Not So Well.

In my preview I asked how will they respond? "They" being the Halifax Mooseheads and respond meaning after winning an intense game on Saturday 2-1 in a shootout against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Well, not as good obviously. Instead of a fight very early on, the game saw it's first goal less then 2 minutes in by rookie player Nikolaj Ehlers. Sherbrooke tied it up shortly after and the Mooseheads were unable to get anything back. It was also turnover city this afternoon. Rushes were made by turnovers, nice saves had to be made because neither team could handle the puck for more than a few seconds very much. Zach Fucale had to be pulled for the first time probably in the past 2 years in regular season play.

FINAL: Phoenix 2 at Mooseheads 1
50/50 Winning Draw: $5,785
Three stars: 3. Audette SHE | 2. Ehlers HAL | 1. Roy SHE
Attendance: 6,842
MC's Top Herd: Nikolaj Ehlers

GAME LOG
First period
HAL 1:36 Nikolaj Ehlers (4) | A: Lewis & Andrews
SHE 4:31 Daniel Audette (2) | A: Neill & Lysenko

Penalties: Shewfelt HAL (15:30, Hooking)
Shots: The Herd led first period shots 7 to 6

Second period
SHE 3:52 Jeremy Roy (3) | A: Lundholm

Penalties: Lewis HAL (4:40, Hooking), Deslauriers SHE (10:18, Checking), Laverdure SHE (19:33, Roughing), Hardie HAL (19:33, Slashing), Lewis HAL (19:33, Roughing)
Shots: The shots spread out a little bit in the middle frame with Halifax leading again 11-7 this time

Third period
None

Penalties: Murphy HAL (5:47, Delay of game), Deschamps SHE (9:46, Delay of game), Lovell HAL (13:43, Tripping)
Shots: Sherbrooke led in the last period 7-5 but could not close the gap as the home team led final shots 23-20

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Francis Desrosiers SHE 22 saves
Losing goaltender: Zach Fucale HAL 18 saves

POWERPLAY
Halifax: 0-for-2
Road city: 0-for-5

BREAKING: Drouin is returning

Big news guys. We're getting our leading scorer back! Jonathan Drouin has been reassigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Mooseheads. The news came this afternoon from the team. He played in 5 preseason games for the Bolts and recoded 2 assists.

In 49 games last season, Drouin had a team high 105 points. Welcome back Jonathan. 

GAMEDAY 7: vs Sherbrooke

IT'S GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. SHERBROOKE PHOENIX

Puck drops at 4:00pm

Metro Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

PREVIEW - Well how are they going to respond? Today's game will not be as intense and fight filled but it should still be a good game. After debuting their green anniversary jerseys last night, Halifax will be back in their red colors. 

It was a very low-scoring game against the Drakkar and Halifax will look to get back to their scoring ways. These two teams don't have the history that Halifax has with some of the other teams mainly because Sherbrooke has only been around for two years as the Phoenix. Sherbrooke will look to get out of the basement of the Q. 

This is the first of two games between these teams. The Mooseheads and Phoenix will meet again in five days and Sherbrooke.  

THE NUMBERS

Leading scorers
SHE: Daniel Audette (1G, 7A, 8 PTS), Jeremy Roy (2G, 2A, 4 PTS), William Couture (1G, 3A, 4 PTS)
HAL: Andrew Ryan (4G, 3A, 7 PTS), Brent Andrews (1G, 5A, 6 PTS), Nikolaj Ehlers (3G, 2A, 5 PTS)

LAST GAMES
Halifax is coming off a 2-1 shootout win in a rematch against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Saturday night. Andrew Ryan scored the first goal of the game and Jesse Lussier scored the game winner in the 10th round of the shootout.

Sherbrooke were in Saint John last night to take on the Sea Dogs and were unable to beat Sebestien Auger as they lost 5-1. Tim Wieser scored the only goal for the Phoenix in another fight filled game. 

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season     0-0-0-0    0GF    0GA
September 29 @ 4pm  Phoenix at Mooseheads
October 4 @ 8pm  Mooseheads at Phoenix
Last season     3-0-0-0    16GF   5GA

NOT PLAYING - Ashley is the only one known to not be playing

OUT OF TOWN
Drakkar at Islanders - 3:00pm

Wildcats at Armada - 5:00pm

Voltigeurs at Sagueneens - 5:00pm

Screaming Eagles at Oceanic - 5:00pm

GAME GOVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

AFTER THE GAME

Halifax will face those Sea Dogs on Tuesday in Saint John as they start a 4 game road trip. Puck drops at 7pm. 

POSTGAME: Drakkar 1, Mooseheads 2

MC POST-GAME

Baie-Comeau lose rematch 2-1 in 10 round shootout

HALIFAX - Well it was rough last year in the 2013 playoffs. 

The Canadian Press' recap: - Zachary Fucale not 33 shots through regulation and overtime and 10 more in the shootout as the Halifax Mooseheads edged the visiting Baie-Comeau Drakkar 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: - Four months did little 2 smooth over the bad blood between the Halifax Mooseheads and Baie-Comeau Drakkar. 

MISSING IN ACTION: Jacob Jacques, Vincent Watt and Andrew Shewfelt were healthy scratches while Darcy Ashley is still out with an injury. 

PICTURES 

Go over to the Facebook page to see my pictures from last night.

REMATCH

This was the first rematch of the year between the two finalists of the 2013 President's Cup finals.

SHOOTOUT

According to Herd History, this was the first shootout when versus the Drakkar. It was also the longest shootout on home ice in history. 

JERSEYS

The Mooseheads wore special 20th season anniversary jerseys last night. I thought they were going to have there special 20th season logo but it was the regular H with the Moosehead logo. They were green with a thick red stripe on the bottom. Pretty nice jerseys.

ROUGH STUFF

If you don't read my recap there was lots of fun stuff during the game. In the first 20 minutes there was three fights. Bodies were flying as well, nobody seemed safe. It was a very intense game.

FUCALE

Zach Fucale was a wall once again as he stopped 33 of 34 shots. There were a few times he had to make a series of saves including a couple of breakaways. In the shootout he was able to stop all 10 shots he faced. He also has 80 regular-season wins now.

LUSSIER 

Rookie Jesse Lussier scored the shootout winner, his first of his QMJHL career. Congrats Jesse. 

WEEGAR 

MacKenzie Weegar had a pretty good game of course he spent a lot of time in the penalty box. Weegar had a few chances and assisted on Ryan's first period goal. Mac led both teams in penalty minutes with 9, this included a five minute fighting major in the third period. 

DUCHARME

Dominique Ducharme recorded his 100th regular season win behind the Mooseheads bench. 

OTHER SCORES

Moncton 1 - 4 Drummondville

Rouyn-Noranda 5 - 2 Victoriaville

Cape Breton 5 - 2 Acadie-Bathurst

Sherbrooke 1 - 4 Saint John

Shawinigan 1 - 4 Gatineau

Val-d'Or 11 - 2 Quebec 

UP NEXT

Halifax will finish their first home stint this afternoon when they take on the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Puck drops at 4pm. 

UFC Match. Wait. What?

Well it was rough last year in the 2013 playoffs. Nothing has changed between these two teams despite spending 5 months not playing each other and both having different teams then what they had in May. There was plenty of rough stuff and bad blood when the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Halifax Mooseheads played in a 5 game President's Cup series that saw Halifax take it 4 games to one. It continued tonight when only 2 minutes in Liam Alcalde and Poulin dropped the gloves. It was the first of FIVE fights during the 65 minute game that ended in a shootout. Not only were there more than the normal amount of fights but probably an unusual amount of hits and bodies falling.

The first period saw 3 fights and some really nice chances by the home team. The second period was the longest period in most likely a long time as there was a line brawl with just under eight minutes left. It saw both penalty boxes filled to beyond capacity with all 10 players going to the box for roughing calls. Another player for each team were added off the face-off when Matt Murphy and Jeremy Gregoire throwing punches. The last 25 minutes (3rd period and OT) were pretty quiet. Zach Fucale had to make some pretty good saves all game and it continued in overtime. Both goalies were really good which forced a 10 round shootout.

