Game Day 1: at Charlottetown

Welcome to the 2024-25 season! Our Halifax Mooseheads are kicking off this new season with a five game road trip starting with a visit to the Charlottetown Islanders tonight. Halifax will hope to start the season on the right foot and thankfully they have a full team. Gone are the scoring abilities of Jordan Dumais, Mathieu Cataford and Markus Vidicek but the club still has most of the back end from last year. Jake Furlong has moved up to the pros, leaving the captain spot open which was given to another defenceman; Brady Schultz. This is year one of the rebuild but they played well in the pre-season and are going against an Islanders team that had the worst record in exhibition play. Of course, the regular season is what counts so we'll have to see how things go. Rookies Daniel Walters, Carlos Handel and co will look to prove to the brass that they made the right decision to keep them. Halifax also has a new head coach once again that will have to lead the club to a playoff position. Charlottetown is also backed by an overage goaltender after acquiring Nicolas Ruccia from Cape Breton over the summer and is led by newly appointed captain Michael Kearsey. The 18-year-old is the highest scoring returning player after recording 49 points during 2023-24. 

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

Overall records
Mooseheads: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (5th in Maritimes division, 17th overall)
Islanders: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 9th overall)

Leading scorers
CHA: n/a
HAL: n/a

Head-to-head
This is the first game of the season between the two clubs. During the 2023-24 season, Halifax had a 6-2-1-0 record versus the Islanders while Charlottetown went 3-4-0-2 against the Mooseheads. The Herd won the last match on March 14 4-2 in Halifax with Markus Vidicek and Jake Furlong leading the team with 2 assists each. 

Out of town
Titan vs. Eagles - 7:00 p.m.
Sea Dogs vs. Wildcats - 7:00 p.m.
Remparts vs. Sagueneens - 8:00 p.m.
Drakkar vs. Oceanic - 8:00 p.m.
Oceanic vs. Huskies - 8:00 p.m.
Cataractes vs. Armada - 8:00 p.m.
Voltigeurs vs. Phoenix - 8:00 p.m.
Tigres vs. Foreurs - 8:00 p.m.

Next game 
Halifax head back over the bridge and will take on the Saint John Sea Dogs at TD Station Saturday evening. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m.

Defenceman Schultz Named Captain

Photo - Herd Facebook

Our Halifax Mooseheads have named their leadership group for the 2024-25 QMJHL season and veteran defenceman Brady Schultz was given the C on Wednesday. 

The 20-year-old was originally a 14th round pick by the club in the 2020 Entry Draft and is entering his fourth season on the blueline. He is the 36th captain in team history and first American born player to earn the honour according to the press release. 

Schultz was presented a new jersey with the letter on it during a team meeting. Joining the Monroe, CT native as full-time alternates will be forward Braeden MacPhee (20) and defenceman Owen Phillips (18). While 19-year-old Jack Martin and 17-year-old Liam Kilfoil are going to split leadership duties at home and away games. 

Congratulations to all five players, especially Brady on being named Captain. 

Season Roster Announced

YOUR 2024-25 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

5  Brady Schultz  D  Monroe, CT, USA

7  Carlos Handel  D  Erlangen, Germany*
8  Jack Martin  D  Upper Coverdale, NB

9  Liam Kilfoil  C  Quispamsis, NB

14  Logan Crosby  RW  Salt Springs, NS
15  Dominic MacKenzie  D  Stellarton, NS

17  Patrick McNab  C  Beaconsfield, QC*
19  Caylen Blake  LW  Corner Brook, NL*

20  Daniel Walters  C  Halifax, NS*

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

28  Jan Sprynar  RW  Zatec, Czechia

32  Alec Nasreddine  LW  Mountainside, NJ, USA

35  Jack Milner  G  Antigonish, NS

37  Amelio Santini  C  Cote-Saint-Luc, QC*

41  Justin Breton  C  Saint-Leon-de-Stanton, QC*

51  Eddy Doyle  D  Tignish, PE

55  Shawn Carrier  LW  Trois-Rivieres, QC

56  Lincoln Waugh  D  Summerside, PE

60  Mathis Rousseau  G  Boisbriand, QC
63  Jake Todd  C  Beaver Bank, NS
67  Lou Levesque  LW  Saint-Jerome, QC
89  Antoine Fontaine  C  Granby, QC
90  Cade Moser  RW  Linacy, NS

