Last year, the National Hockey League announced that their players would be available to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The league along with the qualified federations came out with their first six players on their rosters last week. A few Halifax Mooseheads alumni were among the players named.
Photo - Avalanche Twitter
Forward Nathan MacKinnon will represent Hockey Canada for the first time at the Olympics as NHL players have not been able to participate in the games since 2014. MacKinnon, who wore the Mooseheads' jersey from 2011-2013, just finished his 12th professional season with the Colorado Avalanche. He recorded 32 goals and 116 points during the regular season in 2024-25. The 29-year-old's 84 assists were a league high. Follow Avalanche teammate Cale Makar is also slated to suit up for Canada.
27-year-old Nikolaj Ehlers is set to play for Team Denmark. To me this is no surprise as Ehlers helped his country qualify for the tournament last year as well as in 2021. He was named to the original 3 for the 2022 Olympics but the NHL decided not to send players in the end, citing concerns over COVID. The Aalborg native picked up 63 points in 69 games played for the Winnipeg Jets this past season and is up for a contract after completing his tenth year in the NHL.
Photo - Devils Twitter
Just like the previous Olympics, Timo Meier and Nico Hischier of the New Jersey Devils look to be teammates for Team Switzerland assuming everything works out this time. Hischier, who played only one season in Halifax, scored 35 goals and 69 points during the regular season and added 4 goals in 5 playoff games. The 26-year-old wore the captaincy at the last two World Championships so it's possible that he is given the honour in February. 28-year-old Meier record 53 points in 80 games in his second full season with the Devils after suiting up for six & a half years for San Jose.
Congrats to the four players who are were named to the initial rosters. It will be interesting to see if any other alumni will also represent their countries. The full rosters are set to be released in January.
The men's hockey tournament will be held February 11-22, 2026 in Milan, Italy.
The 2025 Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League entry draft was held on Friday night & Saturday and our Halifax Mooseheads added 11 new prospects over that time.
With the recent NCAA rule, more American players were selected during the weekend which included three by Halifax. I think it also changed the way team brass discussed trades on the draft floor as there was only one trade that had a prospect/player move to another team, which I don't remember seeing before.
Halifax made a trade on Saturday to move up to the third round from Chicoutimi in exchange for the 4th round pick and a 2026 second rounder.
Below are the Herd's picks: RD 1 #3 - D Malik L'Italien - Stanstead College RD 2 #21 - D Cameron Minella - Brunswick School Bruins RD 3 #48 - C Paulo Gualberto Jr - Mount St. Charles Academy 15U RD 5 #77 - LW Jayden Napon - Laval-Montreal Rousseau Royal RD 6 #95 - D Brody Berard - Mount St. Charles Academy 15U RD 7 #113 - C Nathan Ruel - Chateauguay Grenadiers RD 8 #131 - C Ylan Verpaelst - Magog Cantonniers RD 8 #143 - D Nicolas Blanchette - Amos Forestiers RD 10 #167 - LW Sam Ryan - Boston Hockey Academy 15U RD 11 #185 - D Duncan Anderson - South Kent School RD 12 #203 - G Jack Bell - Cape Breton West Islanders
Mooseheads forward Braeden MacPhee was in attendance but he was there to watch his brother Marc get drafted by their hometown Moncton Wildcats in the 2nd round.
Congratulations to all the young men who were drafted by the 18 teams and welcome to the new Mooseheads players.
Defenseman Malik L'Italien is now a Halifax Moosehead.
The Herd selected the 15-year-old third overall at the 2025 QMJHL draft in Quebec City, Quebec on Friday evening. L'Italien played the 2024-25 season with Canadian prep school Stanstead College Varsity. Hailing from Montreal, QC, he had 13 goals and 50 points in 72 games played. According to Pierre Cholette (CSR Director), Malik 'has an undeniable offensive flair, good quick hands, a very good shot and natural poise when in possession of the puck. Constantly facing the play, he is able to move around and make decisions quickly.' L'Italien checks in at 6-foot-2 and 187 pounds.