FINAL: Drakkar 1 at Mooseheads 2 SO 

50/50 Winning Draw: $8,555 to a lucky guy from Windsor. 

Three stars: 3. Gorbunov BAC | 2. Lussier HAL | 1. Fucale HAL 

Attendance: 7,857

MC's Top Herd: Zach Fucale

GAME LOG

First period

HAL 10:20 Andrew Ryan (4), PP | A: Moynihan & Weegar

Penalties: Poulin BAC (2:17, Fighting), Alcalde HAL (2:17, Fighting), Falkenham HAL (5:07, Unsportsmanlike), Girard BAC (9:15, Fighting), Andrews HAL (9:15, Fighting), Poulin BAC (9:34, Interference), Leblond BAC (15:12, Slashing), Vanier BAC (15:12, Fighting), Vanier BAC (15:12, Not wearing a tied down sweater - misconduct), Lovell HAL (15:12, Not clearing the area of a fight - misconduct), C. Moynihan HAL (15:12, Fighting), Duke HAL (18:30, High-sticking)

Shots: Halifax led in shots during the period 13 to 7 

Second period

None

Penalties: Weegar HAL (5:57, Roughing), Imama BAC (9:23, Charging), Girard BAC (12:14, Roughing), Imama BAC (12:14, Roughing), Lepage BAC (12:14, Handling the puck), Lepage BAC (12:14, Roughing), Meloche BAC (12:14, Roughing), Paquin-Boudreau BAC (12:14, Roughing), Ehlers HAL (12:14, Roughing), Hardie HAL (12:14, Roughing), Lewis HAL (12:14, Roughing), D. Moynihan HAL (12:14, Roughing), Ryan HAL (12:14, Roughing), Gregoire BAC (12:20, Fighting), Gregoire BAC (12:20, Taking off own helmet – game misconduct), Murphy HAL (12:20, Fighting), Murphy HAL (12:20, Not wearing a tied down sweater), Verpaelst BAC (17:52, Instigator & Fighting), Verpaelst BAC (17:52, Instigator - misconduct), Weegar HAL (17:52, Checking to head, Fighting)

Shots: Baie-Comeau lead shots this time 11–10

Third period

BAC 6:32 Denis Gorbunov | A: Zykov & Girard

Penalties: Chenevert BAC (0:14, Tripping), Hardie HAL (10:27, High-sticking), Zykov BAC (15:32, High-sticking)

Shots: the Drakkar doubled up the Mooseheads 15 to 7

Overtime

None

Penalties: none

Shots: Halifax led 2-1in the final period but Baie-Comeau won the shots battle for the game 34 to 32

Shootout

Round 1: Felix Girard Save, MacKenzie Weegar Save
Round 2: Denis Gorbunov Save, Nikolaj Ehlers Save
Round 3: Valentin Zykov Save, Andrew Ryan Save
Round 4: Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau Save, Timo Meier Save
Round 5: Francis Turbide Save, Luca Ciampini Save
Round 6: Robbie Graham Save, Brent Andrews Save
Round 7: Frederic Gamelin Save, Ryan Falkenham Save
Round 8: Alexandre Ranger Save, Danny Moynihan Save
Round 9: Alexis Vanier Save, Connor Moynihan Save
Round 10: Nicolas Leblond Save, Jesse Lussier GOAL

GOALIES

Winning goaltender: Zach Fucale HAL 33 saves

Losing goaltender: Simon Lemieux BAC 31 saves

POWERPLAY

Halifax: 1-for-6

Baie-Comeau: 0-for-4

GAMEDAY 6: vs Baie-Comeau

IT'S GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. BAIE-COMEAU DRAKKAR

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Metro Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

PREVIEW - Saturday night hockey. It's a tradition in this country and I don't think it's going to stop being one. Tonight isn't just Saturday night hockey though, it's a night that sees a rematch between the two teams who played for the President's Cup back in late April early May.

May 10th, 2013. That is the day that every Halifax Mooseheads fan will remember for a very long time. It was game 5 of the QMJHL playoff finals being played at the Metro Centre. Stephan MacAulay scored 2 goals, Nathan MacKinnon had a goal an assist in what was most likely his last Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game in his life, while Zach Fucale made 34 saves in a 5 to 1 win over Baie-Comeau. It was one of the hardest games to get into, people were selling fans on Kijiji for hundreds of dollars for fans to see history be made. In game 4, Halifax lost in the Quebec city for the only time in the 2013 playoffs to set up a game in Nova Scotia for the Mooseheads to win it at home.

For the first time since that game, the two teams will play once again. This time, the home team will look different for more ways then their top line from last year not being on the team and 11 new players on it instead. The Herd will unveil their special 20th season jerseys which they will wear at different times this season. You don't get a game much bigger than this this season.


This is the first of two meetings between the 2013 finalists. It is the only time this year that we will get to see the Drakkar in Halifax. The 2 teams will meet again in December in Baie-Comeau.

THE NUMBERS

Leading scorers
BAC: Alexis Vanier (3G, 6A, 9 PTS), Jeremy Gregoire (5G, 3A, 8 PTS), Denis Gorbunov (3G, 3A, 6 PTS)
HAL: Andrew Ryan (3G, 3A, 6 PTS), Brent Andrews (1G, 5A, 6 PTS), Nikolaj Ehlers (3G, 2A, 5 PTS)

LAST GAMES
Halifax got their first home win of the season on Wednesday night when they took on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in front of a half full arena. Just over 6,000 fans turned out to see the home team skate to a 2-0 lead and continue to score winning 5-2. Brent Andrews led the team in points with a goal and 2 assists while Fucale made 41 saves.

Despite outshooting their opponent and getting 3 points from Jeremy Gregoire, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar could not skate out of Sydney with a win as they lost 5 to 4 to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. They will try to even up their Nova Scotian road trip at one.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season   0-0-0-0     0GF    0GA
September 28 @ 7pm  Drakkar at Mooseheads
December 13 @ 8:30pm  Mooseheads at Drakkar
Last season   2-0-0-0    9GF     3GA

NOT PLAYING - At the time of this writing, Darcy Ashley is the only one who I know of that will not be playing tonight.

OUT OF TOWN
Wildcats at Voltigeurs - 5:00pm
Huskies at Tigres - 5:00pm
Screaming Eagles at Titan - 7:00pm
Phoenix at Sea Dogs - 7:00pm
Cataractes at Olympiques - 8:00pm
Foreurs at Remparts - 8:00pm

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

AFTER THE GAME
This home stint continues and ends tomorrow afternoon when the Moose take on the Sherbrooke Phoenix at the Metro Centre. Puck drops at 4pm.

Excitement All Over.

**Downtown Halifax had internet problems so the Q website is not updated but when it becomes available I will update this post.** UPDATED

Too much excitement and nerviness to tell you the truth. Brennan could not help his team to victory even though he made some pretty impressive saves. The quickness that is back from the Halifax Mooseheads was too much for Brennan and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan as they lost 5-3 to a team that was clearly itching to show their fans they still got it. Half the team is new so it takes a bit to find chemistry but the home team had it all night even when they couldn't find the twine.

Period one had some excitement, mainly good chances by the Mooseheads but ended with no score. The biggest excitement was Trey Lewis taking on Titan player Lucas Grundy in a fight. Lewis mostly hit Grundy's helmet as Lucas was ripping out the captain's hair. Brent Andrews scored the first goal of the game, a first for the red and green this season. Matt Murphy gave the Mooseheads a 2-0 lead and even though the Titan were able to tie it up, they never looked back. Lewis was able to put the Herd ahead for good when he took a feed from Brent Andrews and went in on a mini breakaway to make the score 4-3.

