Opening Night Roster Announced

YOUR 2017-18 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

1  Alexis Gravel  G  (Asbestos, QC)
2  Cooper Jones  D  (Bridgewater, MA, USA)
3  Walter Flower  D  (Lunenburg, NS)
5  Jordan Lepage  D  (Rimouski, QC)
7  Ryan Barbosa  D  (Mississauga, ON)
9  Kyle Petten  C  (Bay Roberts, NL)*
11  Filip Zadina  RW  (Pardubice, Czech Republic)*
12  Patrick Kyte  D  (Pembroke, ON)*
14  Jared McIsaac  D  (Truro, NS)
17  Brett Crossley  C  (Cole Harbour, NS)
19  Benoit-Olivier Groulx  LW  (Gatineau, QC)
20  Justin Barron  D  (Halifax, NS)*
21  Arnaud Durandeau  LW  (Beaconsfield, QC)
28  Ben Higgins  C  (Truro, NS)
35  Blade Mann-Dixon  G  (Antigonish, NS)
41  Maxime Fortier  RW  (Montreal, QC)
50  Raphael Lavoie  C  (Chambly, QC)
51  Barrett Dachyshyn  RW  (Halifax, NS)
61  Joel Bishop  LW  (St. John's, NL)
67  Xavier Parent  C  (Blainville, QC)*
71  Connor Moynihan  LW  (Windham, NH, USA)
79  Jocktan Chainey  D  (Asbestos, QC)
89  Otto Somppi  C  (Helsink, Finland)

*indicates rookie

CAMP: Final Cuts Made

Photo - Mooseheads website

It's the end of August and your Halifax Mooseheads are the latest team to finalize it's roster for the upcoming season. The official roster with player's numbers has not been released yet however Jim Midgley and the head brass have made their last cuts of training camp. Below are the players released:

Gavin Hart     C    Truro, NS
Cole Stewart     C    Moncton, NB
Jack McGovern     D    Dartmouth, NS
Denis Toner     D    Saint-Andre, NB
Caleb Rich     LW    North Bay, ON

Good luck to these young men this season with their teams.

Rookie Filip Zadina will arrive in Halifax this weekend and start participating in team practices starting on Tuesday when the Moose switch to the Forum next week.

CAMP: Roster Almost Set After Weekend Cuts

Photo - Mooseheads website

Your Halifax Mooseheads announced two more rounds of cuts in the last 48 hours. Halifax released three players on Saturday morning. Forward Miguel Duchaine, defenceman Victor Latulippe and goalie Raphael Blais were all cut from the team.

Early Monday, the Mooseheads made a big round of cuts releasing 6 players.
Ian MacPhee     RW    Timberlea, NS
Nick Cullen    RW    Lower Sackville, NS
Cole McLaren     G    Annapolis Royal, NS
Cole Waugh    RW     Moncton, NB
Steven Orzel     D     Mississauga, ON
Brandon Yeamans     C    Toronto, ON



Centre Zack Jones has left camp voluntarily leaving the amount young men on the roster at 27 players.

Pre-season Game at Cape Breton

Opponent: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Where: Membertou Sport & Wellness Centre
When: August 25, 2016
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $10.00

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 3-1-0-0, 6pts
Goals for: 17
Goals against: 14
Head coach: Jon Greenwood
Scoring leader: Xavier Parent & Caleb Rich (2G & 3A)
Leading goaltender: Raphael Blais (0.923 SAV%)

Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Preseason record: 1-1-1-1, 4pts
Goals for: 16
Goals against: 16
Head coach: Marc-Andre Dumont
Scoring leader: Antoine Rochon (4G & 2A)
Leading goaltender: Tommy DaSilva (0.885 SAV%)

Notes

• This is the second game of a home and home series between these two provincial rivals. Xavier Parent scored the OT winner on Wednesday to give the Mooseheads a victory.
• The two teams didn't meet during the rookie challenge over the weekend.
• Halifax and Cape Breton have young line-ups for tonight's game.
• You can find the roster for the Herd below

Poll #17

With a new regular season fast approaching, it's that time of year again that Cam Russell and his staff figure out who they want on their team and who should play leadership roles. With last year's captain aging out, Halifax has a decision to make yet again. So I ask you now who do you think should be given the C Moose Country?

