POSTGAME: Mooseheads 3, Wildcats 4

MC POST-GAME

Here's some stories from last night's 4-3 loss to the Moncton Wildcats on the road

The Q News' recap: It wasn't pretty, but the Moncton Wildcats extended its season-high winning streak to seven games Tuesday night with a 4-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads at the Moncton Coliseum. 

Metro Halifax's recap: Rookie forward Brett Crossley found the back of the net twice Tuesday, but the Halifax Mooseheads still came up short against the Moncton Wildcats, falling 4-3 in their second road game since Christmas. 

The Canadian Press' recap: William Bower scored a tiebreaking goal 13:00 into the third period to lift the Moncton Wildcats to a 4-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Tuesday. 

halifaxmooseheads.com's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads had a glorious chance to knock off one of the hottest teams in the entire Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Tuesday night, but it was not to be as the Moncton Wildcats prevailed on home ice with a 4-3 defeat of the Herd. 

moncton-wildcats.com's recap: Will Bower's second goal of the season with just seven minutes remaining in regulation lifted the Moncton Wildcats to a thrilling 4-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads in front of 4988 fans at the Moncton Coliseum. 

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary. 

MISSING IN ACTION: Nikolaj Ehlers (WJC - Denmark), Ryan Falkenham (knee) and Timo Meier (WJC - Switzerland)

SCORES
Cape Breton 3 - 6 Charlottetown
Baie-Comeau 3 - 1 Shawinigan

NEXT GAME: The Mooseheads are back home today for an odd New Year's Eve game, against the Charlottetown Islanders. Puck drops at 2pm.

WJC: Denmark Gets First Junior Victory

Venue: Air Canada Centre

RECAP - What an exciting game! It took 16 tries but Team Denmark has a World Junior Top Division victory under their belt after beating Team Switzerland 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday evening in Montreal. It took some very hard work and another stellar performance by goaltender Georg Sorensen for the Danes to get the victory but it was well worth it. With the win, Denmark has kept themselves alive for a quarter final berth depending on Wednesday's game between the Czech Republic and Russia. Switzerland on the other hand were stone-walled in getting a chance to win Group B when they take on Sweden tomorrow. The Swedes have 3 wins and 9 points and are now 5 points ahead of the Swiss. Despite the loss, it was a good night for Mooseheads player Timo Meier. He had a goal and assist in regulation while also scoring in the shootout to keep his team alive in the penalty shot portion. Nikolaj Ehlers had an assist while scoring Denmark's first SO goal.

GAME LOG
First period
10:48 SUI Kris Schmidli (1) | A: Hischier
11:54 SUI Kevin Fiala (3) | A: Malgin & Meier
17:58 DEN Oliver Bjorkstrand (3) | A: Ehlers & Eller

Second period
12:19 DEN Anders Krogsgaard (1), PP | A: Hertzberg & Aagaard
12:43 SUI Timo Meier (1) | A: Siegenthaler & Malgin
15:40 DEN Mikkel Aagaard (1), PP | A: Oleson

Third period
None

Overtime
None

Shootout
Round 1 - DEN Nikolaj Ehlers (goal)    SUI Kevin Fiala (save)
Round 2 - DEN Oliver Bjorkstrand (goal)    SUI Timo Meier (goal)
Round 3 - DEN Mikkel Aagaard (save)    SUI Noah Rod (save)

Powerplay: Switzerland 0-for-3, Denmark 2-for-4
Shots: 1st - 13-6 Switzerland, 2nd - 15-10 Switzerland, 3rd - 14-3 Switzerland, OT - 3-3 tie
Goaltenders: Gauthier Descloux SUI vs. Georg Sorensen DEN
Sellout: No

WJC: Fucale Shuts Door On Defending Champs

Venue: Bell Centre

RECAP: This seems to be a theme during the World Juniors. Canada having to battle the USA for the top position in their group. With the red and white joining their North American counterparts in the win column tonight with a 4-1 victory over Finland, that's exactly what will be happening on New Year's Eve. Zach Fucale made some pretty good saves against the Finnish team and it helped his Canadians to a third straight win in tournament play. Team Canada now has 9 points, good enough for first in Group A action. It was a very fast paced game between the two teams which is not surprising considering the Finns won the tournament last year and Canada being a dominant force in hockey.

GAME LOG
First period
5:32 CAN Sam Reinhart (1), PP | A: Theodore

Second period
13:34 CAN Sam Reinhart (2) | A: Duclair & Domi
18:26 FIN Arturri Lehkonen (1) | A: None

Third period
11:15 CAN Anthony Duclair (2) | A: Domi & Bowey
14:25 CAN Curtis Lazar (2) | A: Morrissey & Fabbri

Shots: 1st - 10-10 tie, 2nd - 13-11 Canada, 3rd - 13-7 Canada
Powerplay: Canada 1-for-3, Finland 0-for-2
Goaltenders: Juuse Saros FIN vs. Zach Fucale CAN
Sellout: No

Players of the Game
Arturri Lehkonen FIN
Sam Reinhart CAN

POSTGAME: Mooseheads 4, Screaming Eagles 1

MC POST-GAME

Here's some stories from last night's 4-1 win over the home Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

The Q News' recap: Eric Brassard made 24 saves in his Mooseheads debut leading Halifax to a 4-1 victory over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at Centre 200 on Sunday. 

Metro News' recap: Netminder Eric Brassard earned a 'W' in his first game wearing a Halifax Mooseheads jersey Sunday night in Sydney. 

The Canadian Press' recap: Danny Moynihan had a goal and two assists to help Halifax get past the Screaming Eagles.

halifaxmooseheads.com's recap: The Mooseheads grabbed an early lead in Sydney on Sunday night and never looked back in picking up a 4-1 victory over the rival Screaming Eagles to open up the post Christmas portion of the QMJHL schedule. 

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: Ryan Falkenham (knee), Timo Meier (WJC - Switzerland), Morgan Nauss (concussion) and Nikolaj Ehlers (WJC - Denmark)

SCORES
Acadie-Bathurst 1 - 4 Charlottetown
Saint John 5 - 6 Moncton
Quebec 2 - 1 Baie-Comeau
Sherbrooke 4 - 3 Blainville-Boisbriand
Drummondville 4 - 2 Gatineau
Val-d'Or 8 - 3 Rouyn-Noranda
Rimouski 1 - 6 Shawinigan
Chicoutimi 4 - 2 Victoriaville

NEXT GAME: Halifax will have a match-up against the Moncton Wildcats tomorrow evening on the road. Puck drops at 7pm.

WJC: Swiss Get Shutout By Russia

Venue: Air Canada Centre

RECAP - Timo Meier couldn't help Team Switzerland get on the scoreboard once during their match-up with Team Russia on Sunday evening, losing 7-0. It was a bad night for the Swiss who changed their goaltender after the second period and being down 5-0. Switzerland got a lot more offensive zone coverage than the red, white and blue but the Igor Shestyorkin was the difference maker giving his Russian team the confidence to get the shutout win. The goaltender was especially good on a 5 minute penalty kill after Anatoli Golyshev laid out a big hit in the second period. The Swiss player on the receiving end of that hit, Phil Baltisberger was stretchered off after laying face down on the ice for a few minutes. The red and white never seemed to recover emotionally after the hit and couldn't score on the powerplay.

GAME LOG
First period
11:28 RUS Rushan Rafikov (1), PP | A: Golyshev & Buchnevich
18:26 RUS Alexander Dergachyov (1) | A: Bryntsev
19:38 RUS Paval Buchnevich (1) | A: Barbashyov & Rafikov

Second period
15:29 RUS Sergei Tolchinski (2) | A: Goldobin & Kamenev
17:36 RUS Alexander Sharov (1) | A: Mamin

Third period
14:59 RUS Vladislav Kamenev (1), PP | A: None
15:41 RUS Vyacheslav Leshenko (1) | A: Barbashyov & Buchnevich

Shots: 1st - 10-9 Switzerland, 2nd - 14-4 Switzerland, 3rd - 10-8 Russia
Powerplay: Switzerland 0-for-8, Russia 2-for-5
Goaltenders: Gauthier Descloux & Ludovic Waeber (SUI) vs. Igor Shestyorkin (RUS)
Sellout: No

GAMEDAY #36: at Cape Breton

GAMEDAY

CAPE BRETON SCREAMING EAGLES vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

December 28, 2014 at 7:00pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @FraserTQN

Centre 200 (5,000) ~ Sydney, NS

After a ten day Christmas break, your Mooseheads were back in Halifax last night just long enough to jump on the team bus and drive to Sydney to take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tonight. This will be the first game that newly acquired Eric Brassard will be dressed in the red, green and white. Could Eagles fans see him in nets for this first game back after the holiday break? No word yet from the Herd who will start tonight's game. Halifax will be looking to make some more room between them and the Charlottetown Islanders in the division standings and get closer to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Cape Breton is just looking to get in a playoff spot during the second half of the season.