FINAL: Titan 3 at Mooseheads 5
Three stars: 3. Meier HAL | 2. Lafontaine BAT | 1. Andrews HAL
Attendance: 6,070
50/50 Winning Draw: couldn't hear
MC's Top Herd: Trey Lewis

GAME LOG
First period
None

Penalties: Lovell HAL (12:57, Elbowing), Chapman BAT (15:05, Roughing), Leclerc BAT (16:06, Roughing), Ryan HAL (16:06, Roughing), Grundy BAT (17:30, Instigator, Fighting, Hair pulling, Checking), Grundy BAT (17:30, Instigator - Misconduct), Lewis HAL (17:30, Charging & Fighting)
Shots: Moncton was only able to get off 6 shots to Halifax's 14

Second period
HAL 1:12 Brent Andrews (1), PP | A: Lussier & Meier
HAL 10:29 Matt Murphy (1) | A: Falkenham
BAT 16:58 Raphael Lafontaine (3) | A: Godin & Beauchemin

Penalties: Leclerc BAT (5:26, Checking), Andrews HAL (12:02, Roughing)
Shots: The Mooseheads once again led this time 13 to 8

Third period
BAT 1:23 Alexandros Soumakis (3) | A: Steven & Blanchard
HAL 12:26 Trey Lewis (1), SH | A: Andrews & Hardie
BAT 12:39 Raphael Lafontaine (4), PP | A: Godin & Soumakis
HAL 16:06 Timo Meier (1) | A: Andrews
HAL 18:29 MacKenzie Weegar (1) | A: Ciampini & Duke

Penalties: Godin BAT (9:42, Tripping), Lussier HAL (11:08, Hooking), Zdrahal BAT (13:56, Hooking)
Shots: The Wildcats were outshot by double in the third period (8 to 16) as well as in the full game as shots ended 44-22 for Halifax.

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Zach Fucale HAL
Losing goaltender: Jacob Brennan BAT

POWERPLAY
Halifax: 1-for-5
Bathurst: 1-for-3

Notes: This was Lewis' 200th junior game... Meier scored his first junior career goal... Look back tomorrow for the postgame stories in the morning...

GAMEDAY 5: vs Acadie-Bathurst

IT'S GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. ACADIE-BATHURST TITAN

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Metro Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

PREVIEW - Well here we are again. Almost two weeks after the season started on the Metro Centre ice, your Halifax Mooseheads return home after a three game road trip. This is the first of 3 games during a home stint. Halifax will try to get a winning record starting tonight when they take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The Herd will have to stay out of the box and improve their penalty kill as it's a battle of the most penalized and the least penalized, well second least. The Titan have 116 penalty minutes in 4 games played. Most of which came from a heated game on Sunday against the Moncton Wildcats. This game will see the return of Dominc Beauchemin to the Metro Centre after he was traded last season to the Titan. The line of Andrew Ryan, Nikolaj Ehlers and Brent Andrews will look to continue their strong play together as they have taken over the team scoring. It's going to be an interesting game.


Once again, the Mooseheads will play a division rival 9 times this season. This is the first of the 9 games against the New Brunswick team. A home and home set in late October will be the next time these two teams meet.

THE NUMBERS

Leading scorers

BAT: Raphael Lafontaine (2G, 2A, 4 PTS), Francois Godin (0G, 4A, 4 PTS), Robert Pelletier (0G, 4A, 4 PTS)
HAL: Andrew Ryan (3G, 3A, 6 PTS), Nikolaj Ehlers (3G, 2A, 5 PTS), Brent Andrews (0G, 3A, 3 PTS)

LAST GAMES
The Mooseheads fell to 1 and 3 on Sunday afternoon after they left Sydney with a 5-2 loss. Zach Fucale couldn't repeat his performance of Friday night stopping 31 of 36 shots against the Screaming Eagles as Andrew Shewfelt and Nikolaj Ehlers were the only offence the away team could produce.

Bathurst was demolished when they visited their New Brunswick rivals in Moncton. The Titan got goals from former Herd Dominic Beauchemin and Adam Chapman while veteran goalie Jacob Brennan took the loss saving 29 of 36 shots in a 7-2 win by Moncton.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season      0-0-0-0     0GF     0GA
September 25 @ 7pm  Titan at Mooseheads
October 25 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Titan
October 26 @ 7pm  Titan at Mooseheads
November 16 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Titan
November 22 @ 7pm  Titan at Mooseheads
January 11 @ 7pm  Titan at Mooseheads
January 19 @ 3pm  Mooseheads at Titan
February 16 @ 3pm  Mooseheads at Titan
February 28 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Titan
Last season      6-0-2-0   50GF    35GA

NOT PLAYING - Darcy Ashley still out with a broken finger

OUT OF TOWN
Oceanic at Cataractes - 8:00pm
Huskies at Foreurs - 8:30pm

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7
Post-game: MooseCountry, Titan Live!

AFTER THE GAME
The Moose will continue to play at home on Saturday against Baie-Comeau in a President's Cup final rematch. Puck drops at 7pm.

GAMEDAY 4: at Cape Breton

IT'S GAMEDAY

CAPE BRETON SCREAMING EAGLES vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 4:00pm

Centre 200 (5,000) ~ Sydney, Nova Scotia

PREVIEW - Just days after three players returned from NHL main camps early in the week, the Halifax Mooseheads were able to skate to their first win of the season. Halifax will look to come back home with a tied record while Cape Breton looks for their first win.

This is the first of 9 games between these provincial rivals this season. They will be playing each other at least once each month during the season and twice in December and March.

THE NUMBERS















Leading scorers
HAL: Andrew Ryan (3G, 2A, 5 PTS), Nikolaj Ehlers (2G, 2A, 4 PTS), Brent Andrews (0G, 3A, 3 PTS)

CAP: Cameron Darcy (2G, 3A, 5 PTS), Julien Pelletier (2G, 1A, 3 PTS), William Carrier (0G, 2A, 2 PTS)

LAST GAMES
Cape Breton played their home opener on Friday and lost 5 to 4 against the Charlottetown Islanders. Cameron Darcy led the team in points with 2 goals and a helper while overager Maxime Legace was unable to defeat his former team making 32 saves on 37 shots. 

Halifax was able to ride the help of returning players to their first win of the season 5-2 in a rematch against the Moncton Wildcats. Andrew Ryan scored 2 goals and had 2 assists while Zachary Fucale stopped 18 pucks. 

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season    0-0-0-0    0GF    0GA
September 22 @ 4pm  Mooseheads at Eagles
October 15 @ 7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
November 29 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Eagles
December 28 @ 7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
December 29 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Eagles
January 25 @ 7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
February 12 @ 7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
March 4 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Eagles
March 15 @ 7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
Last season    8-0-0-0   35GF   16GA

NOT PLAYING - same scratches for the Herd as Friday's game; Ashley, Lovell, Alcalde and Jacques

OUT OF TOWN
Charlottetown at Saint John - 3:00pm
Acadie-Bathurst at Moncton - 4:00pm
Chicoutimi at Baie-Comeau - 5:00pm
Quebec at Rimouski - 5:00pm
Drummondville at Sherbrooke - 5:00pm

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @CBSEHockey, @TheQMJHLTweeter
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

AFTER THE GAME
The Herd will be back at home on Wednesday when they take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Puck drops at 7pm.

POSTGAME: Mooseheads 5, Wildcats 2

MC POST-GAME
Halifax wins first game of season 5-2 against the Wildcats

Metro Halifax's recap: Three games in, and the Halifax Mooseheads have their first win of the season.

The Canadian Press' recap: Andrew Ryan and Nikolaj Ehlers combined for four goals and seven points as Halifax downed the Wildcats.

Moncton Sports' recap: The Halifax Mooseheads visited Moncton last night at the Coliseum.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: Some familiar faces helped the Halifax Mooseheads get in the win column for the first time this season.

MonctonWildcats.com's recap: They say turn about is fair play.

QMJHL.ca's recap: Game summary.

SCORERS: Nikolaj Ehlers (1) HAL 10:32, Connor Garland (1) MON 18:04, Nikolaj Ehlers (2) HAL 20:37, Connor Garland (2) MON 25:57, Andrew Ryan (1) HAL 31:49, Daniel Moynihan (1) HAL 53:12, Andrew Ryan (2) HAL 58:47

MISSING IN ACTION: Brian Lovell, Jacob Jacques and Liam Alcalde were all healthy scratches while Darcy Ashley is still out with a hand injury. Josh Pugsley, Reid Halabi and Tucker White were all scratches for the Moncton Wildcats.

