Wild Night.

HALIFAX - The first period was a little boring but in the middle frame it got a little chippy and a lot more exciting. Halifax scored 3 goals in the second 20 minutes to take a 3-2 lead after two periods. Both Moynihan brothers scored in the middle frame. Considering half of both teams were rookies, they got the rivalry going already. There was about 3 fights during the game with one being after the buzzer went to signal the end of the game. All ten players got into it with a few players getting penalties from the fight.

Halifax-Cape Breton Game at a Glance
FINAL: Cape Breton 3 at Halifax 4
Cape Breton scorers: William Carrier, Cameron Darcy, Jeremy Beaudry
Halifax scorers: Sam Leblanc(2), Danny Moynihan, Connor Moynihan
Powerplay: CAP - 1/5, HFX - 0/5
Shots: Eagles - 8+10+8=26, Mooseheads - 10+10+8=28
Attendance: 1,993 (capacity: 5,600)

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads may have found the right chemistry on a line of international forwards.

HalifaxMooseheads.ca's recap: The rookies were running wild Friday night at the Forum as 4 rookies did all then scoring for the Moose.

hockeyscene.ca's recap: Halifax Mooseheads rookie left winger, Samuel LeBlanc, a 17 year-old former Moncton Major Midget Flyers star, scored two goals including the game winner, to lead his team to a 4-3 victory over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Friday night at the Halifax Forum.

capebretoneagles.com's recap: Three goals in the second period led the Halifax Mooseheads to a 4-3 victory over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at the Halifax Forum on Friday night.

Halifax Metro's recap: Just when it looked like they were down and out, the Halifax Mooseheads found a way to beat the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 4-3 in pre-season action at the Halifax Forum on Friday night.

QMJHL.ca's recap: Game summary.

King retires

Former Halifax Mooseheads player Jason King has retired from playing hockey.

The Winnipeg Jets announced that he has been hired as the assistant coach of their affiliate St. John's IceCaps. King retired this morning after playing the last two season in the American Hockey League with the IceCaps in his home province.

King played 3 seasons with the Mooseheads between 1999 and 2002. In his rookie season, he recorded only 10 points in 53 games but improved to 89 points (72 games) and 99 points (61 games) in the next two seasons respectively. He was than drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL in 2002 and split his time between the 'Nucks and the Manitoba Moose in the next 2 seasons.

Here's the press release.

Camp down to 27

The Halifax Mooseheads 2013 training camp roster is now down to 27 players. Brennan Bailey, who played 14 games with the team last season, was cut this morning.

According to the team they will keep 24 players on their roster which seems like too many to me, I believe that there is normally 22 players on a team. The reason they are keeping 24 is probably incase players get injured. The Halifax Metro had an article today saying that the Moose are going to cut one forward and two defensemen before they have their final roster, that would bring the roster down to 25. It will be interesting to see if one of the 3 expected cuts will be an overager or if that last cut to get it from 25 to 24 will be the overager. Brent Andrews, Trey Lewis, Brendan Duke and Darcy Ashley are the 20 year olds on the team, and each team can only have 3.

Bailey could play as an overager next season (2014-15) or it is possible for him to get called up at some point this year during the regular season or playoffs. In the 14 games he played last year, he recorded one goal and one assist. It is not specified what team he will play for now.

The Herd continue the preseason tonight at the Forum versus Cape Breton at 7pm. Look at the roster here.

Cape Breton at Mooseheads

Pre-season game #5

Back home for one more

Halifax Mooseheads vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Halifax Forum - Halifax, NS

CAPE BRETON
Preseason record: 0-2-0-1
Goals for: 9
Goals against: 15
Head coach: Marc-Andre Dumont
Leading scorer: Charles-Eric Legare (2G&1A)

HALIFAX
Preseason record: 2-1-0-1
Goals for: 17
Goals against: 14
Head coach: Dom Ducharme
Leading scorer: Danny Moynihan (2G&3A)

Pre-game notes...

• This is the third game between these two teams in the pre-season this year
• Halifax took both contests 2 weekends ago
• It's the first of 4 games tonight on the Q schedule, which will take a break this weekend for the Labour Day long weekend.
• The older of the 2 American brothers, Danny, has been leading the team in scoring now for 2 games
• Brennan Bailey has become the latest cut for the Herd
• Follow @MC_MooseCountry on Twitter during the game for live game coverage

OUT OF TOWN
Oceanic at Tigres - 8:00pm
Phoenix at Armada - 8:30pm
Foreurs at Olympiques - 8:30pm

NEXT GAME
Halifax will finish the preseason on September 8 against Cape Breton in Sydney. Puck drops at 4pm.

Season Ticket pick up Wednesday

Press release.

The Halifax Mooseheads announced today that there will be a Season Ticket and 15-game packs holder pick up event again this year.

Fans who bought season tickets and 15 game packs can pick them up in the Metro Centre lobby on Wednesday September 4th from 6-8pm. The Mooseheads also announced that during the event, fans can meet the players and get autographs as well as take pictures of the two Cups they won back in May. With winning the Memorial Cup as national champs, the Halifax players received a championship ring. The team announced that each fan who bought a season ticket or 15 game pack will receive a replica version of the ring. If you purchased more then one seat don't worry you will get a ring per seat.

Halifax also announced that they will for sure raise a banner for both championships in a pre-game ceremony before the home opener on September 12th. The first 8,000 fans will get a commemorative banner poster to mark the event.

The Herd will also be wearing a special 20th anniversary jersey at different times throughtout the season. The jersey will be revealed on September 28th during the President's Cup finals rematch game versus the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

I was wondering if Halifax was going to do this after I saw the Portland Winterhawks ring from when they won the WHL championship. A very nice thing for them to do and it is such an awesome way for the Mooseheads and the city to kick of their 20th season. The final roster than must be going to be announced sometime this weekend or early next week after the team battles provincial rivals Cape Breton on Friday night (look for my preview tomorrow).

