Herd Word

NEW COACHING POSITIONS 
More former Halifax Mooseheads coaches have been given positions with new teams. Townsend, ON native Jim Midgley has joined the National Hockey League's New York Rangers staff as an assistant coach. Midgley, who head coached the Herd during the 2017-18 season, is currently an assistant coach on Team Canada at the Women's World Championships in Calgary. Check out the reaction from the ladies when they were told of Jim's new job here. 

The Saint Mary's Huskies announced last week that Cole Harbour native Jon Greenwood has been added to their coaching staff as the new defense coach. Greenwood had spent the last 7 seasons with our Mooseheads. 

Photo - Rangers website

RECENT CUTS
After the pre-season game on Friday night, Cam Russell, Sylvain Favreau and the staff announced another round of cuts which leaves 26 players now in training camp. A surprise to many, the Herd reassigned free agent Bryson Boudreau along with Liam Welsh and Merle Putnam. Boudreau was on another level during the first week of camp, scoring 8+ goals over the multiple intrasquad games and picked up 3 assists in 3 pre-season matches. Many expected him to make the team after his performance the last two weeks. 

With the moves, the regular season roster is starting to shape up and unlike I previously thought, we could see the announcement of who made the team sometime this week. We're getting close Moose Country. 

SIGNINGS
It looks like a couple more Herd alumni will be playing in the ECHL in 2021-22. The Allen Americans announced they re-signed tough guy Kelly Bent on Tuesday. The Halifax native played for the Americans last season in 18 games and collected 71 penalty minutes. Bent was apart of the Mooseheads for two seasons (2014-16) before joining the Dalhousie Tigers for university. 

A teammate of Bent with both the Herd and Tigers, 25 year old forward Andrew Shewfelt will presumably turn pro after being signed by the Wichita Thunder late last week. He suited up for his hometown junior team for three seasons (2013-16) collecting 58 points with Halifax. Shewfelt was supposed to play in his fourth season with Dalhousie in 2020-21 but the pandemic cancelled university hockey. 

"I'm thrilled to be coming to Wichita for my first year of professional hockey," stated Shewfelt. "I've heard nothing but great things about the city, fans, and the organization. I'm excited to get down there and get to work."

Check back later in the year to see which teams the other former players are suiting up for this season in the next Where Are They Now? blog post. 

TICKETS
Some new about Halifax Mooseheads tickets for 2021-22. Previous season ticket and 15-game pack holders have until September 3 to renew their tickets or their seats will be released. The team has been told that they should be able to have full capacity this year meaning that members who had season tickets in 2019-20 should have those seats again. For fans who want to become members, full season, 15-games and family flex 20 packs go on sale tomorrow August 30 at 10 a.m. 

Individual tickets for the general public will go on sale September 23. For full info (including benefits) and prices, check out mooseheadstickets.ca 

MCKENNA

Herd alumni Jordan Mckenna had some big news come his way on Saturday evening as he was drafted by the Toronto Rock in the National Lacrosse League. McKenna, who played 55 games for Halifax in 2019-20, plays for the Orangeville Northmen lacrosse team during the hockey off-season. The 21-year-old captained the Yarmouth Mariners last year picking up 14 goals and 41 points in 35 games. He is committed to York University for the upcoming season. The NLL is a professional lacrosse league with teams in the United States and Canada. Congrats to Jordan on being selected. 

TIM HORTONS
It looks like we'll get a new Tim Hortons commercial featuring a couple of the top Nova Scotian hockey players. Alumni Nathan MacKinnon shared an Instagram story of himself and fellow Cole Harbour native Sidney Crosby in front of a Tim Hortons store with both wearing Team Canada jerseys. The two have done many advertisements together for Canadian restaurant chain over the years. Hopefully Nathan will have another fantastic season and be able to lead the Colorado Avalanche past the second round. 

TRADE
Your Halifax Mooseheads made a minor trade on Sunday afternoon, moving prospect Alex Carr to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. In return, Halifax receives a 4th round pick in 2023. Carr was drafted by the Herd in 2020 and recently participated in the team's training camp before being reassigned on Friday. He was set to play in the Maritime Hockey League this season but could possibly make the Huskies team. 

I'm sure we will see more trades in the coming days and there have been plenty already by other teams around the league as all 18 QMJHL clubs get ready for the regular season which is set to start September 30. 

Photos - teams' Facebook pages & MacKinnon's Instagram