Ehlers MVP, Mooseheads Announce Team Awards

For the past 2 weeks, your Halifax Mooseheads have been announcing their team awards for the 2014-2015 season. The 9 players that received awards were deserving of the ones they got. Nikolaj Ehlers and Austyn Hardie received two each.

Nik was named team MVP. It was really no surprise. Ehlers finished third in league scoring during the regular season with 37 goals and 101 points. Despite only playing 14 games, Nikolaj was the top scorer during the 2015 playoffs with 31 points. The 19 year old Danish forward was also given the fan's choice award.

Below is the full list of winners:
Sue Moore Memorial Fan's Choice Award: Nikolaj Ehlers
Scotiabank Centre Trophy: Andrew Shewfelt
Bell and Grant Insurance Trophy: Cavan Fitzgerald
Eastlink Trophy: Ryan Falkenham
The Chronicle Herald Trophy: Danny Moynihan
The Tim Hortons Trophy: Philippe Gadoury
Steele Subaru Trophy: Austyn Hardie
Avis Award: Taylor Ford
Sarah Morris Memorial Trophy: Austyn Hardie
Steele Ford Lincoln Trophy: Nikolaj Ehlers
Scotia Fuels LTD. Trophy: Timo Meier

Former Moose Players on Memorial Cup Hosts

As we all know by now, three former Halifax Mooseheads players are going to be playing in their second Memorial Cup tournament.

Zach Fucale began the 2015 QMJHL playoffs as the back up to Callum Booth but took over mid way through the first round. He led his Quebec Remparts past 3 series' against teams he used to play 8 or 9 times a season. First the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in 7 games, then sweeping the Charlottetown Islanders and Moncton Wildcats in the second and third rounds respectively. Matt Murphy might have caused the Remparts the Q championship with a bad penalty but he'll have at the very least 3 more games to redeem himself. We'll have to wait and see if Brian Lovell will play in the tournament. 

The 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup logo on Colisee Pepsi ice
Photo - mastercardmemorialcup.ca

The Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts are joined by the team they lost to in the President Cup finals; the Rimouski Oceanic, the OHL champion Oshawa Generals and the WHL champion Kelowna Rockets.

Rimouski ended the season atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 99 points. The Oceanic defeated the 16th place Victoriaville Tigres in 4 games, the 14th place Gatineau Olympiques in 5 games and the 6th place Val-d'Or Foreurs in 4 games. Their series against the 4th place Remparts was the most adversity that they faced during this year's playoffs, having to come from behind twice and win in double overtime in Game 7 to win the President Cup.

Oshawa finished the year first in the Eastern Conference and second overal in the Ontario Hockey League with 108 points. The Generals beat the 8th place Peterborough Petes in 5 games, the 5th place Niagara IceDogs in 5 games and the 3rd place North Bay Battalion in six games. They then went on to face Connor McDavid and the Western second place Erie Otters defeating them in 5 games to win the J. Robertson Cup. 

Kelowna ended the season first in the Western Conference and second overall in the Western Hockey League with 112 points. The Rockets defeated the eigth place Tri-City Americans in four games, the fifth place Victoria Royals in five games and the third place Portland Winterhawks in six games. They then swept the Brandon Wheat Kings to take home the Ed Chynoweth Cup. 

These 4 teams will play in the 10 day tournament, each playing one game against the other three teams with the top team advancing directly to the championship game. 

Below is the full schedule (all times Atlantic):

May 22 Kelowna vs. Quebec 8:30 p.m.

May 23 Rimiouski vs. Oshawa 5:30 p.m. 

May 24 Quebec vs. Oshawa 5:30 p.m. 

May 25 Rimouski vs. Kelona 8:30 p.m.

May 26 Oshawa vs. Kelowna 8:30 p.m.

May 27 Quebec vs. Rimouski 8:30 p.m.

May 28 Tie-breaker 8:30 p.m.

May 29 Semi-final 8:30 p.m.

May 31 Championship 8:00 p.m.

Good luck to all four teams! Who do you think will win the Memorial Cup? 

Oceanic Are League Champs

Former Halifax Mooseheads player Matt Murphy is going to regret the penalty he took in double overtime for a long time.

Michael Joly celebrates hit double OT goal
Photo - Vincent Either (QMJHL Twitter)

Murphy was penalized for a tripping call and it gave the Rimouski Oceanic a man advantage, which in overtime is huge. Michael Joly was the hero on the 2 minute 4-on-3, scoring at 2:13 in the 5th frame. This gave the Oceanic a Game 7 victory and were named the 2015 President Cup champions.  

Christopher Clapperton got Rimouski on the board first twelve minutes into the game while Nikolaj Brouillard scored less then 4 minutes later to tie the game. From there it was a goaltending battle as former Herd goalie Zach Fucale of the Quebec Remparts and the Oceanic's Phillipe Desrosiers kept the score tied at 1 a piece. Fucale made 32 saves while Desrosiers made 47 saves. 

The third former Moose player on the Remparts team, Brian Lovell, has seen limited ice time and was not even in last night's match-up. 

Both teams had qualified for the Memorial Cup tournament coming into this series so though Fucale, Murphy and Lovell didn't get a second QMJHL championship they will have a chance to be national champs once again. 

The Memorial Cup will begin on Friday May 22 in Quebec City with the Remparts being hosts. They will face the WHL champion Kelowna Rockets at 7:30 EDT. Rimouski starts their tournament against the OHL champion Oshawa Generals on Saturday at 4:30 EDT.

Congratulations to the Rimouski Oceanic on winning the President's Cup and good luck next week. They will represent our league well. Look back later in the week for Memorial Cup coverage.

