The Halifax Mooseheads announced a couple of trades on Friday afternoon.
Up first was an exchange of draft picks with the Moncton Wildcats. Halifax received a 2nd rounder in 2024 and a 2025 1st round pick plus a 3rd rounder that was originally Victoriaville's in exchange for three picks all in 2026. Considering there will be a number of players leaving once again at the end of this season, having these early picks for the next two drafts should be helpful.
In addition, Cam Russell moved overager Brody Fournier and the 2025 1st round pick they got from the Wildcats earlier in the day to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Coming back is 20-year-old Peter Reynolds.
Fournier leaves the Mooseheads with 26 points over 35 games played so far this season, which is one more than he had during the whole 2022-23 year. Reynolds suited up for Saint John in 166 games while collecting 158 points, 44 of which have come this season. The Fredericton, NB native was drafted by the Sea Dogs 21st overall at the 2019 QMJHL draft.
Good luck to Brody in Saint John, we'll miss watching you battle it out for the red and green. Welcome to Moose Country Peter.
Last night's home game was the final match for our Halifax Mooseheads before the holiday break and unfortunately, it did not end well as the Saint John Sea Dogs won in overtime 3-2. As we are at the half-way point of the season, I thought I would give you an update on the team's stats at this time.
Halifax has been without their star players so they have limped into the break but it has been a good chance for the second tier players some playing time and put up some points. Forward Mathieu Cataford has been stellar lately picking up 13 points (8G & 5A) in the last five games and he now leads the QMJHL in scoring with 51. The Mooseheads are 4-4-2-0 in their last 10 games, however they still sit on top of the Maritimes division.
The holiday break also begins the trading period for the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. There hasn't been as many rumours as in previous years and I've only seen one related to the Mooseheads. According to some sources, Israel Mianscum will be traded to Halifax. Moves have already been made today and more will be made official over the next couple of weeks. Trades that involve players at the World Juniors won't be announced until January 6 when they come back.
NEXT UP
When the team returns from the break, they will host the Charlottetown Islanders on December 28 before playing in a home-and-home series against provincial rivals, Cape Breton Eagles during the last weekend of 2023.
Photo - Vecteezy
THANK YOU
Lastly, I just wanted to a big Thank You to all of you who have read my blog, followed me on social media and liked/commented on my posts this year. I also would like to say I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season.
The Halifax Mooseheads are celebrating their 30th anniversary this season and the club kicked it off in style with the retirement of Nathan MacKinnon's #22 jersey in a pre-game ceremony during the home opener on September 22. Since it is Throwback Thursday, I thought I would share some media from the ceremony.
"I've never experienced anything like this before... being from here, I spent my summers back home in Halifax. Definitely a close connection to the city, a lot of family and friends here tonight," MacKinnon said to press before the event. "It's cool to share it with people, not just myself. I think the best part is having everyone around me."
Among the 10,198 fans in attendance were Nathan's parents, sister and girlfriend plus the new Mooseheads owners; Sam and Peter Simon who all joined him on the ice for the ceremony. Before MacKinnon stepped up to the podium, a video was played that showed prominent members of the hockey and Halifax community saying congratulations to the 28-year-old.
Here are a couple of photos from the night as well.
Photo - AMH Photography
Photo - Global News
It was a very nice speech that Nate shared. I hope I wasn't the only one but the clips and speech made me emotional. The Halifax, NS native of course spent only two seasons with the Herd, collecting 153 points in 102 games played. He then went on to be drafted 1st overall by the Colorado Avalanche at the 2013 NHL draft. Check out the full ceremony below.
What a great way to start this anniversary season, unfortunately the current team went on to lose the home opener game 3-1 against the Charlottetown Islanders.
Nathan MacKinnon is having a pretty good 2023, helping the Avalanche win a Stanley Cup back in June and just picked up his 800th career NHL point on Wednesday evening. He is 3rd in league scoring this season with 41 points.
Every month, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announces a Scholastic Player of the Month which recognizes a player on each team with his performance on ice and in the classroom. The player is selected based on their school results, their implication, the school-hockey conciliation, their team spirit and their on-ice performances.
For your Halifax Mooseheads, Lou Levesque was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for November. Levesque scored two goals and five points in the month over 6 games before getting injured.