RYAN
Andrew Ryan, playing in his first junior game of the season, recorded 4 points last night to lead both teams in that category. Ryan scored two goals and assisted on two others.

FUCALE
Zach Fucale was back in between the pipes yesterday evening and backstopped the Mooseheads to their first win of the season. He stopped 18 of 20 shots.

EHLERS
Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first goal of the season yesterday and added another to help the Moose win. He had the first goal of the game. He also added an assist.

DUBEAU
Wildcats' goalie Alex Dubeau was pretty good once again. Last night he stopped 27 of 31 shots to keep his team in the game.

MULTI-POINTS
4 players had multi point nights yesterday; Nikolaj Ehlers, Andrew Ryan, Mac Weegar and Brent Andrews.

TOP LINE
The top line yesterday was Ryan, Ehlers and Andrews. Together they had 10 points last night.

OUT OF TOWN
Islanders 5 - 4 Eagles
Armada 4 - 2 Phoenix
Remparts 4 - 7 Drakkar
Voltigeurs 2 - 1 Oceanic
Tigres 1 - 5 Huskies
Sagueneens 3 - 2 Cataractes OT
Olympiques 0 - 5 Foreurs

NEXT GAME: It's a provincial battle on Sunday afternoon as the Herd travel to Cape Breton to take on the Screaming Eagles. Puck drop is 4pm.

GAMEDAY 3: at Moncton

IT'S GAMEDAY

MONCTON WILDCATS vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Moncton Coliseum (6,554) ~ Moncton, NB

PREVIEW - Reinforcements are here. Players who were drafted in June's NHL draft have returned from their respective teams main camps. This means that goaltender Zach Fucale, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and centre Brent Andrews are back in the lineup. All three gentleman impressed during the NHL rookie camps for their teams and were invited to the main camps.

Zach Fucale played the last half of a Montreal preseason game Sunday night and stopped 11 of 13 shots. He also saw overtime and shootout action. On Monday night, Weegar played 26 minutes to lead both teams in PIM while collecting an assist on the game tying goal. With Andrews coming back, it will eventually cause the Mooseheads problems in the overage department. The reinforcements will look to get the team back on track after two straight losses last weekend.


Moncton received their first win of the season and handed the Mooseheads their first loss when these two teams met 8 days ago in Halifax for the QMJHL season opener. The Herd seemed to have excitement in their bellies after raising the championship banners as the Wildcats rode a 2 goal game by Cody Drover to a 4-0 win.

THE NUMBERS














Leading scorers
HAL: Danny Moynihan 2pts (1G&1A), Andrew Ryan 1pts (1G), Nikolaj Ehlers 1pt (1A)
MON: Christopher Caissy 4pts (4A), Ivan Barbashev 3pts (2G&1A), Cody Drover 2pts (2G)

LAST GAMES
Moncton is coming off a 5-3 loss in their home opener last weekend to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Chris Caissy led the team in points during the game recording two assists. After being perfect the night before, Alex Dubeau let in 4 goals on 24 shots.

For the first time since 2010, the Moose find themselves without a win in their first 2 games after losing to the rebranded Charlottetown Islanders a week ago on the island 5-2. Danny Moynihan, the preseason leader for Halifax, got the first goal of the season for the team while Kevin Darveau made 40 saves on 45 shots.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season     0-1-0-0     0GF    4GA
September 12   Moncton  4 at Halifax  0
September 20 @ 7pm   Mooseheads at Wildcats
November 8 @ 7pm   Wildcats at Mooseheads
December 1 @ 4pm   Wildcats at Mooseheads
December 20 @ 7pm   Mooseheads at Wildcats
December 21 @ 7pm   Wildcats at Mooseheads
January 10 @ 7pm   Wildcats at Mooseheads
February 9 @ 4pm   Mooseheads at Wildcats
March 1 @ 7pm Mooseheads at Wildcats
Last season 6-2-0-0 36GF 26GA

NOT PLAYING - Darcy Ashley is out with a hand injury still.

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @monctonwildcats, @HalifaxHerdcast
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

AFTER THE GAME
The Mooseheads will travel back to Nova Scotia to take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in Sydney on Sunday. Puck drops at 4pm.

NHL Camps update

FUCALE
Zachary Fucale hit the ice last night in his first taste of NHL action. The goaltender was listed as the second goalie on the morning's roster for the Montreal Canadiens first preseason game. After Peter Budaj started, Zach came in at the halfway point and stopped 13 of 15 shots in 35 minutes of play, which included a overtime period. There was no score at the end of overtime so the Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres went to a shootout where Fucale faced on 2 shooters and stopped one on the way to a 5-4 SO win by the Sabres. He will not play tonight when the Habs take on the Boston Bruins.

WEEGAR
MacKenzie Weegar will be in the lineup when the Florida Panthers take on the Nashville Predators in the second game of a double header. Game time is 7pm Eastern time.

FOURNIER
After getting the day off last night, Stefan Fournier will hit the ice tonight when the Bruins and Habs battle it out on TSN2 and RDS at 7pm Eastern. Stephen MacAulay is now the only one yet to play for Montreal in preseason action but there are 6 more games after tonight.

MACKINNON
Nathan MacKinnon took part in Colorado's annual Burgundy/White game yesterday afternoon at the Air Force Academy. He recorded no points and was a +1. He also took part in the shootout at the end of the game but was unable to score. His team, Burgundy, however did win 3-1.

ATLANTIC DIVISION
If you like the Toronto Maple Leafs, like me, or any of the other 8 teams in the NHL Atlantic division as well as the Halifax Mooseheads well your going to see the plenty of Moose in the next couple of years. The Boston Bruins has former player Brad Marchand, Jonthan Drouin in Tampa Bay, Zach Fucale, Stefan Fournier and Stephen MacAulay are in the Montreal Canadiens organization, Martin Frk with the Detroit Red Wings, and Florida Panthers prospect Mac Weegar.
Other players include; Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia), Alex Tanguay (Colorado), Konrad Abeltshauser (San Jose), Matt Muphy (St. Louis), Jean Sebastien Giguere (Colorado), Brent Andrews (Anaheim), Trey Lewis (Calgary) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado).

POSTGAME: Mooseheads 2, Islanders 5

MC POST-GAME

FINAL: Mooseheads 2 at Islanders 5
Three Stars: 3. Goulet CHA | 2. Beran CHA | 1. Kielly CHA
Attendance: 3,311

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads are still looking for their first win of 2013-14.

Metro Halifax's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads are still looking for their first win of the season.

The Canadian Press' recap: The Charlottetown Islanders have a new name and a winning start to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey season.

The Gaurdian's recap: There was hype, hoopla and drama and that was before the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game at the newly named Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, which the Islanders won 5-2 over the Halifax Mooseheads.

halifaxmooseheads.ca's recap: The Mooseheads won't get their first win of the season this weekend.

charlottetownislanders.com's recap: A three-goal explosion in the final minutes of Friday’s game led the Charlottetown Islanders to a dramatic 5-2 victory over the defending Memorial Cup champion Halifax Mooseheads in front of a ramped up hometown fan base.

MISSING IN ACTION: Yan Pavel Laplante (NHL camp), Ryan Graves, Troy Vance (NHL camp), Nathan Yetman (healthy) were missing from the lineup of Charlottetown. Both goalies who were listed on the roster did not play, Antoine Bibeau was reassigned by Toronto while Eric Brassard is at Tampa Bay Lightning camp. Zach Fucale, Brent Andrews and Mac Weegar are still at NHL camps while Darcy Ashley is out with a hand injury.

MOYNIHAN
Danny Moynihan scored the first goal of the season for the Mooseheads. Of course he did. He led the team in preseason scoring with 7 points. He now leads the team with 2 points in the regular season, adding an assist on Ryan's 3rd period goal. He had a plus-2 rating, 2 hits and a penalty.

FALKENHAM

Ryan Falkenham played in his 100th game. He also got a hooking penalty.

DARVEAU
Kevin Darveau was solid in net but still allowed 5 goals in the net. He stopped 40 pucks, eight of which came from winger Jack Nevins.

