Players to Watch List Released

The National Hockey League along with the Central Scouting Services announced their preliminary Players to Watch list for the 2021 NHL draft. The players are ranked in three different categories. 'A' players are ones who are projected to go in the first round while 'B' players are 2nd and 3rd round candidates. 'C' ranked players most likely will go in the 4th to 7th rounds. Of course, rankings can change through out the season depending on how the player does. 

Two current Halifax Mooseheads are among the list of prospects while a recent CHL import draftee who has yet to play for the Herd is also ranked. Zachary L'Heureux, who had a great rookie year in 2019-20 and was traded to Halifax over the summer, was given an 'A' rating. The Mercier, QC forward is second in team scoring with 5 goals and 10 points so far this year. Meanwhile, defenceman Cam Whynot has been projected to go in the 2nd or 3rd round. He has 2 assists in 5 games played. 

Attilio Biasca, who the Mooseheads selected in the import draft in June, has yet to arrive to Canada and join Halifax so that could be part of the reason he was given a C ranking by the NHL scouts. The 17-year-old has played some games this season, scoring five goals and 11 points in 10 matches for Zug U20 of the U20-Elit league.  

Rimouski's Zachary Bolduc and Xavier Bougault of Shawinigan were the only other QMJHL players given an A rating. Full list can be found here. 

QMJHL Team of the Week

 On Monday, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced it's player and team of the week. With just the Maritime teams playing the past 7 days, the team of the week features young men from Charlottetown, Halifax and Acadie-Bathurst. 

Elliot Desnoyers was named the Player of the Week after picking up at 6 points over back to back road games against Cape Breton. The 18-year-old recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday and went a step further, scoring four goals in a 10-2 Mooseheads victory. 

Photo - Q website

He is joined on the team of the week by rookie Jordan Dumais who had 1 goal and 5 points and was a +5 over the weekend. 

Full Team of the Week
Elliot Desnoyers | Mooseheads, Halifax | 2GP-4G-2A, +4
Felix-Antoine Marcotty | Titan, Acadie-Bathurst | 2GP-1G-5A, +2
Jordan Dumais | Mooseheads, Halifax | 2GP-1G-4A, +5
Adam McCormick | Titan, Acadie-Bathurst | 2GP-1G-1A, +4
William Trudeau | Islanders, Charlottetown | 2GP-0G-2A, +3
Colten Ellis | Islanders, Charlottetown | 1-0-0-0, 1.00, 0.960%

Congratulations to Elliot and Jordan as well as the other players. 

Gameday #3: vs Moncton

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS MONCTON WILDCATS

October 9, 2020 at 7:00pm

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

Scotiabank Centre - Halifax, NS

Our Halifax Mooseheads will look to bounce back from a disappointing overtime loss last weekend as they host the Moncton Wildcats tonight to kick off Thanksgiving weekend. Meanwhile, the Cats have had a rough start to the new season, going winless in their first two game and being outscored 6-2. Moncton went all in last year, making huge moves in hopes to win the league championship and as such lost some key players during the off-season including forwards Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers who are now members of the Mooseheads. However, they're not completely without offensive power as overage forward Gabriel Fortier and veteran Jordan Spence are still in the lineup. I expect we'll see Cole McLaren in net once again for Halifax and he'll probably give a better showing then he did on Saturday. We should be in for another good match and you can watch it on Eastlink TV if you aren't one of the lucky ones attending the game. 

Overall records
Wildcats: 0-2-0-0 = 0 points (6th in Maritimes division, 16th overall)
Mooseheads: 1-0-1-0 = 3 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 5th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Zachary L'Heureux 4pts (2G & 2A), Liam Peyton 3pts (2G & 1A), Markus Vidicek 3pts (1G & 2A)
MON: Vincent Labelle 2pts (2G), Mathis Cloutier 1pt (1A), Yoan Loshing 1pt (1A)

Out of Town
Eagles vs. Islanders     7:00pm
Sea Dogs vs. Titan     7:00pm
Drakkar vs. Tigres     8:00pm
Voltigeurs vs. Foreurs     8:00pm
Cataractes vs. Oceanic     8:00pm
Olympiques vs. Huskies     8:00pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will head on the road to take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 3:00pm. 

NHL Draft

The 2020 National Hockey League entry draft was held the last two days virtually.

• To no one's surprise, Rimouski Oceanic superstar Alexis Lafreniere was drafted 1st overall on Tuesday by the New York Rangers. 
• With the draft being virtually, teams announced their selections in some different ways including Jeoperdy! host and Ottawa native Alex Trebek making a cameo to select the Ottawa Senators 3rd pick and Dale Hawerchuk's wife announcing the Winnipeg Jets 10th overall selection. 
• Halifax Mooseheads own Justin Barron became the highest drafted defence man from the QMJHL in league history when he was selected 25th overall by the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs now have 5 Nova Scotians in their organization. 
• There were a total of 19 players QMJHL players drafted over the two days. Herd forward Elliot Desnoyers was picked up by the Philadelphia Flyers 135th overall while Senna Peeters didn't hear his name. 
• The host for the 2021 NHL draft has not been decided yet and most likely it will not be held in June.

