Q Draft: Herd Make 12 Picks

Photo - Mooseheads website

For the second year in a row, the QMJHL draft was held virtually and our Halifax Mooseheads picked up 12 new players by the end of the weekend. 

The 1st round was held this past Friday evening where Cam Russell and the crew had the 5th and 6th selections. Later in the evening, Russell made a trade with Saint John sending the 27th and 42nd picks to the Sea Dogs while receiving the 20th overall pick in return. It was the only trade during the weekend that the Herd made and really there weren't many trades period. The remaining rounds were held on Saturday followed by the American draft. 

As I previously mentioned, the Sherbrooke Phoenix won the draft lottery and picked Ethan Gauthier first overall. Drummondville selected Tyler Peddle at #2 followed by Vincent Collard who was picked by Baie-Comeau. 

Below are the Mooseheads selections:
RD 1 #5 - RD Dylan MacKinnon - Moncton Flyers
RD 1 #6 - C Mathieu Cataford - College Charles-Lemoyne Riverains
RD 1 #20 - RW Logan Crosby - Weeks Midgets 
RD 2 #37 - RW Vincent Gauthier - Chateauguay Grenadiers
RD 3 #55 - LD Jack Martin - Moncton Flyers
RD 7 #117 - G Daniel Heroux - Laval-Montreal Rousseau Royal
RD 9 #153 - G Jack Milner - Cape Breton West Islanders
RD 10 #171 - LD Jack Power - Halifax McDonald's 
RD 11 #189 - LW Liam Welsh - Halifax McDonald's
RD 12 #207 - LD Noah Razon - Lac-St-Louis U17 Tigres
RD 13 #225 - RW Elijah Thompson - Laval-Montreal Rousseau Royal
RD 14 #243 - LW Ben Wallace - Weeks Midgets

Click here for the full list of draftees. 

Halifax selected Shattuck-St. Mary's Sabres' left winger Chris Battaini 6th overall in the American draft as well as defenceman Jake Freelove of Winchendon School Wapitis at #24. 

The CHL Import Draft is being held on June 30th at 11am ET. 

Pre-season Schedule Announced

Photo - Herd website

Another step to beginning the 2021-22 season was the releasing of the pre-season schedule which happened today. Our Halifax Mooseheads will play a total of seven games including 4 that are at the Herd's home arena; Scotiabank Centre. 

It is still up in the air if fans will be able to attend the exhibition games as Nova Scotia Public Health has yet to determine what safety protocols will need to be in place for the upcoming year. Information on tickets will be announced later this summer once those decisions have been made. 

Here is the schedule for the 2021-22 pre-season:
August 24 at 7pm - vs. Cape Breton Eagles
August 25 at 7pm - at Cape Breton Eagles
August 27 at 7pm - vs. Moncton Wildcats
September 10 at 7pm - at Cape Breton Eagles
September 11 at 4pm - vs. Cape Breton Eagles
September 18 at 7pm - at Moncton Wildcats (Superior Propane Centre)
September 24 at 7pm - vs. Saint John Sea Dogs

I'll have more on training camp and pre-season in August when information is released.  

Where are the Moose drafting?

In just a few days, team personnel will gather in arena offices and make selections that they hope will improve their clubs for the upcoming season. The 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft is being held virtually once again this year and is set to take place June 25-26.

Photo - Mooseheads website

Here is where Halifax will be drafting as of today:
Round 1 - 5th overall (Moncton)
Round 1 - 6th overall
Round 2 - 27th overall
Round 2 - 37th overall
Round 3 - 42nd overall (Sherbrooke)
Round 3 - 55th overall (Chicoutimi)
Round 7 - 117th overall
Round 9 - 153rd overall
Round 10 - 171st overall
Round 11 - 189th overall
Round 12 - 207th overall
Round 13 - 225th overall
Round 14 - 243rd overall

You can watch the draft live on the QMJHL's YouTube page and follow @HFXMooseheads on Twitter for their selections. Check back on June 26 for a full recap of the Herd's draft. 

Team Awards Announced

For the last couple of weeks, our Halifax Mooseheads have been announcing their team awards for the 2020-21 season on social media with video clips of each recipient. Below are the winners of the team awards.

