Official Roster Released

YOUR 2018-19 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS
1  Alexis Gravel  G  (Asbestos, QC)
2  Denis Toner  D  (Saint-Andre, NB)*
3  Walter Flower  D  (Lunenburg, NS)
9  Kyle Petten  LW  (Bay Roberts, NL)
12  Patrick Kyte  D  (Pembroke, ON)
14  Jared McIsaac  D  (Truro, NS)
15  Jordan Maher  RW  (Gander, NL)
16  Jake Ryczek  D  (Ludlow, MA, USA)
19  Benoit-Olivier Groulx  C  (Gatineau, QC)
20  Justin Barron  D  (Halifax, NS)
21  Arnaud Durandeau  LW  (Beaconsfield, QC)
26  Cole Stewart  RW  (Moncton, NB)*
28  Ben Higgins  RW  (Truro, NS)
29  Cole McLaren  G  (Annapolis Royal, NS)*
50  Raphael Lavoie  RW  (Chambly, QC)
61  Joel Bishop  LW  (St. John's, NL)
67  Xavier Parent  LW  (Blainville, QC)
79  Jocktan Chainey  D  (Asbestos, QC)
88  Antoine Morand  C  (Mercier, QC)
91  Marcel Barinka  C  (Prague, Czech Republic)*
94  Samuel Dube  C  Bad Tolz, Germany)*

*indicates rookie

CAMP: Final Cuts Made

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 Eric Veilleux and the head brass have made their final cuts of training camp. Below are the players released:

Gavin Hart     C    Truro, NS
Zachary Byard     D    Enfield, NS
Yannic Bastarache   RW    Bouctouche, NB
Sonny Katabay    C    Membertou , NS
Cole Larkin   D    Mermaid, PE
Jonathan Pickrem   G    Fall River, NS
Barrett Dachyshyn    C     Halifax, NS
Cooper Jones     D     Bridgewater, MA

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

The Mooseheads and first round import draft selection Samuel Fagemo are still in disscussions but he is slated to attend Arizona Coyotes rookie camp at the start of September.


Overage forward Barrett Dachyshyn and defenceman Cooper Jones were put on waivers on Monday. It is unknown if they were picked up by any teams.

CAMP: Big round of cuts

The Halifax Mooseheads announced it's first real round of cuts this morning which has reduced it's training camp roster down to 32 players. Five players had already left camp last weekend but it seemed to be voluntarily. 4 of the young men released this morning were draft picks of the Mooseheads while the other 6 were attending as free agent invites.

A lot of fans have been wondering when the team was going to makes it's first cuts as most teams have announced two or three rounds by now and were more than a week into camp. However, when you're the team that is hosting the Memorial Cup, it takes longer to make decisions I'm sure because you want to field the best team available.

Below is a list of who was cut:
F  Nathan MacMillan     Draft '18
D  Steven Orzel     FA invite
F  Justin Trudel     FA invite
D  Felix Gascon     Draft '17
G  Joel Goguen     FA invite
F  Nicholas French     FA invite
D  William Smith     Draft '16
F  Ian Watt     FA invite
D  Zacharie Bordeleau     Draft '18
G  Ewan MacDonald     FA invite

As I mentioned above this leaves 32 players in camp including 18 forwards, 11 defencemen and three goaltenders. Cam Russell said in a camp update yesterday that there will most likely be another round of cuts after this evening's game.


Don't forget the Mooseheads will face-off against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tonight at 7pm in Wolfville.

Pre-season Game vs Cape Breton

Opponent: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Where: Dartmouth 4 Pad
When: August 19, 2018
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $10.00

Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Preseason record: 1-0-0-0, 2pts
Goals for: 5
Goals against: 1
Head coach: Marc-Andre Dumont
Scoring leader: Tyler Hylland (3G & 1A)
Leading goaltender: Jacob Leblanc (1.000 SAV%)

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 0-1-0-0, 0pts
Goals for: 1
Goals against: 5
Head coach: Eric Vellieux
Scoring leader: Cole Stewart (1G)
Leading goaltender: Joel Goguen (0.882 SAV%)

Notes

• Halifax released two more players this morning; goaltender Simon Bucheler and forward Miguel Duchaine.
• This is the first game for the Mooseheads at the new Dartmouth 4 Pad.
• Both teams will most likely have young rosters for tonight.
• Follow @HFXMooseheads on Twitter for updates during the game.

CAMP: Another Intrasquiad Game Split

It was the second and final day of intrasquad games on Saturday and both teams came away with a victory.

Just like the matches yesterday, this morning's game was super close going to a shootout to determine the winner. Team White opened the scoring with a penalty shot by Antoine Morand. Rookie Samuel Dube tied it up for Green before Raphael Lavoie scored to give White a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period, the first of two goals he scored in the game. Before long regulation was over and both teams headed straight to a shootout with the match tied at 4 goals a piece. 2018 import draft pick Marcel Barinka had the shootout winner for White. Other goals scored for the losers were by Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Justin Trudel and Kyle Petten while Barinka added one in regulation as well.