This is the fifth game between these two teams this season. Both teams are 2-2-0-0 against the other team during this year's series. Cape Breton won the last meeting 3-2 with Cameron Darcy leading the Eagles recording 2 assists in the win, and Kevin Resop making 19 saves taking the loss for the Mooseheads. 

Overall Records
Mooseheads: 17-15-2-1 = 37 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 10th overall)
Screaming Eagles: 12-17-2-3 = 29 points (5th in Maritimes division, 17th overall)

Leading Scorers
CAP: Kyle Farrell 53pts (26G & 27A), Maxim Lazarev 40pts (17G & 23A), Evgeny Svechnikov 31pts (11G & 20A)
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 47pts (16G & 31A), Timo Meier 46pts (21G & 25A0, Danny Moynihan 32pts (16G & 16A)

Last Games
Halifax is coming off a 8-2 schlacking in Charlottetown on December 18 in their last game of the first half. Danny Moynihan and Brett Crossley scored for the Mooseheads against the Islanders while Kevin Resop made 31 saves on 36 shots in 40 minutes of play to take the loss.

Cape Breton is coming off a feisty game in Moncton where the Screaming Eagles lost 10-5. Maxim Lazarev scored a goal and recorded 3 assists to lead the away team but Miguel Sullivan's 32 saves were not enough to get a win.

Season Series
Friday Oct 17  Cape Breton 2 at Halifax 5
Sunday Oct 19  Halifax 1 at Cape Breton 4
Friday Nov 14  Cape Breton 2 at Halifax 3
Saturday Nov 15  Halifax 2 at Cape Breton 3
Sunday Dec 28  Halifax at Cape Breton - 7pm
Sunday Jan 18  Halifax at Cape Breton - 4pm
Friday Jan 30  Cape Breton at Halifax - 7pn
Saturday Feb 14  Cape Breton at Halifax - 7pm
Sunday Mar 8  Halifax at Cape Breton - 2pm

Out of Town
Islanders vs Titan 3:00pm
Wildcats vs Sea Dogs 4:00pm
Drakkar vs Remparts 5:00pm
Armada vs Phoenix 5:00pm
Olympiques vs Voltigeurs 5:00pm
Huskies vs Foreurs 5:00pm
Cataractes vs Oceanic 5:00pm
Tigres vs Sagueneens 5:00pm

After the Buzzer 
Halifax will travel to Moncton tomorrow to take on the Wildcats on Tuesday night. Puck drops at 7pm.

WJC: Swedes Too Much For Danes

Venue: Air Canada Centre

RECAP - Nikolaj Ehlers and Team Denmark have now lost two in a row. An experienced and dominant hockey country in Team Sweden was just too much for the Danes, who have not played in the Top Division U20 World Championships since the 2012 tournament. Both teams came out fast and hard in the first period but a couple of powerplays gave Sweden most of the offensive zone coverage and they were able to get a couple of soft goals past Danish goalie Georg Sorenson to ride it all the way to a win. Denmark plays a fast game which might have been their downfall in the second half of this game as well, being mentally fatigued and making small mistakes not allowing them to recover the goal deficit. Both teams will have a day off now.

GAME LOG
First period
9:48 SWE Lucas Wallmark (1) | A; None
11:36 SWE Anton Blidh (1) | A: Aho & Lagesson
19:27 SWE William Nylander (2) | A: de la Rose & Bergman

Second period
0:13 SWE Jacob de la Rose (2) | A: Karlsson & Blidh
1:01 DEN Nick Olesen (1) | A: Nielsen & Holmberg
17:26 SWE Sebastian Aho (1), PP | A: Wallmark & de la Rose

Third period
None

Shots: 1st - 11-6 Denmark, 2nd - 14-6 Sweden, 3rd - 21-3 Sweden
Powerplay: Sweden 1-for-7, Denmark 0-for-4
Goaltenders: Georg Sorensen & Thomas Lillie (SWE) vs. Linus Soderstrom (DEN)
Sellout: No

Players of the Game
Oliver Bjorkstrand DEN
Jacob de la Rose SWE

Poll #8: Question

As the World Juniors get underway in Toronto and Montreal today, I thought I would bring you a new poll question. The Halifax Mooseheads have two current players and a former player in the tournament. Nikolaj Ehlers will be trying to help Denmark stay in the top division, Timo Meier will try to help Switzerland better their 7th place finish last year, and Zach Fucale will be looking to help Canada get back on the podium after two years of just being shy of a third place finish. 

So here's the question. Who will win the 2015 U20 World Championships? 

Finland 

Canada

Sweden

Germany

Denmark

United States

Slovakia

Russia

Czech Republic

Switzerland

The poll is on the side and you have until the medal games begin on January 2nd to vote. 

Poll Results

Who will we see on World Junior teams this year? That was the question I had asked you a couple weeks ago. With the U20 championships starting today, I figured I better give you the results. It was a three way tie for first between Zach Fucale, Nikolaj Ehlers and Timo Meier. Here are the full results:

Zach Fucale (Canada): 80%
Nikolaj Ehlers (Denmark): 80%
Timo Meier (Switzerland): 80%
Jonathan Drouin (Canada): 60%
Nathan MacKinnon (Canada): 60%

Zach, Nik and Timo were correct. The rosters for the ten teams were announced yesterday and those three boys were on their respective teams.

WJC: Rosters set

The 10 teams that are participating in this year's World U20 Championships have now finished all their pre-tournament games and have announced their rosters that will be playing in the tournament starting tomorrow, Boxing Day. As part of MC's coverage of the World Juniors, I now present you with the rosters for all ten teams.

Group A
Finland - Ville Husso (G - IFK Helsinki), Juuse Saros (G - HPK Hameenlinna), Julius Honka (D - Texas Stars), Mika Ilvonen (D - St. Cloud State University), Alex Lintuniemi (D - Ottawa 67's), Joonas Lyytinen (D - KalPa Kuopio), Aleksi Makela (D - Ilves Tampere), Atte Makinen (D - Tappara Tampere), Sami Niku (D - JYP Jyvaskyla), Sebastian Aho (F - Karpat Oulu), Hannes Bjorninen (F - Pelicans Lahti), Roope Hintz (F - Ilves Tampere), Juuso Ikonen (F - JYP Jyvaskyla), Antti Kalapudas (F - Karpat Oulu), Kasperi Kapanen (F - KalPa Kuopio), Artturi Lehkonen (F - Frolunda Gottenburg), Aleksi Mustonen (F - Ilves Tampere), Niko Ojamaki (F - Assat Pori), Jesse Puljujarvi (F - Karpat Oulu), Mikko Rantanen (F - TPS Turku), Otto Rauhala (F - Tappara Tampere), Julius Vahatalo (F - TPS Turku)

Canada - Eric Comrie (G - Tri-City Americans), Zach Fucale (G - Halifax Mooseheads), Madison Bowey (D - Kelowna Rockets), Dillon Heatherington (D - Swift Current Broncos), Joe Hicketts (D - Victoria Royals), Samuel Morin (D - Rimouski Oceanic), Josh Morrissey (D - Prince Albert Cougars), Darnell Nurse (D - Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds), Shea Theodore (D - Seattle Thunderbirds), Lawson Crouse (F - Kingston Frontenacs), Max Domi (F - London Knights), Anthony Duclair (F - New York Rangers), Robby Fabbri (F - Guelph Storm), Frederik Gauthier (F - Rimouski Oceanic), Curtis Lazar (F - Ottawa Senators), Connor McDavid (F - Erie Otters), Nick Paul (F - North Bay Battalion), Nic Petan (F - Portland Winterhawks), Brayden Point (F - Moose Jaw Warriors), Sam Reinhart (F - Kootenay Ice), Nick Ritchie (F - Peterborough Petes), Jake Virtanen (F - Calgary Hitmen)

United States - Brandon Halverson (G - Soo Greyhounds), Thatcher Demko (G - Boston College), Alex Nedeljkovic (G - Plymouth Whalers), Noah Hanifin (D - Boston College), Ian McCoshen (D - Boston College), Will Butcher (D - University of Denver), Ryan Collins (D - University of Minnesota), Zach Werenski (D - University of Michigan), Anthony DeAngelo (D - Sarnia Sting), Brandon Carlo (D - Tri-City Americans), J.T. Compher (F - University of Michigan), Nick Schmaltz (F - University of North Dakota), Jack Eichel (F - Boston University), Anthony Louis (F - Miami University), Miles Wood (F - Noble and Greenough School), Sonny Milano (F - Plymouth Whalers), Tyler Motte (F - University of Michigan), John Hayden (F - Yale University), Alex Tuch (F - Boston College), Chase De Leo (F - Portland Winterhawks), Dylan Larkin (F - University of Michigan), Hudson Fasching (F - University of Minnesota), Auston Matthews (F - U.S. National U18 Team)

