Round 1 Opponent, Schedule Confirmed

We had to wait until the last day to find out who the opponent would be but our Halifax Mooseheads will play the Western conference champ Drummondville Voltigeurs in the 2025 playoffs. The series will start on Friday in Drummondville. 

This is one of those years where an eastern conference team crosses over to the western conference because of having more points at the end of the season than the 8th (and last) place West team. The Mooseheads clinched their berth in the post-season on March 16 with a victory over Cape Breton. However, two losses in the final weekend along with the Gatineau Olympiques picking up a victory on Saturday evening against the Volts pushed the Mooseheads down to the final playoff spot. 

Halifax went 0-2-0-0 against Drummondville during the regular season but as we know, playoffs are a different game and things you don't expect can happen. This is only the second playoff series between these two clubs after they met in the 2019 semi-final round. 

To accommodate the distance between the two cities, this will be a 2-3-2 series instead of the normal 2-2-1-1-1. Find the full schedule below (puck drops are Atlantic time) 

Game 1    Friday March 28 @ 8:00pm at Centre Marcel Dionne
Game 2    Saturday March 29 @ 8:00pm at Centre Marcel Dionne
Game 3    Tuesday April 1 @ 7:00pm at Scotiabank Centre
Game 4    Wednesday April 2 @ 7:00pm at Scotiabank Centre
*Game 5  Friday April 4 @ 7:00pm at Scotiabank Centre
*Game 6  Monday April 7 @ 8:00pm at Centre Marcel Dionne
*Game 7  Tuesday April 8 @ 8:00pm at Centre Marcel Dionne

*if necessary

Single game tickets for games 3 and 4 in Moose Country will go on sale to the general public on March 25. You can purchase them online at ticketmaster.ca or at the Scotiabank Centre box office. 

Game Day 67: at Moncton

Our Halifax Mooseheads will hit the road to take on the CHL’s top team this evening as they visit the Moncton Wildcats. This will be the last road game of the regular season for the Herd and on the opposite side, it is Moncton’s home finale. As such, puck drop will be a bit delayed as the Wildcats have a special presentation for their 20 year old players. The ceremony will be a good chance for Halifax to appreciate former forward Markus Vidicek and goaltender Mathis Rousseau as well. Like I mentioned, Moncton is ranked #1 in the latest CHL top 10 rankings so they will be hard to beat for the Moose. However, we may see them sit their top players and who knows, they could take it easy thinking they have a win in the bag. The Mooseheads do have a playoff spot clinched now after picking up a victory on Sunday but I’m sure they would like to still get wins this weekend to have a ‘better’ matchup in the postseason. 

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

Overall records
Mooseheads: 19-34-8-1 = 47 points (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)
Wildcats: 51-9-2-0 = 104 points (1st in Maritimes division, 1st overall)

Leading scores
MON: Caleb Desnoyers 84pts (35G & 49A), Juraj Pekarcik 66pts (24G & 42A), Markus Vidicek 63pts (37G & 26A)
HAL: Quinn Kennedy 45pts (23G & 22A), Liam Kilfoil 44pts (20G& 24A), Shawn Carrier 43pts (17G & 26A)

Head-to-head

Halifax is 1-5-1-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton has a 6-1-0-0 versus the Mooseheads. The two clubs last met just over a month ago on February 17 with the visiting Wildcats picking up a 3-1 victory with Jacob Steinman making 28 saves for Halifax in the loss. 

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

Next game
Halifax will wrap up the regular season on home ice tomorrow afternoon against the Charlottetown Islanders. Puck drops at 3:00 p.m.

Herd Word

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

4 NATIONS
Well it was a great tournament for Team Canada and guys who were born in Nova Scotia during the 4 Nations Face-Off last month. Canada had an interesting round-robin in the four team competition that was put on by the National Hockey League and only included players in the top professional level. The red and white defeated Sweden in overtime before losing to the United States. They clinched their spot in the gold medal game with a regulation victory over Finland to set up a rematch with USA for the championship. Former Herd Nathan MacKinnon scored the opening goal in what turned out to be a very tight game which Canada won 3-2 in overtime. Connor McDavid scored the game winner at 8:18 of the extra period. 

