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.