JUST TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE HOME OPENER!! Exciting stuff happening in Halifax.

Former Mooseheads make new teams

A couple of former Halifax Mooseheads players who were traded back in June have made their new teams' 2013-14 roster. Matt Boudreau and Dominic Beauchemin have cracked the roster for the Shawinigan Cataractes and Acadie-Bathurst Titan, respectively. For both former Herd players, the upcoming season will be their last in major junior hockey. They are both twenty year olds. The two men were traded a day after each other; Boudreau on June 7th and Beauchemin on June 8th.

Congrats to both boys. I wish you luck with your new teams and have a great season.

For the Titan roster click here and here for the Cataractes roster.

Halifax has yet to announce their roster for their 20th season but it is likely to come after Friday's game.

Wildcats Takes Weekend Sweep.

FREDERICTON - Well that's two in a row now but luckily it's only preseason and if this team is anything like last year's, they won't let it get longer. The scoring is being spread out at least with Andrew Shewfelt getting 2 goals last night. Once again, the goaltending was split in two with Kevin Darveau playing the first 30:56 and Jacob Dempsey taking over in the second half. Each let in 2 goals so the coaching staff must be testing them out to see who gets the backup position this season. Dempsey stayed in net during the shootout, no overtime I guess, and let in 2 goals on 3 shooters. Nikolaj Ehlers had the Mooseheads only goal in the penalty shot section. Halifax will get a chance to erase these games in the fans minds when they open the regular season against Moncton on September 12th.

Moncton-Halifax Game at a Glance
FINAL: Halifax 4 at Moncton 5  SO
Halifax scorers: Timo Meier, Andrew Shewfelt(2), Brent Andrews
Moncton scorers: Conor Garland, Christophe Lalonde, Mathieu Olivier(2)
Powerplay: HFX - 1/6, MON - 1/3
Shots: Mooseheads - 11+9+10=30, Wildcats - 8+7+13=28
Attendance: 1,367 (capacity: 3,685)

hockeyscene.com's recap: The Moncton Wildcats improved to 3-1 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season play by completing a sweep of a two game weekend series with Halifax Mooseheads with a 5-4 shootout victory at the Aitken University Centre in Fredericton on Sunday afternoon.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads lost their second straight QMJHL pre-season game to the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday.

HalifaxMooseheads.ca's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads will have to wait until the regular season to get their first win versus the Moncton Wildcats this season, but they won't have to wait long.

Halifax at Wildcats

Pre-season game #4

Wildcats hosts in Fredericton

Moncton Wildcats vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Puck drops at 4:00pm

Centre Aitken - Fredericton, NB

HALIFAX
Preseason record: 2-1-0-0
Goals for: 13
Goals against: 9
Head coach: Dom Ducharme
Leading scorer: Danny Moynihan (2G&3A)

MONCTON
Preseason record: 2-1-0-0
Goals for: 14
Goals against: 11
Head coach: Darren Rumble
Leading scorer: Liam Hynes & Mathieu Olivier (2G&3A)

Pre-game notes...

• Halifax lost for the first time on Friday during the preseason
• Maxime Fortier was cut yesterday which brings camp to 29, only 5 more cuts are likely to be made
• The last game between these two teams was Friday where Moncton won 4 to 3 in Truro

OUT OF TOWN
Sea Dogs at Titan - 3:00pm
Cataractes at Voltigeurs - 5:00pm

NEXT GAME
Halifax will come back home after the buzzer and play Cape Breton on Friday night at the Forum. Puck drops at 7pm.

V-Reds win alumni game

The Saint John Sea Dogs alumni held the first annual Wallace McCain Memorial Alumni Game at Harbour Station yesterday afternoon before the Sea Dogs preseason game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The game pitted the Sea Dogs alumni versus the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds alumni that began at 1:30pm. The game went to a shootout in which the Reds won 1-0 to take the game 7-6. 

A couple of former Halifax Mooseheads were playing. Jason Churchill played in goal for Saint John and was eventually pulled after letting in 3 goals on 11 shots. Cam Critchlow and Ryan Seymour played for the UNB alumni getting no points that it showed. 

No Perfection.

TRURO - Zach Fucale returned to defend the cage but he couldn't help his team improve to 3-0 during preseason play. This game was unfortunately over before it got past the first 20 minutes as Moncton took a commanding 3-1 lead going into the middle frame. Despite giving up 4 goals in the first 22 minutes, Dom Ducharme did not pull his number 1 goalie and instead decided to at the half waypoint of the game. Recently signed Kevin Darveau let in 0 goals on 11 shots in the second half.

Halifax-Moncton Game at a Glance
FINAL: Moncton 4 at Halifax 3
Moncton scorers: Kyle Tibbo(2), Christopher Caissy, Ryan Penny
Halifax scorers: Andrew Shewfelt, Danny Moynihan, Jesse Lussier
Powerplay: MON - 1/3, HFX - 1/4
Shots: Wildcats - 8+13+5=26, Mooseheads - 11+8+13=32
Attendance: 3,000 (capacity: 2,500)

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads dropped their first game in QMJHL pre-season play with a 4-3 setback Friday night to the Moncton Wildcats in Truro.

hockeyscene.com's recap: The result won't count in the standings but Head Coach Darren Rumble and the Moncton Wildcats will certainly take it with a smile and as a bit of a confidence booster.

HalifaxMooseheads.ca's recap: The Mooseheads lost their first game of the preseason tonight, 4-3 to the Moncton Wildcats before 3,000 fans in Truro.

Moncton at Mooseheads

Pre-season game #3

Welcome to Truro

Halifax Mooseheads vs. Moncton Wildcats

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Rath Eastlink Community Centre - Truro, NS

MONCTON
Preseason record: 1-1-0-0
Goals for: 10
Goals against: 8
Head coach: Darren Rumble
Leading scorer: Mathieu Olivier (2G&3A)

HALIFAX
Preseason record: 2-0-0-0
Goals for: 10
Goals against: 5
Head coach: Dom Ducharme
Leading scorer: Andrew Ryan, Danny Moynihan & Vincent Watt (1G&2A)

Pre-game notes...

