Herd Announce Team Awards

Earlier this month, your Halifax Mooseheads announced their team award winners with videos showing clips of each recipient from the 2016-17 season. There seemed to be less awards given out this year which is why I waited to see if there would be more. Nico Hischier and Max Fortier led the team all season and both players were the winners of two awards each.

Scotia Fuels Trophy: Alexis Gravel
Scotiabank Centre Trophy: Brett Crossley
AVIS Award: Jordan Lepage
Eastlink Trophy: Otto Somppi
Sarah Morris Memorial Award: Maxime Fortier
Steele Subaru Trophy: Jared McIsaac
Sue Moore Fan's Choice Award: Nico Hischier
Tim Hortons Trophy: Maxime Fortier
Steele Auto Group Trophy: Nico Hischier

Top Herd

Now that the regular season is over, I will be awarding my overall Top Herd player award. This season I decided not to do a poll as there was one clear winner in my opinion. 

And the winner is....

Alexis Gravel

In just his rookie season, Alexis Gravel showed that the Halifax Mooseheads made the right decision selecting him in the second round of the QMJHL draft. Gravel was 5th in the league in minutes played and first among rookies with 2628 minutes. Alexis was in the top 20 during the regular season for save percentage. He'll be the backbone for the Herd over the next few years.

Here is the list of my Top Herd that I have done this season. I didn't name one every game. 
Sept 24  Saint John - Benoit-Olivier Groulx
Oct 1      Cape Breton - Keigan Goetz
Oct 7      Rimouski - Maxime Fortier
Oct 8      Charlottetown - Alexis Gravel
Oct 10    Gatineau - Nico Hischier
Oct 21    Rouyn-Noranda - Kevin Resop
Oct 23    Val-d'Or - Jared McIsaac
Oct 25    Acadie-Bathurst - Nico Hischier
Oct 29    Cape Breton - Otto Somppi
Nov 11   Sherbrooke - Maxime Fortier
Nov 12   Charlottetown - Nico Hischier
Nov 24   Quebec - Jocktan Chainey
Nov 27   Moncton - Alexis Gravel
Dec 17   Moncton - Otto Somppi
Dec 31   Cape Breton - Raphael Lavoie
Jan 6      Moncton - Frederic Aube
Jan 7      Saint John - Blade Mann-Dixon
Jan 11    Charlottetown - Blade Mann-Dixon
Jan 13    Drummondville - Alexis Gravel
Jan 15    Victoriaville - Arnaud Durandeau
Jan 19    Chicoutimi - Alexis Gravel
Jan 20    Baie-Comeau - Nico Hishier
Feb 3      Saint John - Jake Coughler
Feb 12    Shawinigan - Alexis Gravel
Feb 20    Moncton - Joel Bishop
Mar 15   Charlottetown - Jake Coughler
Mar 17   Cape Breton - Alexis Gravel
Mar 18   Saint John - Keigan Goetz

Canada, Switzerland in Quarters at U18s

Three Mooseheads have extended their season with some strong play at the under 18 world championships.

Jared McIsaac, Jocktan Chainey and Team Canada are onto the quarterfinals after finishing the preliminary round with 2 wins, an overtime win and a loss. Halifax's rookie goaltender Alexis Gravel is on the Canadian squad as well but has yet to play a game. Canada will faceoff against Team Sweden. McIsaac has 2 assists while Chainey has pitched in with 4 helpers. Jocktan is among the leaders in plus/minus with a +4.

Nico Hischier and Team Switzerland finished fourth in their group with one win and 3 losses. They'll be in tough during their quarterfinal matchup as they take on Team United States. Hischier leads the Swiss with 5 points, all assists.

Both games that Herd players are in will be played on Thursday in Spisska Nova Vas, Slovakia.
Good luck to Canada and Switzerland in the playoff round.

Former Herd Wins German Championship

Photo - Abeltshauser's Facebook page

It's been another great season for Konrad Abeltshauser and EHC Munchen. After finishing with a 31-12-5-4 (W-L-OTW-OTL) record, EHC were the number 1 seed at the end of the 2016-17 regular season.

Abeltshauser, a Halifax Mooseheads alumni, was awarded the DEL Defenseman of the Year trophy. The 24 year old had 10 goals and 31 points in 52 games played, to lead the Red Bulls in defenceman points.

EHC Munchen swept their first round in the playoffs against the Fischtown Penguins and than took a 4-1 series win over Eisbaren Berlin in the semi-finals. This set up a rematch with EHC Wofsbang for the championship. In the end the Red Bulls were victorious for the second straight year, winning the series 4-1.

Congratulations to Konrad and EHC Munchen on being champions again!

5 Mooseheads on Final Draft Rankings

The National Hockey League regular season is over so for 14 teams their attention turns to the 2017 entry draft. Yesterday, the Central Scouting Service has released its final draft rankings for the upcoming NHL Draft.

Even though it was another rebuilding year, not as much as last year however, scouts for pro teams were impressed with players on a young Halifax Mooseheads team. Leading off the rankings for boys on the Herd is rookie Nico Hischier who has risen up the draft rankings throughout the season and is projected to go second overall in June. After a very strong first year in Halifax where the 18 year old won rookie of the year, offensive rookie of the year, top professional prospect, and was also named to the rookie all star team. He had 86 points (38G & 48A) in 57 games played.

The next ranked Moose player is sophomore defenseman Jocktan Chainey at #126. With his solid defensive play, even though he was out with injury to start the season, Chainey had 24 points on the season with 4 goals and 20 assists.

Previously not ranked on the mid-term rankings by the CSS, second year forward Arnaud Durandeau was ranked #177 in Tuesday's list. The Beaconsfield, Quebec native had 41 points on the season scoring 15 goals, a jump from his rookie season total.

