GAMEDAY #58: at Chicoutimi

GAMEDAY

CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

February 26, 2015 at 8:00pm

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

Centre Georges-Vezina (3,683) ~ Chicoutimi, QC

Can you believe it? The Halifax Mooseheads are on the road this weekend in Quebec for their last 3 games against french teams and their first stop is Chicoutimi. It will be the first time the Moose will be seeing former teammate Jesse Lussier since GM Cam Russell traded the 20 year old to the Saguneens back in January. Halifax look to get a bit closer to home ice advantage in the playoffs with another victory. The Herd have collected at least a point in their last 4 games. 

This is the second and last meeting of these two teams this season. Chicoutimi and Halifax met back in September on the 26th with the Moose coming out on top. Philippe Gadoury led the team to a 6-4 victory with 2 goals and 2 assists while Zach Fucale made 27 saves. 

Overall Records
Mooseheads: 28-23-4-2 = 62 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 11th overall)
Sagueneens: 24-27-4-2 = 54 points (6th in East division, 15th overall)

Leading Scorers
CHI: Laurent Dauphin 62pts (26G & 36A), Alexandre Ranger 47pts (22G & 25A), Nicolas Roy 40pts (13G & 27A)
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 79pts (28G & 51A), Timo Meier 76pts (37G & 39A), Philippe Gadoury 52pts (24G & 28A)

Last Games
Halifax is coming off a 2-1 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on the road on Saturday night. Cavan Fitzgerald led the team with 2 assists while Kevin Resop made 31 saves to get the win.

Chicoutimi is coming off a 2-1 loss at home to the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Timothe Simard had the lone Sags goals while Julio Billia made 30 saves to take the defeat.

Season Series
Friday Sept 26  Chicoutimi 4 at Halifax 6
Thursday Feb 26  Halifax at Chicoutimi - 8pm

Out of Town
None

After the Buzzer
Halifax will travel to Baie-Comeau tomorrow night to visit the Drakkar. Puck drops at 8:30pm.

MacKinnon Scores Hat Trick

Nathan MacKinnon after getting drafted in 2013
Photo via metronews.ca

On a night that two former teammates were playing against each other for the second time in their NHL careers, one of them had a very good night. The reigning Calder Trophy holder, Nathan MacKinnon might not being having as a productive season as last year but he is still scoring and gaining points. He had a career night this evening scoring a hat trick against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kid Mac becomes the youngest player in a Colorado Avalanche uniform to score a hat trick. Nate was also named 1st star of the game with his 3 goal effort while playing 15:49 minutes of ice time.

Check out the highlights here.

Jonathan Drouin was also on the ice this evening. He was on the ice for 13:59 minutes but again was not able to get on the scoresheet.

Halifax to Host Super Series

The Canadian Hockey League announced today the 6 cities that will play host to the 2015 Subway Super Series come November. The city of Halifax will hold the last game of the series on November 19, 2015. The game will be played at 8:00pm Atlantic time at the Scotiabank Centre.

This is the second time that the Mooseheads have hosted the super series, the first being back in 2003. Former players that have been on Team QMJHL rosters include; Brent Andrews (2012), Logan MacMillan (2007 & 2008), Jonathan Drouin (2012 & 2013), Andrew Bodnarchuk (2007), Nathan MacKinnon (2011 & 2012), Ryan Hillier (2007), Zach Fucale (2012, 2013 & 2014), MacKenzie Weegar (2013). We'll have to wait until the beginning of November to see who will be the next Herd players named to Team QMJHL.

Here is the full schedule:
Game 1 - Monday November 9 at Kelowna, BC
Game 2 - Tuesday November 10 at Kamloops, BC
Game 3 - Thursday November 12 at Owen Sound, ON
Game 4 - Monday November 16 at Windsor, ON
Game 5 - Tuesday November 17 at Rouyn-Noranda, QC
Game 6 - Thursday November 19 at Halifax, NS

For the press release click here.

POSTGAME: Cataractes 6, Mooseheads 5

MC POST-GAME

Here's some stories from last night's 6-5 loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes

The Q News' recap: The Shawinigan Cataractes squandered leads on three different occasions en route to defeating the host Halifax Mooseheads 6-5 on Friday night.

Metro News' recap: Chances are Taylor Ford's little brother was cheering wildly while watching on national television as the rookie defenceman scored his first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League goal Friday night.

The Canadian Press' recap: Alex Pawelczyk had a pair of goals as Shawinigan downed the Mooseheads. 

halifaxmooseheads.com's recap: Fans could at least walk away from Friday night's Mooseheads loss to Shawinigan saying they were able to see a little bit of eveything. 