*indicates rookie

Pre-season stats

Photo - Saltwire

The Mooseheads ended up playing only five exhibition games this year after the final one on September 13 was cancelled because of a virus going through the Cape Breton Eagles team. 

Games played: 5
Scores*: 1-3, 3-2, 4-3 OT, 2-5, 5-2
Record: 3-2-0-0, 6pts
Goals for/against: 15 / 15
Powerplay: 13.0%
Penalty kill: 86.7%

Team leaders
Points: Carlos Handel (5pts), Liam Kilfoil (4pts), Justin Breton (4pts)
Goals: Liam Kilfoil (2G), Justin Breton (2G), Caylen Blake (2G)
Assists: Carlos Handel (5A), Dominic MacKenzie (3A), Liam Kilfoil (2A)
Penalty minutes: Daniel Walter (8 mins), Gavin Sudds (6 mins), Mathis Laplante (5 mins)
Plus/minus: Mathis Laplante (+3), Caylen Blake (+3), Lincoln Waugh (+3)

Goaltending stats
George Foti: 1-0-0-0   0.00 GAA    1.000 SAV%
Sam Madget: 0-0-0-0   2.03 GAA    0.913 SAV%   
Olivier St-Onge: 1-1-0-0   2.82 GAA    0.897 SAV%
Jack Milner: 1-0-0-0   2.63 GAA    0.871 SAV%
Mathis Rousseau:  0-1-0-0   5.00 GAA    0.828 SAV%

*Halifax's score is first

Herd Word

Since I haven't posted all summer, below you will find some news that you may have missed if you are not on social media. 

Photo - TSN

CATAFORD MVP, ALL-STAR TEAMS
A couple Halifax Mooseheads players were announced as finalists for QMJHL awards back in May to celebrate the 2023-24 season. Mathieu Rousseau had a chance to win the Patrick Roy Trophy as the league's top goaltender, however it was given to William Rousseau of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Meanwhile, Mathieu Cataford was nominated for two awards; the Marcel Robert Trophy (best scholastic player) and the Michel Briere Trophy. The 19-year-old won the latter, being named the QMJHL's regular season Most Valuable Player. He 'had an outstanding season with career highs in goals (40), assists (50) and points (90) to lead the team in scoring while finishing third in the QMJHL scoring race.'

After the individual awards were handed out, the league announced the all-star teams for the 2023-24 season which included forward Mathieu Cataford on the first team while the second team included goaltender Mathis Rousseau and forward Markus Vidicek. Congrats to these three guys on being recognized for their efforts.

Photo - Herd website

NEW HOCKEY STAFF
There were a number of staffing changes once again for our Halifax Mooseheads during the off-season. The first move was head coach Jim Midgley being released of his duties after Halifax bowed out of the 2024 playoffs with a first-round exit. GM Cam Russell made the announcement on April 16, saying the team also dismissed assistant coach Liam Heelis. 

A little less than two months later, Andrew Lord was hired as the 14th head coach in team history while Brad MacKenzie was promoted to associate coach. According to the press release, 'Lord is the reigning ECHL Coach of the Year after leading the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 44-23-4-1 record and the team's first South Division Championship in more than a decade.'

"We are thrilled to have Andrew join our staff and excited to watch him take the reigns of our young, revamped roster," said Russell. 

Two additions to the hockey staff were announced in late July as Morgan MacDonald was named the full-time Video & Player Development Coach while Charles Grant is the new Goaltending Coach. The positions were made available after Joey Perricone and Jon Sim departed. 

Welcome to the team to the new staff members. 

