Herd Word

With the regular season beginning this week, there is lots of news popping up so I thought I would do another Herd Word. 

CHL TOP 10
The Canadian Hockey League announced the pre-season edition of the Kia CHL Top-10 Rankings on Tuesday and our Halifax Mooseheads were among the honourable mention teams on the list. 

According to the website; The climb up the ranks begins this season for the Halifax Mooseheads as the club returns a well-rounded offensive core headlined by newly minted Columbus Blue Jackets draftee Jordan Dumais who was one of only seven QMJHL skaters to reach triple-digit production last season. 

Other honourable mention teams include the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL and the WHL's Portland Winterhawks. 

MACKINNON
It's been a good summer for alumni Nathan MacKinnon who after leading the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup title back on June 26, signed an 8-year contract extension earlier this week. The contract will start in the 2023-24 season and is worth $100.8 million dollars. At an average annual salary of $12.6 million, this will make MacKinnon the highest paid player in the National Hockey League. 

"Nathan is obviously one of the premier players in the NHL so a long-term extension was something we wanted to get done before the season started," said Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland. "He has that rare combination of speed and power with a high compete level that makes him a generational player. We are thrilled he will continue to be a member of this team and this community for many years to come." 

"Denver's the only place I want to be, for sure," MacKinnon recently said in Henderson, Nevada, during a pre-season player media tour. 

MacKinnon has recorded 242 goals and 648 points in 638 career regular season games. The 27-year-old is going into his 10th NHL season and his point total ranks sixth on the franchise's all-time scoring list. 

PREDICTIONS/PREVIEWS
Many believe that the Mooseheads will contend for the Maritimes division title this season and could contend in the playoffs in the spring. 

Chronicle Herald's Willy Palov shared his predictions of how the QMJHL will end come March;

3. Halifax Mooseheads: There's some debate about whether this is Halifax's 'go for it' year or if it's 2023-24. With the depth and balance the Mooseheads have in their lineup, it might end up being both. Zachary L'Heureux, Cam Whynot, Jordan Dumais and Mathieu Cataford are just some of the blue-chip pieces in place for a turn at the top of the cycle that should last a minimum of two years. 

The QMJHL shared their division previews for the 2022-23 season and on Wednesday, it was the Maritimes division's turn. Check out the video below.

Below you'll also find a video from the Canadian Hockey League previewing the QMJHL. 

HERD ON TV
Our Halifax Mooseheads will be in two games that will be apart of the CHL on TSN broadcast this season. The Herd's game against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on November 3 and their match at the Moncton Wildcats on November 27 are among the fifteen-ish games set to be shown on TSN in the first half of the season. For a full list of matches, click here. 

The CHL also announced their TV Game of the Week broadcast schedule and it includes Halifax's match on October 8 versus the Islanders in Charlottetown. Fans can watch the game via the CHL mobile app and online at watch.chl.ca for free. Full schedule here. 

IMPORTANT DATES

• The date and location for the NHL/CHL Top Prospects game was announced by Regina Pats star and 2023 draft-eligible prospect Connor Bedard the other day. It will be played in Bedard's hometown of Vancouver, BC on January 25, 2023. 
• The QMJHL's holiday trading period will be Sunday, December 18 to Friday, January 6.
• Dates for the 2023 Memorial Cup were also announced and the tournament will be played from May 26 to June 5 in Kelowna. 

Photos - Avalanche Twitter & CHL website

Lots of Moose at NHL camps

There are plenty of young men on NHL teams main camp rosters that have suited up for the Halifax Mooseheads sometime in their career. Many of the players are Herd alumni but there are a few who are currently on the Mooseheads’ opening night roster (bolded). 

A lot of camps have already started after teams had their rookies participate in tournaments and training over the weekend. 

Below is a list of players
Samuel Asselin - Boston Bruins
Justin Barron - Montreal Canadiens
Evan Boucher - Calgary Flames
Elliot Desnoyers - Philadelphia Flyers
Jonathan Drouin - Montreal Canadiens
Jordan Dumais - Columbus Blue Jackets
Arnaud Durandeau - New York Islanders
Nikolaj Ehlers - Winnipeg Jets
Cavan Fitzgerald - Carolina Hurricanes
Martin Frk - St. Louis Blues
Zach Fucale - Washington Capitals
Jake Furlong - San Jose Sharks
Benoit-Olivier Groulx - Anaheim Ducks
Nico Hischier - New Jersey Devils
Zachary L'Heureux - Nashville Predators
Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche
Brad Marchand - Boston Bruins
Jared McIsaac - Detroit Red Wings
Timo Meier - San Jose Sharks
Robert Orr - Carolina Hurricanes
Xavier Parent - New Jersey Devils
Jakub Voracek - Columbus Blue Jackets
Mackenzie Weegar - Calgary Flames
Cameron Whynot - Calgary Flames
Filip Zadina - Detroit Red Wings

Keep it plugged into the club's social media to see how these guys do and I'll share a list of where players land next month. Good luck to all the players in their respective training camps. 