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary. 

MISSING IN ACTION: Kelly Bent (healthy scratch), Eric Brassard (lower body injury) and Andrew Shewfelt (healthy scratch)

SCORES
Cape Breton 6 - 2 Charlottetown
Saint John 2 - 3 Acadie-Bathurst OT
Rouyn-Noranda 4 - 5 Sherbrooke OT
Moncton 4 - 3 Chicoutimi
Val-d'Or 5 - 4 Drummonville
Quebec 3 - 7 Gatineau

NEXT GAME: The Mooseheads take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tonight on home ice. Puck drops at 8pm.

GAMEDAY #53: vs Shawinigan

GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. SHAWINIGAN CATARACTES

February 13, 2015 at 8:00pm

TV: Sportsnet | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry

Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

If ever there was a time to shine, it would be this weekend. Your Halifax Mooseheads play host to the Shawinigan Cataractes this evening in a game that will be broadcasted across the country on Sportsnet. For players like Timo Meier and Connor Moynihan, this is the perfect time to show that they deserve to be in the National Hockey League. Meier has been moving up the draft rankings with his 21 game point streak and during previous nationally exposed events, has done quite well. Both Meier and linemate Nikolaj Ehlers will be looking to continue their point streaks against a team that has also been subpar in their last 10 games. Three points separate these two teams so a couple of victories this weekend will do well for Halifax's home ice in the playoffs chances.

This is the second and last game between the Mooseheads and Cataractes this season. Halifax is 1-0-0-0 versus Shawinigan this year. The last game was on November 27 on a Quebec road trip for the Herd. Nikolaj Ehlers had 5 assists to lead the team while Timo Meier scored 4 times to help Halifax get a 6-3 road win in Shawinigan.

Overall Records
Cataractes: 28-21-1-2 = 59 points (4th in East division, 8th overall)
Mooseheads: 26-22-3-1 = 56 points (4th in Maritimes division, 11th overall)

Leading Scorers
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 72pts (28G & 44A), Timo Meier 67pts (31G & 36A), Danny Moynihan 48pts (22G & 26A)
SHA: Anthony Beauvillier 77pts (35G & 42A), Christophe Lalonde 54pts (29G & 25A), Alexis D'Aoust 53pts (22G & 31A)

Last Games
Shawinigan is coming off a 6-2 victory against the Screaming Eagles on Wednesday night. Christophe Lalonde led the team with 2 goals and an assist while Marvin Cupper made 35 saves to get the win in Sydney.

Halifax is coming off a 3-0 win against the Titan at home. Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and 2 assists to lead the team while Kevin Resop stopped 20 of Acadie-Bathurst's 20 shots for his first career shutout.

Season Series
Thursday Nov 27  Halifax 6 at Shawinigan 3
Friday Feb 13  Shawinigan at Halifax - 8pm

Out of Town
Islanders vs. Screaming Eagles 7:00pm
Titan vs. Sea Dogs 7:30pm
Phoenix vs. Huskies 8:00pm
Sagueneens vs. Wildcats 8:00pm
Voltigeurs vs. Foreurs 8:00pm
Olympiques vs. Remparts 8:30pm

After the Buzzer
The Mooseheads will host their provincial rivals tomorrow evening for Hockey Day in Canada when the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles come to town. Puck drops at 8pm.

Hockey Day in Canada Starts Today

The annual Hockey Day in Canada, which celebrates this country's favourite past time, starts today in Halifax.

Today's events include the opening ceremonies and a shinny game that will be held at the Halifax Forum. The opening ceremonies will start at 6pm followed by the shinny game that will pit Team Ron MacLean versus Team Wendel Clark. NHL alumni and other VIP's will be lacing up there skates for this free of charge event.

While the actual Day isn't until Saturday, the city decided to have 4 days of events held at different places around Halifax. Tomorrow morning, fans will be able to skate with the Stanley Cup on the Emera Oval from 7-9am. Thursday night will be the Stolen from a Hockey Card concert at Spatz Theatre (in Citadel High School). Singers include Buck 65 and Theo Fleury. Tickets to the concert are $35 plus tax. Friday will be the celebrity luncheon hosted by Halifax's Chamber of Commerce. There's a big lineup of hockey players scheduled to be in attendance plus personalities like Don Cherry and Ron MacLean. The Halifax Mooseheads will take on the Shawinigan Cataractes on Friday evening, in a game that will be broadcast across Canada so puck drop has been moved to 8pm.