Brad Marchand, who played for the Mooseheads in 2008, had one goal during the tournament. MacKinnon finished with four goals in 4 games, good enough for 4th amongst the scoring leaders and earning him Most Valuable Player honours. Congratulations to Nathan on being named MVP! 

AUS ALL-STAR TEAMS
The Atlantic University Sport announced it's award winners and all-star teams for the 2024-25 men's hockey season on February 24 following the conclusion of the first round of the post-season. While no former Halifax Mooseheads player won a major award, Herd alum Peter Reynolds of the UNB Reds earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team and even got the nod for the Second Team. The 22-year-old ended his first season in the AUS tied for 3rd overall on the scoring leaderboard with 40 points (21G & 19A). 

MARCHAND
Speaking of Brad Marchand, after fifteen and a half seasons with the Boston Bruins, the 36-year-old was traded to the Florida Panthers during the NHL trade deadline this past Friday. The Bruins received a 2027 conditional 2nd round pick in return. Marchand is in the final season of an 8 year contract and has 47 points so far in 2024-25. He is currently week to week with an upper-body injury sustained in the Bruins March 1st game. 

Good luck in Florida Brad. 

REDS WIN AGAIN
The UNB Reds have won the AUS championship once again and this time without Gardiner MacDougall on the bench as head coach. Reynolds helped the Reds get the victory in game 2 of the final series to allow UNB to sweep the best-of-three round. It is UNB's seventh straight men's hockey title as they defeated the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus 3-2 on Tuesday night. Peter finished the post-season with 3 goals and 5 points in five games. 

Photo - AUS website

Both teams will represent the Atlantic region at the 2025 University Cup which will be played March 20-23 at TD Place in Ottawa, hosted by the Ottawa GeesGees. Former Herd Kevin Gursoy and the TMU Bold have a chance to win the Queen's Cup on Saturday but they have already booked their ticket to the national championship either way. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK
One of Halifax's best goalies, Mathis Rousseau, who is now with the Moncton Wildcats was named to QMJHL's team of the week on Monday. 

Photo - QMJHL website

1000TH POINT
Nathan MacKinnon is having himself another excellent season and this past week he hit a couple of milestones. On Saturday, the Halifax, NS native scored twice in the Avalanche's victory over Toronto with his second marker being his 100th point of the 2024-25 season. The 29 year old followed it up with a two assist game against Chicago on Monday night in Colorado, which allowed him to surpass one thousand points in his career. MacKinnon becomes the first former Moosehead to record 1,000 NHL regular season points! He has scored 362 goals and 639 assists in 857 games. 

Congrats to Nathan on hitting the milestones. 

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, Amelio Santini was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for February. 

TEAM	PLAYER	PROGRAM	ACADEMIC ESTABLISHMENT
Acadie-Bathurst Titan	Biagio Jr Daniele	Engineering	Quebec Virtual Academy
Baie-Comeau Drakkar	Olivier Samson	Grade 12	Kladno High School
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada	Alexandre Carbonneau	Sciences humaines	Cégep de Lanaudière – Terrebonne
Cape Breton Eagles	Jacob Newcombe	Business General	Nova Scotia Community College
Charlottetown Islanders	William Shields	Independant	University of Prince Edward Island
Chicoutimi Saguenéens	Kassim Gaudet	Independant	New Brunswick University
Drummondville Voltigeurs	Owen Ronson	Grade 12	Blyth Academy
Gatineau Olympiques	Justin Boisselle	Techniques policières	CÉGEP de l’Outaouais
Halifax Mooseheads	Amelio Santini	Grade 11	Woodlawn High School
Moncton Wildcats	Markus Vidicek	Independant	American Public University
Québec Remparts	Étienne Desjardins	Sciences humaines avec mathématiques	CÉGEP Limoilou
Rimouski Océanic	Luke Coughlin	Nutrition	Acadia University
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies	Alex Carr	General	American Military University
Shawinigan Cataractes	Cole Chandler	Grade 12	NPU – Northern Pre-University
Sherbrooke Phoenix	Robin Benoît	Grade 12	University of Nebraska High School
Saint John Sea Dogs	Dylan Rozzi	High School	NPU – Northern Pre-University
Val-d’Or Foreurs	Samuel Fiala	Francisation	Centre Nouvel Horizon
Victoriaville Tigres	Thomas Gagnon	Sciences humaines – Intervention sociale	CÉGEP de Victoriaville