FOG
It's wet and warm outside and cold inside, so the players were playing in fog during the game. It wasn't the only building that had fog in it. Moncton Coliseum was the other.

NO GOAL
The Islanders had a goal disallowed 37 seconds in to the game.

OTHER SCORES
Eagles 1 - 4 Titan
Sea Dogs 4 - 1 Wildcats
Remparts 3 - 4 Sagueneens OT
Cataractes 1 - 4 Tigres
Oceanic 5 - 4 Drakkar
Phoenix 2 - 5 Armada
Huskies 3 - 6 Huskies
Foreurs 2 - 5 Olympiques

NEXT GAME
Halifax will take on the Moncton Wildcats a week from today for a rematch in Moncton. Puck drops at 7pm.

GAMEDAY 2: at Charlottetown

IT'S GAMEDAY

CHARLOTTETOWN ISLANDERS vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

EastLink Centre (3,717) ~ Charlottetown, PEI

PREVIEW - We've been here before but they look a lot different. Tonight begins a new era in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island when the newly branded Charlottetown Islanders take on the defending champion Halifax Mooseheads.

Not only did the team get a new name, logo and colors but they also got a new named arena. The Charlottetown Civic Centre is no longer called as such, it is now known as the EastLink Centre. There's also new players just like any other junior hockey team.

Last season, the PEI Rocket lost in a thrilling three overtime Game 6 against the Val-d'Or Foreurs to lose the first round series 4 games to 2. This season, they will look to make it past the first round for the first time since the 2003-04 season. Third year player Anthony Cortese led the Islanders in preseason scoring with 9 points, good enough for 3rd place. In net they will once again be led by Antoine Bibeau, who currently is in Toronto for the Maple Leafs main training camp. The Herd will look to get the offense going against rookie goaltender Eric Brassard tonight.


Halifax will play the Islanders 8 more times after tonight. It's also the first game on Eastlink's Friday Night Hockey schedule for 2013-14 season. Watch a special documentary on Halifax's championship season before the game at 5:30 Atlantic time.

THE NUMBERS


LAST GAMES
Charlottetown pummelled the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 8-3 on Sunday afternoon in their last preseason game. Daniel Sprong, Alexandre Goulet and Anthony Cortese had two goals each while Deverick Ottereyes led the Islanders in assists with 3. Daryl MacCallum made 22 saves for the win.

Halifax is coming off a 4-0 shutout loss to the Moncton Wildcats last night. Liam Alcalde led the team in penalty minutes with 5 while goaltender Kevin Darveau wasn't far behind with 4 PIM while making 29 saves for the defending champs on banner raising night.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season     0-0-0-0     0GF    0GA
September 13 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Islanders
October 23 @ 7pm  Islanders at Mooseheads
November 15 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Islanders
December 8 @ 3pm  Mooseheads at Islanders
January 3 @ 7pm  Islanders at Mooseheads
January 8 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Islanders
February 19 @ 7pm  Islanders at Mooseheads
March 6 @ 7pm  Islanders at Mooseheads
March 11 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Islanders
Last season     7-1-0-0     43GF  20GA

NOT PLAYING - Zach Fucale, Brent Andrews and MacKenzie Weegar are still at NHL camps.

GAME COVERAGE
TV: Eastlink
Live: @islandersgmday
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

OUT OF TOWN
Cape Breton at Acadie-Bathurst - 7:00pm
Saint John at Moncton - 7:00pm
Quebec at Chicoutimi - 8:00pm
Shawinigan at Victoriaville - 8:00pm
Rimouski at Baie-Comeau - 8:30pm
Sherbrooke at Blainville-Boisbriand - 8:30pm
Rouyn-Noranda at Drummondville - 8:30pm
Val-d'Or at Gatienau - 8:30pm

AFTER THE GAME
Fans will have to wait a week to see the next Mooseheads game when they have a rematch against the Wildcats in Moncton on September 20. Puck drops at 7pm like usual.

POSTGAME: Wildcats 4, Mooseheads 0

MC POST-GAME
Halifax lose opener 4-0 against Moncton

Three Stars: 3. Drover MON | 2. Barbashev MON | 1. Dubeau MON
Attendance: 9,301
50/50 Winning Draw: Congratulations to Max Ferguson of Bedford who got $11,512 winning last night's fifty-fifty
MC's Top Herd: Nikolaj Ehlers
Dickie's Player of the Game: not announced

HALIFAX - Jody Shelley, Jason King and Travis Randell came back to where it all began for them to help raise the championship banners with your 2013-14 Halifax Mooseheads on opening night.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The celebration had to end eventually.

hockeyscene.com's recap: The night was intended to be a night of celebration for the Halifax Mooseheads.

Canadian Press' recap: The Moncton Wildcats spoiled the Halifax Mooseheads' party.

Metro Halifax's recap: It wasn’t supposed to unfold like this.

QMJHL.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: MacKenzie Weegar (Panthers camp), Darcy Ashley (injury), Zach Fucale (Canadiens camp), Jacob Jacques (healthy) and Brent Andrews (Ducks camp) were missing from the bench. Scratches for Moncton were Mathieu Olivier, Tanner McCabe and Josh Pugsley.

TWEET OF THE NIGHT

PICTURES
To see the pictures I took during the game click here.

BANNER
There were some special guests that came to help raise the banner last night. Favourite Mooseheads player Jody Shelley returned, looking a little crippled, to huge applause from the fans. Travis Randell and Jason King, who just retired from pro hockey, were also there. Taking pictures didn't work very well as the banners were in the spotlight so you only got white.

ROOKIES
The rookies did pretty good last night. All I got to say about that.

NEW TEAM
Obviuosly with Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin turning pro and many other guys going pro after aging out of junior, Halifax looked different when they took on the Wildcats. There were 8 new players on the ice yesterday evening.

INTERNATIONALS
I had stated in my game preview that the coaching staff would have the international players on a line together becuase that was what happened in the preseason. Well, the line of Danny Moynihan, Nikolaj Ehlers and Timo Meier was not together last night. Ehlers was on the first line to play with Luca Ciampini and Ryan Falkenham.

LEWIS
Well Trey Lewis will once again lead this team. Last season he was co-captain with Stefan Fournier. This year he is the lone guy with the C on his chest. He played pretty good. Before the game, he brought out the Memorial Cup and placed it on the table they had to display the trophies for the pre-game ceremony.

EHLERS
Nikolaj Ehlers probably had the Mooseheads best chance to score when he went down the ice on a breakaway but couldn't put it through the Moncton goalies net.

DARVEAU
Kevin Darveau, the starting goaltender for Halifax, had an okay game. At times he looked solid while at others he let in some soft goals. He looked like he got hurt in the third period as he was tripped up and stayed down on the ice for a couple minutes but he was just crowded. Along with his 29 saves, he received two delay of game penalties. The trapezoid rule is back!

DUBEAU
Alex Dubeau of the Wildcats was a wall last night as shown by the shutout score. He made some very good saves in tight and on breakaways.

MY THOUGHTS: They need to find chemistry. Overall it was a good game but it didn't turn out the way the home fans wanted it to. Halifax lost last year's home opener so don't worry yet. Meier and Ehlers looked very good.

NEXT GAME
Halifax travels to Charlottetown today to play the Islanders at 7pm tonight.

Banner Raised.

Jody Shelley, Jason King and Travis Randell came back to where it all began for them to help raise the championship banners with your 2013-14 Halifax Mooseheads on opening night. With the banners raised it was time to defend them in front of the city of Halifax. However, just like a lot of teams on banner raising night, the Mooseheads looked like they still had the ceremony on their mind losing in the home opener for the second year in a row. Moncton Wildcat player Cody Drover scored the first goal of the season to give the Cats a 1-0 lead at 10:53 of the first period. Most times goaltenders don't have penalties, maybe one or two in a season. Well Kevin Darveau has two already through one game as he took 2 delay of game penalties for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid.

