Training Camp Roster Released

Photo - Herd website

With the news that training camps will start at the end of August, clubs have been announcing details about their camps, this includes our Halifax Mooseheads.

Halifax, like the rest of the league, had some tough decisions to make on who to bring in to training camp as there is a 34 player limit that clubs have this season because of regulations made from the coronavirus pandemic. Meaning that a few players that were used sparingly on last year's roster were not asked to come back. 

Among these regulations is the fact that players not living in the Atlantic provinces had to arrive two weeks early so they could self isolate at a hotel in the city. The top eight players from the 2020 draft are on the roster while there are four players who will arrive in the coming weeks to camp (noted by a *). 

Here is the 34 man roster coming to camp

Justin Barron   D

*Attilio Biasca   F  

Alex Carr   D

Alexandre David   F  

Elliot Desnoyers   F 

Samuel Dube   F

Jordan Dumais   F

Cole Foston   F

Jake Furlong   D

*Alexis Gravel   G

Jason Horvath   D

Keegan Hunt   D

Brady James   G

*Zack Jones   F

Sonny Kabatay   F 

Zachary L'Heureux   F

Ethan Landry   F

Braeden MacPhee   F

Mason Mantzavrakos   F

Cole McLaren   G

Landon Miron   F

Robert Orr   F

*Senna Petters   F

Kyle Petten   F

Liam Peyton   F

Lucas Robinson   D

William Robitaille   F

Mathis Rousseau   G

Michael Sack   D

James Swan   F

Alexandre Tessier   D

Brendan Tomilson   D

Olivier Tourchot   F

Markus Vidicek   F

Cameron Whynot   D

Pre-season Schedule Announced

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced it's pre-season schedule on Tuesday morning but it will be a different kind of exhibition and training camp situation this year.

As in previous years, Halifax will bring in a number of prospects and returning players to camp to determine it's final roster but there will be less. A full detailed list of the training camp roster will be posted later. Training camp will be held behind closed doors this season, including the exhibition matches. The Mooseheads will play six matches over the month of September with the first one being on September 1 at 7pm when they visit the Cape Breton Eagles. Practices and pre-season home games will be at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth. 

Here is the 2020-21 pre-season schedule

September 1 at 7pm - at Cape Breton Eagles (Centre 200)

September 3 at 7pm - vs Cape Breton Eagles (RBC Centre)

September 5 at 4pm - vs Saint John Sea Dogs (RBC Centre)

September 13 at 3pm - at Saint John Sea Dogs (TD Station)

September 25 at 7pm - at Charlottetown Islanders (MacLauchlin Arena)

September 26 at 4pm - vs Charlottetown Islanders (RBC Centre)

Halifax also announced that they are hoping 'to provide digital opportunities that allow our fans to live stream the home games free of charge.'

Herd Word

Just like last year, I took a break over the summer to decide what I want to do with this blog. I have decided to keep it going but I might not post as often this season. Below you will find some of the story lines concerning the Mooseheads and former players from the last few months since the COVID-19 shutdown.

LEAGUE AWARDS
Considering that our Halifax Mooseheads did not have a very good season unfortunately, there was no surprise that no players were nominated for any league awards. However, it wasn't a total loss. The Mooseheads own Allie MacDonald won the Denis-Arsenault Trophy as the academic advisor of the year. Congratulations to Allie. See the announcement here with a special guest.

Former Herd Benoit-Olivier Groulx was awarded the Guy Carboneau trophy as the top defensive forward for the 2019-20 season.

Zachary L'Heureux
Photo - Neutral Zone

TRADES
Halifax made a few roster moves days before the draft in June to help bolster it's young roster. The first trade Cam Russell and company made was to acquire forward Robert Orr from the Saint John Sea Dogs in exchange for 2nd and 4th round picks in the draft.

Later in the day, the Mooseheads announced that they picked up two more forwards, Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers from the Moncton Wildcats. The deal completed earlier trades involving Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Jared McIsaac. They sent the 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2020 back to the Cats along with a 5th in 2021 and 2nd and 3rd round selections in 2022.

1st round pick Markus Vidicik signing a commitment letter to
join the Mooseheads
Photo - Herd Twitter

QMJHL DRAFT
The QMJHL draft was held virtually for the first time in history with the first round done on June 5 while round 2-14 were completed the next day. The Mooseheads brass had multiple picks this year, unlike in 2019.