Stats Sunday: February

Games played: 10
Record: 2-6-2-0, 6pts
Goals for/against: 20/31
Powerplay*: 16.4%
Penalty kill*: 75.8%
Shutouts: One

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Brady Schultz 7, Braeden MacPhee 6, Shawn Carrier 6, Quinn Kennedy 5, Callum Aucoin 4 
Goals: Callum Aucoin 4, Braeden MacPhee 4, Shawn Carrier 3, Brady Schultz 2, Quinn Kennedy 1
Assists: Brady Schultz 5, Quinn Kennedy 4, Liam Kilfoil 4, Shawn Carrier 3, Braeden MacPhee 2
Penalty minutes: Daniel Walters 13, Shawn Carrier 12, Braeden MacPhee 12, Brady Schultz 8, Quinn Kennedy 8
Plus/minus: Patrick McNab +4, Lincoln Waugh +1, William Bent -1, Amelio Santini -1, Daniel Walters -2
Rookie scoring: Carlos Handel 3pts, Patrick McNab 2pts, William Bent 2pts, Daniel Walters 2pts, Caylen Blake 2pts

Goaltender stats*
Jacob Steinman     27-12-4-1     2.22 GAA     0.930 SAV%
Mathis Rousseau     9-16-5-0     3.16 GAA     0.906 SAV%
Nicolas Cirka     1-4-1-0     4.41 GAA     0.877 SAV%
Jack Milner     2-4-0-0     4.69 GAA     0.870 SAV%

*overall
Notes: Rousseau & Milner no longer with team, their stats are for time here

U-Sports Playoffs Begin Wednesday

The Atlantic University Sport playoffs are set to open on Wednesday night and it will include several former Halifax Mooseheads players. Once again, the post-season includes the Acadia Axemen, Moncton Aigles Bleus, Saint Mary's Huskies, St. Francis X-Men, UNB Reds and UPEI Panthers. 

Here are the final standings  (W-L-OTL-SOL)
#    Team                                            Record     Pts          
1.  University of New Brunswick      28-1-1-0     57
2.  Universite de Moncton                19-9-2-0     40
3.  Saint Mary's University               17-11-2-0    36
4.  St. Francis Xavier University      15-13-1-1   32
5.  Acadia University                        14-14-1-1   30
6.  University of PEI                          9-19-0-2    20
7.  Dalhousie University                    3-26-1-0     7

The Reds and the Aigles Bleus receive a first round bye. The Huskies will take on the Panthers in a series that will start tomorrow night in Halifax. The X-Men go up against the Axemen beginning on Thursday in Antigonish. Both series are a best-of-three. 

Here is the quarter-finals schedule
Feb 19    UPEI at Saint Mary's
Feb 20    Acadia at St. FX
Feb 21    Saint Mary's at UPEI 
Feb 22    St. FX at Acadia
Feb 23    UPEI at Saint Mary's   *if necessary
Feb 24    Acadia at St. FX   *if necessary

Herd alumni on playoff team rosters include; Zack Jones (Acadia), Robert Orr (UPEI), Peter Reynolds (UNB), Cole Stewart (STFX), Brendan Tomilson (Acadia), Denis Toner (Moncton) and Cameron Whynot (Acadia). 