Ranked at 181 is Max Fortier who is going into his second draft. This season he led the team in scoring with 87 points, recording 32 goals and assisting on 55 others. He became one of the leaders on the team with a lot of the younger players. Many fans and media personnel who follow the Mooseheads are curious to see if the fourth year right winger will get drafted this time around after dazzling Moose Country all year long.

Finally, at #193 is defenseman Walter Flower. Despite missing some time in his second season with injuries, the Lunenburg, NS native showed that he has solid defensive play. Flower picked up 10 points in 47 games but was more involved in the physical side of the game this season as well.

Despite being injured for most of 2016-17, Brandon Wheat Kings forward Nolan Patrick is ranked number one on the list. Patrick has played two seasons in the WHL, so that has given scouts lots of opportunity to look at him prior to his draft year.

There are 29 QMJHL hopefuls that want to hear their names on draft day. The draft is being held in Chicago at the United Center on June 23 and 24, 2017.

Hischier Awarded for Strong Rookie Campaign

Photo - John Moore

It was a big night for Swiss native Nico Hischier on Wednesday at the league awards ceremony. Last night, the QMJHL held their annual Golden Pucks awards gala in Quebec City. Three Mooseheads were up for awards yesterday but Hischier was the lone Herd to win.

Nico won the Michael Bossy Trophy as the top professional prospect in the Q. The 18 year old is ranked #2 in all NHL draft rankings behind Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Hischier also was named the QMJHL Rookie of the Year over fellow teammate Jared McIsaac. He led all rookies in scoring with 86 points, 23 more than the next player; Ivan Kosorenkov. Nico was also up for the Paul Dumont Trophy and the Q Social award but he lost both of them to Thomas Chabot (Saint John Sea Dogs) and Cameron Askew (Shawinigan Cataractes) respectively.

Maxime Fortier was nominated for Sportsman of the Year but the Frank J Selke  Trophy was awarded to Hugo Roy of the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Wednesday evening. Roy only had two minor penalties in 68 games played during the regular season.

Jared McIsaac, Nico Hischier and Alexis Gravel were also all named to the QMJHL Rookie All-Star Team.

Photo - Mooseheads twitter

At the first home game of the Mooseheads playoffs, two awards were handed out. McIsaac was handed the Raymond Legace Trophy as the defensive rookie of the year. He beat out teammate Alexis Gravel and Xavier Bouchard of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar for the award. Hischier was given the Michael Bergeron Trophy as the offensive rookie of the year. The other nominees were Ivan Kosorenkov of the Victoriaville Tigres and Sherbrooke Phoenix's Anderson MacDonald.

For a full list of winners, click here.

Congratulations to all winners especially Nico and Jared.

Mooseheads Named to U18s

Well the Halifax Mooseheads might be out of the 2017 QMJHL playoffs but that doesn't mean the hockey season is over for all the players. Three young men who played the past year on the Herd's back end were told today that they were on the upcoming U18 Canadian and Swiss World Championship teams. Rookie goaltender Alexis Gravel plus defensemen Jared McIsaac and Jocktan Chainey have been called upon by Hockey Canada to represent their country at the 2017 under-18's in Slovakia. The tournament will be played April 13 to 23 in two different host cities. Scoring sensation Nico Hischier is on Team Switzerland's roster for the international championship.

The four players will meet each other in pre-tournament play on April 10th and during the preliminary round on Monday April 17. You can watch all Team Canada's matches on TSN. Click the following link for the full schedule and more info on the tournament; http://u18worlds2017.iihf.com/.

Congratulations to these young men who get to represent their countries and good luck to both teams. I'll try to keep you updated on how they're doing.

PLAYOFF GAMEDAY #6: at Rouyn-Noranda

GAMEDAY

ROUYN-NORANDA HUSKIES vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 8:00pm

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

Arena Iamgold (2,150) ~ Rouyn-Noranda, QC

It's do or die for your Halifax Mooseheads. What do the two teams have in them after that over 100 minute game on Friday night? Luckily both clubs were able to take a couple of days off and will be looking for different outcomes in tonight's match. The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are coming into this evening's game as heavy favourites with a 3-2 series lead. Halifax meanwhile hope to force a game seven in a series that no one except probably the Mooseheads themselves thought they would even be in. With a victory on Wednesday evening on home ice, the Moose became the only 15th place team to win two games in a series versus a second seed since the current playoff format was introduced in 2010-11. No matter what happens tonight in Rouyn, playing in 6 games during the playoffs is a big accomplishment for such a young team and it's making fans excited again. The future is bright for Alexis Gravel, Nico Hischier, Jared McIsaac, Benoit-Olivier Groulx and company and the experiences of this season will be invaluable for the next few years for this team.

PLAYOFF SERIES
Game 1 Mar 24  Mooseheads 5 at Huskies 4
Game 2 Mar 25  Mooseheads 2 at Huskies 3 OT
Game 3 Mar 28  Huskies 2 at Mooseheads 0
Game 4 Mar 29  Huskies 1 at Mooseheads 3
Game 5 Mar 31  Huskies 6 at Mooseheads 5 3OT
Game 6 Apr 3  Mooseheads at Huskies
Game 7 Apr 4  Mooseheads at Huskies

NOT PLAYING - Barrett Dachyshyn (injured) and Joel Bishop (suspended) are for sure

TONIGHT'S GAMES
Olympiques at Screaming Eagles - 7:00pm

UP NEXT: Depends on what happens tonight, if Mooseheads win the two teams will meet Tuesday night in Rouyn-Noranda.