Eastlink Trophy: Elliot Desnoyers
Gallagher Insurance & Risk Management Award: Markus Vidicek
Tim Hortons Award: Jordan Dumais
Scotia Fuels Award: Jake Furlong
Mooseheads Most Sportsmanlike Player Award: Robert Orr
Steele Subaru Award: Justin Barron
Sarah Morris Memorial Award: Liam Peyton
Avis Award: James Swan
Scotiabank Centre Trophy: Elliot Desnoyers
Sue Moore Memorial Fans' Choice Award: Zachary L'Heureux
Steele Auto Group MVP: Justin Barron

Justin Barron; MVP & best defenceman
Photo - The Hockey Writers

Victoriaville Captures League Title

Photo - Tigres Facebook

It's been a season like no other but it ended on Saturday evening with the Victoriaville Tigres claiming the QMJHL title defeating the Val-d'Or Foreurs in Quebec City. 

Alex Beaucage scored the game winner at the 1:01 mark of double overtime to clinch Victoriaville's second President's Cup title in franchise history. The 4-2 series victory completed an upset by the 4th place Tigres over 2nd place Val-d'Or. 

Val-d'Or was considered by many the favourites to be champions this season after loading up at the trade deadline. The Foreurs had a 29-3-2-2 record in the regular season to finish second with a 0.861 points percentage, behind only the Charlottetown Islanders' 0.875%. Victoriaville meanwhile finished 6th in the standings with a 16-9-1-0 record or 0.635 points percentage. 

Highlights below

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League was the only CHL league to crown a champion during this weird 2020-21 season that had multiple changes all year long due to the coronavirus. The Q hopes to begin next season on October 1. 

Halifax Make Coaching Changes

Our Halifax Mooseheads made some coaching changes shortly after the season ended starting with firing head coach J.J. Daigneault back on April 22. 

Majority owner Bobby Smith said "the past two years have been rebuilding seasons for our Club after playing in the 2019 Memorial Cup final and this past season we had the youngest team in the QMJHL. Over the course of a trying 2020-21 season our young players developed tremendously and for this Coach Daigneault deserves much credit. I would like to thank J.J. for his leadership of our team and wish him great success in his future coaching endeavours."

Not even a week later, the team made the announcement that they had promoted assistant coach Sylvain Favreau to the head position. The new Coach said; "I am extremely excited for the opportunity to coach the Mooseheads. I have gained some valuable experience with the team over the past four seasons, especially during our run to the President Cup and Memorial Cup Finals in 2019." 

For the full press release, click here. 

A few weeks ago, the Mooseheads hired Charlottetown, PEI-native Brad MacKenzie to replace Favreau as assistant coach. MacKenzie spent the 20-21 season coaching the Grand Falls Rapids and was named the MHL's co-coach of the year. During the same press release, Halifax announced that Jon Greenwood resigned from his position as assistant coach.

Thank you to J.J. Daigneault and Jon Greenwood for their leadership of the Herd. Congrats to Sylvain Favreau on being promoting and welcome to the team Brad MacKenzie. 

Schedule for 21-22 Season Announced

Photo - QMJHL website

Our Halifax Mooseheads released their 2021-22 regular season schedule today. 

After a shortened schedule last season because of the coronavirus, the QMJHL has gone back to 68 games with matches against all teams. Canada is hoping to open provincial borders later this summer which will be great for everyone. 

Just like the previous year, Halifax will begin the season in Cape Breton against the Eagles on October 1st with the puck dropping at 7pm. 

Other highlights include:

• The home opener will be played the next night versus the Eagles to finish the home-and-home series for the provincial rivals. Puck drops at 7pm. Hopefully it will be a packed house. 
• Halifax will host the Shawinigan Cataractes on October 15 and it will be the first matchup against a Quebec-based team in a year and a half. 
• The first Quebec road trip is scheduled for November 18-21 when the Mooseheads will take on the Val-d'Or Foreurs, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Gatineau Olympiques. 
• Our boys will once again play on New Year's Eve to take on the Cape Breton Eagles at 2pm. You'll be able to cheer on the Herd then go out to ring in 2022. 
• A later start to the regular season means a later finish too and Halifax will welcome the Charlottetown Islanders in the season finale on April 2nd in a matinee match. Puck drops at 3pm. 

The team will release its pre-season schedule and events over the next few months. 

Moose To Select 5th

Photo - QMJHL website

The QMJHL Draft Lottery was held on May 11 and the Mooseheads had one ball in the pot this year for a chance to move up. Halifax's ball didn't get pulled meaning that the team will stay at pick #5. It comes from Moncton via trades that sent Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Jared McIsaac to the Wildcats back in January 2020. 

The Sherbooke Phoenix won the lottery and will make the first overall selection in the draft. They moved up from #3. Cape Breton, Baie-Comeau and Quebec round out the top 5 picks. 

Halifax also holds their own 6th overall selection in the first round. The 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft will be held virtually on June 25-26. Fans can watch the event live on the Q's official YouTube page.