• This game is all sold out. Congratulations Truro
• The Wildcats were second behind the Herd in the Maritime division last season
• Halifax went 1-1-0-0 against Moncton in last year's preseason
• Moncton lost the regular season series last year, going 0-7-1-0 against the Mooseheads in 8 games
• Goaltender Raphael Roy was cut yesterday which leaves 3 goalies in Halifax's camp
• The Memorial Cup and President's Cup will be on display in the arena

OUT OF TOWN
Phoenix at Tigres - 8:00pm
Remparts at Armada - 8:30pm
Olympiques at Foreurs  8:30pm
Voltiguers at Cataractes - 8:30pm
Oceanic at Drakkar - 8:30pm

NEXT GAME
Fredicton will now play host to the Mooseheads in a rematch against Moncton on Sunday.

Herd Word

CAMP
There is now only 31 players vying for a spot on the 2013-14 Halifax Mooseheads roster. I wonder if we will see more cuts before Friday's game as that seems to be the pattern this year. The first cuts were made on Saturday before the first preseason game, with additional cuts made Monday and this morning. Here who is left:

Andrew Ryan, Brendan Duke, Jesse Lussier, Vincent Watt, Taylor Ford, Jacob Jacques, Luca Ciampini, Trey Lewis, Andrew Shewfelt, Matt Murphy, Brian Lovell, Carl Greco, Timo Meier, Maxime Fortier, Max Lindsay, Rafael Roy, Daniel Moynihan, MacKenzie Weegar, Brendon Worthen, Austyn Hardie, Mike Molloy, Samual Leblanc, Brent Andrews, Brennan Bailey, Darcy Ashley, Ryan Falkenham, Liam Alcalde, Connor Moynihan, Nikolaj Ehlers, Zach Fucale. 

CUTS
So if you have been watching that means that 9 forwards, 4 defencemen and 3 goaltenders have been cut. After winning both the league and national championships, while only playing a few games, Jonathan Lacroix-Courville has been cut. He was released on Monday. I guess just having great shootout skills does not help in you making the team. Caven Fitzgerald, who was cut today, has been praised by the Twitter guy and most people who have seen his two shootout trys last week during the Red-Green games. No overagers have been cut yet or traded since training camp started so it will be interesting to see what they do with Darcy Ashley, Brent Andrews, Trey Lewis and Brendan Duke.

SIGNED
Press release.
After being traded to the Mooseheads by Drummondville, the Herd signed goaltender Kevin Darveau on Monday before the CEGEP deadline. Halifax also signed two more players becuase of the CEGEP deadline; Vincent Watt and Jacob Jacques. Both have impressed the coaching staff. Jacques was the last pick in the 2013 QMJHL and obviuosly just becuase you are picked high does not mean you will excel at this level or any level. American brothers Daniel and Connor Moynihan were also signed earlier this week.

TRURO
All assigned seasting tickets have been sold to the Mooseheads 3rd preseason game which is on Friday night. It was announced on Halifax's Twitter and Facebook pages that there is limited standing room tickets left to the game that will be held in Truro at the 2,500 seat Rath Eastlink Community Centre. You can buy tickets on the arena's website.

DROUIN
Following in the steps of his Halifax teammate, Jonathan Drouin has been named the Tampa Bay Lightning's number 1 prospect going into the 2013-14 NHL season by NHL.com. It helps to be a winger clearly as the website has Drouin listed on the first line suiting up on the left side of Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos. John Moore talked on the Rick Howe Show that there is a possibilty that we could see Jo in the lineup of the Mooseheads come mid-September.

FUCALE
When NHL.com released the stories about the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, Zach Fucale was listed as the number 4 prospect on their list. He is not slated in to the Habs line up for the upcoming season. He is expected to have the number 1 goalie job for the Mooseheads come September 12th. He returned to Halfiax on Saturdya after having a very busy summer.

BOYD
The autopsy results have not been released in the death of Jordan Boyd. He passed away on August 12, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan released information about the events leading up to his passing later that day. The results of the autopsy are likely to change the testing for players to start training camp. His funeral was held on Saturday in Halifax, with his high school teammates wearing the school jerseys and being paulbearers. Before the Titan battled it out with the Saint John Sea Dogs during preseason paly on Sunday, they held a moment of silence for the young hockey palyer. #RIP #JB17

Comeback Needed.

COXHEATH - It needed a shootout but the Halifax Mooseheads came back from a 2-0 deficit last night to win the second meeting of the provincial rivals during the preseason. Local boy Andrew Shewfelt scored the game winner after scoring during regulation to tie it up. Cape Breton outshot the Mooseheads most of the game except in the middle frame. All four goalies played in the game, each standing up for half the game. Kevin Darveau of the Herd and Francis Leonard-Mayer stood up tall during the shootout, it took 5 rounds before Shewfelt finally scored for Halifax in the 5th round.

Cape Breton-Halifax Game at a Glance
FINAL: Halifax 3 at Cape Breton 2 SO
Halifax scorers: Daniel Moynihan, Andrew Shewfelt
Cape Breton scorers: Gareth Nicholson, Julien Pelletier
Powerplay: HFX - 0/4, CAP - 1/9
Shots: Mooseheads - 5+7+5=17, Eagles - 11+3+15=29
Attendance: 698

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads had to work a little extra Sunday to complete a two-game weekend sweep of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in QMJHL pre-season play.

Cape Breton Post's recap: The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles' head-to-head battle for pre-season hockey supremacy on home turf ended with a 3-2 shootout win for the rival Halifax Mooseheads.