HISCHIER WINS SILVER
Former Halifax Mooseheads forward Nico Hischier has a silver medal after Switzerland lost to Czechia in the 2024 IIHL World Championship game back in late May. The Swiss finished second in Group A with a 5-1-0-1 (w-otw-otl-l) record during the preliminary round to advance to the quarter-finals. They defeated Germany and Canada (in a shootout) to make it to the gold medal match. Hischier had 6 goals and 5 assists in 10 games played during the tournament and finished 7th in scoring. 

Alum Cam Critchlow also participated in the tournament for Team Great Britain, who unfortunately finished 15th overall.  

QMJHL ENTRY DRAFT
Our Halifax Mooseheads added 15 prospects to their roster and made a couple of trades during the 2024 QMJHL Draft weekend that was held June 7-8 in Moncton, NB. 

Before the draft began, Halifax moved forwards Markus Vidicek and Dylan MacKinnon along with two third rounders to the Moncton Wildcats in two separate trades for Shawn Carrier and three 2026 draft picks. The Mooseheads received a first round draft pick in 2024 plus 4 other picks in exchange for Mathieu Cataford from the Rimouski Oceanic. 

Photo - Herd website

With the first rounder, the Moose drafted Halifax native Daniel Walters 11th overall. Walters played the 2023-24 season with the Halifax McDonalds where he scored 27 points (9G & 18A) in 27 games. 

Full list of selections is below:
RD 1 #11 - C Daniel Walters - Halifax Macs U18
RD 2 #34 - LW Caylen Blake - Mount St. Charles Academy
RD 3 #48 - C Amelio Santini - Lac St. Louis Lions U18
RD 4 #71 - RD Logan Trewin - Halifax Macs U18
RD 5 #89 - LD Mickael Fournier - Quinte Red Devils U16AAA
RD 6 #107 - LD Gavin Sudds - Halifax Macs U18
RD 7 #125 - G Nicolas Gillham-Cirka - Taft School USHS
RD 8 #143 - RW Noah Olmedo-Matte - College Esther-Blondin
RD 9 #150 - C Nico Ciardiello - Mount St. Charles Academy
RD 9 #161 - LW Thomas Cote - Quebec Blizzard
RD 10 #179 - F Elie Champagne - South Kent School
RD 11 #197 - LD Cole Bent - Cole Harbour U18
RD 12 #215 - C Cole MacLeod - Cole Harbour U18
RD 13 #233 - G Thomas Laplante - Mille-Isles QM17AAA
RD 14 #251 - RW Will Bent - Mount St. Charles Academy 

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft was held on July 3 and the Mooseheads used their first of two selections to pick defenceman Carlos Handel from Erlangen, Germany. According to the press release, Handel is 6-foot-1 and played both at the J18 and J20 levels this past season with the Malmo Redhawks program in Sweden. "We've been watching him for the last year-and-a-half. We saw him about 18 months ago in Germany and he just dazzled us as an underage player. He's a heck of a hockey player and he plays a complete game," said General Manager Cam Russell. 

Handel will join sophomore Jan Sprynar as the team's two import roster spots for the 2024-25 season. 

TEAM CANADA WINS HLINKA
The annual summer Hlinka Gretzky Cup saw Team Canada be on top of the podium once again. Forward Liam Kilfoil scored in the championship game to help the Canadians win Gold as they beat Czechia 2-1 in Edmonton, AB. Kilfoil added two assists during the tournament, playing five games. A total of 22 players with ties to the CHL won the ultimate trophy. 

Prospect Carlos Handel participated in the tournament as his German team finished 6th out of eight teams. 

Congrats to Liam and Team Canada on becoming champions. 