Eastlink Releases Short TV Schedule

Eastlink TV has released it's Friday Night Hockey broadcast schedule for the first 5 weeks of the season and our Halifax Mooseheads will be apart of each game. 

Below is the full list (all game times 7:00pm)

Saturday October 3 vs. Cape Breton
Friday October 9 vs. Moncton
Friday October 16 vs. Charlottetown
Saturday October 17 vs. Saint John
Thursday October 29 vs. Moncton
Friday November 6 vs. Charlottetown 
Saturday November 7 vs. Saint John

More matches will be announced as the season continues. 

L'Heureux Leads Halifax To Victory

Photo - Eagles Facebook

It was a night of firsts as our Halifax Mooseheads finally began the 2020-21 regular season in Cape Breton on Friday night. Three Herd players scored their 1st career goals this evening; Cole Foston, Markus Vidicek and James Swan all picked up markers to get on the scoresheet. Recently acquired Zachary L'Heureux hasn't lost the scoring touch he had in his rookie season despite being off for almost 7 months as he scored two goals to lead Halifax and was named the third star of the game, adding an assist as well. The match started off a little slow with the two teams heading to the locker room for the first intermission in a scoreless tie. Halifax opened the scoring at the 12:02 mark in the second with Foston putting it in but Cape Breton wasn't down for long as Liam Kidney tied it up exactly a minute later. The score would be 2-1 for the away team after 40 minutes but 1:40 into the final frame, Nathan Larose got one past Cole McLaren to knot the game at two goals a piece. It might've been only game one of the season but the rivalry was showing during the whole match and the players on the ice at the end of the 2nd period got into a heated scrum before skating off so Larose's goal was on the power play. Four goals were scored in the last 6 minutes and 10 seconds with L'Heureux scoring the game winning goal on a 2-on-1 unassisted before potting his second of the night in to the empty net with less then 2 minutes remaining. Liam Peyton would also score an empty net goal. 

FINAL: Halifax 6 at Cape Breton 2
Stars: 3. Zachary L'Heureux HAL | 2. Cole McLaren HAL | 1. Shawn Element CAP
Attendance: 0

Powerplay: HAL - 0-for-4, CAP - 1-for-5
Shots: 28-27 Halifax

NOT DRESSED - Justin Barron, Keegan Hunt, Alexandre David and Kyle Petten all out with injuries

SCORES
Saint John 3 at Acadie-Bathurst 4 OT
Charlottetown 4 at Moncton 2
Shawinigan 2 at Chicoutimi 5
Drummondville 5 at Rouyn-Noranda 3
Blainville-Boisbriand 8 at Sherbrooke 5
Gatineau 4 at Val-d'Or 3 OT
Rimouski 0 at Victoriaville 4

UP NEXT - Halifax and Cape Breton will head to Moose Country for a rematch tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7pm. 

Gameday #1: at Cape Breton

CAPE BRETON EAGLES VS HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

October 2, 2020 at 7:00pm

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

Centre 200 ~ Sydney, NS

Welcome to the 2020-21 regular season! Our Halifax Mooseheads kick it off with a trip to Sydney and take on their provincial rivals the Cape Breton Eagles tonight. After 6 and a half long months in between regular season matches, the boys will be back on the ice and for the Maritime teams, in front of fans (although less than normal). The Mooseheads will dress five 16-year-olds this evening but don't think just because they are young, the club will be defeated easily this season. The competition will be fierce over the next few months as these two teams will face each other 12 times and play strictly in the Maritimes division because of COVID-19 protocols. Both clubs are missing some players, most notably international players who have yet been told that they can come to Canada. Cape Breton should be just as dangerous as they were in 2019-20 while Halifax are looking to improve on their last place finish and they should have the pieces to do so. Whether you're watching from the arena or somewhere else, the boys need our support and should put on a good show. Go Moose Go!!

Overall records
Mooseheads: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (T-1st in Maritimes division, T-1st overall)
Eagles: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (T-1st in Maritimes division, T-1st overall)

Leading scorers
CAP: n/a
HAL: n/a

Out of Town
Titan vs. Sea Dogs     7:00pm
Wildcats vs. Islanders     7:00pm
Sagueneens vs. Cataractes     8:00pm
Huskies vs. Voltigeurs     8:00pm
Phoenix vs. Armada     8:00pm
Foreurs vs. Olympiques     8:00pm
Tigres vs. Oceanic     8:00pm

After the Buzzer
The two teams will head to Halifax for the Mooseheads home opener tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7pm. 

Herd Name Captains

Photo - Herd website

Head coach J.J. Daigneault has made the announcement of the Halifax Mooseheads leadership group for the 2020-21 season. 

Veteran defenceman Justin Barron was named the Captain today. The 18-year-old was drafted by the Mooseheads in 2017 13th overall and has played 153 games for the club. He is currently on the injured list after receiving shoulder surgery a couple weeks ago. Barron is a top prospect eligible for the 2020 NHL draft which still hasn't been done because of the coronavirus and will be held on October 6-7. 

Barron will be joined by forwards Liam Peyton, Elliot Desnoyers and follow defenceman Jason Horvath who were all given an A on their jerseys. 

Congratulations to the four players, especially Justin. 

The announcement was made during a team meeting after this morning's practice with Barron and the international players on video call. You can view the video here.