Slovakia - Daniel Gibl (G - Barrie Colts), Denis Godla (G - Slovan Bratislava), David Okolicany (G - Dukla Michalovce), Patrik Bacik (D - Slovan Bratislava), Erik Cernak (D - HC Kosice), Marco Hochel (D - Slavia Prague), Matus Holenda (D - Dukia Trencin), Christian Jaros (D - Lulea HF), Dominik Jendrol (D - HC '05 Banska Bystrica), Branislav Pavuk (D - HC Kosice), Mislav Rosandic (D - HC '05 Banska Bystrica), Radovan Bondra (F - U18 Development Team), Peter Cehlarik (F - Lulea HF), Michal Kabac (F - MHK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas), Patrik Koys (F - Dukla Trencin), Robert Lantosi (F - VIK Vasteras), Samuel Petras (F - Slovan Bratislava), Dominik Rehak (F - MsHK Zilina), Matus Sukel (F - MHK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas), Martin Reway (F - Sparta Prague), Pavol Skalicky (F - HC Kosice), David Soltes (F - Prince George Cougars)

Germany - Florian Proske (G - Heilbronner Falken), Kevin Reich (G - Green Bay Gamblers), Ilya Sharipov (G - Red Bull Salzburg), Tim Bender (D - EHC Red Bull Munich), Patrick Kurz (D - Ravensburg Towerstars), Yannik Moser (D - Ohio State University), Jonas Muller (D - Eisbaren Berlin), Dorian Saeftel (D - Helbronner Falken), David Trinkberger (D - Muskegon Lumberjacks), Fabio Wagner (D - ERC Ingolstadt), Kai Wissmann (D - Dresdner Eislowen), Andreas Eder (F - Red Bull Salzburg), Markus Eisenschmid (F - Medicine Hat Tigers), Vladislav Filin (F - Red Bull Salzburg), Dominik Kahun (F - EHC Red Bull Munich), Maximilian Kammerer (F - Red Bull Salzburg), Marc Michaelis (F - Green Bay Gamblers), Fabio Pfohi (F - Kolner Haie), Marc Schmidpeter (F - ERC Ingolstadt), Nico Sturm (F - Austin Bruins)

Group B
Sweden - Fredrik Bergvik (G - Frolunda Gothenburg), Linus Soderstrom (G - Djurgarden Stockholm), Samuel Ward (G - Lulea HF), Sebastian Aho (D - Skelleftea AIK), Julius Bergman (D - London Knights), Andreas Englund (D - Djurgarden Stockholm), Gustav Forsling (D - Linkopings HC), Robert Hagg (D - Lehigh Valley Phantoms), William Lagesson (D - Dubuque Fighting Saints), Robin Norell (D - Djurgarden Stockholm), Anton Blidh (F - Frolunda Gothenburg), Leon Bristedt (F - University of Minnesota), Adam Brodecki (Brynas Gavle), Jacob de la Rose (F - Hamilton Bulldogs), Christoffer Ehn (F - Frolunda Gothenburg), Axel Holmstrom (F - Skelleftea AIK), Anton Karlsson (F - Frolunda Gothenburg), Adrian Kempe (F - MODO Ornskoldsvik), Oskar Lindblom (F - Brynas Gavle), Jens Looke (F- Brynas Gavle), William Nylander (F - MODO Ornskoldsvik), Victor Olofsson (F - MODO Ornskoldsvik), Lucas Wallmark (F - Lulea HF)

Russia - Denis Kostin (G - Avangard Omsk), Igor Shestyorkin (G - SKA St. Petersburg), Ilya Sorokin (G - Metallurg Novokuznetsk), Alexander Bryntsev (D - Neftekhimik Nizhnekamisk), Nikita Cherepanov (D - HK Ryazan), Vladislav Gavrikov (D - HK Ryazan), Ziat Paigin (D - Ak Bars Kazan), Ivan Provorov (D - Brandon Wheat Kings), Rushan Rafikov (D - HK Ryazan), Rinat Valiev (D - Kootenay Ice), Dmitri Yudin (D - SKA St. Petersburg), Ivan Barbashyov (F - Moncton Wildcats), Vladimir Bryukvin (F - Dynamo Balashikha), Pavel Buchnevich (F - Severstal Cherepovets), Alexander Dergachyov (F - SKA-1946 St. Petersburg), Ivan Fishenko (F - Sokol Krasnoyarsk), Nikolai Goldobin (F - IFK Helsinki), Anatoli Golyshev (F - Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg), Vladislav Kamenev (F - Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Vyacheslav Leshenko (Atlant Mytishi), Maxim Mamin (CSKA Moscow), Alexander Sharov (F - Lada Togliatti), Sergei Tolchinski (F - Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds)

Czech Republic - Miroslav Svoboda (G - Ocelari Trinec), Vitek Vanecek (G - Bili Tygri Liberec), Daniel Vladar (G - Rytiri Kladno), Lukas Klok (D - Vitkovice Ostrava), Jan Kostalek (D - Rimouski Oceanic), Dominik Masin (D - Peterborough Petes), David Nemecek (D - TPS Turku), Jan Scotka (D - HC Pardubice), Jan Stencel (D - Vitkovice Ostrava), Sebastian Gorcik (F - Energie Karlovy Vary), David Kampf (F - Pirati Chomutov), David Kase (F - Pirati Chomutov), Ondrej Kase (F - Pirati Chomutov), Dominik Kubalik (F - HC Plzen 1929), Jan Mandat (F - Val-d'Or Foreurs), David Pastrnak (F - Providence Bruins), Marek Ruzicka (F - Ocelari Trinec), Michael Spacek (F - HC Pardubice), Jakub Vrana (F - Linkopings HC), Pavel Zacha (F - Sarnia Sting), Patrik Zdrahal (F - Vitkovice Ostrava)

Switzerland - Gauthier Descloux (G - Geneve-Servette), Ludovic Waeber (G - Fribourg-Gotteron), Phil Baltisberger (D - Guelph Storm), Michael Fora (D - Kamloops Blazers), Edison Harlacher (D - Kloten Flyers), Simon Kindschi (D - HC Davos), Mirco Muller (D - San Jose Sharks), Yannick Rathgeb (D - Plymouth Whalers), Jonas Siegenthaler (D - ZSC Lions Zurich), Luca Fazzini (F - HC Lugano), Kevin Fiala (F - HV71 Jonkoping), Jason Fuchs (F - HC Ambri-Piotta), Luca Hischier (F - SC Bern), Denis Malgin (F - ZSC Lions Zurich), Timo Meier (F - Halifax Mooseheads), Noah Rod (F - Geneve-Servette), Tim Wieser (F - Sherbrooke Phoenix)

Denmark - Nicolai Henriksen (G - Esbjerg Energy), Thomas Lillie (G - Vaxjo Lakers), George Sorensen (G - Herning Blue Fox), Victor Eskerod (D - Unibert Stars Gentofte), Daniel Hansen (D - SonderjyskE Vojens), Sonny Hertzberg (D - Oshawa Generals), Anders Krogsgaard (D - Esbjerg Energy), Mads Larsen (D - Malmo Redhawks), Matias Lassen (D - Rodovre Mighty Bulls), Daniel Nielsen (D - Hvidovre IK), Mikkel Aagaard (F - Niagara IceDogs), Matthias Asperup (F - Malmo Redhawks), Oliver Bjorkstrand (F - Portland Winterhawks), Nikolaj Ehlers (F - Halifax Mooseheads), Mads Eller (F - Edmonton Oil Kings), Jeppe Holmberg (F - Esbjerg Energy), Kristen Jensen (F - Lulea HF), Marcus Nielsen (F - Rungsted Ishockey), Soren Nielsen (F - Esbjerg Energy), Nick Olesen (F - Odense Bulldogs), Andre Staeremose Pison (F - Wenathchee Wild), Emil Rasmussen (F - Rodovre Mighty Bulls), Alexander True (F - Seattle Thunderbirds)

Merry Christmas Moose Country

Before we all get really busy with opening presents and spending time with our friends and family, I thought I would post this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS MOOSE COUNTRY! 

To all my loyal readers, followers and all around fans of the Halifax Mooseheads, I woulod like to say a very Merry Christmas to you and your family. May your holidays be filled with lots of joyous times and hockey! I can't believe I've been writing in this blog for a little over two years now. I've enjoyed every minute of it (maybe a little too much) and I also wanted to say thank you to everyone that reads my blog, follows me on Twitter and likes my Facebook page. I hope to keep bringing you news, game posts and live tweets and pictures of your Halifax Mooseheads in the past year. I posted my World Junior coverage the other day as we should have two current and a former member in the tournament.

