Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Last Quebec road trip

Your Halifax Mooseheads will be playing their last road trip to Quebec in the next week. The road trip starts tonight against the Shawinigan Cataractes, will continue on Friday against Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Saturday against Val-d'Or Foreurs. This isn't the last road trip of the year but it's the last time the Herd will play any Quebec teams until the playoffs. Halifax will travel to one more city during the road trip before coming home for a game. The Moose will play two more games against Maritime teams on the road then come home for their last two games of the regular season.

The team is one win away from recording 50 wins for the first time in franchise history. They also tied the franchise record for most points in a season on Sunday recording their 101st point after beating Acadie-Bathurst 11-3. The Moose had enough time in that game to break another franchise record for scoring the most goals in one goal however they weren't able to achieve it, it was the 9th time and third this season that Halifax has scored 11 goals in one game.

The team's leading point scorer, Jonathan Drouin also became the league's leading point scorer on Sunday after recording four points during the win. Drouin was honoured on Monday with first player of the week after recording 11 points in 3 games last week which included TWO one goal and 3 assists performances with a three assist performance in the middle game. I will be surprised if he is not player of the month for February.

Go MOOSE Go

Thursday, February 21, 2013

MARITIME DIVISION CHAMPIONS!!!

Your Halifax Mooseheads have clinched their 5th division title in franchise history. The Herd were playing in Saint John last night and they only needed one point to clinch the division. Halifax had a chance to clinch on Tuesday if Moncton lost their game in any way against Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The Wildcats obviously didn't want to help their Maritime rivals as they beat the Titan, another Maritime team, 5-1 in Moncton. The Moose were able to get the point they needed to clinch the title as the defeated the Sea Dogs 8-3 riding on Jonathan Drouin and Marty Frk each getting 4 points. Frk scored a hat trick and assisted on another one while Drouin was the opposite scoring one goal and recording 3 assists. Stephen MacAulay scored a goal against his old team that traded him in January. He also assisted on a goal. Weegar, Duke and Abeltshauser also had multi-point night. One of Mackenzie's points was a goal while Ciampini and Ryan scored the other goals. Jurij Repe, Maxime Villemaire and Matthew Highmore scored the goals for the Dogs. SJ decided to pull their starting goalie after Halifax scored 6 goals against him. No one recorded more then one penalty during the game. Chris Clarke recorded his 10th win of the season as starting goalie for the Herd.

Not only did your Mooseheads clinch the division title last night but they also broke two franchise records. The team has now recorded the most wins in a season with their 47th win. Forty six was the previous record which was in the 1998-99 season. They also recorded their 22nd road win which is also a new franchise record, the previous was 21 set during the 2007-08 season.

The team decided to give Zach Fucale the night off which I believe was quite deserved after winning 3 games in the past week and being named CHL goalie of the week. With the team winning on Saturday, he also recorded a franchise record for most wins in one season by a goaltender receiving his 36 W of the season.

This is a little late but congratulations are again in order, I think, as your team swept its second 3-in-3 nights tilt.

Notes: There are twelve games left in the season and half of those are at home starting with a rematch against the Sea Dogs tomorrow night at the MC. A half century worth of wins is looking pretty good now as the Moose have now won their last 5 games. As aforementioned this was Halifax's fifth title, the last one being in the 2007-08 season.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Around the CHL ~ volume #2 season edition #2

Well we're a month away from the playoffs beginning. It's been a pretty exciting month with some at least half of the playoff spots are sown up. Halifax had a chance to clinch their division however Moncton ruined that chance last night by winning. Hope you enjoy the rest of the season and please keep reading my blog and don't forget to comment. GO Moose GO!!!

