Around the CHL ~ volume #1 preview edition #5

Check out the recap of what happened last season. Hope you enjoyed my posts last season. Keep reading and don't be afraid to ask me anything about my blog.

here are last year's leaders:
Division champions 2015-16
WHL - Victoria Royals (B.C.) 72 games played, 50-16-3-3 record, 106 points, 281 goals for/166 goals against; Brandon Wheat Kings (East) 72 games played, 48-18-4-2 record, 102 points, 319 goals for/197 goals against; Lethbridge Hurricanes (Central) 72 games played, 46-24-1-1 record, 94 points, 304 goals for/218 goals against; Seattle Thunderbirds (U.S.) 72 games played, 45-23-4-0 record, 94 points, 228 goals for/186 goals against
OHL - Erie Otters (Midwest) 68 games played, 52-15-1-0 record, 105 points, 269 goals for/183 goals against; Kingston Fronteancs (East) 68 games played, 46-17-3-2 record, 97 points, 252 goals for/189 goals against; Sarnia Sting (West) 68 games played, 42-19-5-2 record, 91 points, 254 goals for/192 goals against; Barrie Colts (Central) 68 games played, 43-22-0-3 record, 89 points, 295 goals for/207 goals against
QMJHL - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (West) 68 games played, 54-9-3-2 record, 113 points, 302 goals for/181 goals against; Shawinigan Cataractes (East) 68 games played, 44-19-4-1 record, 93 points, 281 goals for/220 goals against; Saint John Sea Dogs (Maritimes) 68 games played, 42-20-6-0 record, 90 points, 258 goals for/222 goals against

League championships 2016
President's Cup - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies vs. Shawinigan Cataractes (Huskies won series 4 games to 1 game)
J. Ross Robertson Cup - London Knights vs. Niagara IceDogs (Knights won series 4 games to 0 games)
Ed Chynoweth Cup - Brandon Wheat Kings vs. Seattle Thunderbirds (Wheat Kings won series 4 games to 1 game)

Memorial Cup 2016
Teams ~ Brandon (WHL champion), London (OHL champion), Red Deer (Hosts), and Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL champion)

Final May 29, 2016 London vs. Rouyn-Noranda 3-2 OT

LONDON KNIGHTS WIN 2015 MEMORIAL CUP!!!


London will look to repeat as Memorial Cup champions. The Windsor Spitfires will be hosting the national championship tournament next May. The 2017 CHL/NHL BMO Top Prospects game will be hosted by the Quebec Remparts on January 26.

Top Herd

The regular season is over, I will be awarding my overall Top herd player award. This season I asked you, my readers to vote who you thought should get the award and the poll has closed. Thanks for make this the most voted poll. 

 

And the winner is....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eric Brassard

In his final junior season, Eric Brassard was a standout in almost every game he played for a very young Herd team and gave the boys in front of him a chance to win practically every night. Brassard finished the season 13th in the league with a 0.892 save percentage allowing 155 goals and getting 3 shutouts. 

 

 

Here is the list of my Top Herd that I have done this season. I didn't name one every game.
Sept 20   Saint John - Maxime Fortier
Sept 25   Moncton - Eric Brassard
Sept 27   Cape Breton - Kevin Resop
Oct 8       Blainville - Timo Meier
Oct 17     Acadie-Bathurst - Danny Moynihan
Oct 22     Moncton - Eric Brassard
Nov 7      Baie-Comeau - Danny Moynihan
Nov 14    Saint John - Cavan Fitzgerald
Nov 24    Cape Breton - Maxime Fortier
Dec 31    Cape Breton - Connor Moynihan
Jan 5      Charlottetown - Otto Somppi
Jan 14    Quebec - Eric Brassard
Feb 4      Shawinigan - Eric Brassard
Feb 21    Sherbrooke - Ilya Putintsev
Feb 27    Saint John - Arnaud Durandeau
Mar 2      Acadie-Bathurst - Jocktan Chainey
Mar 11    Moncton - Ilya Putintsev
Mar 12    Charlottetown - Kelly Bent

Here are the final poll results
Eric Brassard - 49%, Maxime Fortier - 37%, Ilya Putintsev - 12%, Other - 2%

Mooseheads Rebuild Showing

Your Halifax Mooseheads finished the first half of the regular season on Friday night on the road with a 3-1 loss against the Saint John Sea Dogs. The boys might be thankful for this break but there's also nervousness I am sure for the veterans on the team. Coming into the season, Halifax was one of two of the youngest teams in the QMJHL and after a couple of trades this past weekend they have gotten even younger.

Cavan Fitzgerald
Photo - Metro News

The Mooseheads traded 19 year old Cavan Fitzgerald, who leads the team's defenceman in scoring, for rookie Jocktan Chainey and a draft pick. Overager Cody Donaghey also got traded for Halifax native Michael O'Leary and two picks. Will we see more trades? Most likely and it might include two of the Herd's leading scorers in Timo Meier and Danny Moynihan. Halifax has a 12-18-4-1 record going into Christmas break which has them tied for 15th overall in the QMJHL with 29 points. It's been an okay season so far for the Moose, there's been outstanding performances, a few first goals for rookies at the beginning and some high scoring games. Halifax played it's 1500th regular season game on Thursday night. There's also been some disappointments, like a devastating loss to 18th place Baie-Comeau, un-balanced scoring and inconsistency. But keep in mind that the Mooseheads are in a rebuild year so this is quite normal. As you might've noticed in my first half statistics on Sunday, the Herd are being led by veteran Danny Moynihan in scoring. Moynihan's 42 points in the first half is good enough for 18th overall in league scoring. Helsink, Finland native Otto Somppi, who Halifax drafted in the 2015 CHL import draft, is the top rookie scorer for the Mooseheads and is in the top 10 in the league.

