A few former Halifax Mooseheads players will be playing in the 2025 IIHF World Championships which begin today in Stockholm, Sweden and Herning, Denmark.
I already mentioned MacKenzie Weegar, who plays for the Calgary Flames in the NHL, is suiting up for Team Canada. He will be joined by former Herd teammate and current Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon. In Group B, New Jersey Devils teammates Nico Hischier and Timo Meier will be representing Switzerland in the international tournament with Hischier once again captaining the team. Herd alumni Filip Zadina has been asked to play for Czechia after finishing his season with the NL's HC Davos.
Switzerland and Czechia will open the tournament taking on each other Friday afternoon with puck drop being 4:20pm CET/11:20am AT in Herning. Meanwhile, Canada kicks off the tournament on Saturday taking on Slovenia in the early game at 12:20pm CET/7:20am AT. You can watch all the games on TSN.
For those who haven't paid attention to the World Championships before, here's a little breakdown. There are two groups and each one has 8 countries in it with each team playing 7 games in the preliminary round. At the end of the prelims, the top 4 teams in each group will advance to the quarter-final round while the each group's bottom team will automatically be relegated to Division 1 for next year. The Gold Medal game is set to take place on May 25.
Good luck to our alumni and all the teams during the tournament. Hope it is an exciting one.
The Rimouski Oceanic have advanced to the QMJHL championship series.
Former Halifax Mooseheads defenceman Jack Martin scored at the 5:49 mark of the second period to get the Oceanic on the board first in Game 7 of their semi-final against the Shawinigan Cataractes. It looked like it would be an easy win for Rimouski, who got out to a 3-0 lead but Cole Chandler scored for the Cats late in the frame before Shawinigan forced overtime with two more goals in the third period on Tuesday evening. Forward Eriks Mateiko scored his 6th goal of the playoffs in the 2nd OT period to send the Memorial Cup hosts off to the league final with a 4-3 victory.
Every game was won by the home team in this series which doesn't happen very often.
Rimouski will take on the Moncton Wildcats, who already advanced to the fourth round with a sweep against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, for the title. With this result, the Wildcats know they will also be in the 2025 version of the national tournament.
Martin isn't the only Herd alumni that will be fighting for the Gilles Courteau Trophy this month as Rimouski also has Lou Levesque and Mathieu Cataford on their team while Mathis Rousseau, Logan Crosby, Markus Vidicek and Dylan MacKinnon suit up for Moncton.
Below you will find the three league final series matchups.
J. Ross Robertson Cup #W1 London Knights vs. #E4 Oshawa Generals; series starts Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET
Ed Chynoweth Cup #E1 Medicine Hat Tigers vs. #W3 Spokane Chiefs; series starts Friday at 7:00 p.m. MT
Gilles-Courteau Trophy #1 Moncton Wildcats vs. #2 Rimouski Oceanic; series starts Saturday at 5:00 p.m. AT
Fans can watch all the championship games across the CHL on TSN.
I never shared this but there were a couple of Halifax Mooseheads' representatives participating in the Under-18 World Ice Hockey Championships that was played April 23-May 3 in Texas, USA.
Photo - Herd Instagram
Defenceman Carlos Handel suited up for the German national team while forward Liam Kilfoil played for Team Canada. Our two players were in separate groups during the tournament so they didn't get to go against each other.
Handel made some history on April 27 scoring the fastest two goals in a time of 19 seconds to give his team the lead. Germany would go on to win that game 5-4 and finished the preliminary round with a 1-1-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record, good enough for 3rd in Group B. The 18-year-old also recorded two assists in four games played. Carlos was also named captain of the team. In the quarter-finals, the guys from Deutschland would take on Slovakia but lost 3-2.
Canada, meanwhile, went undefeated in Group A which set up a battle against Czechia in the quarter-finals where they won 3-2 in overtime. It was a lack luster showing for Kilfoil who did not record any points in seven games but this was his second time just this season playing for the red & white after participating in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup back in August. The 18-year-old did play 14 minutes 38 seconds in the championship game on the third line as Team Canada went on to defeat Sweden 7-0 in the gold medal game.
Photo - Hockey Canada Twitter
Congratulations to Liam Kilfoil and Team Canada on becoming U18 world champions on Saturday.