HalifaxMooseheads.ca's recap: Make it a weekend sweep to start the pre-season.

capebretoneagles.com's recap: Andrew Shewfelt's goal in the fifth round of the shootout proved to be the game winner as the Halifax Mooseheads edged the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 3-2 at the Country Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Halifax at Screaming Eagles

Pre-season game #2

Rematch in Sydney

Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Puck drops at 7:00pm [EDIT - 4:00pm]

CB County Recreation Centre - Coxheath, NS

HALIFAX
Preseason record: 1-0-0-0  

Goals for: 7  

Goals against: 3
Head coach: Dom Ducharme
Leading scorer: Andrew Ryan & Vincent Watt (1G&2A)

CAPE BRETON
Preseason record: 0-1-0-0

Goals for: 3  

Goals against: 7
Head coach: Marc-Andre Dumont
Leading scorer:

Pre-game notes...

• Halifax won the last meeting between these two teams winning 7-3 yesterday evening at the Forum. 
• Expect to see similar lines as yesterday.
• This game was originally scheduled to be played at Centre 200 but they changed it which I think is nice.
• Not much else to say.

OUT OF TOWN
Sea Dogs at Titan - 3:00pm
Foreurs at Huskies - 5:00pm
Olympiques at Armada - 5:00pm
Phoenix at Cataractes - 5:00pm

NEXT GAME
Halifax will travel to Truro for a game against Moncton on Friday night. Game time is 7:00pm.

Scoring? No Problem.

HALIFAX - Coming in to the season, fans and hockey personnel alike were wondering if the Halifax Mooseheads would be as strong as they were last year. Well it was just one preseason non-important game but the home team showed they are going to be just as strong as last year, when they won the Memorial Cup. The team was able to score 7 goals on the back of a few veterans and plenty of rookies last night. About half of the returning players were actually listed on the gameday roster while the rest were rookies trying to make the team.

Halifax-Cape Breton Game at a Glance

FINAL: Cape Breton 3 at Halifax 7

Cape Breton scorers: Matthew Nosella, Raphael Corriveau, Timothe Simard 

Halifax scorers: Brendan Duke, Matt Murphy, Vincent Watt, Luca Ciampini, Jonathan Lacroix-Courville, Andrew Ryan, Connor Moynihan 

Powerplay: CAP - 1/8, HFX - 2/6

Shots: Eagles - 8+7+9=24, Mooseheads - 13+13+13=39

Attendance: 1,289 (capacity: 5,600)

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads started the new hockey season exactly like they finished the old.

HalifaxMooseheads.ca's recap: Hockey is back in Moose Country and the Moose picked up right where they left off with a 7-3 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at the Halifax Forum. 

capebretoneagles.com's recap: The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles opened their preseason schedule with a 7-3 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads at the Halifax Forum on Saturday afternoon.

Metro Halifax's recap: Vincent Watt laid it all on the line at the Halifax Forum Saturday afternoon.

Cape Breton at Mooseheads

Pre-season Game #1

Eagles are coming to town

Halifax Mooseheads vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

Puck drops at 4:00pm

Halifax Forum - Halifax, NS

CAPE BRETON
Preseason record: 0-0-0-0  
Goals for: 0
Goals against: 0
Head coach: Marc-Andre Dumont
Leading scorer: n/a

HALIFAX
Preseason record: 0-0-0-0
Goals for: 0
Goals against: 0
Head coach: Dom Ducharme
Leading scorer: n/a

Pre-game notes...

• This is the first preseason game for both teams.
• Last season, the two teams were on opposite ends of the Quebec league standings with the Moose being regular season champs and the Screaming Eagles picked #1 at the draft in June.
• Just like previous preseasons, your Mooseheads are opening the preseason playing at the Halifax Forum.
• Cape Breton has won one game against Halifax in the past two preseasons, while the Mooseheads are 5-1-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles.
• There is two returning players on each line for this game.
• Halifax went 8-0-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles in the games that count while Cape Breton went 0-6-1-1 against the Mooseheads last season.
• Matt Boudreau led the Mooseheads (and all players) with 11 points in 8 games played against CB last season while Halifax native Michael Clarke led the Eagles with 4 points, all goals.
• 11 players were cut this morning. 

OUT OF TOWN

Wildcats at Islanders - 2:00pm

Tigres at Oceanic - 5:00pm

Voltigeurs at Phoenix - 5:00pm

Titan at Sea Dogs - 7:00pm

Cataractes at Remparts - 8:00pm

Huskies at Foreurs - 8:00pm

Armada at Olympiques - 8:30pm

NEXT GAME

The Mooseheads will continue their pre-season tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Sydney for a rematch with the Screaming Eagles. Puck drops at 4:00pm.

First cuts made

The Halifax Mooseheads have made their first cuts of 2013 training camp. The cuts were made this morning in advance of the Herd's first preseason tilt against Cape Breton. The following players were cut:

Benji Gaudet  F 

Denis Creighton  F

Colin George  F

Olivier Trembley  F

JP Provencher  D

Christopher Langlais  G

Brendon Dorrington  G

Jordan King, Nicolas Gibson, Jody Sullivan and Erik Brown have left voluntarily according to the press release. No reason was given to why.  

This leaves 36 players left in camp with only 3 goaltenders battling it out now for the backup position. 

Team Red takes it

Team Red has taken the training camp intrasquad game series with a 3-2 shootout win.

Ryan Falkenham seems to have taken over the scoring from Jonathan Drouin scoring his third goal of the camp, giving Red a 2-1 lead. Sam Leblanc also seems to be taking the helm scoring his second of the series and helping on Falkenham's goal. Jody Sullivan and Luca Ciampini scored for the Green team. Apparently Caven Fitzgerald is quite good at the shootout, he scored a very nice goal on Wednesday according to the Mooseheads Twitter account. The Herd account also had this to say today regarding Fitzgerald;

Good luck to all players going into this weekend. The first cuts are most likely going to be on Sunday after the coaching staff sees the rookies play this weekend.

Halifax will open it's preseason schedule tomorrow afternoon when they take on Cape Breton at the Forum at 4pm.