FINAL: Wildcats 4 at Mooseheads 0

GAME LOG
First period
MON 10:53 Cody Drover (1) | A: none
MON 12:09 Ivan Barbashev (1) | A: Caissy
MON 17:48 Cody Drover (2) | A: Johnson & Hynes

Penalties: White MON (11:30, Roughing), Ryan HAL (11:30, Roughing), Sweeney MON (13:19, Holding)
Shots: Moncton led 1st period shots 11-9

Second period
None

Penalties: Edmond MON (0:26, Hooking), Darveau HAL (1:06, Delay of game), Lewis HAL (5:51, Slashing), Caissy MON (15:56, Hooking), Darveau HAL (16:55, Delay of game), Leblanc HAL (19:06, Tripping)
Shots: Moncton once again led shots, this time 15 to 10

Third period
MON 0:36 Ryan Penny (1), PP | A: Barbashev & Caissy

Penalties: Haas MON (2:14, Fighting), Halabi MON (2:14, Interference), Alcalde HAL (2:!4, Fighting), Holwell MON (6:32, Interference), Emond MON (8:43, Checking from behind), Garland MON (11:16, Holding), Yarwood MON (12:19, Roughing), Hardie HAL (19:32, Slashing)
Shots: 9 to 7 were the shots in the last frame for Halifax

GOALTENDERS
Winning goaltender: Alex Dubeau MON
Losing goaltender: Kevin Darveau HAL

POWERPLAY
Moncton: 1-for-5
Halifax: 0-for-8

Notes: Look for MooseCountry blog's postgame in the morning.

GAMEDAY 1: vs Moncton

ITS GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. MONCTON WILDCATS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Metro Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

PREVIEW - Welcome to a new season. It is tradition in the Quebec league that the President's Cup champions open the season every year at home on opening night. This year your Halifax Mooseheads will not only be raising the QMJHL championship banner but the Memorial Cup championship banner as well. 

One of the biggest questions coming into this season is can they repeat? Well don't expect them to match exactly the success of last season but the Herd are very strong contenders for the President's Cup. Another question is who is going to pick up the scoring now that the top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Marty Frk and Jonathan Drouin is gone? It looks like Halifax has found at least 3 guys who can pick up some of the slack now. The line of international boys were good during preseason play. I am talking about Europeans Nikolaj Ehlers and Timo Meier and American Danny Moynihan. Moynihan was Halifax's leading scorer in the preseason with 7 points. 

Now to the game. It should be an interesting one. With Zach Fucale in Montreal for NHL camp, Kevin Darveau will get the start but the question is will he have a backup? I am assuming he will but there has been no word from the Mooseheads. The rookies are going to be apart of something they didn't get to experience themselves, when the banners are raised to the rafters. Half the boys who were apart of the championship team last season are gone, either aged out and/or NHL camps so it's a little disappointing that not everyone will get to experience it. Fans are asked to be in their seats by 6:50pm which will be when the lights are dimmed. There will be lots of excitement in the air so this game will be a real test for the veterans and rookies on the team to see how good they do under pressure.

This is the first of nine games between these two division rivals. Moncton will be apart of three of the Mooseheads annual events this season (tonight, DND night and teddy bear toss). It's also the first game of the regular season for both teams.

LAST GAMES
The Mooseheads are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to Cape Breton in their last pre-season game. Moncton on the other hand won their last preseason game 4-1 against Saint John.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season     0-0-0-0     0GF    0GA
September 12 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
September 20 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
November 8 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
December 1 @ 4pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
December 20 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
December 21 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
January 10 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
February 9 @ 4pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
March 1 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
Last season     6-2-0-0    36GF    26GA

NOT PLAYING - Zach Fucale, Brent Andrews, Darcy Ashley and Mackenzie Weegar

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @MC_MooseCountry, live blog
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7, News 91.9
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

AFTER THE GAME
Halifax will now travel to Charlottetown to take on the Islanders for a Friday Night Hockey on Eastlink game. Puck drop at 7pm.

Moose Miss Preseason Top 10

Not exactly sure how the Canadian Hockey League comes up with it's preseason rankings, I thought it had to do with their record during the exhibition games but clearly not. The defending champion Halifax Mooseheads are not listed in the top 10 or even in the honorable mentions. The first regular season edition will be released Wednesday September 25th. Here is the list anyways.

1. London Knights
2. Baie-Comeau Drakkar
3. Portland Winterhawks
4. Rimouski Oceanic
5. Guelph Storm
6. Prince Albert Raiders
7. Quebec Remparts
8. Edmonton Oil Kings
9. Kingston Frontenacs
10. Kootenay Ice

Honorable mention:

1. Barrie Colts
2. Gatineau Olympiques
3. Kelowna Rockets

Throwback Thursday

ONE MONTH AGO
A month ago today, the hockey community said goodbye to another young player. Jordan Boyd passed away on August 12th. He was taking part in drills during an Acadie-Bathurst Titan preseason practice.

When the Titan took on the Saint John Sea Dogs in a preseason game on August 17th, the Titan held a moment of silence. The official cause has yet to be determined or at least released to the public. A scholarship has been set up in Boyd's name for Hockey Nova Scotia players. There will be an auction to raise funds for this scholarship on September 27. 

CHAMPS
Since the QMJHL regular season is starting tonight, I thought we should throw it back to May 26th. Who remembers this?

DREAM SEASON
The Mooseheads were a record-tying 58-6-3-1 during the regular season, had an almost prefect 16-1-0-0 record during the playoffs and in the Memorial Cup were 3 and 1 on the way to a championship in Saskatoon too.

NHL DRAFT
June 30th, 2013.

With the first overall selection, the Colorado Avalanche select from the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL, Nathan MacKinnon. - Patrick Roy

That was the start for MacKinnon's dream of making it to the National Hockey League. As fans we were hoping he would be back but on September 10th, that hope was smashed when Roy announced during Media Day that he is staying in the NHL for the whole season.

Twentieth Season Roster

YOUR 2013-14 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

5  Brian Lovell  D  (Chateauguay, QC)

6  Jacob Jacques  D  (Levis, QC)*

7  Trey Lewis  D  (Moncton, NB)

8  Brendan Duke  D  (Halifax, NS)

9  Andrew Ryan  LW  (St. John's, NL)

10  Jesse Lussier  D  (Petewawa, ON)*

12  Danny Moynihan  LW  (Windham, NH, USA)*
16  Vincent Watt  LW  (Ormstown, QC)*

17  Darcy Ashley  RW  (Alberton, PEI)
19  Ryan Falkenham  RW  (Halifax, NS)

20  Liam Alcalde  LW  (Montreal, QC)

24  Nikolaj Ehlers  LW  (Aalborg, Denmark)*

28  Max Lindsay  LW  (Hamilton, ON)

31  Zach Fucale  G  (Rosemere, QC)
32  Andrew Shewfelt  LW  (Halifax, NS)*

35  Kevin Darveau  G  (Ile Bizard, QC)
44  Matt Murphy  D  (Fredericton, NB)
 48  Luca Ciampini  LW  (Montreal, QC)
51  Sam Leblanc  LW  (Moncton, NB)*
52  MacKenzie Weegar  D  (Ottawa, ON)
71  Connor Moynihan  LW  (Windham, NH, USA)*

79  Brent Andrews  C  (Charlottetown, PEI)

88  Austyn Hardie  D  (Montreal, QC)

96  Timo Meier  RW  (Herisau, Switzerland)*

*indicates rookie

15 Games You Gotta See

Here are 15 home games that we think Halifax Mooseheads fans should get tickets to and 5 road games that you should pay attention to.