Photo - Hockey Canada website

OTHER THINGS

• Goaltender Alexis Gravel agreed to teams on an ECHL standard player contract with the Orlando Solar Bears
• Former Mooseheads head coach Jon Greenwood was announced the new bench boss for the Truro Bearcats junior A team and will be joined by alum Ryan Falkenham who played for Halifax from 2011 to 2015 
• The WHL will host the 2026 Memorial Cup and five teams have announced they intend to bid on hosting: Brandon, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Spokane and Kelowna   
• Current Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers helped Team Denmark book their ticket to the 2026 Olympics at the beginning of this month as the Danes won all three games in the final qualification tournament
• Jim Midgley wasn't out of a coaching job for long as PWHL Toronto announced he would be an assistant coach for the upcoming season 

Events

The Halifax Mooseheads released their promotional schedule recently and it looks a bit different from years past, but below you will find the annual charity events that happen. It seems that once again the Hurley Cup will not be played but I hope that they change their minds because it is one of my favourite events. 

Annual events
HOME OPENER - October 4 vs. Quebec Remparts
DND Appreciation Night - November 9 vs. Baie-Comeau Drakkar     
Toque Toss - December 14 vs. Charlottetown Islanders     
Mooseheads Fight Cancer - February 8 vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan  
Fan Appreciation Night - March 22 vs. Charlottetown Islanders

Minor hockey nights: Nov. 10, Dec. 6, Jan. 24, Feb. 22, Mar. 16
Student nights: Nov. 21 & Jan. 23 

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

Alumni Update: Champions, Signings, Records

As you will have noticed the past few seasons, I have not done well keeping my blog or social media accounts updated with news about the Halifax Mooseheads alumni. There are so many now that it is hard to keep track plus with the time differences, I don't always see things that teams post about our former players. The 2023-24 season was a pretty good year for a number of alum in terms of records broken, championships won and milestones so I thought I would share them in one post. The summer also brings along signings by hockey clubs so they can get ready for the upcoming season and there were a number of them as well. 

First, let's begin with the league that generally finishes the earliest; U-Sports. A total of 20 former Mooseheads played university hockey during the 2023-24 season. For the third straight year, goaltender Alexis Gravel, defenceman Jordan Lepage and the UQTR Patriotes were champions of the OUA playoffs. Congrats to the Patriotes on winning the Queen's Cup. 

Photo - UQTR Twitter

I did share this news on social media but figured I would post here as well. After spending about seven seasons in North America, former Herd Otto Somppi went back home to Finland and was able to win the SM-Liiga championship with Tappara on April 28. The 26-year-old recorded a goal and six assists in 16 playoff games following a 27 point regular season. On the same day, 39-year-old forward Petr Vrana (who played for Halifax between 2002-2005) once again captained HC Ocelari Trinec to a Czech Extraliga championship trophy. 

Photo - Toronto Star

It was another spectacular season for superstar Nathan MacKinnon. The year of course began with our Mooseheads raising his number to the rafters at the team's home opener and retiring #22. MacKinnon went on to record his first 50 goal season and had a career-high 140 points while playing in all 82 regular season games with the Colorado Avalanche. He scored two assists on April 18, allowing him to pass Peter Stastny for most points in a season in franchise history. 

Though he couldn't help the Avs out of the second round, the 28-year-old did pick up some hardware at the annual NHL Awards ceremony in late June. Nathan was voted as the regular season Most Valuable Player by the Writers' Association and won the Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player). 

Meanwhile, Ottawa, ON native MacKenzie Weegar also silently had a historic season becoming the first player in NHL history to score 20 goals and block 200 shots. The defenceman finished the 2023-24 season with a career high 52 points, which coincidently is his number with the Calgary Flames. Weegar played his 400th career game on November 10. 

Other milestones during the season for Mooseheads alumni in the NHL;
- Nikolaj Ehlers (Winnipeg): 400th point October 30, 600th game April 6
- Filip Zadina (San Jose): 200th game November 2
- Raphael Lavoie (Edmonton): NHL debut November 4
- Nico Hischier (New Jersey): 300th point December 16, 400th game December 19
- Jonathan Drouin (Colorado): 500th game November 20, 300th point January 4
- Timo Meier (New Jersey): 500th game January 17

Former Herd forward Jakub Voracek announced his retirement from hockey in mid-April after playing 1,058 regular season games split between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers. I'm sure he would like to have continued his career considering he is only 35 however, the Kladno, Czechia native suffered a concussion during a game on November 4, 2022. The Flyers traded him to the Arizona Coyotes in hopes to give him a chance at coming back but the team made the move knowing it was unlikely. Congrats to Jakub on a great career, Moose Country wishes you all the best with your next adventure. 