Below are your options
A. Connor Moynihan
B. Jocktan Chainey
C. Max Fortier
D. Otto Somppi
E. Other

Herd Word

KENNEDY
It was announced last week that former Mooseheads forward Bradley Kennedy has committed to play with the Mount Royal University Cougars hockey program for the 2017-18 season. Before getting traded at the Christmas trade deadline he played 37 games with the Herd collecting 29 points. Kennedy came to the Herd from the Charlottetown Islanders in June 2016 and was shipped to the Moncton Wildcats in January to make room for incoming overage players. The 21 year old never played for Moncton, instead choosing to finish the season with the Pictou Weeks Crushers of the MJAHL.

HISCHIER
During the month of August, NHL.com is doing analysis of each of the 31 teams, called 31 in 31, in preparation of the upcoming season. Late last week they did the New Jersey Devils. Rick Kowalsky, of the Devils' American Hockey League affiliate Binghamton Devils, said that "this year's group is by far the best-skilled group we've had at a development camp"  and it's led by Halifax's 2016 import draft pick Nico Hischier. The 18 year old is projected to be in the National Hockey League this season.

"In Nico, you're looking at a player who has high hockey sense and is very competitive, and those are things you're looking for in someone to play down the middle," [New Jersey's coach John] Hynes said. "They have to have that ability to read and think the game quickly. Now it's trying to find ways to help him be consistent and play at his maximum capacity every night."

IVAN HLINKA
Earlier this month, Team Canada which was made up of eight QMJHL players, were in the Czech Republic for the Ivan Hlinka tournament and were playing in the gold medal game against Team Czech Republic. Of those eight Q players, three were from the Mooseheads; Alexis Gravel, Jared McIsaac and Benoit-Olivier Groulx. The team went on to win the championship by a 4-1 score with McIsaac opening up the scoring for the red and white in the first period in the final match.

Congratulations to @BO_groulx57, @McisaacJared, @agravel37 & Team Canada on winning the U18 #IvanHlinka Memorial Cup 🇨🇦🏒🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZIQb5QULTC

— Moose Country (@MC_MooseCountry) August 12, 2017

MOORE
It was announced that long time radio voice of the Herd John Moore has decided to step down to focus more on his own website and to look at a broader spectrum of sports. He is still going to be covering the Mooseheads and the QMJHL but there is going to be more MHL content as well as other leagues. We want to wish John all the best in the future. The search for the next voice of the Moose has already began.

ALUM AT CAMPS 
Main training camps around the league started to begin on Sunday and as such there are a few former Herd players among the names on team rosters.
Taylor Ford      Rouyn-Noranda Huskies     traded in Jan 2017
Domenico Argento      Charlottetown Islanders     free agent invite
Morgan Nauss     Chicoutimi Sagueneens     traded in Aug 2016

CUTS
This afternoon it was announced that there were four more cuts made at training camp. The following players are no longer in camp; Felix Gascon, William Smith, Fabian Capparelli, Maxime Emery. This leaves the amount of players fighting for a spot on the Moose team at 37 young men.

CAMP: First Cuts Made

Photo - Mooseheads website

The first few days of training camp are done and as such your Halifax Mooseheads have announced it's first round of cuts this afternoon. Halifax released 8 players today after looking at the group for about five days from the rookie tournament on the weekend and three intersquad games early this week.

Of the eight players cut, only two were drafted by the Herd while the others were free agent invites.

The following young men will not make the team:
Joshua Labelle     D    Mississauga, ON      Free agent
Curtis Heffernan     D    St. John's, NL      Free agent
Calum MacPherson     C    Antigonish, NS      Free agent
Andrew Martell     C    Dartmouth, NS      Free agent
Fearghus MacDonald     C    Antigonish, NS      Free agent
Brandon Stone     LW    Halifax, NS     Draft '16
Ryan MacDonald     C    Middle Sackville, NS      Draft '15
Adam Nolan     D    Mount Pearl, NL      Free agent


Good luck to the players with their respective teams this season.

Team White Wins Intrasquad Series

Photo - Halifax Mooseheads Twitter

Main camp got underway early Monday morning with all players reporting at 7:30am. The boys were split into two groups with one wearing white jerseys, the other sporting red for the intrasquad games. Normally Halifax does red & green scrimmages.

Game one began at 10am in front of a good crowd at Cole Harbour Place. Team Red came back from being a goal down in the third to win the game 4-3. 18 year old free agent invite Nick Cullen had two goals for the winners while Brett Crossley and rookie Ian McPhee scored for Team White.