September 12th vs. Moncton Wildcats - The Mooseheads kick off the 20th season in style at the home opener. A special pre-game ceremony will see the President's Cup and Memorial Cup championship banners being raised to the rafters of the Metro Centre.
September 13th at Charlottetown Islanders - It's the first Friday Night Hockey on Eastlink and as a special treat, fans will get their first chance to see the Islanders uniforms.
September 25th vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan - Dominic Beauchemin makes his return to the Metro Centre as a member of the Titan.
September 28th vs. Baie-Comeau Drakkar - Rematch of the 2013 President's Cup final and the unveiling of the Herd's 20th season anniversary threads (jerseys).
October 1st at Saint John Sea Dogs - First time these two rivals will face off against each other since the first round sweep in last year's playoffs.
October 11 vs. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada - This starts the longest home stand of the season.
October 18th vs. Val-d'Or Foreurs - Pink ice, pink jerseys, pink tickets (if your a ticket holder) what more can you ask for in a colorful event? Well proceeds to raffle tickets will go to the Canadian Breast Cancer research to help find a cure for breast cancer.
October 19th vs. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies - The Huskies will look to avenge a 3rd round sweep by the Herd.
October 23rd vs. Charlottetown Islanders - Now you get to see them live.
November 8th vs. Moncton Wildcats - Come make the men and women who fight for our country feel appreciated on DND appreciation night.
December 6th vs. Quebec Remparts - The Patrick Roy era in Quebec ended after last season when he joined the Colorado Avalanche as coach. Now we'll get to see how the Remparts are without him when they visit Halifax for the only time this year.
December 13th at Baie-Comeau Drakkar - This game could turn interesting if Nathan MacKinnon is returned to junior at some point this year.
December 28th vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles - Cheer on the team as they take on their provincial rivals in the 6th annual Battle of Nova Scotia event.
December 29th at Cape Breton Screaming Eagles - It's the second game of the home and home with provincial rivals Cape Breton, who will have their own Battle of NS event.
January 10th vs. Moncton Wildcats - Bring your teddies becuase it is Teddy Bear Toss night.
January 24th vs. Chicoutimi Sagueneens - Nicholas Roy and the Sags make their one and only trip to Moose Country this season. It will be the only time Halifax fans can see the number one pick live, if he chooses to even visit the Maritimes.
January 30th at Quebec Remparts - It's Quebec. It's 15,000 fans. What more can you say?
February 8th vs. Rimouski Oceanic - Enjoy a Moose game with you own little hockey players after they take on other kids from around the HRM on Hockey Day in Moose Country.
February 21st vs. Shawinigan Cataractes - We have to wait until February to see Matt Boudreau back at the Metro Centre but this time in enemy colors.
March 15 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles - 20 years down, many more to come. Fans get to feel appreciated during a Saturday night game.

NHL camp updates

As much as it would be awesome to raise the banners on opening night, it would make more sense to wait for a little bit considering 3 players, including the goalie that backstopped them to both championships, will not be in attendance. Unless these players are going to fly in Thursday afternoon and then leave right after the game. After former and current Halifax Mooseheads made rookie camp rosters last week, some of been invite to their teams respective main camps.

Players on rookie camp rosters
Zach Fucale - Montreal Canadiens
Brent Andrews - Anaheim Ducks
Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche
Martin Frk - Detroit Red Wings
Konrad Abeltshauser - San Jose Sharks
Stephen MacAulay - Montreal Canadiens
MacKenzie Weegar - Florida Panthers
Andrew Ryan - Philadelphia Flyers
Jonathan Drouin - Tampa Bay Lightning
Stefan Fournier - Montreal Canadiens
Matt Murphy - St. Louis Blues

Main camp rosters
Brent Andrews - Anaheim Ducks
Zach Fucale - Montreal Canadiens
MacKenzie Weegar - Florida Panthers
Stephen MacAulay - Montreal Canadiens
Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche
Jonathan Drouin - Tampa Bay Lightning
Stefan Fournier - Montreal Canadiens

San Jose and Detroit have not released their main camp rosters yet. If Brent Andrews signs with the Ducks, that will solidify the 20 year old situation for the Mooseheads. It will also leave the Herd with just wingers on their roster as Andrews is the only designated centre named.

Moose make Montreal main camp

Here are some of the latest NHL camp updates.

CANADIENS
The Montreal Canadiens rookie camp has ended. Team Red and Zach Fucale won the last scrimmage of camp on Monday 8-1. With the rookie camp finished and the main camp starting on Thursday, the Canadiens released the named that have been invited. All three Halifax Mooseheads players were listed in the release. Congratulations to Zach Fucale, Stefan Fournier and Stephen MacAulay. All 3 will look to play in the Team Red vs. Team White game on Saturday.

ABELTSHAUSER
Konrad Abeltshauser did not play in yesterday's San Jose Sharks vs. Calgary Flames game in Penticton.

DROUIN
Jonathan Drouin helped the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2-1 win over state rivals Florida Panthers in the last game of the Coral Springs rookie tournament. The Bolts won the tournament with an unbeaten record. Drouin assisted on the winning goal by Nikita Kucherov.

FRK
Martin Frk abd the Detroit Red Wings will take on the Buffalo Sabres tonight in the final of the Traverse City Rookie tournament.

BY THE NUMBERS: Halifax Mooseheads preseason

The Herd played the Moncton Wildcats and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles this year during their 6 preseason games.

Record: 3-1-0-2
Goals for: 24
Goals against: 21
Scores: 7-3, 3-2, 3-4, 4-5, 4-3, 3-4SO
Powerplay %: 12.5
Penalty kill %: 82.8
Penalty minutes: 94

Player stats
Most points: 7
Danny Moynihan  6GP-4G+3A=7

Most goals: 4
Danny Moynihan (6GP)
Andrew Shewfelt (6GP)

Most assists: 4
Andrew Ryan (3GP)

Most penalty minutes: 10
Mac Weegar (3GP)

Most shots: 19
Danny Moynihan (6GP)

Goaltender stats
Most games played: 6
Kevin Darveau (239.38 minutes)

Most wins: 3
Kevin Darveau (4 decisions)

Best goals against average: 2.25
Kevin Darveau (9 goals against)

Halifax will start their regular season on Thursday night at the Metro Centre against the Moncton Wildcats. Game time is 7pm.

It's Just the Preseason.

SYDNEY - Only 750 fans took in the home team's shootout win against the defending champs on Sunday afternoon. Liam Alcalde scored late in the second to tie the game up at two a piece for the Halifax Mooseheads, who were down 2-0 after 30 minutes. Danny Moynihan continued to collect points in the preseason as he scored his 4th goal in the preseason. Despite being cut last week, Mike Molloy suited up for this game as the Mooseheads were missing players due to NHL camps. Kevin Darveau played a full 60 minute game. In the shootout, Nikolaj Ehlers scored the Herd's only goal while Darveau was only able to stop one of 3 shots by the Screaming Eagles. Now on to the games that count. See you Thursday.

Cape Breton-Halifax Game at a Glance
FINAL: Halifax 3 at Cape Breton 4 SO
Halifax scorers: Luca Ciampini, Liam Alcalde, Danny Moynihan
Cape Breton scorers: Timothe Simard, Nicholas Dozzi, Stephen Woodworth
Powerplay: HFX - 0/7, CAP - 0/1
Shots: Mooseheads - 7+13+7=27, Eagles - 6+8+5=19
Attendance: 750 (capacity: 5,000)

HalifaxMooseheads.ca's recap: The pre-season is over, let the real games begin.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles concluded their QMJHL exhibition schedule with a 4-3 shootout victory over their provincial rival Halifax Mooseheads in a Sunday matinee at Centre 200.

capebretoneagles.com's recap: Charles-Eric Legare scored the shootout winner for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles as they edged the Halifax Mooseheads 4-3 at Centre 200 on Sunday.

Halifax Metro's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads came up just short in their bid for a preseason sweep of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Sunday, falling 4-3 in a shootout loss to their provincial rivals.

QMJHL.ca's recap: Game summary.

QMJHL donates to Lac-Megantic Fund

Two months after the derailment of a train passing through Lac-Megantic, Quebec, the Sherbrooke Phoenix and the 17 other teams of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League have donated $31,061 to the Lac-Megantic Support Fund.

On Friday, the Phoenix were taking on the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada with ticket funds going to the cause. The ticket prices were $10 for the upper level and $20 for the lower level. The game raised $13,061 itself while each of the 18 teams donated a thousand dollars.

