Abeltshauser traded, Fitzgerald invited to SJ camp

There's been a couple of news bits from the San Jose Sharks involving current and former Mooseheads today.

Timo Meier & Cavan Fitzgerald
Photo - Halifax Mooseheads twitter

According to Mikael Lalancette, current Herd defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald has been invited to the Sharks development camp later this summer. The 18 year old finished the season with 4 goals and 27 assists. Fitzgerald had a pretty good season with Halifax and was a big part of the Mooseheads powerplay. He will join teammate Timo Meier in San Jose, after Meier was drafted 9th overall by the Sharks on Friday night. 

The Sharks also announced today that they had acquired a conditional 7th round pick in the 2016 National Hockey League draft from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for former Moose d-man Konrad Abeltshauser. 

Lalancette also reported that former and current Quebec Rempart defenseman Matt Murphy has been invited to the Pittsburgh Penguins development camp. 

No dates have been released for either development camp. 

NHL Draft

The 2015 National Hockey League entry draft was held this weekend in Sunrise, Florida.

• Well the first 2 picks in this year's draft went the way it was predicted to with the Edmonton Oilers drafting Connor McDavid of the OHL's Erie Otters and Boston University's Jack Eichel going to the Buffalo Sabres.
• Once again a player from the Halifax Mooseheads was the first QMJHL player selected. A total of 30 Q players were drafted in the 7 rounds. Saint John had the most players drafted this year with 7 all together including 2 that went in the first round. 
• Timo Meier was selected by the San Jose Sharks 9th overall, higher than he was projected to be drafted. He joins Konrad Abeltshauser in the Sharks system.
• American forward Connor Moynihan did not get drafted while Herd prospect John Marino was selected 154th overall by Edmonton.
• For the first time ever, a Chinese player has been drafted into the NHL. Andong Song moved to Canada but was born in China, he was selected by the New York Islanders. 
• The 2016 NHL draft will be hosted by the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, NY.

Former Moose Commit to Dalhousie

Two former Halifax Mooseheads players will continue to their hockey careers in the university ranks this season. Jesse Lussier and Philippe Gadoury have both committed to the Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Lussier; a Petawawa, ON native, played a season and a half with the Moose before getting traded to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at the Christmas trade deadline. In 83 games with Halifax, the 21-year-old defenseman collected 31 points. Jesse had 8 points in 28 games with Chicoutimi.

“Lussier is a solid defenceman who will bring great presence to the team,” says Donnelly. “He has great mobility and will enhance our defence right away.”

Gadoury also played a season and a half with Halifax after being signed by the team in January 2014. The Greenfield Park, QC native was one of the Herd's overage players this past season. Phil was one of the top scorers on the team, scoring 28 goals and 57 points in 2014-15. The 21-year-old had 20 goals and 6 assists in his first season with the Moose.

“I am very excited to join an organization like the Tigers and start my commerce program at Dalhousie,” says Gadoury. “I am sure it will be a great experience.”

The two will join another Moose alumni on the team, Halifax native Brendan Duke.



Photos: halifaxmooseheads.ca

Herd Word: Draft and Championship Weekend

QJHL logo
Photo - wikipedia

QJHL
According to The Q News, a few of your Halifax Mooseheads property were selected in the Quebec Junior Hockey League draft on Saturday. Over 70 players were chosen, here are the Herd players picked:
74th overall - Dominik Blain-Dupuis
115th overall - Tristan Tardif
122nd overall - Domennico Argento
132nd overall - Raphael Blais

Blain-Dupuis, Tardif & Argento were all selected in the 2014 QMJHL draft and each played a few games during the 2014-15 season with the Mooseheads with Argento playing 21 games. Blais was drafted last weekend by the Herd.

SUPPLEMENTARY DRAFT
The QMJHL supplementary draft was held this weekend during the MHL draft on Saturday and the players selected were released earlier today. 62 players were selected. Here are the Halifax players selected:
County - Samuel Hunter
South Shore - Connor Moynihan
South Shore - Maxime Fortier
Summerside - Kevin Resop
Campbelton - Taylor Ford

CALDER CUP
The American Hockey League champions was decided this weekend with the Manchester Monarchs coming out on top versus the Utica Comets in 5 games. Halifax had a vested interest in both teams as their were a former Herd on each team. Andrew Bodnarchuk helped the Monarchs win their first ever Calder Cup with 6 assists in the playoffs. Alexandre Grenier chipped in to the Comets offence with 6 goals and 15 points in the playoffs, including one in the finals in their only victory of the series but it wasn't enough to help the team win the Cup.