Former Herd Leads NHL Scoring

Former Halifax Mooseheads player Jakub Voracek leads all National Hockey League players in points recorded this season. In 33 games played so far in the 2014-15 season, Voracek has 44 points

Jakub Voracek
via flyers.nhl.com

after collecting two goals in last night's overtime win for the Philadelphia Flyers. The 25 year old played for the Herd from 2006 to 2008 and was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2007 NHL draft after a 86 point rookie season in the Q. Voracek hasn't been able to hit the many points in the NHL but if he keeps going like this he will surpass that amount. Jakub had 62 points in a full season of play last year with the Flyers.

The 7 year NHL veteran was also named second star of the week today for his offensive efforts. He recorded seven points in four games played the past 7 days, scoring 3 goals and helping Philadelphia collect 5 out of a possible 8 points.

Keep up the good work Jakub and congrats on being named second star.

MC World Junior Coverage

Moose Country, your home for Halifax Mooseheads team news and game day posts, will be covering the 2015 IIHF World U20 Ice Hockey Championships. The Mooseheads have two current players looking to crack International teams and a former player on the host team. Here's the info:

News: I will provide you with final roster announcements on Christmas day here on my blog plus keep you up to date with suspensions, injuries, etc. on Twitter at @MC_MooseCountry.

Pre-tournament coverage: There is one more day left of pre-tournament games and Timo Meier and Team Switzerland will be taking on Zach Fucale and Team Canada on Tuesday night. The game will be on TSN and I will be tweeting during the game. I'll have a full score recap on Twitter.

Game Articles: I will do post game stories on here after the games that I tweet (see below for schedule). This will include a breakdown of the game sheet. More will be done in the New Year especially if our boys go far in the medal round.

Tweets: I will be tweeting during a few of the games that our Herd players will be in. Here's the schedule:
Saturday Dec 27 Sweden vs Denmark 2pm AT
Saturday Dec 27 Canada vs Germany 9pm AT
Sunday Dec 28 Russia vs Switzerland 6pm AT
Tuesday Dec 30 Denmark vs Switzerland 6pm AT
Wednesday Dec 31 United States vs Canada 5pm AT

Score Updates: At the end of each day, I will post the final scores of the day from both groups on my Twitter and Facebook pages.

Medal Round: I will set you up for each of the medal rounds, letting you know who's going to be playing who in the quarter finals, semi finals, bronze medal and gold medal games. I will be tweeting some of the medal round games but will have final score recaps on my social accounts.

Social Networks: All three of my social network accounts will be in use during the World Juniors. Follow moose_country on Instagram for pictures during the tournament including each day's match-ups. Score updates, blog posts and news will be posted on the Facebook page. Game updates will be tweeted on the Twitter account, @MC_MooseCountry. Keep connected by using the hashtag #WJC_MC and I'll retweet some of the best ones.

Good luck to all teams and players. Who's going to win the 2015 World Junior Championships? Check in January 5th on TSN to find out.

Nik Scores Early, Denmark Gets Silver

A slashing penalty by Halifax Mooseheads player Nikolaj Ehlers costed his Denmark team a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge. The Danes were competing against Team USA in the last game of the tournament and were defeated 3-2 in overtime by the States. Ehlers got the Danes on the board early in the game scoring 33 seconds into the first period. The US tied the game in the middle
frame and than Ehlers set up Denmark's second goal. The goaltending by Danish goalie George Sorenson made it look like his team would skate to a gold medal but a Ehlers penalty at 15:07 followed by a Mads Eller penalty at 16:54 gave the States an even more offensive push and the Americans were able to convert on the second PP to tie the game at 2. Sorenson faced 63 shots by USA but he 60 saves were not enough to help his team win.

Nikolaj and Team Denmark will now travel to Montreal to get ready for the World Juniors that are set to start on Boxing Day. After 9 points (6 goals and 3 assists) in this tournament, I can't imagine that Denmark will be cutting Ehlers. I will have coverage of Denmark's journey in the U20 tournament.

Ehlers, Denmark To Play In WJAC Gold Medal Game

The World Junior A Challenge that is being held in Kindersley, Saskatchewan will conclude tomorrow with the Gold Medal game. Halifax Mooseheads leading scorer Nikolaj Ehlers and Team Denmark will be taking on Team USA for the championship.

This is the first appearance for Denmark in the annual tournament that has mostly been won by the States. The Danes are in the WJAC in preparation for the U20 World Championships that start after Boxing Day. In the preliminary round, Denmark went 2-0-0-0 beating Canada West 3-2 on Sunday and Russia 4-2 on Monday. Going undefeated in the prelim round gave the Danes a bye to the semifinals on Thursday and they went on to beat Russia again, this time winning 5-1. Ehlers had 2 goals against Canada West and a hat trick on Monday. He recorded two assists in the semi-final game.

Check out the Danes tomorrow as they take on the United States for the gold medal at 4:30pm AT on three of the 5 TSN channels. Good luck to Nikolaj and team Denmark in the last game of the tournament.

CONFIRMED: Fucale, Murphy to Quebec

Fucale's draft picture
via metronews.ca

After two weeks of speculation and rumours, the Halifax Mooseheads fianlly confirmed the trade of franchise goaltender Zach Fucale and defenceman Matt Murphy to the Quebec Remparts. The trade was rumoured a little while ago but could not be made official until today when the QMJHL trade period opened.

The Mooseheads also traded a 5th round pick in the 2015 QMJHL draft to Quebec. In return Halifax will receive goaltender Eric Brassard, who stood tall against the Herd last Thursday despite picking up a shootout loss for the Remparts. Halifax also picked up a 1st & 3rd round picks in 2016 and 1st & 2nd round selections in 2018.

This is a big trade for the Moose and fans will miss both players, especially Fucale but the team is getting the pieces together to rebuild in the near future for another run at the Memorial Cup.

Eric Brassard
via PEI Gaurdian site

Fucale ends his four year career with the Mooseheads with 126 regular season wins, a team record. He played 182 games for Halifax and recorded 12 regular season shutouts. In the playoffs he had 35 wins in 49 games played. In two seasons with Halifax, Murphy collected 63 points in 121 games played in Moose Country. Cam Russell had traded for him in the middle of the 2012-13 season. Both
boys will now get an opportunity to win another Memorial Cup in May as the Remparts are gaurenteed a spot in the tournament no matter how they do in the QMJHL playoffs. Eric Brassard comes to Halifax with 77 career regular season games played and 25 wins. This will be Brassard's 4th team in 3 seasons.

Good luck Zach Fucale and Matt Murphy in Quebec. Welcome to Moose Country Eric Brassard.

Full story from the Mooseheads here.

GAMEDAY #35: at Charlottetown

GAMEDAY

CHARLOTTETOWN ISLANDERS vs HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

December 18, 2014 at 7:00pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @IslesLive

EastLink Centre (3,717) ~ Charlottetown, PEI

Zach Fucale has been gone for a week now and despite the fact that some, including me, thought the Mooseheads would not play so well, Kevin Resop has been proving that he is going to be our next good starting goaltender. Though neither game against the Titan should've been as tight as they were, Resop stood tall in both and gave Halifax the chance to get the win. He'll have to keep that going for the rest of the month, especially tonight when they take on the Charlottetown Islanders on the road. It's the last game for the boys before the holiday break. Halifax will be trying to go into the break 4 gamses above .500 instead of two. With most of the top line gone, the Herd got some secondary scoring last night with even defenceman Cavan Fitzgerald chipping in. Halifax will need a lot of secondary scoring from their normal 3rd and fourth lines to continue their winning ways against a division foe this evening. The match ups between these two are always good and a bit chippy. Can the Moose end their streak of games that have gone to extra time or will we see a 4th straight? Recent matchups between Charlottoetown and Halifax suggests that we should not be seeing a overtime tonight but you never know.

This is the sixth of nine games between these two teams. Halifax has a 4-1-0-0 record against Charlottetown while the Islanders are 1-3-1-0 against the Mooseheads. The last matchup was back on December 5th in Halifax with the Moose taking a 5-0 win on the back of Danny Moynihan's hat trick.

Overall Records
Mooseheads: 17-14-2-1 = 37 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 9th overall)
Islanders: 16-17-1-1 = 34 points (4th in Maritimes division, 14th overall)

Leading Scorers
CHA: Filip Chlapik 40pts (16G & 24A), Daniel Sprong 38pts (18G & 20A), Alexandrew Goulet 30pts (18G & 12A)
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 47pts (16G & 31A), Timo Meier 46pts (21G & 25A), Philippe Gadoury 32pts (14G & 18A)

Last Games
Halifax is coming off a tight 3-2 overtime win against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Wednesday night at home. Connor Moynihan and Cavan Fitzgerald each had a goal and 2 assists while Kevin Resop stood tall making 29 saves.

Charlottetown is coming off a revange win in Rimouski on Sunday night. Daniel Sprong led the way with 2 goals to give the Islanders a 5-2 victory against the Oceanic while Mason McDonald made 25 saves.

