 2005 to 2008. The Newfoundland Regiment will play at the Mary Brown's Centre starting this fall. 

Tight Game for Rebuild Moose

The momentum that Halifax gained by defeating a strong Quebec Remparts team less than a week ago on the road was flattened on Friday night. The Mooseheads were defeated 3-1 by the visiting Blainville-Boisbraind Armada in front of almost 7,600 fans. Both teams played a pretty back and forth game in the opening period with Herd goaltender Jacob Steinman making some nice saves to give the home team an opportunity to get the first goal. We had a scoreless tie going into the second period however, which is when the fun began. Mateo Nobert got the Armada on the board just 53 seconds into the middle frame to make the game 1-0 but Brady Schultz tied the game a few minutes later.  Even though the Mooseheads are a rebuilding team, they have not been laying down during most games this season and it seems to be frustrating their opponents. We saw it tonight with the Armada taking some unnecessary penalties & the guys on the ice doing some post-whistle activities. Halifax found themselves down 2-1 after 40 minutes and just couldn’t get an opportunity in the final period to tie the game up before the bad guys would seal the game with an empty net goal.

FINAL: Blainville-Boisbriand 3 at Halifax 1
Stars: 3. Felix Hamel BLB | 2. Jacob Steinman HAL | 1. Egor Goriunov BLB
Attendance: 7,598
MC’s Top Herd: Jacob Steinman

GAME LOG
First period
No score

Second period
0:53 BLB Mateo Nobert (23) | A: Desjardins & Goriunov
4:39 HAL Brady Schultz (5) | A: McNab & Bent
15:31 BLB Egor Goriunov (25) | A: Carbonneau & Lemieux

Third period
19:29 BLB Vincent Desjardins (15), EN | A: Gosselin & Filaj

Powerplay: BLB - 0-for-2; HAL - 0-for-5
Shots: 34-32 in favour of Blainville

Next game 
Halifax will welcome division rivals Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday for Mooseheads Fight Cancer night. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

Stats Sunday: January

Games played: 13
Record: 4-8-0-1, 9pts
Goals for/against: 36/46
Powerplay*: 16.3%
Penalty kill*: 75.8%
Shutouts: None

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Quinn Kennedy 13, Shawn Carrier 12, Liam Kilfoil 11, Carlos Handel 8, Braeden MacPhee 7 
Goals: Quinn Kennedy 6, Liam Kilfoil 6, Shawn Carrier 5, Braeden MacPhee 5, Antoine Fontaine 4
Assists: Carlos Handel 8, Quinn Kennedy 7, Shawn Carrier 7, Brady Schultz 6, Liam Kilfoil 5
Penalty minutes: Quinn Kennedy 14, Caylen Blake 13, Shawn Carrier 12, Braeden MacPhee 12, Brady Schultz 8
Plus/minus: Caylen Blake +3, Carlos Handel +1, Justin Chiras +1, Eddy Doyle +1, William Bent +1
Rookie scoring: Carlos Handel 8pts, Caylen Blake 6pts, Amelio Santini 4pts, William Bent 3pts, Patrick McNab 3pts

Goaltender stats*
Jacob Steinman     25-8-3-1     2.20 GAA     0.930 SAV%
Mathis Rousseau     9-16-5-0     3.16 GAA     0.906 SAV%
Jack Milner     2-4-0-0     4.69 GAA     0.870 SAV%
Nicolas Cirka     1-2-0-0     5.17 GAA     0.872 SAV%

*overall
Notes: does not include Feb 1 game. Rousseau & Milner no longer with team, their stats are for time here

Roster Moves Change Landscape of Moose

Photo - Herd website

It has been a busy last month and a half for Cam Russell and co. as the team has made a number of roster moves trying to figure out the best players to finish the regular season in this rebuild year. I don't normally do this but with so much change, I thought I would share an updated roster. 