League leaders
Goals - Reid Boucher 51 goals (OHL Sarnia Sting), Anthony Mantha 45 goals (QMJHL Val-d'Or Foreurs), Brendan Leipsic 41 goals (WHL Portland Winterhawks)
Assists - Nick Cousins 70 assists (OHL Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds), Brendan Leipsic 62 assists (WHL Portland Winterhawks), Ben Duffy 55 assists (QMJHL Prince Edward Island Rocket)
Points - Brendan Leipsic 103 points (WHL Portland Winterhawks), Nick Cousins 93 points (OHL Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds), Peter Trainor 89 points (QMJHL Rimouski Oceanic)
Defencemen points - Brenden Kichton 67 points (WHL Spokane Chiefs), Kevin Gagne 62 points (QMJHL Rimouski Oceanic), Ryan Sproul 58 points (OHL Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds)
Rookie points - Valentin Zykov 67 points (QMJHL Baie-Comeau Drakkar), Connor McDavid 55 points (OHL Erie Otters), Oliver Bjorkstrand 53 points (WHL Portland Winterhawks)
Goalie wins - Zachary Fucale 37 wins (QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads), Daniel Altshuller 31 wins (OHL Oshawa Generals), Luke Siemens 30 wins (WHL Prince Albert Raiders)
Save percentage - Tristan Jarry 0.938 SAV% (WHL Edmonton Oil Kings), Mathias Niederberger 0.931 SAV% (OHL Barrie Colts), Antoine Bibeau 0.910 SAV% (QMJHL Prince Edward Island Rocket)
Goals against average - Tristan Jarry 1.56 GAA (WHL Edmonton Oil Kings), Etienne Marcoux 2.18 GAA (QMJHL Blainville-Boisbraind Armada), Malcolm Subban 2.20 GAA (OHL Belleville Bulls)

Division leaders
WHL - Portland Winterhawks 99 points/48 wins (U.S. division), Kelowna Rockets 88 points/42 wins (B.C. division), Edmonton Oil Kings 91 points/43 wins (Central division), Saskatoon Blades 73 points/35 wins (East division)
OHL - London Knights 86 points/41 wins (Midwest division), Barrie Colts 75 points/36 wins (Central division), Belleville Bulls 76 points/35 wins (East division), Plymouth Whalers 73 points/32 wins (West division)
QMJHL - Halifax Mooseheads 95 points/46 wins (Maritimes division), Rimouski Oceanic 82 points/37 wins (TELUS East division), Blainville-Boisbraind Armada 72 points/32 wins (TELUS West division)

BMO CHL top ten ~ week 22
1. Portland Winterhawks {48-9-1-2} week 21 #1
2. Halifax Mooseheads {46-6-2-1} week 21 #2
3. Edmonton Oil Kings {43-12-2-3} week 21 #4
4. London Knights {41-12-2-2} week 21 #3
5. Rimouski Oceanic {37-12-2-6} week 21 #6
6. Kelowna Rockets {42-15-3-1} week 21 #5
7. Kamloops Blazers {40-15-2-3} week 21 #8
8. Owen Sound Attack {36-17-1-3} week 21 #10
9. Baie-Comeau Drakkar {37-16-2-3} week 21 #7
10. Belleville Bulls {35-14-3-3} week 21 n/a
Honorable mentions: Barrie Colts {36-18-1-2 #9}, Calgary Hitmen {39-17-1-3 n/a}, Plymouth Whalers {32-16-5-4 n/a}


Tonight's games
Mooseheads vs. Sea Dogs at 6pm/ET
Cataractes vs. Phoenix at 7pm/ET
Armada vs. Oceanic at 7pm/ET
67's vs. Bulls at 7:05pm/ET
Warriors vs. Blades at 8:05pm/ET
Pats vs. Oil Kings at 9pm/ET
Raiders vs. Tigers at 9pm/ET
Winterhawks vs. Blazers at 10pm/ET

Happenings since last edition
*The highest save total by a goalie happened in the last month with Everett Silvertips goalie Austin Lotz made 65 saves in a losing cause, as the Silvertips lost in overtime to Kamloops.
*Out of the eight players that were invited to NHL camps; Huberdeau, Galchenyuk, Grigorenko, Hamilton and Yakupov were able to prove themselves to their respective teams. Huberdeau scored in his first pro game and has rattled up 9 points, while Galchenyuk scored his first on the 22nd and has 10 points so far, Grigorenko scored his first against the Maple Leafs to tie that game at the end of the month and has 3 points, and Yakupov scored his second goal against the Kings less then 2 seconds left with a celebration similar to that of Theo Fleury's OT playoff goal and has also recorded 9 points. Hamilton took the longest to score his first as he scored a day after valentines day and has assisted 5 others.
*The head coaches of Val-d'Or and Drummondville were both fined 3 games while the teams were fined $5000 each as a result of a brawl that happened in a game between the two teams twelve days ago.
*Saskatoon has the third longest winning streak this season winning twelve games in a row starting January 27. The Blades will look to make it 13 in a row tonight against Moose Jaw.
*Eleven of the 16 playoff spots are now taken in the QMJHL, while six are gone in the Ontario league and seven are sown up in the West.