Season Series
Saturday Sept 13 Halifax 6 at Charlottetown 5 OT
Friday Oct 10 Charlottetown 2 at Halifax 3
Wednesday Oct 29 Charlottetown 4 at Halifax 1
Sunday Nov 2 Halifax 3 at Charlottetown 0
Friday Dec 5 Charlottetown 0 at Halifax 5
Thursday Dec 18 Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
Wednesday Dec 31 Charlottetown at Halifax - 3pm
Saturday Feb 21 Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
Friday Mar 6 Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm

Out of Town
Wildcats vs Screaming Eagles 7:00pm
Sea Dogs vs Titan 7:00pm
Phoenix vs Cataractes 8:00pm
Tigres vs Voltigeurs 8:00pm
Olympiques vs Armada 8:30pm
Oceanic vs Remparts 8:30pm
Foreurs vs Huskies 8:30pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will take a ten day break to spend time with family over the holidays but they will be back on December 28 in Cape Breton.

POSTGAME: Titan 2, Mooseheads 3 OT

MC POST-GAME

Here's some stories from last night's 3-2 overtime victory against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan

My recap: It's deja vu for the Halifax Mooseheads for the third time tonight. 

The Q News' recap: Connor Moynihan scored the overtime-winning goal in the Halifax Mooseheads 3-2 extra-time win over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Centre. 

The Canadian Press' recap: Connor Moynihan scored a power-play goal 3:47 into overtime, and assisted on two goals in regulation to lift the Halifax Mooseheads to a 3-2 win over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Wednesday. 

Metro Halifax's recap: The Moynihan brothers may not always get along. 

halifaxmooseheads.com's recap: They may be missing the big guns on the ice, but the Halifax Mooseheads keep finding ways to win. 

theqmjhl's recap: Game summary. 

MISSING IN ACTION: Brandon Vuic (healthy scratch), Morgan Nauss (concussion), Matt Murphy (healthy scratch), Zach Fucale (WJC - Canada), Timo Meier (healthy scratch), Ryan Falkenham (knee) and Nikolaj Ehlers (WJC - Denmark)

SCORES
None

NEXT GAME: Halifax will play against the Islanders in Charlottetown this evening before taking a break for the holidays. Puck drops at 7pm.

RECAP: Resop'd

HALIFAX - It's deja vu for the Halifax Mooseheads for the third time tonight. For the third straight game, your Herd had to play more than 60 minutes and were able to pull out a win. Two of those games have been against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan now. It was a slow start to the game for both teams with no score in the first period. Halifax really needed the speed of Nikolaj Ehlers and Timo Meier tonight but Kevin Resop held them in to the game and it proved to be the boost to get a victory. Resop stood tall making some really good saves and was the main reason why his team was able to beat the Titan. He faced an incredible 41 shots en route to his 3rd victory in 3 straight starts. Despite Acadie-Bathurst tying it in the third period and forcing overtime, Connor Moynihan was the hero this evening with Meier sitting in the press box.

FINAL: Titan 2 at Mooseheads 3 OT

Stars: 3. Kerr BAT | 2. C. Fitzgerald HAL | 1. C. Moynihan

Attendance: 5,821

MC's Top Herd: Kevin Resop 

GAME LOG
First period
None

Shots: Bathurst led the shots in the first period 12-9

Second period
7:07 HAL Cavan Fitzgerald (2), PP | A: Gadoury & C. Moynihan
15:07 HAL Danny Moynihan (15), PP | A: C. Moynihan & C. Fitzgerald

Shots: Halifax couldn't get any ground shooting 10 pucks to the net to the Titan's 16

Third period
0:34 BAT Aaron Kerr (8) | A: Simpson
3:47 BAT Mark Trickett (1) | A: Corriveau & Kerr

Shots: The Titan had a 13 to 7 shot advantage in the last regulation period

Overtime
3:47 HAL Connor Moynihan (3), PP | A: D. Moynihan & C. Fitzgerald

Shots: Halifax led shots 3-0 in overtime while Bathurst won the total shots 41 to 29

POWERPLAY
Acadie-Bathurst: 0-for-5
Halifax: 3-for-6

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Kevin Resop HAL 39 saves
Losing goaltender: Jacob Brennan BAT 26 saves

Meier in Prospects game

The Canadian Hockey League along with the the Niagara IceDogs and BMO Financial Group announced the 40 players that will be participating in the upcoming CHL/NHL Prospects Game. For the third straight year, your Halifax Mooseheads have a player named to one of the rosters. Swiss player Timo Meier was named to team Orr for the game that will be held in Niagara, Ontario on January 22, 2015.

The game will be yet another opportunity for Meier to show National Hockey League scouts what he has and get his draft stock even higher. At the beginning of the season, Timo had a 'B' rating meaning he was projected to go in the second round of the 2015 NHL draft I. June. About a month ago, that rating was bumped to 'A' (first round projection). On Craig Button's list he jumped from being projected going in picks 80-89 to pick 35. Meier will also be hoping to show of his skills on the world stage with his home country Switzerland during the 2015 World Juniors. 

Congratulations to Timo and the rest of the players named to Team Cherry and Team Orr. For the full release check here. 

GAMEDAY #34: vs Acadie-Bathurst

GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. ACADIE-BATHURST TITAN

December 17, 2014 at 7:00pm

Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry, @TitanNationCA

Sometimes snow is good and terrible thing at the same time. It was a terrible thing a week ago when a storm in Bathrust caused the TItan to miss their scheduled game in Mooe Country against our Halifax Mooseheads. But it was rescheduled to tonight which means that Herd fans will only have to wait 2 weeks, instead of 3, between home games. That's one of the good things about the snow fall last week. The other is it gives fans another chance to see Swiss player Timo Meier one last time before he goes west to join Team Switzerland at their world junior camp. Halifax will need his skill in this rematch game against the Titan as we welcome back (again) Andrew Ryan to the Scotiabank Centre.

Acadie-Bathurst and Halifax last met on Saturday night in New Brunswick with the Mooseheads coming away with a 5-4 overtime win. Philippe Gadoury led the team with 2 goals and 2 assists while Kevin Resop had to make only 18 saves. The win gives Halifax a 2-2-0-0 record against Bathrust. Both wins being 5-4 scores in extra time.

Overall Records
Titan: 9-22-3-1 = 22 points (6th in Maritimes division, 18th overall)
Mooseheads: 16-14-2-1 = 35 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 11th overall)

Leading Scorers
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 47pts (16G & 31A), Timo Meier 46pts (21G & 25A), Philippe Gadoury 31pts (14G & 17A)
BAT: Mark Simpson 28pts (11G & 17A), Nicholas Blanchard 24pts (12G & 12A), Raphael Corriveau 21pts (13G & 8A)

Last Games
See above.

Season Series

Friday Sept 12 Halifax 1 at Bathurst 4

Sunday Oct 12 Halifax 0 at Bathurst 2

Wednesday Nov 12 Bathurst 4 at Halifax 5 SO

Saturday Dec 13 Halifax 5 at Bathurst 4 OT

Wednesday Dec 10 17 Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm
Sunday Jan 4 Bathurst at Halifax - 2pm

Saturday Feb 7 Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm

Wednesday Mar 4 Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm

Friday Mar 13 Halifax at Bathurst - 7:30pm

Out of Town
None

After the Buzzer
Halifax will travel to Charlottetown for a tilt against the Islanders tomorrow evening. Puck drops at 7pm.

Herd Word

Zach Fucale in play with the Mooseheads

FUCALE
Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale is in St. Catherines, Ontario this week preparing for the 2015 World Juniors that will be held in Toronto and Montreal between the December 26 and January 5. On the weekend, Team Canada had a couple of exhibition games against CIS all-stars. Fucale played in goal on Saturday and stopped 23 of 26 shots on route to helping Canada beat the university team 10-3. He did not play on Sunday evening when Canada had a rematch against the CIS. Fucale and Team Canada will have their next game on Saturday night for their first pre-comp game.

EHLERS
Winnipeg Jets prospect Nikolaj Ehlers on the other hand is trying to help his Denmark team win a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge that is being held in Saskatchewan this week. The Danes are in the tournament as preparation for the U20 World Championships after Christmas. Ehlers and the Danes were playing Canada West on Sunday afternoon, winning 3-2 on the back of Nik's 2 goals. The good game led to Ehlers being named the Star of the Day. Nik got a hat trick during Denmark's 4-2 victory over Russia in today's action. The two wins mean that Denmark wins their division and will play next in the tournament's semifinals on Thursday.

GADOURY
Forward Philippe Gadoury was named the second star of the week today by the QMJHL. He had 3 goals and 6 points in two games played during the week of December 8, 2014. He also had a plus-5 rating in the week's games, which were both victories for the Mooseheads.