KELLY CUP

Photo - ECHL twitter

Konrad Abeltshauser is a champion again! The former Herd, along with another one Garrett Clarke and their Allen Americans were victorious in game 7 of the Kelly Cup finals to become ECHL champions. Abeltshauser chipped in with 5 goals and 11 assists during the playoffs. Clarke had no points in 5 games played during the playoffs. They defeated the South Carolina Stingrays 6-1 in the final game to claim the trophy.

Congratulations to all the players who were drafted as well as becoming champions.

Moose Opening Season On Road

Scotiabank Centre
Photo - The Chronicle Herald

The Halifax Mooseheads have released their schedule for the 2015-16 regular season.

For the third straight year, the Herd will be opening the season on the road, this time versus the Charlottetown Islanders. Halifax will travel to the island for a game on September 11 with the puck dropping at 7pm.  They'll then travel to Saint John to take on the Sea Dogs the following night.

Other highlights from the schedule:

• Halifax's first game at the newly renovated Scotiabank Centre will be on September 18 when they host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 7pm
• The Mooseheads will have their first Quebec road trip October 2-4 when they visit the Sherbrooke Phoenix, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Drummondville Voltigeurs
• Once again, Halifax will host a game on New Year's Eve. This year it will be apart of the Battle of Nova Scotia event when Cape Breton visits Moose Country for a game currently scheduled at 6pm. The two teams will play in Sydney on December 29 at the normal 7pm. 
• Halifax's longest home stand will be 5 games, happening twice during the season (Dec. 4-17 and Jan. 5-14) while the longest road trip will be six games (Jan. 16-30)
• The Herd's final home game will be on March 12 against the Islanders and will meet the team a week later for Halifax's last regular season game on March 19 in Charlottetown

Events will be announced at a later date. Halifax will start the pre-season on August 15, that schedule was announced on Wednesday. 

UPDATE: Crossley, Prospects Drafted By MHL Teams

A few new prospects of your Halifax Mooseheads were drafted into the Maritime Hockey League today.

Halifax native Brett Crossley, who played with the Moose this past season, was drafted by the Yarmouth Jr. A Mariners in the 7th round. The Mariners had the 9th pick in that round. Crossley scored 6 times and added 2 assists in 58 games played in the 2014-15 season. Five picks earlier, the Pictou County Weeks Crushers drafted Herd prospect Barrett Dachyshyn with the 4th selection in the 7th round. Dachyshyn was picked by Halifax in the 2014 QMJHL draft and has been playing for the Halifax MacDonald's for the past 2 seasons.

Just a week after being drafted by the Mooseheads in the QMJHL draft; Denis Toner, Walter Flower and Ben Higgins were also selected in the draft. Toner was picked 11th overall by the Woodstock Slammers, Flower was picked 123rd overall by the Bridgewater Lumberjacks while Higgins was selected 2 spots later by the Truro Bearcats.

Congrats to all players who were drafted today.

Preseason schedule released

HALIFAX - The Halifax Mooseheads have released their preseason schedule for the upcoming season.

The Herd will play three different teams this year between August 15 and September 3. Halifax will play four games against provincial rivals; the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles plus a game against the Charlottetown Islanders and Moncton Wildcats each.

Truro will once again host a Mooseheads game at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre on August 22. It will be an interesting camp this year with about 6 players from this past season's team fighting for the three overage spots. Ticket prices for the preseason games have not been announced but when they are I will let you know.

Here is the 2015-16 pre-season schedule:
August 15  Cape Breton at Halifax   7pm    Halifax Forum
August 16  Halifax at Moncton   4pm    Moncton Red Ball Internet Centre
August 22  Charlottetown at Halifax   7pm    Rath Eastlink Community Centre - Truro
August 23  Halifax at Cape Breton   4pm    Emera Centre Northside
August 29  Halifax at Cape Breton   7pm    Centre 200
September 3  Cape Breton at Halifax   7pm    Halifax Forum

We don't know when the Moose will begin the regular season yet. Check here in August for news and previews during the preseason.

Falkenham Not To Play Next Season

Photo - halifaxmooseheads.ca

Sad news Moose Country; the captain of your 2014-15 Halifax Mooseheads will undergo season ending surgery.

19 year old Ryan Falkenham had surgery on his hips during the off season last year but was able to come back in time to play most of this past season. According to the press release by the team, the Halifax native had surgery on Friday and will have a more complex one in December. As the 2015-16 season would have been his last year in the QMJHL, April 21st was his last junior game.

Read what Ryan had to say about the news from his doctor here.

Good luck Ryan during surgery, hope it heals quickly. We will miss your leadership on the ice and your personality off the ice. Hope this doesn't permanently end your hockey career.