Despite not being local, the road to the Queen's Cup for being the Ontario University Association champion contains a few past Moose players as well. Kevin Gursoy (TMU), Stephane Huard (McGill), David Lafrance (Ottawa) and Ethan Larmand (Queen's). While goaltender Brady James is listed on the Concordia Stingers roster, he only played one game for the team in the regular season so I doubt we will see him in the playoffs. 

Good luck to all the teams and to our former players during the playoffs on the road to the University Cup that will be held in Ottawa later in March. 

MacKinnon Scores 2, Canada Advances

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

The round robin of the 4 Nations Face-Off is over and former Halifax Mooseheads forward Nathan MacKinnon helped his team advance to the championship game. The NHL decided to hold this tournament, that sees the best players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and USA battle each other, instead of the annual all-star game. 

MacKinnon scored twice on Monday afternoon as the tournament moved to Boston for the final two game days. His markers helped Team Canada to a 5-3 victory over Finland which booked the red and white's ticket to the final match. The Herd alum made it 2-0 for Canada at the 4:59 minute mark of the first period and scored what turned out to be the game winning goal with under 15 minutes remaining in the middle frame. Nathan was also named the first star of the game. Fellow Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby, who is captaining the team, scored an empty net goal to seal the win and picked up an assist as well. 

Canada will play in a rematch against the USA on Thursday night in the final. 

Another forward who played for the Moose during his junior career, Brad Marchand is also suiting up for Canada. He had no points yesterday but the Halifax native did score on Wednesday in a 4-3 overtime victory. 

Photo - Bruins Twitter

Good luck to the guys wearing the maple leaf later this week.

Here are the final prelim round results (W-OTW-OTL-L)
USA             6pts  2-0-0-1
Canada         5pts  1-1-0-1
Sweden        5pts  1-0-2-0
Finland         2pts  0-1-0-2

Introducing the Newfoundland Regiment

I'm a few weeks behind on sharing this but I thought I still would. 

What has been rumoured for the last couple of seasons became a reality back in December when the QMJHL announced the purchase of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan by a group named SPS Entertainment. They are business owners who plan to relocate the team to St. John's, Newfoundland in time for the 2025-26 season. Before the club even had a name, season tickets were on sale with fans being able to put down a deposit to hold their spot. 

From a CBC article posted on December 20; "St. John's is a market that the league has kept an eye on since the departure of the Fog Devils more than 15 years ago," said QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini in a new release on Friday. "The ownership is solid, the arena is outstanding, and Newfoundland and Labrador fans love hockey."

Photo - Regiment facebook page

A little over a month later, the team's identity was revealed at a press conference held on January 23 in a military building in St. John's with team ownership and government officials in attendance. The new team will be named the Newfoundland Regiment in honour of the province's military heritage. 

"The name Newfoundland Regiment not only pays homage to the incredible legacy left by these brave soldiers but also embodies the values of courage, unity and resilience. These qualities continue to be displayed by the men and women of the modern Royal Newfoundland Regiment," said Glenn Stanford, president of the new team. 

Video introducing the team name

No jerseys were unveiled during the press conference. I wonder if we will see them when the team makes their first selection at the 2025 Q entry draft on June 6. 

According to the team's press release 'the team's new logo prominently features a Woodland Caribou, the symbol for which the Regiment is known and a nod to the Regiment's past and current cap badge. This symbol, along with the regimental crest and the crown icon in the logo, captures the spirit of excellence and dedication exemplified by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Team colours include puttee blue, legacy maroon and heritage tan.'

This will be the second go around for a QMJHL franchise in the city following the St. John's Fog Devils from 2005 to 2008. The Newfoundland Regiment will play at the Mary Brown's Centre starting this fall. 