TWO WINS
Your Halifax Mooseheads skated to two very close victories on Thursday and Saturday night. The Quebec Remparts visited Moose Country on Thursday night and were able to claw back from a 3-1 deficit to take it in a shootout. Matt Murphy scored 2 goals in the last 6 minutes to tie the game and Timo Meier scored the shootout winner. Kevin Resop was in nets for the Moose with Fucale away at WJC camp and made 30 saves for the win. Timo Meier also led the Herd to a win on the road on Saturday night as they visited the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, skating away with another 5-4 ovetime win against the Titan. Meier scored the first and last goal for Halifax while Gadoury scored the tying goal with less than 2 minutes left in regulation.

WEEGAR
Former Halifax player MacKenzie Weegar scored his first professional goal on Friday night. He gave the San Antonio Rampage a 2-0 lead which led to a 3-0 win for the Rampage against the Iowa Wild. Congrats to Weegs on the goal. Here's to more in the future.

TRADE PERIOD

Acadie-Bathurst Titan logo

The QMJHL winter trade period opens on Friday December 19th officially. Some trades have already taken place including one with the Moncton Wildcats sending Vladimir Tkachev to the Quebec Remparts for Taylor Burke. It's a mix opinion about what the Mooseheads will do this holiday season. Some have been speculating that Cam Russell will trade Fucale to the Remparts while he is in Montreal playing for Team Canada. After Matt Murphy was a healthy scratch on Saturday, speculation started that there was a trade in the works to send the 20 year old veteran somewhere else in return for some picks. What will happen will soon be told but keep it here and I will let you know.

UP NEXT
The Moose will welcome the Titan on Wednesday night. This game was originally supposed to be played last Wednesday but had to be rescheduled to this week because of a snow storm in Bathurst. Halifax will then travel to Charlottetown to take on the Islanders on Thursday night. These are the last two games for the boys before Christmas break. They will be back in action after Christmas on December 28.

GAMEDAY #33: at Acadie-Bathurst

GAMEDAY

ACADIE-BATHURST TITAN vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

December 13, 2014 at 7:00pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @CoolenTQN

K.C. Irving Regional Centre (3,162) ~ Bathurst, NB

For the first time since September, rookie goaltender Kevin Resop will be making his second straight start with Zach Fucale being away in Toronto for Team Canada selection camp. Resop was pretty strong in his first start in a month on Thursday night. Halifax will be looking to take the thrilling emotions from Thursday's victory and continue it's winning ways. It should be an easy win but they most times are not in hockey. Bathurst will be hungry for a win coming off three losses but they have players that can lead them there. 

This is the fourth game between the Titan and Mooseheads with Halifax having a 1-2-0-0 record against Bathurst this season. That one win almost didn't even happen with former Herd player Andrew Ryan scoring with 0.3 seconds left to force overtime but Nikolaj Ehlers scored the shootout winner. 

Overall Records
Mooseheads: 15-14-2-1 = 33 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 12th overall)
Titan: 9-22-1-1 = 20 points (6th in Maritimes division, 18th overall)

Leading Scorers
BAT: Mark Simpson 26pts (10G & 16A), Raphael Corriveau 21pts (13G & 8A), Alexandre Gosselin 21pts (4G & 17A)
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 47pts (16G & 31A), Timo Meier 43pts (19G & 24A), Philippe Gadoury 27pts (12G & 15A)

Last Games
Halifax is coming off a thrilling shootout victory on Thursday night against the Remparts. Matt Murphy scored twice in the last 6 minutes to lead the comeback versus Quebec while Kevin Resop made 30 saves, plus all 3 in the SO, to get his second win of the season.

Bathurst is coming off a 3-1 loss in Moncton on Sunday. Jordan Maher scored the lone goal for the Titan while Daniel Vautour made 22 saves to take the deficit against the Wildcats.

Season Series

Friday Sept 12  Halifax 1 at Bathurst 4

Sunday Oct 12  Halifax 0 at Bathurst 2

Wednesday Nov 12  Bathurst 4 at Halifax 5   SO

Saturday Dec 13  Halifax at Bathurst - 7pm

Wednesday Dec 10 17  Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm
Sunday Jan 4  Bathurst at Halifax - 2pm

Saturday Feb 7  Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm

Wednesday Mar 4  Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm

Friday Mar 13  Halifax at Bathurst - 7:30pm

Out of Town
Cataractes vs Phoenix 5:00pm
Foreurs vs Sea Dogs 5:00pm
Sagueneens vs Tigres 5:00pm
Screaming Eagles vs Remparts 7:00pm
Huskies vs Armada 8:00pm

After the Buzzer
The two teams will travel back to Moose Country for a rematch game on Wednesday night. Puck drops at 7pm. 

POSTGAME: Remparts 3, Mooseheads 4 SO

MC POST-GAME

Here are some stories from last night's 4-3 shootout victory against the Quebec Remparts

My recap: They may only meet twice a year but you never get a dull game between your Mooseheads and the Quebec Remparts. 

Metro Halifax's recap: Kevin Resop's favourite part of manning the posts? The shootout.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The push almost came too late for the Halifax Mooseheads on Thursday. 

The Canadian Press' recap: Timo Meier scored the shootout-winner and added two assists in regulation to lift the Halifax Mooseheads to a 4-3 win over the Quebec Remparts in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Thursday. 

halifaxmooseheads.ca's recap: Fans were treated to undoubtedly the most exciting comeback of the season for the Mooseheads on Thursday night, as Halifax fought back from a 3-1 deficit late in the third period to score a 4-3 Shootout victory over the visiting Quebec Remparts.

theqmjhl's recap: Game summary. 

MISSING IN ACTION: Zach Fucale (WJC - Canada), Josh Fitzgerald (healthy scratch), , Nikolaj Ehlers (WJC - Denmark), Ryan Falkenham (knee) and Morgan Nauss (concussion)

SCORES
Charlottetown 5 - 8 Chicoutimi
Blainville-Boisbriand 1 - 3 Shawinigan

NEXT GAME: Halifax will travel to Bathurst to take on the Titan Saturday evening. Puck drops at 7pm.

RECAP: Rough Victory

HALIFAX - They may only meet twice a year but you never get a dull game between your Mooseheads and the Quebec Remparts. The home team skated off with a well deserved shootout win over the visiting after being down 3-1 with less than 6 minutes left in regulation. Matt Murphy scored twice in the last 5:14 of the game to tie it up and give Moose Country some life. The win is Kevin Resop's second victory of the season, the first being September 13. The two teams were in quite a few tussles this evening with twice there being 3 or 4 players in the penalty box for each team. Surprisingly there was only 46 minutes in penalties, it felt like a lot more.

FINAL: Remparts 3 at Mooseheads 4 SO
Stars: 3. Meier HAL | 2. Erne QUE | 1. Murphy HAL
Attendance: 6,759
MC's Top Herd: Matt Murphy 

GAME LOG
First period
15:22 QUE Adam Erne (21), PP | A: Gauthier & Timashov

Shots: Halifax led shots in the first 20 9-6

Second period
5:12 QUE Marc-Olivier Roy (16) | A: Graves & Gauthier
16:44 HAL Philippe Gadoury (12), PP | A: Meier & Fitzgerald
17:18 QUE Guillaume Gautheir (16) | A: Timashov

Shots: Quebec stormed back leading pucks to the net in the middle frame 16 to 10

Third period
14:45 HAL Matt Murphy (4) | A: Meier & D. Moynihan
19:07 HAL Matt Murphy (5) | A: Fitzgerald & Gadoury

Shots: The Mooseheads got 15 shots in the last period to Quebec's 6

Overtime
None

Shots: The Remparts had a 5-3 shots lead but Halifax had the overall advantage 37-33

Shootout
Round 1 - HAL Danny Moynihan (Save)    QUE Guillaume Gauthier (Save)
Round 2 - HAL Timo Meier (Goal)    QUE Dmytro Timashov (Save)
Round 3 - HAL Philippe Gadoury (Save)    QUE Adam Erne (Save)

POWERPLAY
Quebec: 1-for-2
Halifax: 1-for 6

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Kevin Resop HAL 30 saves
Losing goaltender: Eric Brassard QUE 34 saves

Postponed Game Rescheduled

The Halifax Mooseheads and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan announced this morning that there game in Halifax that was to be played at the Scotiabank Centre this evening was postponed to a later date. The reason for the cancellation was the snow storm that is happening in New Brunswick today. Bathurst is expecting 40 to 60 centimetres of snow today. The Titan hadn't left the province yet possibly expecting that this would happen and not wanting to get stuck.

The teams have since announced the rescheduled date. The two teams will play a week from today on December 17th in Moose Country. Puck drop will be 7pm. Fans who bought tickets for tonight's game can use them as entrance to the rescheduled game. For season ticket holders, use the December 10th tickets for the rescheduled game.

Halifax next game now is tomorrow night against the Quebec Remparts. I will have a preview of that game tomorrow up on my blog. The Moose and Titan meet on Saturday night in Bathurst and than in Charlottetown next Thursday.

Fucs, Meier & Ehlers To Play In WJC?