Halifax will look to turn their 4 game losing streak around when they host Donaghey and the Moncton Wildcats on Monday night but they'll be in tough. The Cats have won all but one game against our boys and with the additions they made, I don't see them getting any easier to beat. The Mooseheads will then travel up north to start a home and home against provincial rivals Cape Breton Screaming Eagles before the end of 2015.

Good luck to the Mooseheads the rest of the season, I look forward to it.

Moose Announce Roster

YOUR 2015-16 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

1  Eric Brassard  G  (Longueuil, QC)

2  Cooper Jones  D Bridgewater, MA, USA) *

3  Walter Flower  D  (Lunenburg, NS)*

4  Domenico Argento  D  (Montreal, QC)

5  Cavan Fitzgerald  D  (Boston, MA, USA)

9  Jean-Sebastien Taillefer  D  (Les Coteaux, QC)

11  Morgan Nauss  D  (Hammonds Plain, NS)

12  Danny Moynihan  C  (Windham, NH, USA)

16  Vincent Watt  LW  (Pointe Claire, QC)

17  Brett Crossley  C  (Dartmouth, NS)

21  Arnaud Durandeau  LW  (Beaconsfield, QC)*

26  Taylor Ford  D  (Dorval, QC)

28  Dominik Blain-Dupuis  C  (Gatineau, QC)*

32  Andrew Shewfelt  RW  (Dartmouth, NS)

34  Kelly Bent  RW  (Halifax, NS)

40  Kevin Resop  G  (St. Petersburg, FL, USA) 

41  Maxime Fortier  RW  (Lachine, QC)

51  Barrett Dachyshyn  C  (Halifax, NS)*

53  Ilya Putintsev  RW  (Moscow, Russia)*

61  Joel Bishop  C  (St. John's, NL)*

71  Connor Moynihan  LW  (Windham, NH, USA)

81  Cody Donaghey  D  (St. John's, NL)

89  Otto Somppi  C  (Helsinki, Finland)* 

96  Timo Meier  RW  (Herisau, Switzerland)

*indicates rookie

Events

The city of Halifax and the Halifax Mooseheads will host another big event this season along with their annual events. The CHL Subway Super Series versus Russia will hit Moose Country on November 19, 2015. Halifax will not end the season at home this year and the Battle of Nova Scotia events have come back this season. 

Annual events
HOME OPENER - September 18 vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Pink in the Rink 8 - October 17 vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan
DND Appreciation Night - not yet announced
Battle of Nova Scotia - December 31 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Teddy Bear Toss - January 8 vs. Rimouski Oceanic
Fan Appreciation Night - March 12 vs. Charlottetown Islanders

Moose Opening Season On Road

Scotiabank Centre
Photo - The Chronicle Herald

The Halifax Mooseheads have released their schedule for the 2015-16 regular season.

For the third straight year, the Herd will be opening the season on the road, this time versus the Charlottetown Islanders. Halifax will travel to the island for a game on September 11 with the puck dropping at 7pm.  They'll then travel to Saint John to take on the Sea Dogs the following night.

Other highlights from the schedule:

• Halifax's first game at the newly renovated Scotiabank Centre will be on September 18 when they host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 7pm
• The Mooseheads will have their first Quebec road trip October 2-4 when they visit the Sherbrooke Phoenix, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Drummondville Voltigeurs
• Once again, Halifax will host a game on New Year's Eve. This year it will be apart of the Battle of Nova Scotia event when Cape Breton visits Moose Country for a game currently scheduled at 6pm. The two teams will play in Sydney on December 29 at the normal 7pm. 
• Halifax's longest home stand will be 5 games, happening twice during the season (Dec. 4-17 and Jan. 5-14) while the longest road trip will be six games (Jan. 16-30)
• The Herd's final home game will be on March 12 against the Islanders and will meet the team a week later for Halifax's last regular season game on March 19 in Charlottetown

Events will be announced at a later date. Halifax will start the pre-season on August 15, that schedule was announced on Wednesday. 

Halifax to Host Super Series

The Canadian Hockey League announced today the 6 cities that will play host to the 2015 Subway Super Series come November. The city of Halifax will hold the last game of the series on November 19, 2015. The game will be played at 8:00pm Atlantic time at the Scotiabank Centre.

This is the second time that the Mooseheads have hosted the super series, the first being back in 2003. Former players that have been on Team QMJHL rosters include; Brent Andrews (2012), Logan MacMillan (2007 & 2008), Jonathan Drouin (2012 & 2013), Andrew Bodnarchuk (2007), Nathan MacKinnon (2011 & 2012), Ryan Hillier (2007), Zach Fucale (2012, 2013 & 2014), MacKenzie Weegar (2013). We'll have to wait until the beginning of November to see who will be the next Herd players named to Team QMJHL.

Here is the full schedule:
Game 1 - Monday November 9 at Kelowna, BC
Game 2 - Tuesday November 10 at Kamloops, BC
Game 3 - Thursday November 12 at Owen Sound, ON
Game 4 - Monday November 16 at Windsor, ON
Game 5 - Tuesday November 17 at Rouyn-Noranda, QC
Game 6 - Thursday November 19 at Halifax, NS

For the press release click here.