Friday's Home Opener Postponed

Who would've thought a hurricane would postpone the beginning of the Halifax Mooseheads season?

Hurricane Fiona is coming towards the Atlantic provinces and is expected to make landfall Friday night / Saturday morning which has forced the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to postpone games in the Maritime division this weekend. This includes our Mooseheads home opener on Friday night against the Charlottetown Islanders. 

The following list are the other matches that have been postponed: 
Sept 23 - Moncton vs. Cape Breton
Sept 23 - Charlottetown vs. Halifax
Sept 24 - Halifax vs. Charlottetown 
Sept 24 - Acadie-Bathurst vs. Saint John 
Sept 25 - Cape Breton vs. Moncton

A new date has yet to be determined but Halifax did say that tickets purchased for the home opener will be honoured at the reschedule game. 

Stats Sunday: Pre-season

The Mooseheads have finished their pre-season schedule after playing the Cape Breton Eagles on Friday night. 

Games played: 5
Scores*: 0-8, 4-3, 3-2, 5-3, 10-5
Record: 4-1-0-0, 8pts
Goals for/against: 22 / 21
Powerplay: 26.3%
Penalty kill: 71.4%

Team leaders
Points: Mathieu Cataford (10pts), Attilio Biasca (6pts), James Swan (5pts)
Goals: Attilio Biasca (4G), James Swan (4G), Brody Fournier (2G)
Assists: Mathieu Cataford (9A), Dylan MacKinnon (3A), Attilio Biasca (2A)
Penalty minutes: Dylan MacKinnon (12 mins), Stephen Davis (6 mins), Bryson Boudreau (6 mins)
Plus/minus: Attilio Biasca (+8), Mathieu Cataford (+5), Dylan MacKinnon (+4)

Goaltending stats
Mathis Rousseau:  2-0-0-0   2.01 GAA   0.935 SAV%
Brady James:  2-0-0-0   3.99 GAA   0.878 SAV %
Jack Milner: 0-0-0-0   5.27 GAA   0.840 SAV%
George Foti: 0-1-0-0   8.24 GAA   0.800 SAV%

*Halifax's score is first

Herd Word

ROOKIE CAMPS
There are a number of former and current Halifax Mooseheads players attending rookie camps and tournaments this weekend. A few of the big tournaments will feature our Herd trying to make the main camp of teams that they are with. Recent NHL draft picks Jordan Dumais and Jake Furlong will be hoping to showcase that Columbus and San Jose made the right choice in selecting them.

via NHL.com

Check out which players will be attending rookie camps below
Markus Vidicek - Arizona Coyotes   
Jake Furlong - San Jose Sharks 
Evan Boucher - Calgary Flames
Cameron Whynot - Calgary Flames
Bobby Orr - Carolina Hurricanes 
Jordan Dumais - Columbus Blue Jackets 
Justin Barron - Montreal Canadiens 
Xavier Parent - New Jersey Devils  
Arnaud Durandeau - New York Islanders 
Elliot Desnoyers - Philadelphia Flyers
Zachary L'Heureux - Nashville Predators 
Zack Jones - New Jersey Devils

PRE-SEASON 
The Herd finished their exhibition schedule on Friday night on 'home' ice against Cape Breton and they came out on top by a score of 10-5. Halifax scored six goals in the third period which included 2 by Attilio Biasca. Third year forward James Swan recorded a hat trick and 17-year-old Mathieu Cataford added to his pre-season point total with five assists last night. The victory gave the Mooseheads a 4-1-0-0 record in the pre-season. 

I'll have final stats from the pre-season in tomorrow's post. 

via Jackets Twitter

DUMAIS
18-year-old Jordan Dumais ended the 2021-22 regular season with 109 points to lead Halifax in scoring which led the Columbus Blue Jackets to picking him 96th overall in the 2022 NHL draft. Dumais wasted no time in showing the Jackets they made the correct decision back in June by scoring two goals on Thursday afternoon. It led to Columbus' 7-1 defeat against the St. Louis rookies at the Traverse City prospect tournament. 

"There's no size limit anymore," said Trent Vogelhuber, who is coaching the CBJ prospects team in Traverse City. "You have skill and you can score like that, you're gonna find a way to play. He's got to keep working, get a little stronger, and obviously he's a young kid, but the stuff you can't teach is there."

Check out one of the goals here. 