Around the CHL ~ volume #1 preview edition #2

Here is a recap of what happened last season. Hope you enjoyed my posts last season. Keep reading and don't be afraid to ask me anything about my blog. Check it out before the preseason begins tomorrow. 

here are last year's winners:
Division champions 2012-13
WHL  - Portland Winterhawks (U.S.) 72 games played, 57-12-1-2 record, 117 points, 334 goals for/169 goals aagainst; Kelowna Rockets (B.C.) 72 games palyed, 52-16-3-1 record, 108 points, 309 goals for/178 goals against; Edmonton Oil Kings (Central) 72 games played, 51-15-2-4 record, 108 points, 278 goals for/155 goals against; Saskatoon Blades (East) 72 games played, 44-22-2-4 record, 94 points, 280 goals for/221 goals against
OHL - London Knights (Midwest) 68 games played,  50-13-2-3 record, 105 points, 279 goals for/180 goals against; Belleville Bulls (East) 68 games played, 44-16-5-3 record, 96 points, 228 goals for/167 goals against; Plymouth Whalers (West) 68 games played, 42-17-5-4 record, 93 points, 292 goals for/202 goals against; Barrie Colts (Central) 68 games played, 44-20-2-2 record, 92 points, 245 goals for/185 goals against
QMJHL - Halifax Mooseheads (Maritimes) 68 games played, 58-6-3-1 record, 120 points, 347 goals for/176 goals against; Baie-Comeau Drakkar (Telus East) 68 games played, 44-19-3-2 record, 93 points, 274 goals for/191 goals against; Blainville-Boisbraind Armada (Telus West) 68 games played, 41-19-2-6 record, 90 points, 272 goals for/182 goals against

League championships 2013
Ed Chynoweth Cup - Portland Winterhawks vs. Edmonton Oil Kings (Winterhawks won series 4 games to 2 games)
J. Ross Robertson Cup - London Knights vs. Barrie Colts (Knights won series 4 games to 3 games)
President's Cup - Halifax Mooseheads vs. Baie-Comeau Drakkar (Mooseheads won series 4 games to 1 game)

Memorial Cup 2013
Teams ~ Halifax (QMJHL champion), London (OHL champion), Portland (WHL champion), and Saskatoon (Hosts)

Final May 26, 2013 Portland vs. Halifax 6-4

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS WIN 2013 MEMORIAL CUP!!!


Team changes
The Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League were renamed the North Bay Battalion while the PEI Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were renamed the Charlottetown Islanders.

Halifax will look to repeat as Memorial Cup champions probably without their 3 star players. London will be in the national championship tournament for a third straight year come May as they are hosting the 2014 Memorical Cup. The Calgary Hitmen will be hosts to the Top Prospects game. There has been talks that many teams, especially in the QMJHL, will start the season without their European players. This is from a strike that the Canadian Foreign Service is doing.

Red ties up series

Ryan Falkenham scored two goals to help Team Red tie up the intrasquad game series at one game a piece in a 5-4 win.

Switzerland rookie Timo Meier played his first game in Mooseheads colors scoring the first goal of the game. Team Green scored two more goals (Brendan Duke & Jordan King) to spread themselves after Team Red tied it with a goal from Darcy Ashley. Red came storming back with goals from Falkenham, Nikolaj Ehlers and Connor Moynihan. Erik Brown tied it for the Green team. Ryan Falkenham than scored the winner to make the final 5-4.

This game was played like a regular game, 3 period of 20 minutes each. The last of the 3 games will be played tomorrow, same place same time.

20th season is among us

WELCOME to the 20th season of the Halifax Mooseheads. And to the first full season of MooseCountry as well. Thanks for reading, as a treat I will be doing things differently this year. Look below.

This year on MooseCountry:

• New looking game previews/post game stories/mediacaps
• More Around the CHL's
• Stories on your favourite Mooseheads including ones in the NHL
• Live in game coverage for each home game by following @MC_MooseCountry on Twitter
• Dickie's Hardest Working Player of the Game will be listed in the Player of the Game tab
• Pre-season game previews and recaps
• News from the Preseason

New features for this year:
TWEET OF THE NIGHT (will be shown in post game stories)
MooseCountry's Top Herd
Facebook page!! blog posts, photos from home games, questions/polls
Throwback Thursday

Green takes Game 1

Luca Ciampini had the game winner in a 5-3 overtime team green win on Wednesday afternoon.

Sam Leblanc started things off taking a feed from Jean-Sebastien Taillefer. That put Team Red up 1-0 which didn't last long. Team Green tied it up before the end of the first period with a goal from veteran Andrew Ryan. Neither team were able to spread themselves from the other. Rookie Jordan King scored Green's second goal in a row before overager Darcy Ashley tied it up at 2. Team Red then took the lead once again on a goal from Liam Alcalde. Green tied it with 16 seconds left. This ended the game tied and heading to a 10 minute non sudden death overtime. Ciampini scored to put the Green team ahead. Import rookie Nikolaj Ehlers was unable to score on a penalty shot. Green then scored an empty netter.


Austyn Hardie, Brendan Duke, Trey Lewis and Timo Meier did not dress for the game this afternoon and neither did Zach Fucale. Meier was given the day to rest after playing in the U18 Ivan Hlinka tournament last week. Fucale will be arriving at camp on Saturday so I'm not really sure why they listed him on the Red-Green team rosters.

The teams will be back on the ice tomorrow morning at nine and the second intrasquad game will be in the afternoon at 4pm once again at Cole Harbour Place.

