Top Herd

Now that the regular season is over, I thought I would share who the winner of my Top Herd award is for this season. Even though there was a tie between three players (as you will see below), I decided not to do a poll this time because I thought there was a clear winner. 

And the winner is.....

Mathis Rousseau

This season was supposed to be a year the Mooseheads went all in but in a number of games, goaltender Mathis Rousseau kept his team in the game and allowed Halifax to pick up some wins that shouldn't have. The Boisbriand, QC native had the second-highest save percentage in team history at 0.925 plus a 2.27 goals against average. 

Here is the list of players that I named in individual games. 
Sep 22   Charlottetown - Liam Kilfoil
Oct 6     Victoriaville - Brody Fournier
Oct 20   Rouyn-Noranda - Jordan Dumais
Nov 3    Rimouski - Mathis Rousseau
Nov 4    Sherbrooke - Jordan Dumais
Nov 11  Shawinigan - Jack Milner
Dec 7    Drummondville - Markus Vidicek
Dec 8    Gatineau - Mathieu Cataford
Dec 15  Saint John - Mathieu Cataford
Jan 20   Chicoutimi - Jan Sprynar
Feb 28   Cape Breton - Mathis Rousseau
Mar 10  Moncton - Lou-Felix Denis
Mar 14  Charlottetown - Brady Schultz

Season series versus each team

Below you will find the records of your Halifax Mooseheads versus each of the other seventeen teams in the Q plus the monthly records for the team this season. (note: Halifax's score is listed first)

West division
Blainville-Boisbriand 2 games 1-0-1-0 {3-1, 4-5OT}
Gatineau 2 games 2-0-0-0 {5-4OT, 5-4OT}
Rouyn-Noranda 2 games 1-1-0-0 {6-4, 0-2}
Val-d'Or 2 games 1-1-0-0 {5-1, 2-5}

Central division
Drummondville 2 games 2-0-0-0 {4-3, 4-3}
Shawinigan 2 games 1-1-0-0 {4-1, 0-1}
Sherbrooke 2 games 2-0-0-0 {5-1, 5-2}
Victoriaville 2 games 2-0-0-0 {5-3, 4-2}

East division
Baie-Comeau 2 games 1-0-1-0 {3-2OT, 3-4OT}
Chicoutimi 2 games 1-0-1-0 {2-3OT, 3-2}
Quebec 2 games 1-0-1-0 {2-3OT, 3-2}
Rimouski 2 games 1-1-0-0 {2-3, 3-2OT}

Maritimes division
Acadie-Bathurst 9 games 5-3-1-0 {9-1, 5-4, 5-4SO, 3-1, 4-8, 4-3, 1-2OT, 0-2, 1-3}
Cape Breton 9 games 5-3-1-0 {2-0, 4-0, 0-3, 3-1, 2-4, 2-1, 4-5OT, 3-5, 2-1}
Charlottetown 9 games 6-2-1-0 {1-3, 1-6, 6-2, 4-3SO, 1-2SO, 3-2SO, 4-0, 7-0, 4-2}
Moncton 9 games 5-4-0-0 {3-1, 4-5, 4-0, 1-4, 4-3OT, 2-8, 5-4OT, 3-1, 2-3}
Saint John 8 games 5-2-1-0 {4-2, 2-3, 5-4OT, 2-3OT, 3-2, 7-1, 2-5, 7-4}

Monthly records
September 3 games ~ 1-2-0-0 record overall, 0-1-0-0 home, 2-0-0-0 away
October 12 games ~ 9-2-1-0 record overall, 4-1-0-0 home, 5-1-1-0 away
November 12 games ~ 9-1-2-0 record overall, 5-0-1-0 home, 4-1-1-0 away
December 11 games ~ 4-5-1-1 record overall, 3-2-1-1 home, 1-3-0-0 away
January 10 games ~ 6-1-3-0 record overall, 2-1-3-0 home, 4-0-0-0 away
February 13 games ~ 9-4-0-0 record overall, 3-2-0-0 home, 6-2-0-0 away
March 7 games ~ 4-3-0-0 record overall, 3-1-0-0 home, 1-2-0-0 away

Overtime/shootout records
OT ~ eight overtime win, seven overtime loss
SO ~ two shootout win, one shootout loss

New Leadership Group

Photo - Herd website

Our Halifax Mooseheads have announced their leadership group for the 2023-24 season on Friday afternoon. 