MacKinnon, Team Canada Dominates To Gold

Nathan MacKinnon is a champion again! The former Halifax Mooseheads player scored in the Gold medal game, helping Team Canada to glory in Prague over Team Russia. The Canadians dominated the Russians from puck drop, holding the white, red and blue to 12 shots in a 6-1 victory. MacKinnon scored at 9:50 of the third period which was Canada's sixth goal. It looked like Canada was going to go the whole medal round without allowing a goal but Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin scored for the Russians with 7:13 left in the game to break that streak. Nathan finished the tournament with 10 games played, 4 goals and 9 points.

Nathan MacKinnon and Team Canada celebrating Gold
Photo - Edmonton Oilers twitter

Earlier in the day, Jakub Voracek and the host Czech Republic played the United States in the bronze medal game. The Czechs were defeated on home ice; 3-0 to place fourth in the tournament. Voracek had 3 shots during the game. Jakub finished the tournament with 3 goals and 10 points in 10 games.


Congrats to Team Canada on winning Gold, Team Russia on getting Silver and Team United States on winning Bronze.

Canada Moves On To Semis

One will play for Gold, one will play for Bronze.

Former Halifax Mooseheads players Jakub Voracek and Nathan MacKinnon will try to help lead their country to the gold medal game when they battle against each other in the semi finals tomorrow morning. Voracek and Team Czech Republic are trying to better their finish from last year where they lost in the bronze medal game to Sweden. While Team Canada, with Cole Harbour natives MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby, were finally able to get past the quarterfinals this year, a feat they haven't achieved since the 2009 IIHF Worlds. Canada defeated Belarus 9-0 on Thursday morning to make it into the semis while Czech Republic were able to beat the defending silver-medalists from Finland 5-3 in the afternoon.

The two players last met on May 4 in the preliminary round with Canada doubling the Czechs in scoring in a 6-3 win. Both Nathan and Jakub had an assist in that game. Voracek has 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points while MacKinnon also has 3 goals but 5 assists for 8 points.

Game time is 10:15AM Atlantic time on Saturday. You can catch it on 4 of the 5 TSN feeds; 1, 3, 4 & 5. Good luck to both teams and both players. Cheer them on Moose Country!

Where are the Mooseheads drafting?

We're now a month away from the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft that will be held in Sherbrooke, QC on June 6th. Final Central Scouting Services draft rankings for players were released yesterday with Halifax MacDonald's Shane Bowers ranked 3rd.

Your Halifax Mooseheads released their draft picks this morning. For the first time since 2011, Halifax will be drafting in the first round. The Mooseheads have drafted higher than they are this year only 6 times in their history. Cam Russell and the Herd's management team will hop on the podium 7th. The Saint John Sea Dogs won the coin flip between them and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Saint John received the pick from Cape Breton in the Oliver Leblanc trade. CB originally got the pick in a trade with the Drummondville Voltigeurs. 

Here is the full list of where your Moose will be drafting as of today. 

Round 1 7th overall

Round 2 25th overall

Round 2 30th overall (Baie-Comeau)

Round 3 43rd overall

Round 3 47th overall (Chicoutimi - Sherbrooke)

Round 4 61st overall

Round 6 94th overall (Chicoutimi) 

Round 6 97th overall

Round 7 115th overall

Round 7 120th overall (Baie-Comeau)

Round 8 133rd overall

Round 9 151st overall 

Round 10 169th overall

Round 11 187th overall 

Round 12 205th overall

Round 13 223rd overall

Round 14 241st overall

Check back on June 7 for a full recap of the Herd's draft. Follow @HFXMooseheads on Twitter during the draft for live coverage. 

President Cup Schedule Released

Not only do former Halifax Mooseheads players Zach Fucale, Matt Murphy and Brian Lovell get a second chance to win the Memorial Cup, they now get another chance to win the President Cup as well. With the performance from Fucale, who took the starting job from Calum Booth in the playoffs, the Quebec Remparts swept the Moncton Wildcats in the third round.

The QMJHL semi finals were over quickly as the Rimouski Oceanic also swept their 3rd round opponent; the defending president cup champions Val-d'or Foreurs. The Oceanic will also play in the Memorial Cup at the end of May as the Quebec league representative.

Full schedule below:
Game 1 Tuesday May 5 at 7pm Quebec vs. Rimouski
Game 2 Friday May 8 at 7pm Quebec vs. Rimouski
Game 3 Sunday May 10 at 3pm Rimouski vs. Quebec
Game 4 Wednesday May 13 at 7pm Rimouski vs. Quebec
*Game 5 Friday May 15 at 7pm Quebec vs. Rimouski
*Game 6 Sunday May 17 at 3pm Rimouski vs. Quebec
*Game 7 Monday May 18 at 7pm Quebec vs. Rimouski

All times Eastern
* if neccesary 

Poll #10: Question

With the end of the season done for your Halifax Mooseheads, the attention now shifts to the drafts. GM Cam Russell and the rest of the team staff will look forward to the QMJHL Entry Draft on June 6 and the CHL Import Draft on June 30th. Two players on the team will be looking forward to the NHL draft on June 26 in Sunrise, Florida.

Timo Meier is the highest ranked Q league player in this year's draft. I ask you this, where do you think will get drafted in Sunrise?

1. Philadelphia Flyers (7th)
2. Columbus Blue Jackets (8th)
3. San Jose Sharks (9th)
4. Colorado Avalanche (10th)
5. Florida Panthers (11th)
6. Dallas Stars (12th)
7. Los Angeles Kings (13th)
8. Boston Bruins (14th)
9. 15th-30th