With the NCAA eligibility rule change, a few drafted players have decided to join the team and the Herd also made a couple of significant trades during the winter trade period. Since November 28, the following roster adjustments have been made:

IN                                                            OUT
D Mathieu Taillefer (NCAA commit)         F Lou Levesque (Trade RIM)
F Quinn Kennedy (Trade RIM)                D Jack Martin (Trade RIM)
G Nicolas Cirka (NCAA commit)              D Dominic MacKenzie (Reassigned)
D Justin Chiras (NCAA commit)              G Mathis Rousseau (Trade MON)
G Jacob Steinman (Trade MON)             F Logan Crosby (Trade MON)
F Callum Aucoin (Trade CAP)                 F Jan Sprynar (Signed w HC Litvinov)
F Will Bent (NCAA commit)                     G Jack Milner (Reassigned)
                                                                F Jake Todd (Reassigned)

To the new guys, welcome to Moose Country - excited to see your careers here. To the players who left, thank you for your time in Halifax - good luck with your new team. 

Halifax now has 12 rookies on the roster and with the moves made, there are no players born in 2005. 

Explore the second half roster below

1  Jacob Steinman  G  Toronto, ON
5  Brady Schultz  D  Monroe, CT, USA

7  Carlos Handel  D  Erlangen, Germany*
8  Callum Aucoin  LW  Hammonds Plains, NS

9  Liam Kilfoil  C  Quispamsis, NB
12  Will Bent  RW  Dover, MA*

17  Patrick McNab  LW  Beaconsfield, QC*
19  Caylen Blake  LW  Corner Brook, NL*

20  Daniel Walters  C  Halifax, NS*

21  Braeden MacPhee  C  Moncton, NB
26  Owen Phillips  D  Hammonds Plains, NS

32  Alec Nasreddine  LW  Mountainside, NJ, USA*

37  Amelio Santini  LW  Cote-Saint-Luc, QC*
39  Nicolas Gillham-Cirka  G  Westmount, QC*

41  Justin Breton  C  Saint-Leon-de-Stanton, QC*

51  Eddy Doyle  D  Tignish, PE*

55  Shawn Carrier  LW  Trois-Rivieres, QC

56  Lincoln Waugh  D  Summerside, PE

72  Mathieu Taillefer  D  Richelieu, QC*
73  Justin Chiras  D  Bedford, NH, USA*
88  Quinn Kennedy  C  Upper Tantallon, NS
89  Antoine Fontaine  RW  Granby, QC
90  Cade Moser  C  Linacy, NS 

Herd Move Rousseau, Crosby at Deadline

The Halifax Mooseheads made a couple of moves in the 11th hour of the winter trade period. Not surprisingly, Halifax traded goaltender Mathis Rousseau to the Moncton Wildcats along with forward Logan Crosby late Monday morning in exchange for overage netminder Jacob Steinman plus three draft picks (Rd 2 2025, Rd 2 2026, Rd 4 2026). 

Photo - AMH Photography

Rousseau was drafted by the Mooseheads in 2020 61st overall and made his debut during the 2021-22 season. He will be remembered as one of the best goalies to play for Halifax, securing 93 career wins during his time with the club and scoring the only goalie goal in franchise history on October 20, 2023. The 20-year-old finishes his time in Moose Country with 155 games played, a 2.74 goals against average and 0.912 save percentage over 3 and a half seasons. 

Photo - Saltwire

Crosby, a native of Salt Springs, NS, picked up 22 goals and 58 points in 163 games played for Halifax after being drafted by the team 20th overall at the 2021 QMJHL draft. The two players will join former teammates Dylan MacKinnon and Markus Vidicek on the Wildcats team who are looking to win the ultimate championship this season. Moncton currently sits on top of the league standings with 60 points and are on a 8 game win streak. 

"Mathis has done everything and more that we could have ever expected him to in a Mooseheads jersey. These decisions are never easy, but we wanted to give him a chance at winning a championship while helping our team get better for the future. We wish him and Logan the best of luck in Moncton," Russell said. 

A Toronto, ON native, Steinman leads the QMJHL with 22 wins so far this season and has been a solid goaltender in each of his 3 years after signing as a free agent with the Wildcats in 2022. He is near the top in all goalie statistical categories. 

Photo - Puck Preps

In a separate trade, the Herd acquired Callum Aucoin from the Cape Breton Eagles for a 2025 9th round draft pick. Aucoin, a native of Hammonds Plains, NS, has 16 points in 79 games played for the Eagles. The 18-year-old was drafted by the other Nova Scotian team in the 4th round in 2022. 

Good luck to Mathis and Logan with their new team and thank you for your time with Halifax. Welcome to Moose Country Jacob and Callum, I suspect we will see both in the lineup on Thursday.