UNIVERSITY CUP The 2025 University Cup was played back in March and once again there were a few Mooseheads alumni participating. This year the teams included were; #1 New Brunswick Reds (AUS champs - Peter Reynolds), #2 Saskatchewan Huskies (CW champs), #3 Concordia Stingers (OUA champs), #4 Toronto Metropolitan Bold (OUA finalist - Kevin Gursoy), #5 Mount Royal Cougars (CW finalist), #6 Moncton Aigles Bleus (AUS finalist - Denis Toner), #7 Queen's Gaels (OUA bronze - Ethan Larmand) and #8 Ottawa Gee-Gees (OUA semifinalist - David Lafrance).
In a big upset, the host Gee-Gees defeated the top ranked Reds in their first round game 3-2 in overtime. That victory propelled the University of Ottawa to its first University Cup trophy on March 23. They met the Stingers in the gold medal game and won 3-2.
Congrats to former Herd David Lafrance on winning gold at the tournament.
Photo - Gee-Gees website
FROM THE OWNERS Shortly after our Mooseheads were ousted from the playoffs, the owners of the club Peter and Sam Simon shared a letter to Moose Country about the season.
A week ago our season came to an end, but as we reflect, we couldn't be prouder of our team, staff, and organization. This season was one of a new culture, character, and identity that will forever continue to be the "Mooseheads way". Our group worked hard each night and competed to the highest degree. The belief was strong as ever that even with our youth, there was no limity what we could achieve. Our foundation is solid, and this is the minimum standard moving forward. Now it is incumbent upon us, our staff, and the returning players to take the next step and be even stronger. We set our own expectations internally, and the standard will only elevate from here.
Peter Simon also met with Scott McIntosh for a year end interview to share his thoughts on the season, what's next for the team and more. You can watch it on the clubs YouTube channel.
CSS RANKINGS The ending of the NHL regular season allows fans and teams who didn't make the playoffs a chance to switch their focus to the next one. With that, the NHL and Central Scouting Services announced in mid-April their final rankings for the 2025 NHL draft. A few current Herd players were among the 225 players on the North American list. No surprise here but the top two players ranked come from the Ontario Hockey League with Matthew Schaefer of the Erie Otters first followed by the Saginaw Spirit's Michael Misa at #2. Misa led the who CHL in scoring during the 2024-25 regular season. Moncton Wildcats' Caleb Desnoyers is the highest ranked QMJHL player.
Halifax players ranked D Carlos Handel - #73 C Liam Kilfoil - #90 LW Shawn Carrier - #148
Hopefully we will see these guys get drafted in late June.
BRAVES CHAMPIONS
Photo - QJHL website
A late congrats to the Valleyfield Braves who won the 2025 QJHL playoffs on April 23 against the reigning champs Longueuil. Moose alum James Swan captained the Braves this season and was teammates with another former Herd player in Vincent Gauthier. Swan tied the league lead in regular season scoring with 89 points (58G & 31A) in 48 games played, while Gauthier had 26 points in the playoffs including a goal in Game 6 to help Valleyfield win the series 4-2.
The Braves will now compete for the national championship in Calgary, AB for a chance to lift the Centennial Cup starting May 8.
NHL PLAYOFF UPDATE We started with six Herd alumni in the NHL post-season but are now down to two. Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers have already booked their ticket to the second round after defeating Tampa Bay in 5 games. They will play the Toronto Maple Leafs now. Nikolaj Ehlers has been injured and missed the Winnipeg Jets' first five playoff games but was back in the lineup on Friday. The Jets had a great regular season winning the President Trophy as the best team in the NHL and will hope that they can advance tonight with a Game 7 victory.
The Colorado Avalanche lost last night in Dallas which means that they are out of the playoffs now. Halifax native Nathan MacKinnon scored in the game but it wasn't enough as the Stars won the match 4-2 picking up a 4-3 series win. MacKinnon had 7 goals and 11 points to lead the Avs while Jonathan Drouin recorded 3 assists. The New Jersey Devils were the only other team in the playoffs with former Mooseheads participating with two Swiss forwards. Both Nico Hischier (4A) and Timo Meier (2G & 2A) had 4 points in five games as the Devils lost their series 4-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
WEEGAR
Photo - Hockey Canada Twitter
The first 15 players who will wear the maple leaf at the 2025 IIHF World Championship were announced by Hockey Canada on Thursday and Moose alum defenseman MacKenzie Weegar was on the roster. Weegar previously suited up for Canada in 2023 and will look to help them back to a medal after the red and white finished 4th in last year's tournament.
I have not seen many other countries naming players who will participate in the tournament which is taking place May 9-25 in Stockholm, Sweden and Herning, Denmark. With MacKinnon out of the playoffs now we may see him on Team Canada and hopefully Meier and Hischier will suit of for Switzerland.