Saturday will be a full day of events held at the Emera Oval. NHL games during the day will be showing on LED screens. There will also be snow sculptors, the Stanley Cup, free food and Ron MacLean will be hosting the event. Hockey Nova Scotia clinics will be going on from 1-2:30pm and 5:30-7pm, a shinny tournament will be playing 10am-noon plus a public skate from 3:30-4:30pm. A Valentine's Day Jersey skate will be from 7-9pm. All the day's events are free of charge. Sportnet will again be broadcasting a Moose game on this night at 8pm. It will be a battle of Nova Scotia as the Scotiabank Centre hosts the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

AUS Playoffs To Begin Tuesday

The Atlantic University Sport playoffs are set to begin on Tuesday night and it will include several former Halifax Mooseheads players. Locally, the Saint Mary's Huskies are the only team to make it. Other Nova Scotia universities that will be in the playoffs are the St. Francis X-Men and the Acadia Axemen. They will be joined by the Moncton Aigles Bleus, the UNB Varsity Reds and UPEI Panthers.

Here are the final standings
#   Team                                                   W      L    OTL   Pts
1. University of New Brunswick             22      4       2      46
2. Acadia University                                20      5       3      43
3. Saint Mary's University                       20      7       1      41
4. Saint Francis Xavier University           17      9       2     36
5. University of Prince Edward Island     13     13      2     28
6. Moncton University                             11     14      3     25
7. Dalhousie University                            7      20      1     15
8. St. Thomas University                          2      22      4      8

The Varsity Reds and the Axemen receive a quarter-final bye. The Huskies will take on the Aigles Bleus in a series that will begin tomorrow night in Halifax. The X-Men will take on the Panthers in a series that will begin on Wednesday night in Antigonish.

Here is the quarter-finals schedule
Tuesday Feb 10  Moncton at Saint Mary's   
Wednesday Feb 11  UPEI at StFX 
Thursday Feb 12  Saint Mary's at Moncton
Friday Feb 13  StFX at UPEI
Saturday Feb 14  Moncton at Saint Mary's *if necessary
Sunday Feb 15  UPEI at StFX *if necessary

Former Halifax Mooseheads players on playoff team rosters include; Trey Lewis (StFX), Darcy Ashley (UPEI), Stephen MacAulay (Saint Mary's), Cameron Critchlow (UNB), Travis Randell (Acadia),  Brent Andrews (UPEI), Brad Cuzner (StFX), Randy Gazzola (UNB), Stephen Gillard (Saint Mary's) and Gabriel O'Connor (StFX)

Good luck to all the teams and to our former players during the playoffs on the road to the University Cup that will be held in Halifax.

POSTGAME: Phoenix 1, Mooseheads 4

MC POST-GAME

Here's some stories from last night's 4-1 victory over the Sherbrooke Phoenix

My recap: The Sherbrooke Phoenix were coming into tonight's game as winners of 5 straight.

The Q News' recap: Timo Meier extended his scoring streak to 20 games in the Halifax Mooseheads 4-1 victory over the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Thursday night at the Scotiabank Centre.

Metro News' recap: Let's go streaking.

The Canadian Press' recap: Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist - increasing his point streak to 26 games - as the Mooseheads toppled Sherbrooke.

halifaxmooseheads.com's recap: The Halifax Mooseheads were in need of a bounce back effort following a lopsided road loss in Moncton earlier this week and the Herd responded with a solid 4-1 victory over Sherbrooke on Thursday night.

theqmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: Connor Moynihan (suspended), Domenico Argento (healthy scratch), Eric Brassard (injured) and Brett Crossley (healthy scratch)

SCORES
Rimouski 3 - 2 Moncton
Gatineau 4 - 7 Quebec
Charlottetown 5 - 1 Shawinigan
Chicoutimi 1 - 5 Victoriaville

NEXT GAME: Halifax will continue their homestand when they take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7pm.