In the early evening game, it looked like the teams would go to the intermission scoreless but Groulx scored with minutes left to give Team Green a 1-0 lead. After three high-scoring matches, it was surprising to see just one goal through 40 minutes of play but Green didn't want to keep it that way as they scored 3 goals in the final 8 minutes to win the game 4-0. Joel Bishop and Trudel scored while the fourth goal was tipped in by someone. The two teams played 3 on 3 overtime for 10 minutes to end the series of scrimmages.

Late Saturday evening, the Mooseheads announced that three players have left training camp on their own accord; defenceman Stephen Davis, forward Ethan Phillips and goaltender Noah Battaglia. Phillips and Davis left camp to keep their NCAA eligibility. Both players were drafted in the 2018 QMJHL entry draft while Battaglia was a free agent invite. This leaves 44 players remaining at camp.


Half the team will now head to Cape Breton to take on the Screaming Eagles in both clubs first pre-season game. Puck drop is 4pm. The other half who stay home will have a workout.

CAMP: Series Split Going into Day Two

The Halifax Mooseheads training camp got underway yesterday morning with all players reporting to the Dartmouth 4 Pad; the new home practice facility for the team. Today, the boys were split into two groups for scrimmages with one team wearing white jerseys while the other were green. In previous years, Halifax has done red-green scrimmages.

Both games were divided into 2 35-minute non-stoppage periods. Game one began at 9am in front of a good crowd at the arena. Team White came back from 2 two-goal deficits during the match to tie it up both times before the game went to overtime tied 5-5. A scoreless 10 minute 3 on 3 OT period was followed by a shootout which Team Green won. Justin Trudel, Steven Orzel, Miguel Duchaine and Arnaud Durandeau (SO winner) were among the scorers for the winners while Xavier Parent (2), Zachary Byard and Raphael Lavoie put the puck in the net for White.

The second game of the day ended close as well but started with White dominating most of the match. 16 year old 2018 draft pick Ethan Phillips, who has been a billet brother to Nico Hischier and Filip Zadina, had a hat trick before Green could even get on the board. Coach Eric Vielleux put Phillips, Raphael Lavoie and 2018 import draft Marcel Barinka on the same line and the three of them had all 5 goals to lead their team to a 5-4 victory. Joel Bishop, Arnaud Durandeau and recently acquired forward Jordan Mahar scored for Team Green.

The 47 players in camp will battle against each other again tomorrow for two more intrasqaud games at 9am and 4pm.


Your Mooseheads are set to take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Sunday afternoon in preseason action at Centre 200. Puck drop is at 4pm.

Intrasquad Rosters Unveiled

The 3 Cole's attending training camp
Photo - Mooseheads Twitter

Players have registered and medicals have been completed so now the real work begins for the many hopefuls looking to crack the 2018-19 Halifax Mooseheads roster after a month long training camp. The first step for Eric Veilleux, Cam Russel and the rest of the management team are intrasquad games where the group is split into two teams, this year green and white, and participate in 4 matches. Halifax announced the rosters for each team this morning in preparation for the first game today at 9am followed by one at 4pm.

Team White
1 G  Jonathan Pickrem
3 RW  Cooper Jones
5 D  Jack McGovern
6 D  Felix Gascon
7 D  Jocktan Chainey
8 C  Antoine Morand
9 D  William Smith
10 D  Zacharie Boreleau
11 D  Zachary Byard
12 D  Patrick Kyte
14 RW  Ethan Phillips
15 LW  Barrett Dachyshyn
16 D  Jake Ryczek
17 RW  Gavin Hart
18 RW  Ben Higgins
19 LW  Nathan MacMillan
20 RW  Raphael Lavoie
21 LW  Nicholas French
23 LW  Xavier Parent
24 RW  Yannic Bastarache
25 C  Marcel Barinka
31 G  Cole McLaren
33 G  Ewan MacDonald

Team Green
1 G  Alexis Gravel
1 G  Noah Battaglia
2 D  Justin Barron
3 D  Walter Flower
4 D  Cole Larkin
5 D  Curtis Heffernan
6 D  Denis Toner
7 D  Stephen Davis
8 C  Samuel Dube
9 LW  Kyle Petten
10 D  Steven Orzel
12 C  Ian Watt
14 D  Jared McIsaac
15 RW  Jordan Maher
16 C  Joel Bishop
17 C  Cole Stewart
19 C  Benoit-Olivier Groulx
22 LW  Arnaud Durandeau
24 C  Miguel Duchaine
26 C  Sonny Kabatay
27 RW  Justin Trudel
28 RW  William Dagenais

Team Canada Wins Gold

Photo - hlinkagretzky.com

The Halifax Mooseheads will have a couple of more players on their team that have won gold medals while representing their country. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup, previously the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, had been happening in Edmonton & Red Deer this past week between 8 of the best U18 teams in the world. As is normal in this tournament, Team Canada dominated and in the end won the championship game on Saturday evening.