Tight Game for Rebuild Moose

The momentum that Halifax gained by defeating a strong Quebec Remparts team less than a week ago on the road was flattened on Friday night. The Mooseheads were defeated 3-1 by the visiting Blainville-Boisbraind Armada in front of almost 7,600 fans. Both teams played a pretty back and forth game in the opening period with Herd goaltender Jacob Steinman making some nice saves to give the home team an opportunity to get the first goal. We had a scoreless tie going into the second period however, which is when the fun began. Mateo Nobert got the Armada on the board just 53 seconds into the middle frame to make the game 1-0 but Brady Schultz tied the game a few minutes later.  Even though the Mooseheads are a rebuilding team, they have not been laying down during most games this season and it seems to be frustrating their opponents. We saw it tonight with the Armada taking some unnecessary penalties & the guys on the ice doing some post-whistle activities. Halifax found themselves down 2-1 after 40 minutes and just couldn’t get an opportunity in the final period to tie the game up before the bad guys would seal the game with an empty net goal.

FINAL: Blainville-Boisbriand 3 at Halifax 1
Stars: 3. Felix Hamel BLB | 2. Jacob Steinman HAL | 1. Egor Goriunov BLB
Attendance: 7,598
MC’s Top Herd: Jacob Steinman

GAME LOG
First period
No score

Second period
0:53 BLB Mateo Nobert (23) | A: Desjardins & Goriunov
4:39 HAL Brady Schultz (5) | A: McNab & Bent
15:31 BLB Egor Goriunov (25) | A: Carbonneau & Lemieux

Third period
19:29 BLB Vincent Desjardins (15), EN | A: Gosselin & Filaj

Powerplay: BLB - 0-for-2; HAL - 0-for-5
Shots: 34-32 in favour of Blainville

Next game 
Halifax will welcome division rivals Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday for Mooseheads Fight Cancer night. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

Stats Sunday: January

Games played: 13
Record: 4-8-0-1, 9pts
Goals for/against: 36/46
Powerplay*: 16.3%
Penalty kill*: 75.8%
Shutouts: None

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Quinn Kennedy 13, Shawn Carrier 12, Liam Kilfoil 11, Carlos Handel 8, Braeden MacPhee 7 
Goals: Quinn Kennedy 6, Liam Kilfoil 6, Shawn Carrier 5, Braeden MacPhee 5, Antoine Fontaine 4
Assists: Carlos Handel 8, Quinn Kennedy 7, Shawn Carrier 7, Brady Schultz 6, Liam Kilfoil 5
Penalty minutes: Quinn Kennedy 14, Caylen Blake 13, Shawn Carrier 12, Braeden MacPhee 12, Brady Schultz 8
Plus/minus: Caylen Blake +3, Carlos Handel +1, Justin Chiras +1, Eddy Doyle +1, William Bent +1
Rookie scoring: Carlos Handel 8pts, Caylen Blake 6pts, Amelio Santini 4pts, William Bent 3pts, Patrick McNab 3pts

Goaltender stats*
Jacob Steinman     25-8-3-1     2.20 GAA     0.930 SAV%
Mathis Rousseau     9-16-5-0     3.16 GAA     0.906 SAV%
Jack Milner     2-4-0-0     4.69 GAA     0.870 SAV%
Nicolas Cirka     1-2-0-0     5.17 GAA     0.872 SAV%

*overall
Notes: does not include Feb 1 game. Rousseau & Milner no longer with team, their stats are for time here

Roster Moves Change Landscape of Moose

Photo - Herd website

It has been a busy last month and a half for Cam Russell and co. as the team has made a number of roster moves trying to figure out the best players to finish the regular season in this rebuild year. I don't normally do this but with so much change, I thought I would share an updated roster. 