Intrasquad game rosters

What: Red-Green games
When: 4-6pm Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Where: Cole Harbour Place
Admission: FREE

Team Green
  #1  G  Jean-Phillipe Brais 
  #2  D  Taylor Ford 
  #3  D  Jacob Jacques
  #4  D  Matt Murphy
  #5  D  Brian Lovell
  #6  D  Brennan Bailey
  #7  D  Jessie Lussier
  #8  D  Brendan Duke
  #9  F  Andrew Ryan
#10  D  Carl Greco
#11  F  Jody Sullivan
#12  F  Luca Ciampini
#14  F  Olivier Tremblay
#15  F  Timo Meier
#16  F  Maxime Fortier
#17  F  Andrew Shewfelt
#18  F  Mark Vokey
#21  F  Vincent Watt
#23  F  Jordan King
#24  F  Erik Brown
#25  F  Denis Creighton
#28  F  Max Lindsay
#29 G  Brandon Dorrington 
#31 G  Rafael Roy 

Team Red
  #1  G  Jacob Dempsey
  #2  D  Jean-Phillipe Provencher
  #3  D  Nicolas Gibson
  #4  D  Jean-Sebastien Taillefer
  #5  D  MacKenzie Weegar
  #6  D  Cavan Fitzgerald
  #7  D  Trey Lewis
  #8  D  Brendon Worthen
  #9  D  Austyn Hardie
#10  F  Mike Molloy
#11  F  Benji Gaudet
#12  F  Samuel LeBlanc
#13  F  Colin George
#15  F  Jonathan Lacroix-Courville
#16  F  Brent Andrews
#17  F  Darcy Ashley
#19  F  Ryan Falkenham
#20  F  Liam Alcalde
#21  F  Daniel Moynihan
#23  F  Connor Moynihan
#24  F  Nikolaj Ehlers
#29 G  Christopher Langlais


**subject to change

Camp starts tomorrow

Here is the schedule for the first week of training camp, which begins tomorrow. As you can see there will be three intrasquad games this week. I will announce the red/green rosters tomorrow before the game. Close to 50 players will be at the camp to start it out. All practices and games are being held at Cole Harbour Place.

Wednesday
Practice - Team Red 9:00-9:50am
Practice - Team Green 10:00-10:50am
Intrasquad Game - Green vs. Red 4:00-6:00pm

Thursday
Practice - Team Red 9:00-9:50am
Practice - Team Green 10:00-10:50am
Intrasquad Game - Green vs. Red 4:00-6:00pm

Friday
Practice - Team Red 9:00-9:50am
Practice - Team Green 10:00-10:50am
Intrasquad Game - Green vs. Red 4:00-6:00pm


Here are the boys invited to the 2013 training camp for the Halifax Mooseheads 20th season:
Andrew Ryan     LW     1994-01-15     6'03"     203lbs
Brendan Duke     D     1993-05-11     6'00"     195lbs
Jesse Lussier     D     1994-03-05     6'02"     195lbs
Mark Vokey     LW     1996-03-05     5'09"     174lbs
Jean-Phillipe Brais     G     1996-05-07     5'09"     190lbs
Vincent Watt     LW     1996-12-06     5'10"     185lbs
Jordan King     RW     1997-09-25     6'00"     165lbs
Taylor Ford     D     1997-05-14     5'11"     158lbs
Jacob Jacques     D     1996-07-25     5'11"     195lbs
Jody Sullivan     LW     1995-06-13     6'00"     185lbs
Luca Ciampini     LW     1994-03-08     6'00"     196lbs
Cavan Fitzgerald     D     1996-08-23    6'01"     187lbs
Trey Lewis     D     1993-05-31     6'00"     201lbs
Olivier Tremblay     LW     1994-06-19     5'10"     185lbs
Jacob Dempsey     G     1995-09-08     6'00"     172lbs
Andrew Shewfelt     LW     1996-06-01     5'09"     170lbs
Matt Murphy     D     1995-05-01     6'01"      200lbs
Brian Lovell     D     1995-03-12     6'01"      201lbs
Carl Greco
Timo Meier     RW     1996-10-08     5'11"     185lbs
Maxime Fortier     RW     1997-12-15     5'09"     167lbs
Erik Brown     LW     1995-09-30     6'02"     185lbs
Denis Creighton
Max Lindsay     LW     1994-12-06     6'02"     198lbs
Brandon Dorrington     G     1995-04-28     5'11"     205lbs
Rafael Roy      G      1996-10-24     6'03"     170lbs
Daniel Moynihan     LW     1995-12-08     6'01     185lbs
MacKenzie Weegar     D     1994-01-07     5'11"     181lbs
Brendon Worthen      D     1997-07-21     5'10"     162lbs
Austyn Hardie     D     1994-02-18      6'00"     205lbs
Mike Molloy     C     1994-11-23     6'01"     170lbs
Benji Gaudet     LW     1995-05-09      5'10"     175lbs
Samuel Leblanc     LW     1995-09-21     5'10"     159lbs
Colin George
Jonathan Courville     LW     1996-03-11     5'10"     174lbs
Brent Andrews     C     1993-01-19     6'02"     205lbs
Brennan Bailey     D     1994-02-05     5'11"     172lbs
Jean-Phillipe Provencher     D     1995-01-20     6'07"     237lbs
Darcy Ashley     RW     1993-02-19     5'08"     175lbs
Christopher Langlais     G     1996-06-08     6'00"     175lbs
Ryan Falkenham     RW     1995-10-09    5'10"     185lbs
Liam Alcalde     LW     1995-03-15    6'00"     214lbs
Nicolas Gibson     D     1996-02-10     6'00"     175lbs
Jean-Sebastien Taillefer     D     1997-02-25     6'00"     170lbs
Connor Moynihan     LW     1997-07-20     6'02"     195lbs
Nikolaj Ehlers     LW     1996-02-13     5'10"     176lbs
Zach Fucale     G     1995-05-28     6'01"     176lbs

A few notes about the roster...

• Plenty of returning players on the camp roster. 
• There are only 2 centers invited to the camp, which is really weird hopefully there are some wingers who are able to play center. MacKinnon may come back but the team can't wait on that. 
• All but two of the 13 draft picks in this year's QMJHL draft will be attending. Many of the 2012 picks will be in attendance too. Liam Alcalde and Jonathan Courville were selected in 2012 and have already played for the Mooseheads.
• The Moynihan's are brothers from the States; Connor was drafted earlier this year while Danny has been invited as a free agent. 
• The two import draft picks are attending. Martin Frk is not listed which must mean he is getting ready for NHL training camp.
• No word on when the first cuts will be but keep it here.