In game 2 yesterday afternoon, Team White took a commanding 6-0 lead after forty minutes before winning the match 7-4. 16 year old 2016 draft pick Justin Barron had two assists for the winners while Patty Kyte, a free agent signing, and first year player Caleb Rich scored for Team Red.

The last match of the series was this morning where Team Red came back from being down two goals to tie the game at 4 goals a piece though they eventually lost in a shootout. Second year player Joel Bishop had two goals as well as the shoot out winner, Benoit Olivier Groulx also scored in the shoot out for White while Cullen and sophomore Raphael Lavoie scored for Team Red.

Your Mooseheads are set to take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tomorrow night in preseason action at The East Hants Sportsplex. Puck drop is at 7pm.

Herd Fall to Wildcats in Final

For a second straight year the Halifax Mooseheads found themselves playing in the championship game against the Moncton Wildcats in the Rookie Challenge. The Herd began their 2017 pre-season schedule going against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday afternoon. Moncton received goals from Colton McKenna and Jakob Pelletier in the first period to lead 2-0 before the Herd cut the lead in half getting a goal from Fearghus MacDonald. After 20 minutes of play they found themselves down 2-1. In the middle frame the Wildcats poured on the offence but scoring three to lead it 5-1 after 40 minutes of play. In the third trying to spark his team Miguel Duchaîne fought against Colton McKenna at the start of the period. The Mooseheads did get another goal from Gavin Hart, but it wasn't before Patrick Musico got one past Cole McLaren to make it a 6-2 final for the Wildcats as they take the championship.

Miguel Duchaine trying to give us a spark. pic.twitter.com/hEuVJ09sL3

— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) August 20, 2017

 

Game at a Glance
FINAL: Moncton 6 at Halifax 2
Halifax scorers: Fearghus Mac Donald and Gavin Hart
Moncton scorers: Colton McKenna, Jakob Pelletier (2), Brodie MacArthur, Jaxon Bellamy, and Patrick Muscio
Powerplay: HFX – 0/4, MON – 2/6
Shots: Mooseheads – 19, Wildcats – 39

Moose Get Chance to Repeat

It's Championship game day at the 2017 Rookie Challenge in Moncton, New Brunswick. The Moncton Wildcats have hosted the other 5 Maritime teams' prospects this weekend for a tournament that the QMJHL began so teams could better evaluate their draft picks and young free agent invites.

After winning their two preliminary games, including a dominate 6-1 victory on Saturday afternoon over the Acadie-Bathurst, your Halifax Mooseheads find themselves in the first place game today. The Moose will look to repeat as tournament champions after winning the HubCity Showcase last August. They'll go up against the Moncton Wildcats for the trophy at 4pm Atlantic time at the Superior Propane Centre. The two teams played in the last game last year as well.

Below is the full schedule for today (ranking after two prelim games in brackets)
10am  Fifth place game
(5) Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs (6)
1pm  Third place game
(3) Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Charlottetown Islanders (4)
4pm  First place game
(1) Halifax Mooseheads vs Moncton Wildcats (2)


Good luck to our Herd in the final game and also to all the other rookies.

OT Needed At Rookie Challenge

Photo - Rookie Challenge twitter

For a second straight year the Halifax Mooseheads found themselves playing from behind at the Moncton rookie tournament. The Herd began their 2017 pre-season schedule going against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday afternoon. Saint John received goals from Ben Reid and Alexandre Lafreniere in the first period and led 2-0 after 20 minutes but Halifax didn't back down in the middle frame. Free agent Patrick Kyte scored at 11:25 of the second period to tie the game at 2 for the Mooseheads. The red and white took a lead in the third and looked to be on it's way to winning it's first game of the weekend tournament however with 40 seconds left in regulation Kevin Mason was able to get the puck past 2017 10th round draft pick Maxime Emery to send the match to overtime. In the extra frame, Halifax's top 2 draft selections in June hooked up with each other for a nice play and defenseman Justin Barron scored the game winner.


Game at a Glance
FINAL: Halifax 5 at Saint John 4 OT
Halifax scorers: Kyle Petten, Patrick Kyte, Justin Barron (2), Felix Gascon
Saint John scorers: Ben Reid, Alexandre Lafreniere, Jeremie Jacob, Kevin Mason
Powerplay: HFX - 1/4, SNB - 0/1
Shots: Mooseheads - 28, Sea Dogs - 29

Team Canada Going For Gold

Photo - Mooseheads twitter

At the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia and Břeclav, Czech Republic 3 Halifax Mooseheads have led their country to the championship game again. Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Jared McIsaac, Alex Gravel and Team Canada are going for gold after a 4-1 win over Sweden earlier today.