It was another close game on Friday night but this time against a team that should not have been in the game really at all. Veteran forward Mathieu Cataford had a great night, factoring in all of the Mooseheads goals as Halifax won 5-4 in overtime over the Gatineau Olypiques. The away team got on the board pretty early on with rookie Matthew Eric scoring at the 1:55 mark in the first period. Leading scorer Jordan Dumais looked to score the tying goal, however the referees called it back as it was determined there was an offside earlier in the play after review. As soon as the puck went in though, many of the 8,015 fans in attendance threw on the ice toques, socks and gloves in support of the team's inaugural toque toss game. With just over a minute left in the opening period, Markus Vidicek scored the official tying goal and the clubs went into their locker rooms for the first intermission tied at 1. There was a bit more scoring in the middle frame with the score being 3-3 after 40 minutes. The Olympiques took a 4-3 lead 5:47 into the third period but Cataford scored again less than five minutes later on the power play and the game headed to overtime. Halifax got the 2 points when Cataford got his third goal of the night (and 5th point) just 1:06 into the extra frame. The win meant that the Mooseheads got back to back victories in their anniversary jerseys.
FINAL: Olympiques 4 at Mooseheads 5 OT Stars: 3. Jeremie Minville GAT | 2. Jordan Dumais HAL | 1. Mathieu Cataford HAL Attendance: 8,015 MC's Top Herd: Mathieu Cataford
GAME LOG First period 1:55 GAT Matthew Eric (2) | A: Kaine 18:56 HAL Markus Vidicek (23) | A: Cataford & Dumais
Second period 4:56 GAT Thomas Chafe (6) | A: Wold 5:13 GAT Alexander Gaudio (4) | A: Eric & Blais 10:49 HAL Mathieu Cataford (15), PP | A: Dumais & Vidicek 16:40 HAL Jordan Dumais (16) | A: Cataford & Furlong
Third period 5:47 GAT Jeremie Minville (20) | A: Ling & Golicic 10:31 HAL Mathieu Cataford (16), PP | A: Fournier & Dumais
PREVIEW - For its 30th game of the season, our Halifax Mooseheads are introducing what I assume is their 30th anniversary jersey as they welcome the Drummondville Voltigeurs tonight. The Mooseheads announced today that they will be wearing jerseys called The 94's inspired by the original ones and will be returning to the red colour. Hopefully they can bring the team some good luck as Halifax has been on a bit of a slump the last couple of weeks, going 1-3-2-0 in their last six games after winning 10 straight. They'll be in tough against a streaking Voltigeurs team that have won five in a row and are just 1 point behind the Herd in the standings. This will be a hard month for Halifax with the team playing three games in three days this week then they will lose the services of four of their best players to the World Juniors for at least a bit. What kind of squad will we see tonight during the CHL's Game of the Week matchup? You can watch it on TSN+ and CHL TV. Drummondville is led in points by Bridgewater, NS native Luke Woodworth and is yet another club that are expected to be a playoff contender this season with a handful of NHL drafted players.
Overall records Voltigeurs: 18-8-3-1 = 40 points (1st in Central division, 3rd overall) Mooseheads: 19-7-3-0 = 41 points (1st in Maritimes division, 2nd overall)
Top 3 scorers HAL: Jordan Dumais 42pts (15G & 27A), Mathieu Cataford 38pts (14G & 24A), Markus Vidicek 37pts (19& 18A) DRU: Luke Woodworth 34pts (15G & 19A), Peter Repcik 33pts (16G & 17A), Justin Cote 28pts (14G & 14A)
Head-to-head This is the first game of the season between these two teams. Last year, Halifax had a 1-1-0-0 record versus the Voltigeurs while Drummondville was 1-1-0-0 against the Mooseheads. Drummondville won the last matchup back on February 10, 2023 by a score of 6-4 with Alex Doucet leading Halifax with 3 points.
Last games Drummondville is coming off a 6-1 victory over the Sea Dogs on the road last night. Justin Cote had a first star performance with a goal and 2 assists for the Voltigeurs while Louis-Felix Charrois made 17 saves to get the win in Saint John.
Halifax is coming off a 2-0 loss to Rouyn-Noranda on December 2nd. Mathis Rousseau stopped 38 of the Huskies 40 shots as the Mooseheads were shutout on the road for the second time during their road trip.
Not playing - Logan Crosby and Lou Levesque are out with injuries
Out of town Islanders vs. Olympiques - 7:00 p.m. Oceanic vs. Cataractes - 8:00 p.m. Phoenix vs. Wildcats - 8:00 p.m.
Below is another collection of stories that have happened recently in regards to our Halifax Mooseheads. A few of them are old news but I didn't share much in November as I wanted to because I did not feel good for most of the month. There are probably stories I am missing but I try my hardest to include what I can. Hope you enjoy this post.
MOOSE TRACKS The Halifax Mooseheads have brought back a behind the scenes look at the team with a new season of the Moose Tracks feature. The first episode is titled 'Legacy' and shows from training camp until the Mathis Rousseau goal. Check out the video below.
I got to say that it is nice to see these back and the video is very well done. Always good to see the behind the scenes stuff. I'm not sure when the next episode will be shared but I'm looking forward to it as the first one finished on a bit of a cliffhanger.