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) June 6, 2025
First round recap
After previous top prospect James Scantlebury signed a tender with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, Lachenaie, QC native Alexis Joseph become even more of the guy everyone anticipated to be the first name called. The Saint John Sea Dogs used their #1 pick making that a reality, welcoming Joseph from College Esther-Blondin.
For the first time in franchise history, the Newfoundland Regiment made a draft selection with the 5th overall pick. They chose St. John's, NL native Benjamin Veitch and followed that by drafting fellow Newfoundlander Quinn Norman at #6. Veitch became the first person to ever wear the Regiment jersey, even the junior GM didn't put his own on until after the player did which I thought was a good choice. It looks very nice, I like the colours.
Photo - Regiment Twitter
There were only three trades during the opening round including a big one that saw the Quebec Remparts trade six picks to Chicoutimi for the 9th overall pick and a 4th rounder in 2025. Quebec than drafted Scantlebury at #9 so it will be interesting to see if the Remparts can get him to report.
Here is the full list of first round selections 1. JOSEPH, Aleix - Saint John Sea Dogs 2. ARSENAULT, Zack - Rimouski Oceanic 3. L'ITALIEN, Malik - Halifax Mooseheads 4. CHARBONNEAU, Thomas - Quebec Remparts 5. VEITCH, Benjamin - Newfoundland Regiment 6. NORMAN, Quinn - Newfoundland Regiment 7. PROVENCHER, Antoine - Charlottetown Islanders 8. MACLEAN, Phenwick - Newfoundland Regiment 9. SCANTLEBURY, James - Quebec Remparts 10. HEROUX, Nolann - Saint John Sea Dogs 11. LEMAIRE, Deryk - Victoriaville Tigres 12. HALLEY, Louis-Etienne - Gatineau Olympiques 13. LANDRY, Clement - Gatineau Olympiques
The QMJHL held their annual Golden Pucks awards gala on Thursday afternoon at a hotel in Quebec City. A couple of players who have ties to the Mooseheads were amongst the nominees.
Photo - QMJHL website
Goaltender Jacob Steinman, who started the season with the Moncton Wildcats before being traded to Halifax at Christmas, won the Patrick Roy Trophy as Goaltender of the Year. He had a 29-16-4-1 record during the season in 52 games played, finishing second in the QMJHL in GAA (2.41) and save percentage (0.923). Steinman will continue his hockey career with Bowling Green State University in the NCAA.
Meanwhile, past player Mathieu Cataford was the winner of the Marcel Robert Trophy as Student Athlete of the Year. According to the release; Cataford maintained an average of more than 95% while currently studying Business Administration at Saint Mary's University with a 4.0 GPA while suiting up for the Rimouski Oceanic in 2024-26.
Other news that has come out this week:
According to Mikael Lalancette the 2026 QMJHL draft will be held in Halifax
Ce n’est pas encore officiel, mais tout indique que le repêchage de l’an prochain #LHJMQ aura lieu à Halifax.
— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) June 5, 2025
Two former Herd players are on the move in Europe; D'Artagnan Joly will be playing in the DEL2 with ESV Kaufbeuren next season while Zach Fucale signed a 2 year contract with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL
Champions are colliding as the Hockey East Tournament winning Maine Black Bears of the NCAA have received a commitment from Herd alumni Mathis Rousseau, who won the Gilles Courteau trophy in March with the Moncton Wildcats
Logan Crosby, who played for the Mooseheads from 2021-2024, will finish his junior career with the Pictou County Crushers during the 2025-26 season
Photo - Crushers Twitter
Moose alum Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers find themselves down 1-0 in a Stanley Cup finals rematch against the Edmonton Oilers. Game 2 is tonight in Edmonton
Here is some info to get you ready for the 2025 QMJHL Entry Draft.