With the NCAA eligibility rule change, a few drafted players have decided to join the team and the Herd also made a couple of significant trades during the winter trade period. Since November 28, the following roster adjustments have been made:

IN                                                            OUT
D Mathieu Taillefer (NCAA commit)         F Lou Levesque (Trade RIM)
F Quinn Kennedy (Trade RIM)                D Jack Martin (Trade RIM)
G Nicolas Cirka (NCAA commit)              D Dominic MacKenzie (Reassigned)
D Justin Chiras (NCAA commit)              G Mathis Rousseau (Trade MON)
G Jacob Steinman (Trade MON)             F Logan Crosby (Trade MON)
F Callum Aucoin (Trade CAP)                 F Jan Sprynar (Signed w HC Litvinov)
F Will Bent (NCAA commit)                     G Jack Milner (Reassigned)
                                                                F Jake Todd (Reassigned)

To the new guys, welcome to Moose Country - excited to see your careers here. To the players who left, thank you for your time in Halifax - good luck with your new team. 

Halifax now has 12 rookies on the roster and with the moves made, there are no players born in 2005. 

Explore the second half roster below

1  Jacob Steinman  G  Toronto, ON
5  Brady Schultz  D  Monroe, CT, USA

7  Carlos Handel  D  Erlangen, Germany*
8  Callum Aucoin  LW  Hammonds Plains, NS

9  Liam Kilfoil  C  Quispamsis, NB
12  Will Bent  RW  Dover, MA*

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

20  Daniel Walters  C  Halifax, NS*

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

32  Alec Nasreddine  LW  Mountainside, NJ, USA*

37  Amelio Santini  LW  Cote-Saint-Luc, QC*
39  Nicolas Gillham-Cirka  G  Westmount, 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

72  Mathieu Taillefer  D  Richelieu, QC*
73  Justin Chiras  D  Bedford, NH, USA*
88  Quinn Kennedy  C  Upper Tantallon, NS
89  Antoine Fontaine  RW  Granby, QC
90  Cade Moser  C  Linacy, NS 

Herd Move Rousseau, Crosby at Deadline

The Halifax Mooseheads made a couple of moves in the 11th hour of the winter trade period. Not surprisingly, Halifax traded goaltender Mathis Rousseau to the Moncton Wildcats along with forward Logan Crosby late Monday morning in exchange for overage netminder Jacob Steinman plus three draft picks (Rd 2 2025, Rd 2 2026, Rd 4 2026). 

Photo - AMH Photography

Rousseau was drafted by the Mooseheads in 2020 61st overall and made his debut during the 2021-22 season. He will be remembered as one of the best goalies to play for Halifax, securing 93 career wins during his time with the club and scoring the only goalie goal in franchise history on October 20, 2023. The 20-year-old finishes his time in Moose Country with 155 games played, a 2.74 goals against average and 0.912 save percentage over 3 and a half seasons. 

Photo - Saltwire

Crosby, a native of Salt Springs, NS, picked up 22 goals and 58 points in 163 games played for Halifax after being drafted by the team 20th overall at the 2021 QMJHL draft. The two players will join former teammates Dylan MacKinnon and Markus Vidicek on the Wildcats team who are looking to win the ultimate championship this season. Moncton currently sits on top of the league standings with 60 points and are on a 8 game win streak. 

"Mathis has done everything and more that we could have ever expected him to in a Mooseheads jersey. These decisions are never easy, but we wanted to give him a chance at winning a championship while helping our team get better for the future. We wish him and Logan the best of luck in Moncton," Russell said. 

A Toronto, ON native, Steinman leads the QMJHL with 22 wins so far this season and has been a solid goaltender in each of his 3 years after signing as a free agent with the Wildcats in 2022. He is near the top in all goalie statistical categories. 

Photo - Puck Preps

In a separate trade, the Herd acquired Callum Aucoin from the Cape Breton Eagles for a 2025 9th round draft pick. Aucoin, a native of Hammonds Plains, NS, has 16 points in 79 games played for the Eagles. The 18-year-old was drafted by the other Nova Scotian team in the 4th round in 2022. 

Good luck to Mathis and Logan with their new team and thank you for your time with Halifax. Welcome to Moose Country Jacob and Callum, I suspect we will see both in the lineup on Thursday.