Halifax at Screaming Eagles

Pre-season game #6

Last tryout before home opener

Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs. Halifax Mooseheads

Puck drops at 4:00pm

Centre 200 - Sydney, NS

HALIFAX
Preseason record: 3-1-0-1
Goals for: 21
Goals against: 17
Head coach: Dom Ducharme
Leading scorer: Danny Moynihan (3G&3A)

CAPE BRETON
Preseason record: 0-4-0-1
Goals for: 16
Goals against: 24
Head coach: Marc-Andre Dumont
Leading scorer: Cameron Darcy (3G&3A)

Pre-game notes

• Been a long time since I've done a preview, 8 days to be exact
• The Mooseheads won the last game between these two, 4 to 3
• Today is the last day of the preseason
• Cape Breton doesn't have their 2013 first overall pick anymore as Nicholas Roy was traded to Chicoutimi on Friday

OUT OF TOWN
Titan at Islanders - 2:00pm
Wildcats at Sea Dogs - 3:00pm
Sagueneens at Tigres - 5:00pm

NEXT GAME
The day we've all been waiting for. Halifax's next game is Thursday's banner raising home opener. Puck drops at 7pm. See you than.

Drouin scratched Saturday, NHL camp updates

DROUIN
Jonathan Drouin was a healthy scratch on Saturday in a rookie game against the 4th overall pick Seth Jones and the Nashville Predators. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the game 7-4. Rookie tournament coach Rob Zettler had this to say on scratching Drouin;

There's nothing behind it. We had talked about it prior to the tournament. We kind of had some people in mind that we didn't want to play three games in three days because they haven't skated much in the past few weeks, so it was by design.

WEEGAR
Mac Weegar had two assists in his team's rookie game on Saturday evening. The tournament hosts Florida Panthers defeated the rookie Boston Bruins last night 5-4 in a game that ended in a shootout. Weegar assisted on the 4-4 tying goal.

ABELTSHAUSER
Well I guess Konrad Abeltshauser is not just a defensive defenseman, he is a offensive defenseman. At least that is what it seems like in the first two games for his team in the Young Stars Classic in British Columbia. He has scored in both games. His goal on Friday tied the game up at one for the San Jose Sharks when they took on the Winnipeg Jets. He also had 4 shots and a -2 rating in a 5-3 loss.

MACAULAY
According to Paul Hollingsworth, Stephen MacAulay got a goal in the Montreal Canadiens rookie team scrimmage yesterday.

NHL Camp updates

FRK
According to eliteprospects.ca, Martin Frk will be playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins this season. This was also said in an article on MLive.com saying that Frk will join the Griffins when the Detroit Red Wings tournament ends next week. The Wings took on the Minnesota Wild last night in both teams' first game of the tournament and went on to win 3-1. Marty recorded no points, and had an even +/- rating. Frk and the Wings will take on the Dallas Stars tonight.

MURPHY
Matt Murphy played his first game in an NHL sweater suiting uo for the St. Louis Blues as they took on the Dallas Stars in Traverse. Murphy had no points, a -1 rating and one shot in a 5-2 Blues loss last night. Murphy and St. Louis will now take on the Minneosta Wild rookies tongiht.

ABELTSHAUSER
Defenseman Konrad Abeltshauser scored last night in a 3-2 San Jose Sharks loss to the host Vancouver Canucks. Konrad scored at 12:29 in the 3rd period to tie the game at 2. He finished the night with the goal, a -2 rating and 4 shots. He and the Sharks will look to rebound today when they take on the Winnipeg Jets.

MACKINNON
The Colorado Avalanche had a Q&A article with Nathan MacKinnon yesterday. MacKinnon will only be participating in practices with the other rookies during the 3 day camp which starts Sunday.

MONTREAL
Zach Fucale, Stefan Fournier and Stephen MacAulay will all be on the ice today taking in team practices. There will be a team scrimmage tomorrow evening and again on Sunday. The roster has been broken down into two teams, no word on who is on what team.

RYAN/ANDREWS
Andrew Ryan was on the ice this morning with the Philadelphia Flyers practicing with the rookies. Brent Andrews, who I did not put on my first post, has been invited to the Anaheim Ducks rookie camp. The Ducks were on the ice this morning and yesterday. They will play the LA Kings tomorrow in the SoCal Futures Game. Ryan continues practices tomorrow with the club.

Herd Word

METRO CENTRE
The Halifax Metro Centre, home of the Halifax Mooseheads, is going to look different come September 12th. Above the doors on the Carmichael Street entrance, there is decal welcoming fans to the arena.

A photo of Nathan MacKinnon kissing the Memproal Cup has been put up at the corner of Duke and Brunswick.

The ice inside also has a new paint job. Instead of the regular H with the Moose head, the logo in the centre is the special 20th season logo.

IWK
After making a stop at the Camp Hill Veterans Buidling the Memorial Cup, and a few players, showed up at the IWK Childrens Hosptial yesterday. The Halifax Mooseheads have visited the IWK plenty times over the years and done volunteer work, this summer though they've had a visitor.

ROY
This isn't Mooseheads related but the top pick at this year's QMJHL draft has been traded by the Cape Breton Sreaming Eagles to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, reportedly. So now instead of seeing why Nicholas Roy was picked 1st overall 9 times this season, the Halifax Mooseheads and their fans will only get to see him play once. The city of Halifax will have to wait until January 24th to see Roy play.

TONIGHT
There are 5 games on the QMJHL schedule tonight and one of them includes a Ontario team. The Ottawa 67's will play the first of a home and home series with the Gatineau Olypiques when they hit the ice tonight in Ontario at the CIH Academy Rockland with the puck dropping 8:30pm.

KIJIJI
So according to an ad on Kijiji, the home opener is sold out. The Halifax Mooseheads have yet to say if all 10,500 tickets have been sold in the 24 hours since they went on sale. However I will be surprised if the opening game is not a sell out. See the ad here. People are also selling their replica rings on Kijiji. Here is one of the more expensive ads.

Herd Word

MEET AND GREET
Last night was the meet and greet. For the very few pictures that I took last night, check out the Facebook page or follow this link https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.166067626917270.1073741829.156835504507149&type=1. Zach Fucale, Matt Murphy, Brent Andrews and MacKenzie Weegar were not there signing autographs for fans as they left for NHL camps. Fans who were unable to pick up the season tickets and 15 game packs can pick them up at the Season Ticket Office in the Metro Centre Monday-Friday 11am-5pm. You still get a ring even if you couldn't make it last night.

CAMP HILL
The Memorial Cup visited some more veterans today. It was at the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Building this morning. One of the veterans that was there was the grandfather of last year's stars...

PRESEASON
Your Halifax Mooseheads will travel to Sydney to end the preseason in a game against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Sunday at 4pm. Cape Breton will play another preseason game before Sunday's contest. They take on the Charlottetown Islanders tonight in PEI.

TICKETS
Single game regular season tickets went on sale this morning at 11. All 34 home games, including the home opener/banner raising game, are now on sale to the general public. There can't be too many seats left now. Season tickets and 15 game packs can be purchased while quantities last or until Halloween. For a full list of pricing for single tickets click here.

HOME OPENER
This is pretty cool. It's the new splash page.

The home opener is one week from today. It seems to far away but it will be here before you know it and then 10,500 can celebrate this great accomplishment made by these players. No word if MacKinnon, Drouin, MacAulay, Abeltshauser, Fournier, etc. are going to be on the ice during the ceremony.

ROSTER
The official 2013-14 roster has not been announced yet. However it is down to 25 players after Mike Molloy was cut yesterday. I think that the Herd are keeping 25 on their roster to start the season and then will trade a 20 year old once Ashley comes back later in the season and maybe even trade or assign a goalie to a minor junior team. Don't quote me though.

NHL CAMPS
The National Hockey League teams' rookie camps have started and there a plenty of current and former Mooseheads players on camp rosters. Half of the boys who are on rosters will be proving their stuff during rookie tournaments. These include the NHL Prospects Tournament (Traverse City), Young Stars Classic (Penticton) and Corel Springs.

WEBCAST
Packages for the Telus Webcast for the 2013-14 QMJHL season are now available to be purchased. The best package, which includes regular season and playoff games live and archived, will take you back $199.95. Watching a single live game is $6.95. For full packages pricing click here.