When: Friday June 6 at 8pm AT & Saturday June 7 at 11am AT
Where: Videotron Centre in Quebec City, QC
Follow: Both Eastlink TV and TVA Sports will be broadcasting Round 1 this evening while the remaining rounds tomorrow can be seen live on the league's YouTube channel. Fans can also watch the whole thing on CHL TV with a subscription. The full list of selections is available on the QMJHL website as well.
Halifax made a trade earlier this week sending their 29th pick, that was originally Blainville's, to Moncton in exchange for the Wildcats' 2026 second round pick.
Good luck to all the players who are eligible to be drafted. Check back probably on Sunday for a recap on my blog.
In a turn of events, the league champion Moncton Wildcats will not open at home but instead are set to travel to St. John's for the first game of the regular season to battle the Newfoundland Regiment on September 18.
Our Halifax Mooseheads are set to kick off the regular season on the island and take on the Charlottetown Islanders on September 19. The two clubs will battle each other the next night in Moose Country for the Herd's home opener. Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Some other observations on the Mooseheads' schedule:
The Newfoundland Regiment will make their first visit to the Scotiabank Centre for two games October 17 and 18.
Halifax's first road trip to the province of Quebec between October 29-November 1 when they visit Blainville, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or.
Once again, a home-and-home series between the two Nova Scotian teams will happen to end 2025 with a match in Halifax on December 30 and in Sydney on December 31.
The longest home-stand of the season is 6 games between October 9-25 while the Herd will have three road trips of 5 games each, including one to end the season from March 8-21.
A Family Day matinee will see Halifax visiting the Moncton Wildcats at 2 p.m. on February 16
Despite having a not so good season, a couple of Halifax Mooseheads players were honoured for their efforts during the regular season. Goaltender Jacob Steinman, probably mostly because of his stats while he was with the Moncton Wildcats before being traded to Halifax at Christmas time, was named to the QMJHL First All-Star Team earlier this month. In 52 games played in 2024-25, Steinman had a 29-16-4-1 record, a 2.44 goals against average with a 0.923 save percentage and 3 shutouts. At the same time, defenceman Carlos Handel was one of six players to be on the All-Rookie Team after picking up 3 goals and 26 points in 52 games, all with the Mooseheads.
Congrats to both guys being given the recognition!
MOOSE TRACKS I haven't shared all the Moose Tracks videos but thought I would post this one as it seems like it will be the last one for the season. For episode 7, we get behind the scenes looks at play by play announcer Garreth MacDonald and go into the dressing room.
PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE Our Mooseheads announced their pre-season schedule a couple of weeks ago and the team will play four exhibition matches, all against provincial rivals Cape Breton. I noticed the schedule being up a couple days before the team made it official, but it looked odd so wasn't sure it was the full schedule. Nice to see the team will be sharing the love around Nova Scotia this year. This is the least amount of games I have seen Halifax play.
August 19 at Cape Breton 7:00 p.m. Centre 200 August 20 vs Cape Breton 7:00 p.m. St. Margaret's Centre August 23 vs Cape Breton 4:00 p.m. Rath Eastlink Community Centre September 6 at Cape Breton 4:00 p.m. Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre
GOLDEN PUCK AWARDS The QMJHL announced the nominees for the first seven Golden Puck Awards a few weeks ago and former Herd Markus Vidicek was among the three names vying for the Guy Carbonneau Trophy as top defensive forward. Unfortunately, the next day the winner was announced as Matyas Melovsky of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
On May 21, the league released the names for the final eight awards. First, net-minder Jacob Steinman has been nominated for the Patrick Roy Trophy as goaltender of the year. The 20-year-old had a 0.917 save percentage in 22 games with Halifax according to the article. Mooseheads alumni Mathieu Cataford is one of the final three players who will look to win the Marcel Robert Trophy which is given to the student athlete of the year. The winners will be announced on June 5.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS It was a mixed bag of results for former Halifax Mooseheads players at the World Championships. After Winnipeg was eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, forward Nikolaj Ehlers joined host Denmark, making it six alumni participating in the tournament. The 29-year-old Ehlers helped his country to a 4th place finish, their best ever result, by scoring 3 goals in 4 games. They would battle against Nathan MacKinnon, MacKenzie Weegar and Canada in the quarter-finals, winning 2-1. MacKinnon recorded 13 points in 8 games but couldn't help the Canadians finish higher than 5th place. Filip Zadina and Czechia lost 5-2 to Sweden in the quarters. Nico Hischier was once again named captain of Switzerland but unfortunately got injured just a week into the competition, ending his tournament. Timo Meier finished 17th in scoring with 3 goals and 10 points as the Swiss lost a very tight final game, 1-0 in overtime to the United States.