MacKinnon has new number

Throw out the #22 jerseys, because Nathan MacKinnon has a new number now. By the sounds of things, the number one pick in  this year's NHL draft has already made the team that drafted him in June.

It was announced today on the Colorado Avalanche's twitter page that Nate will wear number 29 this upcoming season for the Avs. There is still training camp to get through but according to NHL.com's 30-in-30 preview, the Denver team has him penciled in as the #3 center.

If this does mean he has made the team then congrats Nathan. It will be strange not seeing your 22 skating around the Metro Centre ice. There is still a possibility that the Cole Harbour native could done the red & green this season however.

BREAKING: Titan Prospect Passes Away at Camp

An Acadie-Bathurst Titan prospect has passed away after collapsing while on the ice during an individual training session. The Titan announced early this morning on Twitter "due to uncontrollable circumstances all rookie camp activities are cancel for today." It sent up some questions, when I asked what happened they said "@MC_MooseCountry We can't say anything at the moment." and replied to Chris Phillips saying "a little bit of respect guys.... something aweful happen!"

This came from the press release.

It is with deep regret that the Acadie-Bathurst Titan announces the death of one of its young prospects, Jordan Boyd. The 16 year-old was skating during an individual training session when hi suffered a discomfort and collapsed on the ice. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan medical team tried to revive him several times. The young player was transported to hospital where his death was confirmed by a doctor.

The Ligue was informed of the incident and is working in collaboration with the team to bring the necessary support to the parents and players in these difficult times. Jordan Boyd had had a complete medical evaluation prior to the camp and didn't seem to have any medical problems that prevented him from participating. We are waiting for the hospital's autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. We offer our deepest condolences to his loved ones.

In order to protect his family's privacy, the organization will not emit any further comments on this case for the moment.

Jordan Boyd is from Bedford, Nova Scotia and spent most of last season with Rothesay Netherwood School in Rothesay, NB. He was selected in the fourth round during the 2013 QMJHL draft two months ago.

My prayers and thoughts go out to the family and friends of this young player.

Herd Word

TRADED MOOSE
Matt Boudreau and Randy Gazzola start their first training camp with their new teams today in Shawinigan and Val-d'Or respectively. Good luck to both men as they embark on their final year in junior.

TRAINING CAMPS
Along with Val-d'Or and Shawinigan, 7 other teams start their camps today. Regular camps (for veterans) won't start until later in the week or next week. 3 rookie camps started yesterday while Rimouksi and Victoriaville start tomorrow. Saint John is waiting until Thursday to start camp with your Halifax Mosoeheads starting a day earlier. Hockey Scene has a full list of when the camps start. *Note: they list that the Sea Dogs start on Wednesday but the schedule announced by Saint John says they open on Thursday.

PRESEASON
The preseason schedule gets underway on Thursday when the Baie-Comeau Drakkar take on the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the only game that night. Both teams opened camp on Sunday because of this. All six Maritime teams will play on Saturday with Moncton and Charlottetown kicking it off in a rematch of Friday's game. Halifax will take on Cape Breton at the Forum next that day with Saint John and Acadie-Bathurst closing the day out that night.

EUROS
Thank goodness the European players that the Mooseheads drafted back in July have comitted to coming overseas. Konrad Abeltshauser aged out after last season and Martin Frk is likely to make the jump to pros which means at least one spot is open so Timo Meier and Nikolaj Ehlers will most likely make the team. They both seem to be excited to play for Halifax as well. They have been tweeting a few times over the past couple weeks saying this the last two days:

ROSTER

On the Halifax Mooseheads website, the roster looks different now. It is not a gaureteed training camp roster. It has Anthony Terenzio listed but the Herd released him earlier in the year plus he is also a 20 year old so will not be at camp. John Hayden is also on the roster but he told the team that he has commited to Yale University. I'm not sure if Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin will be doing the Mooseheads camp or skipping it and going to their respective NHL teams' camps which are in September, both are on the roster on the Moose website. Martin Frk is also on the roster but we could see him in Traverse City during the beginning of September instead of here in Halifax.

Look back here in the coming days for the official training camp roster. 

CANADA SKATES TO GOLD

Dominique Ducharme is a winner once again.

After leading the Halifax Mooseheads to a Quebec league championship and a national championship in May as head coach, Dom has won gold at the 2013 Ivan Hlinka tournament as assistant coach with Team Canada.

The win was Canada's 6th straight gold medal at the special U18 tournament. It was their 18th gold of all time at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament. The team shutout Team USA 4-0 with goals coming from Michael Dal Colle (Oshawa Generals, OHL), Jayce Hawryluk (Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL), Aaron Ekblad (Barrie Colts, OHL) and Brendan Lemieux (Barrie Colts, OHL). Julio Bullia was in net for Canada and made 21 saves in the shutout.

Congrats to Canada.

Photo credit: Matt Cade, twitter

Dom & Team Canada play on

Dominique Ducharme, coach of your Halifax Mooseheads, will get a chance to win again. 

Team Canada won Group A at the Ivan Hlinka memorial tournament to get a bye into the semis against Russia today. The Canadians went 1-1-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) during round robin play to end the first part of the tourney with 5 points and tied for first in their group. The red and white got first place by virtue of beating the other two tied teams, Czech Republic and Switzerland on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. This led to a battle against the Russians in which Canada won, 3-1.

Ducharme is helping Dale Hunter coach the Under-18's along with DJ Smith. The team will have to get past Team USA if they want to win their 6th straight gold medal at the summer tournament. USA played the Czechs in the other semi final on Friday. The 5th and 7th place games were earlier in the morning. 

The bottom four places in the standings have been decided and it's Finland at 5th followed by Switzerland, Sweden and Slovakia. Russia will take on the Czech Republic Saturday for the bronze after the gold medal game. In a wierd twist, the gold medal game is being played before the bronze medal game but it is, not sure why. 

