Herd Word

WORLD JUNIORS
Hockey Canada announced today the 31 players who will participate in the team's selection camp, which begins in a week. Defenceman Jared McIsaac, who just returned from a long term injury on Saturday, was given an invite and will be joined by forward teammates Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Raphael Lavoie at the camp. Many believe McIsaac will be a lock to make the final team as he participated in the tournament last year.

The 31 hopefuls will join together in Oakville, Ontario from December 9-12 and will play two games against a U Sports all-star team on the final two days of the selection process. Other QMJHL players named to the camp roster were Dawson Mercer (Drummondville), Oliver Rodrigue (Moncton), Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski) and Jakob Pelletier (Moncton).

The 2020 Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships is being hosted by Ostrava, Czech Republic from December 26 to January 5. Canada will begin the tournament with a match against their cross border rivals, the United States on Boxing Day at 3 p.m. AT. The final roster will be announced a couple days before the competition starts.

For the full camp roster, click here.

MACKINNON
Former Halifax Mooseheads player Nathan MacKinnon has had another offensive month. Kid Mack was named the NHL first star of the week on Monday, with 3 goals and 9 points in three games. The Colorado Avalanche finished the week with a 3-0-0-0 record. MacKinnon leads the team in scoring and is among the league leaders.

Nathan was also named the second star for the month of November. The Halifax, NS native had 10 goals and 15 assists during the month.

Congrats to Nathan on being awarded for his hard work.

QMJHL STARS

Photo - Q website

Forward Maxim Trepanier was named the QMJHL player of the week for the week ending Dec. 1 after recording 7 points over three games. Trepanier had a big night on Thursday, helping the Mooseheads to a 6-3 win over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan with two goals and 2 assists. A goal on Saturday would give Maxim at least a point in every game in the month of November, who extended his point streak to 13 games on Sunday after picking up two more points in a loss to Charlottetown.

He'll be named to the Q team of the week tomorrow. We may even see another Herd player but I'll share that when it's announced.

Photo - Mooseheads website

BARINKA
Our Halifax Mooseheads will be without forward Marcel Barinka for the remainder of the team's schedule before their Christmas break. Barinka left today to join the Czech Republic team that will participate in the World Junior A Challenge. The Challenge is an under-20 tournament sponsored by Hockey Canada. It will be played December 7-15 in Dawson Creek, BC.

Congratulations and good luck to Marcel.

TOUGH DECEMBER
The Mooseheads will have a tough December as they battle two of the top 6 teams in the league during the month plus Saint John, who have not made it easy on Halifax this season despite being close to the bottom of the standings. Halifax will play the Charlottetown Islanders 3 times, the Cape Breton Eagles 4 times and the Sea Dogs twice. Charlottetown defeated the Herd yesterday evening and are currently in 4th place overall, the two will meet for a home and home series on December 11 and 13. Saint John has a 3-1-0-0 record versus Halifax and the two will end 2019 battling each other in a New Year's Eve matinee in Moose Country. The two Nova Scotia clubs will have two home and home series, on this weekend and the other after the break in the annual Hurley Cup set.