Photo - NHL Facebook

In his rookie pro season, Moose alumni Zachary L'Heureux broke out during the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs for the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League. Though he played less games because the Admirals didn't make it to the final series, L'Heureux scored 10 goals which tied him for the league lead in that column by the end. At one point during the post-season, the Montreal, QC native actual led the overall scoring. 

Photo - Oilers Twitter

Like I mentioned, summer brings signings and a number of alum put their name on the dotted line. Below you will find a list of them with contract details

• Jonathan Drouin: (UFA) re-signed Colorado Avalanche - 1-year contract $2.5 million
• Benoit-Olivier Groulx: (UFA) signed with NY Rangers - 1-year contract $775,000
• Justin Barron: (RFA) re-signed Montreal Canadiens - 2-year contract $2.3 million
• Raphael Lavoie: (RFA) re-signed Edmonton Oilers - 1-year 2-way contract $775,000
• Martin Frk: signed with Calgary Flames - 1-year 2-way contract $775,000

There probably have been more but these are the ones I have seen so far for signings overseas. After ending this past season in Norway, Maxim Trepanier has signed a contract with the Herlev Eagles in Denmark meanwhile Jared McIsaac is taking his talents to Czechia so he can suit up for HC Litvinov. 

Mooseheads 2024-25 Schedule Announced

Photo - Herd website

The Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League announced the 2024-25 regular season schedule a few months ago, including all 64 Halifax Mooseheads games. 

Yes, I did say 64 games. The league made the decision in the spring to change the amount of matches in a season from 68 to sixty-four lessoning the strain on the players. Halifax will open up the season with a five-game road trip through the Maritimes starting in Charlottetown on September 20. Puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. at Eastlink Centre. 

Some highlights from the schedule:

• The Mooseheads hit the Scotiabank Centre ice for the first time in the new season on October 4 when they welcome the Quebec Remparts. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m. 
• Halifax will have their first Quebec road trip October 25-27 when they visit Shawinigan, Victoriaville and Sherbrooke. 
• A home-and-home series between the two Nova Scotian teams is back for this season with the clubs meeting on December 30 in Cape Breton before having a New Year's Eve afternoon game in Moose Country. It's yet to be seen if the Hurley Cup will make a return. 
• There will be a number of Sunday afternoon home games, a total of nine which is more than I have seen in a long time. 
• Halifax's final match of the season sees them host the Charlottetown Islanders in a Saturday matinee on March 22. 

We're Back!

After taking another summer off from blogging, I am pleased to say that I will be back writing on here during the 2024-25 season. I won't make this long but just wanted to say a few things. Later this evening, I'll be sharing some posts that normally would've been published in the off-season and then tomorrow will be the first game preview of the year. 

I am a 15-game pack holder this season, so the MC's Top Herd will be announced only for the matches I attend while I anticipate doing game previews & recaps for those as well as some away contests probably. 

Hopefully, I will be able to provide more updates on alumni this season. We have quite a few with a growing amount playing overseas so I miss things. If there is anything you would like to see on the blog, please let me know. 

Feel free to leave a comment, any questions or suggestions on a post or send me an email at moosecountry.blog@gmail.com 

Moose Country is also on social media if you are not following already

Twitter/X: MC_MooseCountry

Facebook: Moose Country

Instagram: moose_country

If you'd like to see game & player pictures, please follow my photography page on Instagram (amhsport_photos)

Lastly, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog posts and following on social media. This will be my 13th season writing about the Mooseheads and though I tried to stop, I just can't :). Go Moose Go!