Photo - Herd Twitter
FRANCHISE RECORD We knew it was going to happen this season but we just didn't know when. Forward Jordan Dumais made more history last month when he set a new franchise record for points with 304 which was an assist on a first period goal during a game against the Cape Breton Eagles on November 12. Over 9,000 fans witnessed the milestone be accomplished that afternoon with the previous holder Brandon Benedict and his family in attendance as well. The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect recorded three assists in total in a 4-0 victory and was named first star of the game.
Benedict played for the Mooseheads from 1998 to 2003 and recorded 303 regular season points during his five seasons over 343 games in the QMJHL. He is now the head coach of the MHL's Valley Wildcats. The 41-year-old had a special moment with Dumais in the Herd dressing room post game.
Dumais has continued to rack up points since and as of this post, has 320 through 191 games played. His total puts him at 146th overall in the Q.
LARMAND Cam Russell and the Mooseheads staff made a move a couple of weeks ago, adding 20-year-old forward Ethan Larmand to the roster from the Sudbury Wolves. The native of Midland, ON was placed on waivers by the Wolves after playing 169 games for the team, collecting 62 points. Larmand fills the vacant overage roster position and will wear #55.
"We're very happy to add Ethan to our lineup. He is a character guy who plays well at both ends of the ice and will give us some extra veteran leadership in the dressing room," said GM Russell.
A late welcome to the team Ethan.
Photo - QMJHL website
PLAYERS OF THE MONTH The players of the month for November were announced last week and our leading scorer, Jordan Dumais was named the Forward of the Month. He scored 8 goals and 26 points in 12 games played.
Baie-Comeau's Alexis Bernier was named the top defenseman, while the goaltender of the month was Nathan Darveau of Victoriaville. Raoul Bollard of the Drakkar was named the best rookie in November.
TEAM OF THE WEEK Herd defenseman Brady Schultz was named to the Q Team of the Week for the period ranging from November 27 to December 3, 2023.
Photo - QMJHL website
CHL TOP 10 After a three loss week, all on the road against Quebec teams, our Mooseheads fell down to #7 on the CHL's top 10 rankings on Tuesday.
1. Baie-Comeau Drakkar (25-3-2-0) last week: 2 2. Prince George Cougars (21-7-0-0) last week: 1 3. Kitchener Rangers (20-7-1-0) last week: 4 4. Saginaw Spirit (16-8-0-1) last week: 8 5. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (17-8-2-0) last week: 9 6. Saskatoon Blades (19-8-1-0) last week: 10
7. Halifax Mooseheads (19-7-3-0) last week: 3
8. Wenatchee Wild (19-8-3-0) last week: n/a 9. Moncton Wildcats (18-7-1-1) last week: 6 10. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (16-7-1-3) last week: n/a
DURANDEAU Former Herd forward Arnaud Durandeau has new colours after the New Jersey Devils acquired the 24-year-old from the New York Islanders last week. Durandeau will report to the AHL's Utica Comets. He had one goal and three assists in 12 games played with the Bridgeport Islanders before being traded. Since he left Halifax after the 2018-19 season, the Montreal, QC native has played 201 professional games most of them in the American Hockey League.
Photo - Devils website
He joins a Devils organization that has a few other Mooseheads alumni in it, with Nico Hischier and Timo Meier playing in New Jersey while Xavier Parent is now Durandeau's teammate in Utica.
NEXT GAMES Our Moose will hope to turn things around this week after a disappointing road trip that saw the team go 1-3-1-0 over the five games. Halifax will have back to back home games in which the fans can cheer on a few players before they go off to World Junior camp. Thursday will see the Western conference leading Drummondville Voltigeurs come to town meanwhile the inaugural Toque Toss game is on Friday against the Gatineau Olympiques.
Hockey Canada announced the roster for their selection camp that will determine the final team who will participate in the 2024 World Juniors. Out of the thirty players named, 4 of them come from your Halifax Mooseheads.
To (I think) no one's surprise, 19-year-old forward Jordan Dumais was invited to the camp and will be joined by goaltender Mathis Rousseau, defenceman Jake Furlong and forward Markus Vidicek. The selection camp will take place December 10-13 in Oakville, ON and includes practices and a pair of games against a team of U-Sports all-stars.
"We are excited to name the 30 players who will embark on the journey through camp and eventually on to the World Juniors," said Peter Anholt. "Canada has an incredible talent pool of players, and there are always difficult decisions to narrow it down. We are expecting a highly competitive camp, and we look forward to naming our final roster that will wear the Maple Leaf with pride starting on Boxing Day."
A total of 8 players from the QMJHL will participate in the camp while the roster consists of four goaltenders, 10 defenceman and 16 forwards. The 2024 World Junior Championship will take place from December 26-January 5, 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Congratulations and good luck at camp to our four guys as well as everyone battling it out for a roster spot.