Multiple moves were made over the two days with most involving the exchange of picks. Russell moved the team's 27th and 60th overall picks plus a 2021 third round pick to Charlottetown for the 22nd overall pick. Halifax used the selection to get defenceman Jake Furlong. The two clubs came together for another trade as the Islanders sent veteran Liam Peyton to the Moose in exchange for a 2020 ninth round pick and a 2021 fourth round pick.

Below is 12 guys that Halifax selected.
RD 1 #14 - C Markus Vidicek - Lac-St-Louis Lions
RD 1 #18 - RW Jordan Dumais - South Kent Selets Academy 15's
RD 2 #22 - LD Jake Fulong - Mt. St. Charles Academy
RD 2 #28 - C James Swan - Lac-St-Louis Lions
RD 4 #61 - G Mathis Rousseau - St-Eustache Vikings
RD 4 #66 - RD Alex Carr - Cole Harbour Wolfpack
RD 5 #78 - LD Alexandre Tessier - St-Eustache Vikings
RD 8 #132 - C Braeden MacPhee - Moncton Flyers
RD 11 #186 - LD Jackson Dorrington - Cushing Academy Penguins
RD 12 #204 - D Travis Badcock - East Coast Blizzard MAAA
RD 13 #222 - LD Sid McNeill - Oakland Jr Grizzlies 15's
RD 14 #240 - LD Brady Schultz - Elite Hockey Program 16U

Click here for a list of all draftees. 

In the import draft held at the end of June, Halifax selected Attilio Biasca with the 5th overall pick. This means that the team has moved on from Marcel Barinka.

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

MACKINNON
Kid Mack had another really good season for the Colorado Avalanche and he is being recognized for it. Nathan MacKinnon, who played for the Herd from 2011 to 2013, was nominated for the Ted Lindsay Award, the Lady Bing Trophy and the Hart Trophy. The latter is for the league's most valuable player while Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) and Artemi Panarin (New York) were also nominated. MacKinnon led the Avalanche in scoring with 93 points in 69 games which was also good enough for being top 10 in the league during the regular season.

Congrats to Nathan for being nominated. The award winners will be announced during the conference finals.

NHL PLAYOFFS
It's August and there is playoffs being competed right now, just another sign of how weird this year as been. A number of alumni participated in the qualifying round and there are still four left as of the writing of this post.

Nikolaj Ehlers and the Winnipeg Jets were ousted by the Calgary Flames 3 games to 1 in the qualifying round while MacKenzie Weegar and the Florida Panthers also didn't make it past that round after losing 3-1 to the New York Islanders. Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia), Jonathan Drouin (Montreal) and Brad Marchand (Boston) are still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

Good luck to all the players participating in the playoffs, especially our former players. 

QMJHL Starting Season October 1

Photo - Herd website

There will be a 2020-21 QMJHL season. Uncertainty across all sports leagues have been prevalent the last 5 months since they all shut down mid-March because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For one junior hockey league, that uncertainty has become a bit clearer. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has announced that it will begin the new season on October 1st. It will look a lot different than previous years and there are still multiple questions to be answered over the coming weeks but at least we have a concrete date now to get excited for.

The main points of the press release below are; there will be 3 divisions this year and teams will play their divisions only, a 60-game regular season schedule, Quebec teams will for sure play with no fans while it is to be determined for the Maritimes clubs and finally, 34 players will be invited to training camp instead of the normal 50ish.

Press release from August 14

"The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League today announced that it is planning to return to play on October 1, 2020 following positive dialogue with Provincial Governments and Public Health Agencies.

Since the 2019-2020 season and the President Cup playoffs were cancelled last March, the Commissioner’s office has been preparing a sustainable return to play protocol to ensure a safe environment for players, team staffs, fans and its communities. Over the past several weeks, the league has had continued dialogue with government officials and Public Health Agencies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec to propose a plan in line with Public Health directives and guidelines.

In order to begin the season on October 1^st, with training camps and return to school deadlines coming up at end of August, the league had to decide on whether or not to start the 2020-2021 season. The League’s mission is to develop players both academically and athletically while providing the safest possible environment. In view of the urgency of the situation and in line with our mission, the members voted in favour of returning to play on October 1st.

Following our conversations with both the Provincial Governments and Public Health Agencies, it has been determined that the 2020-2021 season will be played behind closed doors in Quebec, while details are currently still being discussed for the Maritimes.

Training camps will open on August 30th and teams will be limited to 34 invitees. The regular season will include a 60-game schedule and the League will be divided into three divisions. All regular season games will be played within six-team divisions while the playoff format will be announced later in December. The 102nd Memorial Cup presented by Kia is scheduled to be played from June 17-27, 2021, in Oshawa or Sault St. Marie."