Note: the Halifax Mooseheads have the lowest loss total (L, OTL, SOL) in the Q and in the CHL with only 9 total losses this season while also playing the lowest amount of games at 55. I think Saint John is missing Jonathan Huberdeau as they only have 21 wins so far after winning the 2 last President's Cups.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Home team gets revenge

Tonight was a game between the top two teams in the Maritimes with the home team coming up on top in this heated rivalry. Despite being a heated rivalry, there was not one actual fight tonight but there was a few scuffles throughout the game. The Mooseheads were outshot by double in the first period while allowing a goal. Moncton scored another one to go ahead 2-0 less than a minute in the second period. MacAulay scored about 7 minutes in the second to start a series of goals by the red, green and gold. Halifax is now 24 points ahead of the 2nd place Wildcats in the Maritimes division.

Notes: Darcy Ashley recorded his 150th point with his first goal tonight... Weegar and MacKinnon both missed their third straight game, all Moose home wins... After only allowing 11 shots last night, the Herd were outshot tonight allowing 42 pucks on net...

Three stars:
3. Veilleux (MON)
2. Ashley (HAL)
1. Fucale (HAL)

Hardie also received Dickies hardest working player of the game

Attendance: SELLOUT 10,595

Wildcat player Phillip Danault was honored pre-game for his contributions at the World Juniors.


Score
Wildcats 2 at Mooseheads 5

UP NEXT: versus PEI tomorrow, the third game in three nights for the Moose, at the Charlottetown Civic Centre

Feb 16: Moncton vs. Mooseheads game preview

This is the sixth game between these two teams this season. Halifax has won three of the 5 previous contests so far in this highly heated rivalry. Both losses have been in Wildcat territory with a 3-0 shutout on November 25 and an 8-5 wild game eight days ago. On October 10 the Mooseheads won 5-1 at home, than won 8-6 in another wild game in Moncton and the first game of the 2013 year winning 7-3 at home. Wildcat leading scorer Dmitrij Jaskin will be out but after returning from the Juniors, he has scored 31 points in 12 games. He will not be playing tonight as he was suspended for 3 games.
Halifax will be looking to make it three wins in a row and is 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games overall. Moncton is also 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 with a 13-12-0-0 record on the road this season. Halifax will be without their other 17 year old player Nathan MacKinnon who is out with a knee injury. The Herd will also be without Mac Weegar (wrist) and Ryan Falkenham (concussion).


Overall record:
MON: 34-19-1-0 = 69 points (2nd in Maritimes Division, 5th overall)
HAL: 44-6-2-1 = 91 points (1st in Maritimes Division, 1st overall)

Top Scorers:
WILDCATS: #26 Dmitrij Jaskin (39G, 42A, 81 PTS), #19 Allain Saulnier (22G, 45A, 67 PTS), #21 Alex Saulnier (22G, 42A, 64 PTS)
HALIFAX: #27 Jonathan Drouin (32G, 43A, 75 PTS), #22 Nathan MacKinnon (28G, 41A, 69 PTS), #91 Martin Frk (23G, 36A, 59 PTS)

** stats as of Feb 14

Saturday, February 09, 2013

Snow postpones tonight's game

Tonight's game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan was cancelled this morning due to the snow storm hitting the Maritimes. 40+ centimetres of snow are expected to have fallen by the end of the weekend. Both the Mooseheads and Halifax Metro Centre Twitter and Facebook accounts announced the cancellation of the game. Puck drop was supposed to be 7pm Atlantic time. The Mooseheads announced that the game is postponed until Monday March 11 at 7pm/at. The team also announced that anybody who had tickets to tonight's game can use them for the rescheduled game or in the case of individual tickets, you can get refunds if you are unable to go. Considering I have tickets for tonight's game I will most likely go to the rescheduled game.