Congrats and good luck to MacKenzie in the championships.
INTERVIEW WITH COACH The latest This Is Moose Country podcast hosted by Scott MacIntosh and Brad Cuzner has an interview with head coach Andrew Lord. Skip to 26:48 of the video if you just want to hear what Lord has to say.
Goaltender Zach Fucale, forward Ostap Safin and the Traktor Chelyabinsk finished on top of the KHL regular season standings and are currently leading their semi-final series 3 games to 0.
Check out the video that the Herd posted as the team came together following their second round playoff loss.
Scott MacIntosh did an article about how the rest of the 2024 Mooseheads draft class performed during the 2024-25 season. A couple of prospects (Logan Trewin & Gavin Sudds) won the NSU18MHL championship with the Halifax Macs.
The Rimouski Oceanic will look to advance to the QMJHL finals with a win this evening in Game 6 of their series against the Shawinigan Cataractes. Puck drops at 5 p.m. AT in Shawinigan. Rimouski has 3 alumni on their team.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft lottery was held on April 23 and our Halifax Mooseheads had a chance to win it after finishing 16th overall at the end of the regular season.
Since 2017, the Q has been doing the lottery with 5 teams after years of just the bottom two non-playoff teams. For this season, Halifax had a 14% chance of winning the lottery. Check out the full odds below;
In the end, the Saint John Sea Dogs won the lottery meaning they will make the first overall draft selection during the entry draft. This was the 7th time the Sea Dogs have been the lucky team to get their ball drawn.
Our Halifax Mooseheads position in the draft did not change with the results and will pick 3rd overall. Assuming they do not trade it, this is the highest the Herd have picked in the draft since 2016.
The 2025 QMJHL Draft will take place on June 6-7 at Videotron Centre in Quebec City.
Top 5 results 1 - Saint John Sea Dogs 2 - Victoriaville Tigres 3 - Halifax Mooseheads 4 - Quebec Remparts 5 - Newfoundland Regiment (from Gatineau)
Mooseheads move on to round 2! There's something I did not think I would be writing in 2025 but our Halifax Mooseheads have won their series after picking up a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night against the Voltigeurs in Drummondville. It was a pretty even first period with the two teams going to the dressing rooms tied 0-0 after 20 minutes and shots 12-11 in favour of the home team. A couple of Drummondville penalties was all the excitement really in the opening period. It seemed like it would be a scoreless game after two periods but with 64 seconds remaining in the frame, rookie forward Carlos Handel broke the deadlock. The Volts even had a 4 minute power play after Shawn Carrier took a high sticking penalty just under six minutes into the second but the Moose killed it off. Shots after 40 minutes were 20-19. Drummondville stepped up their pressure in the final frame though to try and tie the game, outshooting Halifax 18-4 but I would say Moose goaltender Jacob Steinman was not ready to finish his junior hockey career yet as he picked up the shutout. Liam Kilfoil sealed the win by scoring into the empty net with less than a minute remaining.
FINAL: Mooseheads 2 at Voltigeurs 0 Stars: 3. Carlos Handel HAL | 2. Louis-Felix Charrois DRU | 1. Jacob Steinman HAL Attendance: 2,545
GAME LOG First period No scoring
Second period 18:56 HAL Carlos Handel (1) | A: Schultz
Third period 19:09 HAL Liam Kilfoil (3), EN | A: Fontaine & Aucoin
Powerplay: HAL - 0-for-3, DRU - 0-for-2 Shots: 38-23 in favour of Drummondville
UP NEXT: Game 1 of round 2 versus Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Friday
What a Friday night in Moose Country and in the QMJHL as a whole during night 6 of the 2025 playoffs. First, I apologize for not keeping up with previews/recaps - I try to write something but it just hasn’t come to me lately. So I thought I would do a post-season update and as you'll see, words came to me today.
Photo - Herd Twitter
In a series that probably most thought that Drummondville would sweep, the Volts find themselves down 3-2 after a very exciting Game 5 last night in Halifax. The Mooseheads went on the road and picked up two gutsy victories, both by a score of 3-2. For Game 1, Halifax was outshot and in a 0-2 hole early in the third period but an injury to Voltigeurs starting goaltender Riley Mercer turned the tide. Back-up Louis-Felix Charrois let in three goals on 5 shots as Antoine Fontaine, Caylen Blake and Quinn Kennedy scored for Halifax. The second game was a bit more back and forth but once again the home team had the upper hand in shots, however they could not get the victory as the teams went to overtime. Liam Kilfoil scored the OT winner in that one. Coming back home with two wins, Moose Country was excited to see their team continue that play but Jacob Steinman could only hold the boys in it for so long and the Herd lost 4-1 in Game 3. Drummondville tied the series up on Wednesday night with a 3-1 win where shots were 54-17 Volts.
