Herd Word

Welcome to the new year. As it's been the holidays, I've been busy so instead of writing individual stories about news that has happened the last few days, I thought I would do a Herd Word.

FUCALE
Former Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale led Team Canada to a championship once again. Fucale was playing in the Spengler Cup last week and went into the tournament as a backup. However after Drew MacIntyre struggled in the first game, the 21 year old started the second preliminary game and had a 33 save performance as the Canadians won 4-3 over host HC Davos. He was than the starter for the rest of the tournament. The Rosemere, QC native performed quite well the rest of the week to help Hockey Canada back to the gold medal game. Team Canada played HC Lugano for the Spengler Cup and Zach stopped 40 shots en route to a 5-2 victory.

HISCHIER
Switzerland has improved on their 9th place finish from last year's World Junior championship and in part it's because of the great tournament Mooseheads rookie Nico Hischier had over the past week. Hischier, who turns 18 tomorrow, led the Swiss in scoring during the tourney with 4 goals and 7 points. One of his goals was an overtime winner last Tuesday against the Czech Republic. He scored again on Friday in regulation versus Denmark which also ended in extra time. The 4 points Team Switzerland picked up gave them a quarter-final berth where they would play the United States on Monday. The rookie had two really great goals but his performance wasn't enough to get his team to the semis because of a great save by the American goaltender in the last 5 minutes of the game which prevented Nico scoring a hat trick. Hischier was named player of the game as well as one of Switzerland's 3 best players of the tournament.

https://twitter.com/mikemorrealeNHL/status/816096671016898560

RESOP
According to the Miramichi Timberwolves, they have acquired the MHL rights of Herd goaltender Kevin Resop from the St. Stephen's Aces. The Mooseheads have not said anything about a trade or demotion of Resop but it's assumed that he will not be back with Halifax as the Moose traded for goalie Blade Mann-Dixon. Will be interesting to see what happens now for Kevin. Wherever he ends up, Moose Country would like to say good luck!

SATURDAY
As you may know, the game this coming Saturday versus the Saint John Sea Dogs is going to be broadcasted on Sportsnet. Because the match up is on national television, the puck drop for it has been changed to 4:00pm. So come out and support the boys against one of the best teams in the QMJHL this weekend. It should be an exciting game.

CHAINEY
It was announced on Monday that defenseman Jocktan Chainey has been suspended for 4 games after a hit that occurred during the December 30th game in Cape Breton. He will be eligible to return on Sunday afternoon when the Mooseheads visit Saint John. For video and full explanation, click here.

Photo - Eagles website

HURLEY CUP
Talking about the Screaming Eagles, they swept your Mooseheads in the home and home series late last week which gave them the first ever Hurley Cup. For a number of years now, the two provincial rivals have had back to back games against each other after the holiday break and wear special blue jerseys that get raffled off for Feed Nova Scotia normally. This season, the teams decided to add another aspect to the series in which the team with the most goals over the two games wins the Hurley Cup. For more info on how it worked, click here. Cape Breton won both games and had a 11-5 goal advantage.

UP NEXT
Your Halifax Mooseheads start 2017 by taking a trip to New Brunswick today to visit the Moncton Wildcats. Game time is 7pm and it's Camo Night at the Moncton Coliseum. The two teams will play again on Friday evening in Halifax. Friday's match will be shown on Eastlink TV and it's Teddy Bear Toss night at the Scotiabank Centre. Don't forget to bring a stuffed animal to the game so you can throw it on the ice when the Herd score their first goal of the game.