McIsaac set up the eventual game winner, Groulx had the insurance goal along with an assist, and Gravel was the back up to Olivier Rodrigue. Team Canada will play Team Czech Republic tomorrow at 12pm Atlantic in the final match of the tournament.


So far for the tournament:
Benoit: 3 points (2G & 1A), 6 PIM
Jared: 2 assists, 4 PIM
Alexis: 1 GP, 3.69 GAA & .857 SAV%


Canada is currently 3-0-1 with their only loss being in a shoot out to Russia in the first game of the tournament. Czech Republic is 3-1 on the tournament with their only loss being a 7-3 one to Sweden.

Rookie Challenge Roster Announced

Your Halifax Mooseheads announced today the contingent that will participate in the Moncton Rookie Challenge tournament next weekend. The roster includes players born in 1999, 2000 & 2001 between free agent invites and draftees. Halifax is going into the tournament as defending champs, having won the inaugural version in 2016.

The rookie challenge runs from August 18-20 and all games will be played at the Superior Propane Centre in the New Brunswick's city. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now and you can buy a full tournament pass or a single day pass. You can follow along on Twitter at @HubCityShowcase

Roster below




Below is the full schedule
Friday August 18
1pm    Charlottetown Islanders vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan
4pm    Halifax Mooseheads vs. Saint John Sea Dogs
7pm    Moncton Wildcats vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

Saturday August 19
1pm    Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs. Halifax Mooseheads
4pm    Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs. Charlottetown Islanders
7pm    Moncton Wildcats vs. Saint John Sea Dogs

Sunday August 20
10am    6th vs. 5th
1pm      4th vs. 3rd
4pm      2nd vs. 1st

Herd Camp Opens Aug 17

The Halifax Mooseheads recently announced the schedule for the 2017 training camp. Rookie camp is slated to begin on August 17 with registration and medicals. There will be a small group of players born in 2000 that were on the team last season attending the first weekend of camp along with those 16 and 17 year olds who are trying to make the squad this year.

Below you will find the schedule for the first 2 weeks.
August 17
12-3pm                   Player registration & medicals
3pm                        Team meeting
4:30-6pm                Practice

August 18-20
Moncton Rookie Challenge        

August 21
7:30am                   All players report
10-11:30am            Intrasquad game
11:30am-1pm         Goalie practice
2:30-4pm                Intrasquad game

August 22
10am-noon             Intrasquad game
12-1pm                   Goalie practice
4pm                        Off-ice workout

August 23
7pm                        Pre-season game - Mooseheads vs. Cape Breton

August 24
10am-1pm              Practice
4pm                        Off-ice workout

August 25 
7pm                        Pre-season game - Mooseheads @ Cape Breton

August 26
10am-noon             Available ice
4pm                        Off-ice workout

August 27
2pm                        Pre-season game - Mooseheads @ Saint John

August 28
10am-noon             Available ice
4pm                        Off-ice workout

August 29-31
10am-noon             Practice
4pm                        Off-ice workout



For the full schedule click here.


All practices and intrasquad games are at Cole Harbour Place and are open to the public free of charge. I'm sure the first cuts will be made after the team gets back from the Moncton tournament. I will keep you up to date with news from camp.

3 Herd In Ivan Hlinka

Photo - BO Groulx's Twitter

Hockey Canada released the roster tonight for who will participate in the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Tournament next week. The announcement comes after an U18 development camp in Calgary during the past week. For the first time since 2012, your Halifax Mooseheads will have multiple players on the Team Canada roster.

Three players who were rookies for the Herd in 2016-17, will represent their country later this month. Forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx, defenceman Jared McIsaac and goaltender Alexis Gravel are among the 22 young men who will wear the red and white. All 3 are ranked to go in the first round of the 2018 NHL draft in June and this will be a great opportunity for them to improve on their draft position before playing their second junior season with Halifax in 2017-18. Gravel, McIsaac and Groulx all doned the maple leaf at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games so the trio aren't strangers to international completion.

The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup runs from August 7-12 in Breclav, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia. Eight countries will participate, Canada joins host Slovakia, Finland and Russia in Group B while in Group A, Czech Republic will host Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Our boys and Team Canada will begin the tournament on Monday against Russia. For the full roster, click here.

Follow me on Twitter to get up to date scores and stats. I'll also try to post some on the blog. Go Canada Go!