The preliminary rosters for each of the teams playing in the 2015 World Juniors and there are three Halifax Mooseheads players among them. Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale is pretty much the only one that will be for sure playing at the tournament.

Fucale was one of two goaltenders named to the Team Canada prelim roster last week. He will play for his home country in front of his hometown fans. Canada will be joined by Finland, Germany, Slovakia and the United States in Group A competition held in Montreal. That camp begins on Thursday and it will contain two pre-competition games against Russia, Sweden and Switzerland.

If Herd fans are lucky we will see Fucale will be playing against Timo Meier and the Swiss on December 23. Meier, a second year forward for Halifax, was named to Team Switzerland over the weekend and will be trying to make the team for the first time at the U-20 level. Switzerland's camp opens on December 15. After helping promote the team last year, Nikolaj Ehlers will look to make Team Denmark for the second straight year and help them again. The Danes were the winners of the 2014 Division 1A World Juniors competition with a 5-0-0-0 record. They'll be playing to stay in the top division when they begin this year's comp with a game against Russia.

We'll have to wait until Christmas Day for the final rosters. How will the Mooseheads respond to having their top guns not in the lineup? Well the first test will be on Wednesday night when they welcome the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at home without their #1 goalie. I expect the other two will leave the team on Friday or Saturday. I'll release my world junior coverage on December 20 before the pre-comp games.

POSTGAME: Sea Dogs 3, Mooseheads 1

MC POST-GAME

Here are some stories from last night's 3-1 defeat at the hand of the Saint John Sea Dogs

Station Nation's recap: Sebastien Auger's 37 saves backstopped the Saint John Sea Dogs to a solid 3-1 road win over the Halifax Mooseheads at Scotiabank Centre on Saturday night. 

The Q News' recap: Sebastien Auger made 37 saves back-stopping the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 3-1 road victory over the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night. 

Metro Halifax's recap: Swiss import forward Timo Meier scored the lone goal of the game for the Halifax Mooseheads, in a 3-1 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs at the Scotiabank Centre on Saturday night. 

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Saint John Sea Dogs continue to make life miserable for the Halifax Mooseheads. 

halifaxmooseheads.ca's recap: The Mooseheads foundthemselves on the wrong end of a 3-1 game on Saturday night in a loss to the Maritimes Division leading Saint John Sea Dogs.

saintjohnseadogs.com's recap: Sebastien Auger made 37 saves, including 19 in the third period, to lead the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 3-1 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Saturday at Scotiabank Centre. 

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: Ryan Falkenham (knee), Jordan King (healthy scratch), Cavan Fitzgerald (broken patella), Morgan Nauss (upper body) and Josh Fitzgerald (concussion)

SCORES
Gatineau 2 - 3 Baie-Comeau
Quebec 5 - 7 Victoriaville
Val-d'Or 6 - 3 Acadie-Bathurst
Moncton 3 - 4 Charlottetown SO
Sherbrooke 2 - 6 Drummondville

NEXT GAME: Halifax will welcome the Acadie-Bathurst Titan to the Scotiabank Centre on Wednesday night. Puck drops at 7pm.

GAMEDAY #31: vs Saint John

GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. SAINT JOHN SEA DOGS

December 6, 2014 at 7:00pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @station_nation

Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

Zach Fucale will be playing his last game in a Herd uniform of the year. Fucale is off to play for Team Canada at the World Juniors on home ice after tonight's game and will hopefully be coming back as a winner. That's probably the biggest story coming into this game. Will we see the fourth year goaltender back here in Moose Country after the tournament is over? We'll have to wait but fans should just be concentrating on this game and this team right now. The Mooseheads are playing pretty good hockey the last month and tonight will be a big test when they host the Maritimes division first place Saint John Sea Dogs. These games are always good between the two teams this season. Former Sea Dog player Kelly Bent has been in the thick of it since Halifax took him off waivers during the preseason, getting in fights and having conversations with his former teammates.

The Moose and Dogs have battled four times before tonight this season with Saint John having a commanding lead in the season series. Halifax is 0-3-1-0 against the New Brunswick team. The two teams last met a month ago at the Scotiabank Centre with Saint John winning 4-2 on November 7. Justice Dundas led the visiting team with 2 goals.

Overall Records
Sea Dogs: 17-6-1-4 = 39 points (1st in Maritimes division, 2nd overall)
Mooseheads: 14-13-2-1 = 31 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 12th overall)

Leading Scorers
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 46pts (16G & 30A), Timo Meier 38pts (18G & 20A), Philippe Gadoury 25pts (11G & 14A)
SNB: Adam Marsh 27pts (14G & 13A), Nathan Noel 23pts (11G & 12A), Spencer Smallman 23pts (8G & 16A)

Last Games
Saint John is coming off a 5-1 win on home ice on Friday night against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Jakub Zboril led the Sea Dogs with a goal and 2 assists while Sebastien Auger made 25 saves for the victory.

Halifax is coming off a 5-0 victory over the visiting Charlottetown Islanders yesterday evening. Danny Moynihan scored a hat trick, the first of his career, to lead the Mooseheads to the win while Zach Fucale made 28 saves for the shutout.

Season Series

Saturday Sept 20  Saint John 6 at Halifax 5   OT

Saturday Sept 27  Halifax 0 at Saint John 7

Saturday Oct 11  Halifax 2 at Saint John 5

Friday Nov 7  Saint John 4 at Halifax 2

Saturday Dec 6  Saint John at Halifax - 7pm

Saturday Jan 3  Halifax at Saint John - 7pm

Saturday Mar 14  Halifax at Saint John - 7pm

Saturday Mar 21  Saint John at Halifax - 7pm

Out of Town
Drakkar vs Olympiques 5:00pm
Tigres vs Remparts 5:00pm
TItan vs Foreurs 7:00pm
Islanders vs Wildcats 7:00pm
Voltigeurs vs Phoenix 8:00pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will continue their homestand on Wednesday evening when they host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Puck drops at 7pm. 

POSTGAME: Islanders 0, Mooseheads 5

MC POST-GAME

Here are some stories from last night's 5-0 shutout win over the Charlottetown Islanders

My recap: After a disappointing loss on Sunday evening, the Mooseheads rebounded in a big way with American Danny Moynihan leading the way. 

Islanders Country's recap: Danny Moynihan scored a hat-trick and Zachary Fucale made 28 saves as the Halifax Mooseheads handed the Charlottetown Islanders a 5-0 loss Friday night at Scotiabank Centre. 

The Q News' recap: Danny Moynihan earned his first career hat-trick in the QMJHL as the Halifax Mooseheads defeated the Charlottetown Islanders by a score of 5-0 on Friday night at Scotiabank Centre. 

Metro Halifax's recap: Cole Harbour kid Brett Crossley took his time scoring his first official goal wearing a Herd jersey, but he sure made it a good-lookin' one Friday night. 

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads continue to trend in the right direction. 

halifaxmooseheads.ca's recap: The puck had ways of finding Danny Moynihan on Friday night, and the 19-year-old centre easily provided the finishing touches as he tallied the first hat trick of his QMJHL career in a 5-0 Mooseheads victory over the visiting Charlottetown Islanders.

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: Brandon Vuic (suspension), Josh Fitzgerald (concussion), Morgan Nauss (upper body), Ryan Falkenham (knee) and Cavan Fitzgerald (broken patella)

SCORES
Val-d'Or 1 - 4 Cape Breton
Rouyn-Noranda 1 - 5 Saint John
Blainville-Boisbriand 3 - 6 Quebec
Gatineau 3 - 6 Chicoutimi
Sherbrooke 3 - 4 Rimouski SO
Victoriaville 4 - 5 Shawinigan OT

NEXT GAME: Halifax takes on first place Saint John tonight on home ice hosting the Sea Dogs. Puck drops at 7pm.

RECAP: Danny Scores Hatty

HALIFAX - After a disappointing loss on Sunday evening, the Mooseheads rebounded in a big way with American Danny Moynihan leading the way. The second year centre scored his first career hat trick to lead the hometeam to a 5-0 victory over provincial rivals Charlottetown Islanders. In a month that may not be very good for Halifax, it was nice for the Herd to start of December in a winning way. Hopefully this will ignite the second and third line especially with the top two scorers leaving next weekend to play for their country at the World Juniors. Of course, Danny is on the top line with those two scorers. Rookie Brett Crossley scored his first career goal on a nice dirty tip in. Kelly Bent is an enemy to the Isles too as he got into another fight and more conversations with the opponents. It was a night bout with Bradley Kennedy that lasted a couple of minutes but he'll most likely get a game suspension since it was in the last five minutes left.