RECAP: Sherbrooke's Win Streak Starts and Ends Against Halifax

HALIFAX - The Sherbrooke Phoenix were coming into tonight's game as winners of 5 straight. That streak began 12 days ago when your Halifax Mooseheads were in the middle of a 3-in-3 Quebec road trip and visiting Sherbrooke. After 40 minutes of play in that game, the two teams were tied at 4 goals a piece but the Phoenix ended up getting 3 goals to win the game 7-4. Despite the bucketful of penalties that we handed out during the match-up, mostly because of fights, Halifax was able to skate away with the victory tonight on the back of Kevin Resop. He didn't face many shots for the first 25 minutes but was pretty strong considering there was a lack of defense at times during the game. In an interesting twist both of the Mooseheads tough guys, Kelly Bent and Brandon Vuic were in the lineup this evening. Normally the two players don't play in the same game but Coach Ducharme probably wanted to have a physical aspect to this match-up. Vuic didn't take long to show his toughness, getting in a fight against Owen Bennington just 8 minutes into the game. Captain Ryan Falkenham came to the aid of one of his teammates after Jeremy Roy hit Bent in the head. Raphael Lafontaine skated over and jumped those two players so Kelly got up and fought Lafontaine. All the fights during the game were pretty good ones and seemed to mostly be won by the Mooseheads.

FINAL: Phoenix 1 at Mooseheads 4

Stars: 3. Gadoury HAL | 2. Meier HAL | 1. Ehlers HAL

Attendance: 6,906

MC's Top Herd: Ryan Falkenham

GAME LOG

First period

10:17 SHE Carl Neill (11), PP | A: Darcy & Audette

Shots: Sherbrooke led first period shots 7-6

Second period

0:52 HAL Nikolaj Ehlers (27), PP | A: Meier & D. Moynihan

8:38 HAL Timo Meier (29) | A: Ehlers & King

Shots: Halifax had 14 pucks to the net compared to the Phoenix's 11

Third period

11:18 HAL Philippe Gadoury (23) | A: C. Fitzgerald

18:14 HAL Andrew Shewfelt (3), EN/SH | A: None

Shots: The Mooseheads led shots 9-7 in this frame and 29-25 overall

POWERPLAY

Sherbrooke: 1-for-5

Halifax: 1-for-5

GOALIES

Winning goaltender: Kevin Resop HAL 24 saves

Losing goaltender: Evan Fitzpatrick SHE 25 saves

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, Ryan Falkenham was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for January 2015. Falky had an assist in 6 games played in the month of January after returning from a leg injury.

Here is the full list:

BAC	Maxime St-Cyr	Cégep de Baie-Comeau
BAT	Jordan Maher	Bathurst High School
BLB	Fabrizio Ricci	Athabasca University
CAP	Phélix Martineau	Cégep à distance
CHA	Kameron Kielly	Charlottetown Rural High School
CHI	Charles Guèvremont	Cégep de Chicoutimi
DRU	Frédéric Aubé	Cégep de Drummondville
GAT	Matthew Sartoris	Nova Scotia Correspondance Studies
HAL	Ryan Falkenham	Saint Mary's University
MON	William Bower	Harrison Trimble High School
QUE	Nikolas Brouillard	Cégep de Limoilou
RIM	Anthony Chapados	Cégep de Rimouski
ROU	Allan D'Astous-Caron	Cégep de l'abitibi-Témiscamingue
SHA	Nicholas Welsh	Ednet
SHE	Chase Harwell	Keystone online course
SNB	Daniel Delpaggio	UNBSJ
VDO	Julien Gauthier	Cégep de l'abitibi-Témiscamingue
VIC	Tristan Pomerleau	Cégep de Victoriaville

STATS SUNDAY: January

Games played: 11
Record: 5-5-1-0, 11pts
Goals for/against: 32/36
Powerplay*: 19.3%
Penalty kill*: 74.8%
Shutouts: none

Top 5 leading scorers:
Points: Nikolaj Ehlers 19, Timo Meier 16, Cavan Fitzgerald 10, Daniel Moynihan 8, Philippe Gadoury 7
Goals: Nikolaj Ehlers 10, Timo Meier 7, Daniel Moynihan 5, Philippe Gadoury 4, Maxime Fortier 2
Assists: Cavan Fitzgerald 10, Nikolaj Ehlers 9, Timo Meier 9, Maxime Fortier 4, Daniel Moynihan 3
Penalty minutes: Kelly Bent 33, Austyn Hardie 18, Brandon Vuic 16, Maxime Fortier 14, Sam Hunter 13
Plus/minus: Nikolaj Ehlers +4, Timo Meier +3, Brandon Vuic +1, Sam Hunter +1, Jean-Sebastien Taillefer +1
Rookie scoring: Cavan Fitzgerald 10pts, Maxime Fortier 6pts, Taylor Ford 2pts, Brett Crossley 1pt

Goaltending stats*
Eric Brassard: 4-1-1-0    2.40 GAA    0.912 SAV%
Kevin Resop: 7-11-1-0    3.90 GAA    0.867 SAV%

* = overall