Congratulations to Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Switzerland on becoming silver medalists on May 25.
Other things..
Mooseheads alumni Maxime Fortier has signed on with SaiPa of Liiga for the 2025-26 season
The 2025 Memorial Cup is over for the two Q teams after the Rimouski Oceanic went 0-3 in the preliminary round while the Moncton Wildcats were defeated by London in the semi-finals
Beginning next year, the CHL along with its membership leagues, announced that Under Armour will be the exclusive jersey, footwear and apparel partner while Bauer will serve as the official equipment supplier
Another university commitment was made last week with assistant captain Braeden MacPhee joining the recruitment class for the UNB Reds
From Scott Wheeler; d-man Carlos Handel has been invited to this year's NHL draft combine which begins on Monday
First in the Maritimes division, regular season champions and now Gilles Courteau Trophy winners. The Moncton Wildcats were dominate this season and it continued in the playoffs with them finishing as league champs on Monday afternoon for the first time since 2010.
The game started pretty even with the teams going to the locker rooms for the first intermission in a scoreless tie in Rimouski. Forward Gabe Smith scored the opening goal for Moncton at the 6:30 mark of the second period and he picked up another one later in the middle frame to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes. The Oceanic weren't going to go away easy though and they scored twice in the third to make the game close but at the final buzzer, the score was 3-2.
Overage goaltender Mathis Rousseau, a former Halifax Mooseheads player, made 24 saves to pick up the victory. He and the Wildcats' other net-minder Rudy Guimond shared the load throughout the playoffs.
Draft-eligible forward Caleb Desnoyers, who had 30 points during the post-season, was named Most Valuable Player.
Herd alumni Markus Vidicek captained the Wildcats and was the first person to lift the trophy before passing it to Rousseau. Fellow alum Dylan MacKinnon and Logan Crosby also became champions after falling just short 2 years ago with Halifax.
On Rimouski, former Herd Mathieu Cataford finished in the top 10 of playoff scoring with 18 points. Lou Levesque and Jack Martin, who suited up for Halifax before being traded at Christmas time, now play for the Oceanic as well.
Both clubs will join the London Knights of the OHL and the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2025 Memorial Cup tournament, which will be held in Rimouski, QC starting on Friday night.
Congratulations to Vidicek, Crosby, Rousseau, MacKinnon and the Moncton Wildcats on winning the Gilles-Courteau Trophy.
In less than a month, personnel from the 18 QMJHL teams will gather in Quebec City, QC for the annual entry draft. Our Halifax Mooseheads will be drafting 3rd overall after finishing in the last playoff position following the 2024-25 regular season.
Like I said after the lottery results, this is the highest the Mooseheads have drafted since the 2016 draft. Because of trades, Halifax also has two picks in the second round and two selections in the 8th round. In total the Herd have 12 picks across the recently shortened twelve round draft.
For the time being, here is where the Herd are picking on draft day Round 1 - 3rd overall Round 2 - 21st overall Round 2 - 29th overall Round 4 - 59th overall Round 5 - 77th overall Round 6 - 95th overall Round 7 - 113th overal
Round 8 - 131st overall Round 8 - 143rd overall
Round 10 - 167th overall
Round 11 - 185th overall
Round 12 - 203rd overall
The Mooseheads have not officially released what picks they have but above is according to the Q website. Check back in early June to see who the brass selects with a full recap.
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 Maritimes 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.
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.