Hopefully there isn't another storm next weekend as the Moose play again at home a week from today. I will be hitting that game with my father and sister watching from a box seat. :) look for my game posts for the tilt against Moncton.

Go Moose Go!!!

Have a good day if you are snowed in. I will now be watching Hockey Day in Canada so go over to my other blog at hockeyfansunitetonight.blogspot.ca for my thoughts on the Canadian teams as they play.

Friday, February 08, 2013

High scoring game in Moncton

Your Halifax Mooseheads travelled to Moncton for a tilt against the Wildcats tonight. The game was shown on national TV as Sportnet's Friday Night Hockey game. The Moose let in the most goals in one game this season as they lost 8-5 against the Cats. The previous high this season was 7 which was allowed in a game against Acadie-Bathurst back in early December. Halifax had led tonight's game 2-1 with goals from MacAulay and Frk before Jaskin cut the lead in half for Moncton before the end of one period. Moncton than scored four goals in the second, as Halifax closed the game to one goal in the third before the Wildcats scored twice more to end the Mooseheads comeback. Dmitrij Jaskin scored a hat trick and Christophe Lalonde put in two. Ryan Penny, Allain Saulnier and Yannick Veilleux also scored for Moncton. Ashley and Ciampini also scored for the Moose while Liam Alcalde scored his first QMJHL goal. Matt Boudreau received 3rd star honours with assists on 3 of the Mooseheads goals. Despite the loss the red, green and gold outshot the Cats 38-31.

Look for my posts for tomorrow's game against the Titan.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Wednesday night hockey anything better?

I had previously said look for my preview and review of this game because I thought I would be going, however I decided not to go as I have a midterm on Saturday so I needed to study. :) I will do a clipped review of tonight's game however though as it sounds like it was a very exciting game.

Tonight's game was the battle of the top two teams in the Quebec league. This was the second game between these two teams, as Rimouski won the last meeting. This was the last game in a streak of the Mooseheads playing Quebec teams. Just like the last game the Oceanic and Moose played, tonight was decided in a shootout this time with the good guys winning. Mack Weegar keeps on impressing Moose Country as a rookie defenceman. He now has the franchise's record for most assists by a rookie defenceman after recording three during tonight's game. Another milestone was hit tonight as Nathan MacKinnon now has at least one point against every team in the QMJHL after scoring the fourth goal to tie the game up for the Mooseheads.

Notes: Drouin also recorded his 100th career point as a Moose with an assist as he also scored 2 goals... MacKinnon, Frk and Weegar scored for Halifax in the six round shootout... Halifax was once again named #2 in the country for the second straight week...

Trainor and Lavoie of the Oceanic received 3rd and 2nd star honors respectively. Weegar was honored with first star of the game and also received the Dickies hardest working player of the game.

Attendance: 8,348


Score
Oceanic 4 at Mooseheads 5 SO

Friday, February 01, 2013

Websites!!

Websites
Your Halifax Mooseheads official website: www.halifaxmooseheads.ca
Want history on the Moose? Wanna know who the top Herd scorer is in history? Look up Herd History at www.herdhistory.com
Chronicle Herald now has a micro site dedicated to the red, green and gold: www.thechronicleherald.ca/mooseheads


Follow the Moose on Twitter
Halifax Mooseheads: @HFXMooseheads     https://twitter.com/HFXMooseheads
Home arena Halifax Metro Centre: @HfxMetroCentre     https://twitter.com/HfxMetroCentre
Chronicle Herald Moose writer Willy Palov: @CH_WillyPalov    https://twitter.com/CH_WIllyPalov
Herd History: @HerdHistory     https://twitter.com/HerdHistory
Follow me: @ashamh19      https://twitter.com/ashamh19

Busy night in CHL

It is a very busy night in the Canadian Hockey League tonight February 1st. Fifty-six of the sixty CHL teams are in action tonight. All eighteen teams in the Q are playing tonight. The only teams that are not playing are the Bulls and Spirit of the OHL as well as the Ice and Raiders of the WHL. There is no game on national television tonight but it will be back next week. However, PEI and Cape Breton are playing on Eastlink TV tonight.