FINAL: Islanders 0 at Mooseheads 5
Stars: 3. Crossley HAL | 2. Fucale HAL | 1. D. Moynihan HAL
Attendance: 6,864
MC's Top Herd: Brett Crossley

GAME LOG
First period
3:26 HAL Danny Moynihan (12) | A: Ehlers
4:34 HAL Philippe Gadoury (11), PP | A: Ehlers & Murphy

Shots: Halifax led first period shots 13 to 9 over Charlottetown

Second period
1:52 HAL Danny Moynihan (13) | A: Murphy & Watt

Shots: The Islanders had another 9 pucks to the net to the Mooseheads' 7

Third period
1:36 HAL Brett Crossley (1) | A: None
10:58 HAL Danny Moynihan (14) | A: Ehlers & Murphy

Shots: Last period shots were close with Halifax leading 11-10 and having a 31-28 lead in total shots

POWERPLAY
Charlottetown: 0-for-3
Halifax: 1-for-7

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Zach Fucale HAL 28 saves
Losing goaltender: Mason McDonald CHA 22 saves

Great Month For Nikolaj Continues

A day after being named the QMJHL's first star of the week, the Halifax Mooseheads Danish forward Nikolaj Ehlers was named the 1st star of the month for November as well as the CHL Player of the Week.

Nikolaj's player profile pic
on halifaxmooseheads.ca

Ehlers played in all 12 Mooseheads games in November and had at least a point in each game. Nik had a total of 34 points which included 12 goals and 22 assists. He led the team in most categories during the month and had an incredible plus-15 rating. In just 21 games played this season, Ehlers has 43 points which has jumped him to a tie for fourth in league scoring.

He is joined by forward Conor Garland of the Moncton Wildcats is the 2nd star and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada's goaltender Samuel Montembeault is the 3rd star.


Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League today announced that Winnipeg Jets prospect Nikolaj Ehlers of the Halifax Mooseheads is the CHL Player of the Week for the week ending November 30 with 13 points in three games including five goals and eight assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-5.

QMJHL Names Scholastic POM

Every month, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announces a Scholastic Player of the Month which recognizes a player on each team with his performance on ice and in the classroom. The player is selected based on their school results, their implication, the school-hockey conciliation, their team spirit and their on-ice performances.

For your Halifax Mooseheads, Brett Crossley was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for November 2014. Crossley missed half of the month because of an injury that he is still recovering from.

BAC	Bokondji Imama	Cégep de Baie-Comeau
BAT	Christophe Boivin	Cégep à distance
BLB	Philippe Sanche	Cégep de St-Jérôme
CAP	Duncan MacIntyre	Athabasca University
CHA	Julien Avon	Cégep à distance
CHI	Julio Bilia	Cégep de Chicoutimi
DRU	Joe Fleschler	Athabasca University
GAT	Noah Zilbert	UNB
HAL	Brett Crossley	Prince Andrew High School
MON	Adam Holwell	Harrison Trimble High School
QUE	Nicolas Hébert	Cégep de Limoilou
RIM	Simon Bourque	Cégep de Rimouski
ROU	Jacob Neveu	Académie les Estacades
SHA	Alex Pawelczyk	Athabasca University
SHE	Jeremy Roy	College Champlain Lennoxville
SNB	Braydon Blight	UNBSJ
VDO	Guillaume Archambault	Cégep de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue
VIC	Félix Lauzon	École polyvalente Le Boisé

QMJHL Names 3 Stars, Ehlers Among Them

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced the three stars of the week today. The Dashing Dane, Nikolaj Ehlers of your Halifax Mooseheads was listed as the first star for the week of November 24 to 30, 2014.

In 3 games in the past week, Nikolaj scored 5 goals and recorded 13 points to help the Mooseheads get 2 wins over good teams in the last 7 days. In a 6-3 victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes, Ehlers had 5 assists which tied him for the most assists on the road by a Moosehead player. He followed that performance with 6 points (4G & 2A) on Saturday night in the 8-5 win over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. He now has a 13 game point streak, recording at least one point in every game during November. The streak has jumped him all the way to fifth among in the league for total points.

The league also named Danick Martel of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada as the second star while Drummondville Voltigeur's goalie Joe Fleschler was rewarded the third star.

For the full story see here.

Herd Word

Fucale with the Montreal & Toronto brass at the announcement
Photo via: Mark Master on Twitter

WORLD JUNIORS
A total of 29 players will be attending this year's Hockey Canada's World Juniors selection camp that is set to begin December 11. Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale will be one of two goalies at the camp. This means that Fucale will be playing for Team Canada during the 2015 World Junior Championships starting on Boxing Day. If Montreal Canadians fans want to see how their possible future goaltender is doing they are in luck because Canada will be playing their round robin games in Montreal. Zach is just one of three QMJHL players that was named to the selection camp roster today.

We will have to wait and see if Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin will be on the final roster for Team Canada. The team has to name it's roster on Christmas Day.

BANVILLE
Halifax Mooseheads prospect Eddie Banville has been invited to Team East's selection camp for the World Junior 'A' Challenge that will be held between December 14 and December 20th. Check out The Q News for all the news and coverage of the tournament. Congrats Eddie, make Moose Country proud.

ROAD TRIP
The Mooseheads are coming back home from a three game six day road trip in Quebec. Halifax went 2-1-0-0 on the trip and scored a total of 18 goals while allowing 14 goals during the 3 games. The loss game on Sunday evening against the Val-d'Or Foreurs which ended a four game win streak for the Herd. The other two games were on Thursday against Shawinigan and Saturday against Rouyn-Noranda, winning 6-3 and 8-5 respectively.

HOLIDAY PACKS
The talk of world juniors means that the holidays are right around the corner. Your Mooseheads have a deal on right now where you receive three flex vouchers to use in any combination during the season. Get it in time for Christmas (they're on sale now until close on December 24th) and use it as a stocking stuffer for the hockey fan in your family. Prices start at $24 for a Youth pack. Full info here.

UP NEXT
Like I said above Halifax is on their way home. They will have a four game homestand to start December off. The first game will be another battle against the Charlottetown Islanders on Friday night. Saint John comes to town on Saturday night. Both games start at 7pm.

POSTGAME: Mooseheads 4, Foreurs 6

MC POST-GAME

Here;s some stories from last night's 6-4 loss against the Val-d'Or Foreurs

The Q News' recap: Less than 24 hours after a humiliating 11-1 loss, the Val-d'Or Foreurs responded with a hard fought 6-4 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads Sunday afternoon, Nov. 30, in Val-d'Or.

Metro Halifax's recap: It was a bittersweet weekend on the road for the Halifax Mooseheads.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: Another comeback was not in the cards for the Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday. 

The Canadian Press' recap: Jeremie Fraser and Anthony Richard had two goals and an assist each as the Foreurs sank Halifax.

halifaxmooseheads.ca's recap: The Mooseheads had a sweep of a three-game road trip in their sights but it wasn't in the cards for the Herd on Sunday afternoon in Val d'Or as Halifax lost 6-4 to the defending President's Cup Champions at the Air Creebec Centre snapping a four-game winning streak for the Moose.

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: Vince Wat (upper body), Josh Fitzgerald (concussion), Tristan Tardif (healthy), Ryan Falkenham (lower body), Morgan Nauss (upper body), Brett Crossley (concussion) and Cavan Fitzgerald (broken patella)

SCORES
Charlottetown 1 - 5 Moncton
Acadie-Bathurst 4 - 3 Saint John SO
Blainville-Boisbriand 6 - 3 Cape Breton
Chicoutimi 3 - 0 Drummondville
Quebec 2 - 3 Rimouski OT
Victoriaville 5 - 4 Rouyn-Noranda

NEXT GAME: Halifax will come home for four games starting on Friday against the Charlottetown Islanders. Puck drops at 7pm. 

STATS SUNDAY: November

Games played: 12

Record: 8-3-1-0, 17pts

Goals for/against: 52/39

Powerplay*: 18.1%

Penalty kill*: 73.4%

Shutouts: one

Top 5 leading scorers

Points: Nikolaj Ehlers 34, Timo Meier 20, Daniel Moynihan 13, Philippe Gadoury 11, Matt Murphy 9

Goals: Nikolaj Ehlers 12, Timo Meier 11, Daniel Moynihan 6, Philippe Gadoury 4, Samuel Leblanc 4

Assists: Nikolaj Ehlers 22, Timo Meier 9, Daniel Moynihan 7, Philippe Gadoury 7, Maxime Fortier 7

Penalty minutes: Kelly Bent 27, Connor Moynihan 23, Brandon Vuic 23, Austyn Hardie 18, Nikolaj Ehlers 17

Plus/minus: Nikolaj Ehlers +15, Jesse Lussier +12, Daniel Moynihan +12, Timo Meier +12, Taylor Ford +11

Rookie scoring: Maxime Fortier 8pts, Taylor Ford 4pts, Morgan Nauss 3pts, Jean-Sebastien Taillefer 1pt

Goaltending stats*

Zach Fucale: 12-8-1-1    3.35 GAA    0.886 SAV%

Kevin Resop: 1-5-1-0    4.55 GAA    0.841 SAV%

* = overall