Herd players Xavier Parent and Justin Barron were named to the national team and both had really good showings. At one point during the week, Barron led all players in assists but ended the tournament 19th among the scoring leaders with 5 points (all helpers). The 16-year-old Halifax native played in all 5 games for the red and white and while most of the other players in the competition this week will get drafted in the upcoming NHL draft, Justin will have to wait for the 2020 entry draft because of a late birthday.

Photo - Hockey Canada

Parent, meanwhile, scored a nice goal in Canada's semi-final game against USA on Friday, tying the game at 3 in the second period and helping his team to win 6-5 in overtime to head to the championship game. Xavier, 17, spent most of the tournament on the 4th line but had an opportunity to showcase his skills on the power play. The Blainville, QC native finished the week with two goals and an assist in 5 games played.

Despite finding themselves down 2-0 early on to Sweden in the championship game, Canada rallied later in the first period and cruised to a 6-2 victory to claim it's 22nd gold medal at this tournament. Former head coach Andre Tourigny was the bench boss for Team Canada.

Halifax Mooseheads prospect Marcel Barinka had a huge game for the Czech Republic on Friday. Barinka scored a hat trick and assisted on another to help the Czechs pick up a 8-3 victory over Slovakia in the 5th place game. The Prague, CZE native finished the tournament with 6 points (3G & 3A) in 4 games played which was good enough for 13th among the scoring leaders.

Congratulations to Xavier, Justin, Andre and the rest of Team Canada on winning the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. We'll see Parent and Barron in Moose Country when the players report for training camp on Thursday.

CAMP: Red/White Games Highlight First Week

Photo - Mooseheads website

We just days away from your Halifax Moosehead players reporting to training camp and the team has announced details for the first week. Players will arrive over the next week before registering and having physicals on Thursday August 16. Inrasquad games highlight the first couple of days of camp with matches between Team Red and Team White going on at 9am and 4pm on both Friday and Saturday. The brass has said that rosters for the intrasquad games will be announced at the beginning of camp.

Here is the first week's schedule:
August 16
9am - Player registration & physicals

August 17
9-11am - RED vs WHITE
4-6pm - RED vs WHITE

August 18
9-11am - RED vs WHITE
4-6pm - RED vs WHITE

August 19
7pm - Pre-season game  Halifax at Cape Breton (Centre 200)

August 20
10am-1pm - Practice

August 21
10-11am - Morning skate
11am-1pm - Skate (scratches)
7pm - Pre-season game  Halifax vs Cape Breton (Dartmouth 4Pad)

August 22
7pm - Pre-season game  Halifax at Acadie-Bathurst (KC Irving Regional Centre)

August 23
10am-1pm - Practice

August 24
10-11am - Morning skate
11am-1pm - Skate (scratches)
7pm - Pre-season game  Halifax vs Acadie-Bathurst (Andrew McCain Arena - Wolfville)

All practices and intrasquad games are being held at the new Dartmouth 4 Pad this year and are open to the public free of charge.

Couple of Herd to Represent Canada

Photo - RDS.ca

Hockey Canada has announced it's 22-man roster that will represent the country at the upcoming Ivan Hlinka tournament. Two Halifax Mooseheads players were among the young men to be given a spot on the U18 team.

Sophomores Xavier Parent and Justin Barron will wear the red and white starting on August 6 in Red Deer and Edmonton. The association made the announcement today after twice the amount of players participated in a selection camp in Calgary the past week which included on- and off-ice sessions as well as 3 intrasquad games. The tournament has generally been held in the Czech Republic so this is the first time it has been hosted in Canada and it is now called the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

This is not the first time that Parent and Barron have worn the maple leaf as they both played in the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in November for Team Canada Red. 17 year old Xavier had a pretty good showing during the tournament, scoring 4 goals and adding 3 helpers in 6 games played while defenseman Justin had an assist.

Barron, 16, had 19 assists and 21 points in 51 games played during the regular season for the Mooseheads in his rookie campaign this past season. The Halifax, NS native is not eligible for the NHL draft until 2020. Parent on the other hand is heading into his draft year so the Blainville, QC native will be looking to have a better campaign this season than 13 goals and 29 points in 63 games he had during 2017-18.

The two Herd sophomores are joined by 4 other QMJHL players; Alexis Lafreniere (RIM), Samuel Poulin (SHE), Maxence Guenette (VDO) and Jakub Pelletier (MON).

Congrats Xavier and Justin on making the team and good luck boys. You can watch Team Canada take on Team Switzerland on Monday at 7:00pm MT on TSN Sports.


Prospect Marcel Barinka was named to the Czech Republic roster and will look to help his country get revenge on the Canadians after last year's disappointing loss to the red and white in the gold medal game. Barinka was drafted in the 2018 CHL Import Draft back in late June 106th overall. The 17 year old had 31 goals and 65 points with RB Hockey Akademie last season in 39 games.