Photo - Herd Twitter
For a young team, Halifax has shown heart all season and in most games have been competitive. Well, Friday night was no different. They came out acting like they wanted to win and win they did in front of 6,760 fans. The away team got on the board first with a power play goal by Ethan Gauthier, his 6th of the series, but before the end of the opening period, Brady Schultz picked up his first of the playoffs to bring life back into the Scotiabank Centre and tie the game. Braeden MacPhee then gave Halifax the 2-1 lead a little past the halfway point. Yoan Tassé tied it up at the 7:38 mark of the third period though 90 seconds later Lincoln Waugh gave the Herd back the lead. Liam Kilfoil scored late in the third to give Halifax the 4-2 victory.
The series will now shift to Drummondville again for game 6 and if necessary, game 7 as well.
In the rest of the Q, four more series wrapped up on Friday so Chicoutimi, Rouyn-Noranda, Shawinigan and Sherbrooke will join Moncton and Rimouski in the second round. The Wildcats and Oceanic swept their series’ on Wednesday night while the others mentioned finished 4 games to 1. Number 5 Sherbrooke defeating #4 Blainville-Boisbriand in five games is a bit of an upset, though only 5 points separated the two clubs so it really could’ve gone either way. With the Sagueneens ousting the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, it ends this era of major junior hockey being in the Chaleur region as the team will move to St. John’s, NL for next season. At least Game 5 in that series was in NB so they got to say goodbye to their fans.
Photo - Eagles website
You may have noticed there was one series I haven’t mentioned yet. That would be the #4 Baie-Comeau Drakkar versus the #5 Cape Breton Eagles. The two teams played a marathon of a game last night as the Eagles were trying to extend their season after going down 3 games to 1 in the series. Cape Breton forced a Game 6 after Angelo Fullerton scored the game winner in the 5th overtime period! And they did it in front of their home fans. At 141:42 minutes, the match was the longest in both franchise's history but the 2nd longest in league history. Apparently the game could've been done earlier but Baie-Comeau had two goals called back in the second and fourth overtime, and Cape Breton had one disallowed in the third extra frame. The goaltenders of course were busy but Jakub Milota was the busier of the two, stopping 84 of the Drakkar's 86 shots earning him first star honours.
Here's how all the playoff series in the Canadian Hockey League WHL E1 Medicine Hat Tigers vs. E8 Swift Current Broncos 4-1 E2 Prince Albert Raiders vs. E7 Edmonton Oil Kings 2-3 E3 Calgary Hitmen vs. E6 Saskatoon Blades 4-0 E4 Lethbridge Hurricanes vs. E5 Brandon Wheat Kings 4-1 W1 Everett Silvertips vs. W8 Seattle Thunderbirds 2-2 W2 Victoria Royals vs. W7 Tri-City Americans 4-1 W3 Spokane Chiefs vs. W6 Vancouver Giants 3-1 W4 Prince George Cougars vs. W5 Portland Winterhawks 2-3
OHL E1 Brantford Bulldogs vs. E8 North Bay Battalion 3-1 E2 Barrie Colts vs. E7 Niagara IceDogs 3-1 E3 Kingston Frontenacs vs. E6 Sudbury Wolves 4-0 E4 Oshawa Generals vs. E5 Brampton Steelheads 3-2 W1 London Knights vs. W8 Owen Sound Attack 4-0 W2 Windsor Spitfires vs. W7 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 4-1 W3 Kitchener Rangers vs. W6 Flint Firebirds 4-1 W4 Saginaw Spirit vs. W5 Erie Otters 1-3
QMJHL E1 Moncton Wildcats vs. E8 Quebec Remparts 4-0 E2 Rimouski Oceanic vs. E7 Charlottetown Islanders 4-0 E3 Chicoutimi Sagueneens vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan 4-1 E4 Baie-Comeau Drakkar vs. E5 Cape Breton Eagles 3-2 W1 Drummondville Voltigeurs vs. E9 Halifax Mooseheads 2-3 W2 Rouyn-Noranda Huskies vs. W7 Gatineau Olympiques 4-1 W3 Shawinigan Cataractes vs. W6 Val-d'Or Foreurs 4-1 W4 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada vs. W5 Sherbrooke Phoenix 1-4
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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:
INOUT 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*
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.