INDIVIDUAL TICKETS
Individual game tickets went on sale on Tuesday for all 34 regular season games. Prices range from $10 for youth tickets to $27 for adult tickets in the lower bowl. You can purchase them on ticketatlantic.ca 

Full promotional schedule can be found below.

via Mooseheads Twitter

CAPTAIN
Halifax is looking for a new group to lead the team during the 2022-23 season since the three men who wore letters last year have moved on. General Manager Cam Russell and company have yet to name this year's group but I asked my followers on my Instagram who they thought would be given the C. The results ended like this:

Zachary L'Heureux - 47%
Cameron Whynot - 20%
Jordan Dumais - 19%
Evan Boucher - 13%

With all four of these young men away at NHL camps, we most likely will not find out who will lead this year's team until possibly October. 

NEW LOOK
A big announcement was made by our Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday morning with the team coming out that they will have a new look for 2022-23. Feeling have been mixed with the new logo but everyone has seemed to enjoy the announcement video that was posted which you can see below. The logo is a lot cleaner and someone noticed that the H seems to be in the shape of Citadel Hill which I think is a nice nod to the city. 

I wonder if this will mean that new jerseys are on the way as well but we'll have to wait and see. There certainly will be some new merchandise for the upcoming season as the shop website is currently under construction to showcase products with the updated logo. Not sure any club has had the exact same logo for almost 30 years so it really was time to make a change. Let me know what you think about it in the comments below. Can't wait to see the logo on the ice in less than a week though. 

via Mooseheads Facebook

Around the CHL ~ volume #1 preview edition #10

The Canadian Hockey League regular season begins in less than 2 weeks so to get you ready I thought I would recap how last season went. Check back all year long for more stories about the CHL and your Mooseheads. 

here are last year's leaders:
Division champions 2021-22
WHL - Winnipeg Ice (East) 68 games played, 53-10-3-2 record, 111 points, 317 goals for/152 goals against; Edmonton Oil Kings (Central) 68 games played, 50-14-3-1 record, 104 points, 295 goals for/182 goals against; Everett Silvertips (U.S.) 68 games played, 45-13-5-5 record, 100 points, 280 goals for/190 goals against; Kamloops Blazers (B.C.) 68 games played, 48-17-3-0 record, 99 points, 287 goals for/176 goals against
OHL - Hamilton Bulldogs (East) 68 games played, 51-12-3-2 record, 107 points, 300 goals for/176 goals against; Windsor Spitfires (West) 68 games played, 44-17-4-3 record, 95 points, 305 goals for/248 goals against; North Bay Battalion (Central) 68 games played, 43-18-3-4 record, 93 points, 267 goals for/198 goals against; London Knights (Midwest) 68 games played, 39-22-5-2 record, 85 points, 299 goals for/211 goals against
QMJHL - Quebec Remparts (East) 68 games played, 51-15-2-0 record, 104 points, 302 goals for/175 goals against; Charlottetown Islanders (Maritimes) 68 games played, 48-13-7-0 record, 103 points, 283 goals for/179 goals against; Sherbrooke Phoenix (Central) 68 games, 46-17-2-3 record, 97 points, 274 goals for/202 goals against; Gatineau Olympiques (West) 68 games played, 39-15-11-3 record, 92 points, 248 goals for/193 goals against

League championships 2022
President's Cup - Charlottetown Islanders vs. Shawinigan Cataractes (Cataractes won series 4 games to 1 game)
J. Ross Robertson Cup - Hamilton Bulldogs vs. Windsor Spitfires (Bulldogs won series 4 games to 3 games)
Ed Chynoweth Cup - Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Seattle Thunderbirds (Oil Kings won series 4 games to 2 games)

Memorial Cup 2022
Teams - Edmonton (WHL champion), Hamilton (OHL champion), Saint John (hosts) and Shawinigan (QMJHL champion)

Final June 25, 2022 Saint John vs. Shawinigan 5-3

SAINT JOHN SEA DOGS WIN 2022 MEMORIAL CUP!!!



Saint John will look to repeat as Memorial Cup champions but they'll have a difficult time with more than half of the roster from the 2022 championship team moving on. This year the Memorial Cup will be held in Kamloops, home of the Kamloops Blazers who will be in the tournament no matter what. Prospects will look to continue impressing scouts as some will be eligible to be invited to World Junior camps in early December, which will most likely include at least one Halifax Moosehead as the city is co-hosting the tournament. 

#Our18: Halifax Mooseheads

Photo - QMJHL website

The QMJHL has been doing some previews of each of their 18 clubs this month and they recently did one on our Halifax Mooseheads. Click on the link below to see Jordan Dumais' highlights. 

From QMJHL.ca 

The last time the Halifax Mooseheads won a playoff series, they were also that year's Memorial Cup host team. Going on four seasons later, this methodically crafted crew has once again reached the point where many consider it the team to beat in the Maritimes. 

