Stats Sunday: October

Games played: 10
Record: 3-5-2-0, 8pts
Goals for/against: 25/39
Powerplay*: 19.2%
Penalty kill*: 84.4%
Shutouts: None

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Liam Kilfoil 11, Shawn Carrier 7, Braeden MacPhee 7, Logan Crosby 6, Antoine Fontaine 6
Goals: Liam Kilfoil 5, Shawn Carrier 3, Braeden MacPhee 3, Jack Martin 3, Logan Crosby 2
Assists: Liam Kilfoil 6, Carlos Handel 5, Shawn Carrier 4, Braeden MacPhee 4, Logan Crosby 4 
Penalty minutes: Braeden MacPhee 12, Daniel Walters 12, Jack Martin 11, Jake Todd 11, Patrick McNab 7
Plus/minus: Shawn Carrier +2, Cade Moser +1, Liam Kilfoil E, Eddy Doyle -1, Brady Schultz -1
Rookie scoring: Carlos Handel 6pts, Eddy Doyle 1pt, Amelio Santini 1pt, Patrick McNab 1pt, Daniel Walters 1pt

Goaltender stats*
Mathis Rousseau     6-4-2-0     2.71 GAA     0.910 SAV%
Jack Milner     1-1-0-0     3.59 GAA     0.887 SAV%

*overall

Game Day 14: at Victoriaville

For the first time this season, our Halifax Mooseheads are playing three games in three days on the road and it continues tonight with the team visiting the Victoriaville Tigres. The Mooseheads will look to bounce back from an unfortunate loss on Friday night against Shawinigan that ended 8-1. Rookie defenceman Carlos Handel scored his first career goal during the opening period in the defeat. Halifax still has a good record for a rebuilding team but have been struggling with injuries lately to some of their top guys so you could use that excuse for last night. Victoriaville has a 3-7-1-1 record coming into this evening and had lost 8 straight contests before picking up a 3-0 victory on Thursday night. The Tigres are led by 19-year-old centre Mael Lavigne who has seven goals and 18 points so far this season. Not sure who will get the start in goal for Halifax tonight as both net-minders played yesterday and the club has a busy weekend but hopefully the whole team will use the loss as motivation and come out strong. 

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

Overall records
Mooseheads: 7-4-2-0 = 16 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 8th overall)
Tigres: 3-7-1-1 = 8 points (4th in Central division, 15th overall)

Leading scorers
VIC: Mael Lavigne 18pts (7G & 11A), Eliott Simard 11pts (6G & 5A), Justin Larose 10pts (4G & 6A)
HAL: Liam Kilfoil 14pts (6G & 8A), Shawn Carrier 13pts (6G & 7A), Antoine Fontaine 10pts (5G & 5A)

Head-to-head
This is the first game of the season between these two clubs. Halifax had a 2-0-0-0 record versus the Tigres during the 2023-24 season while Victoriaville went 0-2-0-0 against the Mooseheads. Their last matchup was February 1 where Markus Vidicek's two goals propelled Halifax to a 4-2 win in Victoriaville. 

Out of town
Cataractes vs. Wildcats - 5:00 p.m.
Foreurs vs. Oceanic - 5:00 p.m.
Sagueneens vs. Islanders - 5:00 p.m.
Voltigeurs vs. Sea Dogs - 5:00 p.m.

Next game
The Mooseheads will wrap up this road trip on Sunday afternoon by taking on the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Puck drops at 4:00 pm AT. 

Three Herd on Players to Watch

The National Hockey League along with the Central Scouting Services announced their preliminary Players to Watch list for the 2025 NHL draft on Wednesday. The players are ranked in three different categories; 'A' players are projected to go in the first round while 'B' players are 2nd and 3rd round candidates. 'C' ranked players most likely will go in the 4th to 7th rounds. Of course, rankings can change through out the season depending on how the player does. 

There are three current Halifax Mooseheads among the list of prospects and they were all given a 'C' rating. Sophomore forwards Shawn Carrier and Liam Kilfoil along with rookie defenceman Carlos Handel will be among the players that scouts will keep an eye on this season. At the time that the list was published, Carrier and Kilfoil were tied for the team lead in points at 13 each (6G & 7A), however in Halifax's game last night Liam picked up an assist to add to his total. Handel had played well as an import and recorded his first QMJHL career goal on Friday night plus he has 8 helpers. 