QMJHL DRAFT: Even More Local Flavour

Here's a recap of today's QMJHL draft that was held in Sherbrooke, Quebec. A list of the players your Halifax Mooseheads drafted are below.

Your Herd chose 4 Nova Scotian players, hopefully a couple will make the roster this season, we need some more local guys on the team. Halifax also made a trade during the afternoon. The Moose traded the 31st and 62nd overall selections to Baie-Comeau for the 28th pick.

There was total of 16 kids drafted by your Mooseheads:
#7 Arnaud Durandeau (Lac St-Louis of the AAA in Quebec)
#26 Walter Flower (South Shore of the AAA in Nova Scotia)
#28 Ilya Putintsev (Boston of USPHL in Massachusetts)
#44 Jordan Lepage (College Notre-Dome of the AAA in Quebec)
#48 Mathieu Charlebois (Esther-Blondin of the AAA in Quebec)
#95 Joel Bishop (St. John's of the AAA in Newfoundland)
#98 Raphael Blais (Select du Nord of Espoir in Quebec)
#116 Shawn Kennedy (Chateuguay of the AAA in Quebec)
#121 Ben Higgins (Pictou of the AAA in Nova Scotia)
#134 Denis Toner (Fredericton of the AAA in New Brunswick)
#152 Cooper Jones (Boston of the ECEU16 in Massachusetts)
#170 Ryan MacDonald (Newbridge of the AAA in Nova Scotia)
#188 Dallas Farrell (Notre-Dame of the AAA in Prince Edward Island)
#206 Kirklin Allen (Halifax of the AAA in Nova Scotia)
#224 Marc-Olivier Gilbert (Charles-Lemoyne of Espoir in Quebec)
#242 Matthew Fawcett (Providence of the USPHL in Rhode Island)

Mooseheads first round pick; Arnaud Durandeau 7th overall
Photo - QMJHL Facebook page

The Saint John Sea Dogs once again had the first overall pick this year after winning the coin flip last month. After 15 year old Joseph Veleno received word that he got exceptional status, no surprise the Dogs picked him in the #1 spot. Cape Breton selected the first Nova Scotia born player 4th overall in Shane Bowers. 

Congratulations to the new Mooseheads players and to all the young boys who were drafted today by the 18 teams. 

Click here for the full list of draftees. 

Herd Word

2015 NHL Draft Combine logo
Photo - NHL.com

NHL COMBINE
The National Hockey League 2015 combine begins today in Buffalo. Your Halifax Mooseheads will have one player in the state of New York this week. Timo Meier, a second year Swiss forward, was listed among the 120 invitees that was released last week. He'll be looking to show the scouts what he has. Meier is going into the draft ranked #8 by Craig Button. Don't forget to vote on the poll of where you think the 18 year old will end up getting drafted (poll is off to the side).

Q DRAFT
The QMJHL draft is fast approaching. The Mooseheads will have their first pick at 7th overall on Saturday afternoon in Sherbrooke. It's the first 1st round pick that Halifax has had since 2011. See the full list of where Cam Russell and the Herd will be drafting here.

JORDAN BOYD HOCKEY CHALLENGE
The organizers for the Jordan Boyd Hockey Challenge announced last week that there will be another day of competition again this summer. The date will be August 8, 2015 at the BMO Centre in Bedford. Six professional players have already been announced with more to come I am sure. Former Mooseheads Andrew Bodnarchuk and Brad Marchand will be playing with local players to raise money for the Jordan Boyd Leadership Award. Boyd past away on August 12, 2013 after collapsing on the ice during training camp with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The event last year raised over 100,000 dollars.

15-16 SCHEDULE
The schedule for the 2015-2016 QMJHL season should be released sometime in the next 7 days. I will keep you updated to when it is released and once the events for your Moose are announced (which probably will not be until August) I will post them on my blog. The teams are putting the finishing touches on their schedules.

MEMORIAL CUP

2015 Memorial Cup champs; Oshawa Generals
Photo - theqmjhl.ca

The 2015 Memorial Cup champs were crowned last night. Zach Fucale, Matt Murphy and Brian Lovell were unable to claim their second Memorial Cup rings after losing to the Kelowna Rockets in the semi final game, 9-3. Fucale played the whole 60 minutes making 35 saves while Lovell did not play in the tournament at all. Kelowna played the Oshawa Generals for national bragging rights but lost in overtime. Anthony Cirelli scored in regulation and than again at 1:12 into the first OT period to clinch the 2-1 victory for the Generals.

Congratulation to Oshawa on being the 2015 national champs!