Go CANADA Go 

Friday Facts

TEAM CANADA
An update on the story about Zach Fucale from last night. He made 38 saves to lead Team Canada to a 7-3 win over Sweden in an exhibition game. He, along with about 35 other junior players, are in Lake Placid, New York this week playing in 3 exhibition games to show their stuff as part of the Summer Development Camp. Canada will play it's third game on Saturday against the United States.

TRAINING CAMP
The 2013 training camp for your Mooseheads is only 4 days away now. Players will start arriving early next week. Nikolaj Ehlers has already said that he will be in the city on Monday replying to Brian Lovell on twitter. I'll have more info on training camp as it becomes available.

HOCKEY SCHOOL
The last day of hockey school is already half over. Seems like the kids are enjoying themselves. They got to see the Memorial Cup the other day with official team photographer David Chan taking plenty of pictures.

TRURO
If you haven't seen already, there are only 650 tickets left for the Halifax Mooseheads preseason game in Truro on August 23rd. The game is taking place at the 2,500 seat Rath Eastlink Community Centre starting at 7pm. That is the advantage of having preseason games in these small venues, they get filled up and make it so the game doesn't feel like a preseason game but a regular season game or playoff game. You can still buy your tickets for $8 at the Arena, at the Metro Centre or online.

MACKINNON
Nathan MacKinnon finished up his training that he has been doing in Halifax yesterday. He has been doing training sessions with fellow Cole Harbour native Sidney Crosby and Halifax Mosoeheads alum Brad Marchand for the past 5 weeks. I doubt we will see Nate at Mooseheads training camp in the coming weeks. In a 30-in-30 article on NHL.com previewing Colorado, he is listed as the Avs 3rd line center on a line with Jamie McGinn and Steve Downie. He is also listed as the Avalanche's top prospect.

SHELLEY
Press release.
Former Mooseheads player Jody Shelley has rejoined the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL. This time, he joins the team in an off-ice position. He announced his retirement earlier today after recieving no contract from the Philadelphia Flyers. Shelley will join the team as a broadcast associate and team ambassador. Jody was a player for the Blue Jackets from 2001 to 2008. Congratulations Jody, I wish you and your family all the best in Ohio.

Thursday Thoughts

EASTLINK
Eastlink TV announced today the broadcasting schedule for the 2013-14 QMJHL season. Eastlink will broadcast an Atlantic game every Friday starting with the Halifax-Charlottetown game on September 13th. Three of Halifax's annual events will be broadcasted, Pink in the Rink, DND Appreciation night and Teddy Bear Toss. Halifax will be on the Atlantic television network 11 times this season. Eastlink and the Quebec league are in the second year of a 5 year contract signed in late March 2012.

20TH SEASON
The Mooseheads also announced today that they will unveil a special 20th season anniversary jersey. They tweeted earlier tonight that it will be shown in a game against Baie-Comeau on September 28th. Don't expect a crazy fiery logo per the Halifax Mooseheads twitter page. Here is the announcement;

FUCALE
The goalie who led us to a National Championship was playing once again, this time wearing his national colors. Zach Fucale was in net when Team Canada took on Sweden in Lake Placid, NY. The National Junior Team Canada is playing three games in the New York state to get prepared for the World Juniors in December. The games were yesterday, today and tomorrow as part of Team Canada Development Camp.

Photo credit: Twitter; @EastlinkTV & @HFXMooseheads

Herd Word

HOCKEY SCHOOL
The Halifax Mooseheads Hockey School started this morning with the IP group on the ice at 7:30 this morning with the Novice group on the ice at 8:30. It is being held at the BMO Centre in Bedford until Friday. Sessions are 4 hours long and are being taught by Moose players. The Atom group will be on the ice at 12:30 with the Peewees skating at 1:20. Skills that the kids will be learning are puck handling, passing and shooting, faceoffs and positional play as well as power and agility skating. Have fun boys and girls.

IVAN HLINKA
The U-18 Ivan Hlinka tournament, which Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin attended last summer, also started today in Slovakia and Czech Republic. Team Canada is playing in Czech Republic with the host team, Sweden and Switzerland. Timo Meier is the only player in the tournament related to the Mooseheads. Meier was drafted last month in the CHL Import Draft.

DROUIN
Jonathan Drouin is not participating in Canada's Junior development camp now with a sore foot. He was invited to the camp with fellow Halifax Mooseheads players Nathan MacKinnon and Zach Fucale. Hopefully this does not ruin his chances on making the team in December.

WORLD JUNIORS
With Drouin injured, MacKinnon has now been paired up with Mark Janowski and Tom Wilson for the Red/White scrimmages over the next couple of days. Nate is on Team White. Fucale is also at the camp and will be the only Herd player to travel to Lake Placid for pre-tournament games that start on August 7th.

TRAINING CAMP
The 2013 training camp for your Halifax Mooseheads will start on August 14th. Red/Green team scrimmages will happen on the 14th, 15th and 16th between 4pm and 6pm at Cole Harbour Place. Admission is free to all scrimmages to fans who would like to watch the rookies. The first preseason game is August 17th at the Halifax Forum.

August, we welcome you

It is now August which means the arrival of prospects to Moose Country is just around the corner. The management team must be quite busy with the planning of opening night as the full schedule for training camp has not been released yet. The Mooseheads did release the dates that the annual events will be played on (see my previous post).

Halifax will be the home team for 3 preseason games this season, two of which are against Moncton. Tickets for the August 17th and August 30th preseason games went on sale today, August 1st.

Few more things that are happening this month, which are going on before the preseason starts...
August 1^st  - Preseason tickets go on sale for games at Halifax Forum
August 5^th-9^th  - Halifax Mooseheads hockey school taking place at the BMO Centre in Bedford

August 5^th  - Trey Lewis will be riding the Q104 float with the Memorial Cup in the Natal Day Parade
August 17^th at 4pm  - First preseason game (vs. Cape Breton at the Forum)