It's possible that we will see these guys rise in the rankings during the season if they keep up this way. 

24 draft eligible players were given an A ranking to start the year, with Moncton Wildcat's Caleb Desnoyers and Justin Carbonneau of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada being the only two from the QMJHL. 

Photo - The Hockey News 

Rebuilding Moose Get Home Opener Win

Photo - Ashley Hennigar

Wow what a way to begin the new home schedule. Your Halifax Mooseheads collected another two points on Friday after defeating the Quebec Remparts 4-2 in the team's home opener. The over 8,700 fans in attendance got to see the new 'improvements' to the Scotiabank Centre that included light up poles between the glass of the boards, new scoreboard graphics and a gigantic moose head below the retired number banners. After the players were announced, which was nice to see in itself following a five game road trip, the game started off well. Cade Moser got the good guys on the board first at the 4:44 mark of the opening period. Quebec tied it up about 30 seconds later and that would be the score after 20 minutes. Neither team was able to put the puck in the net during the middle frame but Halifax did have some great chances with a few power plays and outshot the Remparts 13-4 in the second. The Mooseheads started the third period on the man advantage and Shawn Carrier used it to put the home team up 2-1. After making it 3-1 late in the frame, Quebec pulled their goalie and was able to squeeze one by Mathis Rousseau with 36 seconds remaining to make it close. So far this season, this team has not looked like a rebuilding team so that is great to see the boys being competitive - I struggled to name a Top Herd tonight. 

FINAL: Remparts 2 at Mooseheads 4
Stars: 3. Patrick McNab HAL | 2. Mathis Rousseau HAL | 1. Shawn Carrier HAL
Attendance: 8,709
MC's Top Herd: Shawn Carrier

GAME LOG
First period
4:44 HAL Cade Moser (3) | A: MacPhee & Doyle
5:15 QUE Justin Cote (5) | A: Morrison & Lebel

Second period

None

Third period
1:36 HAL Shawn Carrier (4), PP | A: Crosby & Kilfoil
15:35 HAL Lou Levesque (3) | A: Handel & Martin 
19:24 QUE Nathan Quinn (4) | A: Straka & Vigneault 
19:56 HAL Braeden MacPhee (2), EN | A: Fontaine & Carrier 

Powerplay: QUE - 0-for-3; HAL 1-for-4
Shots: 29-26 in favour of Halifax

Next game
Halifax will be on home ice again Sunday afternoon welcoming the Rimouski Oceanic. Puck drops at 3:00 p.m.

QMJHL Names Scholastic POM

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, Liam Kilfoil was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for September. 

Team	Player	Program	Academic Establishment
Titan, Acadie-Bathurst	François-James Buteau	Sciences	Athabasca University
Drakkar, Baie-Comeau	Lucas Beckman	Grade 12	Northern Pre University
Armada, Blainville-Boisbriand	Jonathan Fauchon	Sciences humaines	Cégep Lionel-Groulx
Eagles, Cape Breton	Luke Patterson	Business	Cape Breton University
Islanders, Charlottetown	Kyle Powers	Business	UPEI
Saguenéens, Chicoutimi	Christophe Berthelot	Sciences humaines	Cégep de Chicoutimi
Voltigeurs, Drummondville	Matteo Rotondi	General education	Memorial University
Olympiques, Gatineau	Kian Hodgins	Grade 12	Northern Pre University
Mooseheads, Halifax	Liam Kilfoil	Grade 12	Woodlawn High School
Wildcats, Moncton	Vincent Collard	Administration – finance	Université de Moncton
Remparts, Québec	Ryan Howard	Grade 11	Northern Pre University
Océanic, Rimouski	Maxime Coursol	Gestion de commerce	Cégep de Rimouski
Huskies, Rouyn-Noranda	Alexis Lemire	Sciences humaines	Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Sea Dogs, Saint John	Reid Calder	General education	University of New Brunswick
Cataractes, Shawinigan	Jiri Klima	Français	Northern Pre University
Phoenix, Sherbrooke	Lewis Gendron	Sciences de la nature	Cégep de Sherbrooke
Foreurs, Val-d’Or	Evan Dépatie	Sciences humaines	Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Tigres, Victoriaville	Alexis Bourque	Administration des affaires	Université Laval