Two of the central up front are 2021 Nashville Predators first-rounder Zachary L'Heureux and 2022 Columbus Blue Jackets draftee Jordan Dumais, the latter coming off a season that saw him finish third in the league's regular season scoring derby. This duo will be surrounded by a talented cast, including overager Evan Boucher, who, after arriving from the Ontario Jr. A ranks midway through last season, posted 25 goals in 37 games. Markus Vidicek returns following a strong sophomore season while 2021 QMJHL first-rounder Mathieu Cataford aims to build off a 2021-22 campaign that saw him earn a spot on the league's Rookie All-Star Team before helping Canada to a gold medal at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. 

Last year's top point producer among defensemen, Jake Furlong, returns after hearing his his name called out by the San Jose Sharks at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Fourth-year veteran Cam Whynot will again be on hand to log key minutes and Connecticut native Brady Schultz returns after a solid first Q campaign. Dylan MacKinnon, a teammate of Cataford's at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, enters his NHL draft year eager to take the next step in his junior career. 

Between the pipes, Brady James and Mathis Rousseau return to form the netminding tandem for yet another season. 

It's been a long time to get back to this stage for GM Cam Russell and the rest of the Mooseheads braintrust. Fans will be in for a treat if this herd comes thundering through the Maritimes Division and beyond this year. 

2021-2022 Mooseheads Stats:

Team Record	38-28-1-1 (78 points)
Division Ranking	4th Maritimes
Overall Ranking	8th
Goals For	272 (6th)
Goals Against	272 (15th)
PP (Overall)	23.3% (9th )
PK (Overall)	69.8% (18th)
Leading Rookie (PTS)	Cataford (17-29-46)
Leading Scorers (PTS)	Dumais (39-70-109)
	Desnoyers (42-46-88)
	Vidicek (18-47-65)
	L’Heureux (22-34-56)
	Cataford (17-29-46)

Events

The Halifax Mooseheads released their schedule for the upcoming season earlier this summer and have finally announced the events happening during the 2022-23 season. Check out below for the dates of the yearly special games. With the 2023 World Juniors being hosted in Halifax free Christmas, there is no Battle of Nova Scotia event this year.

Annual events
HOME OPENER - September 23 vs. Charlottetown Islanders
Mooseheads Fight Cancer - January 28 vs. Cape Breton Eagles
DND Appreciation Night - March 4 vs. Cape Breton Eagles 
Teddy Bear Toss - December 10 vs. Gatineau Olympiques
Fan Appreciation Night - March 25 vs. Charlottetown Islanders

See the full promotional schedule in the 'Schedule' tab. 

Opening Night Roster

YOUR 2022-23 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

3  Dylan MacKinnon  D  Riverview, NB
5  Brady Schultz  D  Monroe, CT, USA
6  Markus Vidicek  C  Kirkland, QC

7  David Moravec  D  Havlickuv Brod, Czechia
8  Jack Martin  D  Upper Coverdale, NB*

9  Attilio Biasca  LW  Zug, Switzerland
10  Mathieu Cataford C  Saint-Constant, QC
11  Jordan Dumais  RW  L-ile-Bizard, QC

12  Brody Fournier  F  Lombardy, ON 
14  Logan Crosby  LW  Salt Springs, NS
16  James Swan  LW  Ville St-Laurent, QC
17  Cameron Whynot  D  Kentville, NS
19  Reece Peitzsche  C  Beaver Bank, NS*

21  Braeden MacPhee  C  Moncton, NB*
26  Owen Phillips  D  Hammonds Plains, NS*

30  Mathis Rousseau  G  Boisbriand, QC

33  Brady James  G  Beaconsfield, QC

43  Jake Furlong  D  Upper Tantallon, NS
48  Liam Welsh  C  Halifax, NS*
61  Jake Todd  C  Beaver Bank, NS*
66  Zachary L'Heureux  LW  Mercier, QC

71  Evan Boucher  LW  Timmons, ON

*indicates rookie

CAMP: Mooseheads Make Final Cuts

General Manager Cam Russell and company made their final cuts to the training camp roster on Tuesday morning. The club announced that two players were released with one being veteran Stephen Davis. Halifax also let go of goaltender Jack Milner which really isn't a surprise. 

Photo - TSN

The 20-year-old quickly became a popular player for the Mooseheads and was an alternate captain during the 2021-22 regular season. "We all love Stephen here, the players, coaches and staff. He's a great person and will be missed but we are also extremely excited with the seven talented defencemen who have earned their spots on the roster and are the best fit for our team at this time." Russell said of the move. The departure of Davis means the Mooseheads will begin the season with one overage player in the form of forward Evan Boucher. 

This means that the Herd will break camp with 22 players on the roster and go with 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders to start the 2022-23 regular season. 

Good luck to Stephen with his new team wherever he ends up.