Defenseman Jake Furlong was named the 35th captain in team history after returning to the Mooseheads by the San Jose Sharks earlier in the week. According to the press release, Furlong was presented his new position before practice by head coach Jim Midgley with his parents present. The 19-year-old is heading into his fourth season with Halifax after the Herd drafted him in the second round of the 2020 QMJHL entry draft. 

"Jake exemplifies the values of the Halifax Mooseheads. His work ethic, consistency and commitment make him a great ambassador for our organization," said Jim Midgley. 

From the release; Furlong has displayed all of those qualities throughout his Mooseheads career but perhaps no greater than during the 2023 playoff run which saw him log major minutes every game while putting his body on the line and shutting down the top forwards from each opponent on a consistent basis. 

Joining the Upper Tantallon, NS native as leaders for this year are veterans forwards Markus Vidicek and Jordan Dumais along with Brady Schultz and Mathieu Cataford. The first two players will serve as alternate captains for every game while the latter two will rotate wearing a letter during home and away games. 

Congratulations to all five players, especially Furlong on being given the C. 

2023-24 Promotional Schedule

Photo - Shawn Davidson

The regular season schedule was announced at the beginning of the summer and the Halifax Mooseheads haven't officially announced their events as of the writing of this post. However, they were listed on the form that people who bought 15-game packages received. So I'm going to do this post a little different this year and give you the full promotional schedule below. 

2023-24 promotional schedule
Home Opener - September 22 vs. Charlottetown
Fridge Magnet Giveaway - October 7 vs. Blainville-Boisbriand
30th Ann. T-shirt Giveaway - October 21 vs. Val-d'Or
Mooseheads Fight Cancer - November 4 vs. Sherbrooke
90's Night - November 11 vs. Shawinigan
Kid's Day - November 12 vs. Cape Breton
Toque Toss - December 8 vs. Gatineau
New Year's Eve - December 31 vs. Cape Breton
Towel Giveaway - January 13 vs. Quebec
DND Appreciation - January 20 vs. Chicoutimi
Alumni Night - March 2 vs. Saint John
Fan Appreciation Night - March 10 vs. Moncton

As you can see, there seems to be no teddy bear toss this season and we'll have to wait and see if the New Year's Eve match will be the normal Hurley Cup/Battle of Nova Scotia special event game. I'm not sure why the team never have the DND appreciation game on Remembrance Day if they play that day. 

Thirtieth Season Roster

YOUR 2023-24 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

3  Dylan MacKinnon  D  Riverview, NB
5  Brady Schultz  D  Monroe, CT, USA
6  Markus Vidicek  C  Kirkland, QC

7  David Moravec  D  Havlickuv Brod, Czechia
8  Jack Martin  D  Upper Coverdale, NB

9  Liam Kilfoil  C  Quispamsis, NB*
10  Mathieu Cataford LW  Saint-Constant, QC
11  Jordan Dumais  RW  L-ile-Bizard, QC

12  Brody Fournier  RW  Lombardy, ON 
14  Logan Crosby  LW  Salt Springs, NS
15  Dominic MacKenzie  D  Stellarton, NS*
19  Reece Peitzsche  LW  Beaver Bank, NS

21  Braeden MacPhee  C  Moncton, NB
23  Yannik Ponzetto  LW  Kloten, Switzerland*
26  Owen Phillips  D  Hammonds Plains, NS

35  Jack Milner  G  Antigonish, NS*
43  Jake Furlong  D  Upper Tantallon, NS

48  Liam Welsh  RW  Halifax, NS
60  Mathis Rousseau  G  Boisbriand, QC
63  Jake Todd  C  Beaver Bank, NS
67  Lou Levesque  C  Saint-Jerome, QC*
89  Antoine Fontaine  C  Granby, QC*
90  Cade Moser  C  Linacy, NS*

*indicates rookie

30th Anniversary Schedule Announced

Our Halifax Mooseheads 30th season regular season schedule was announced today. 

Like last year, the Herd will open up the season on home ice when the Charlottetown Islanders come to town on September 22. The two teams will meet at Eastlink Centre the next night with the puck scheduled to drop at 7 p.m. both evenings. Hopefully we won't get another postponement of the opening weekend in the Maritimes like in 2022. 

Other highlights for the 2023-24 regular season includes:

• The first Quebec road-trip will be October 12-15 when the Mooseheads travel to Baie-Comeau, Chicoutimi and Rimouski 
• A league finals rematch between Quebec and Halifax is set for January 13, 2024 at the Scotiabank Centre, meaning we'll probably see even more of a different team for the Remparts than we did in Game 6 
• We will get to see the return of the Hurley Cup series against Cape Breton, with the Eagles hosting on December 30 at 3 p.m. The two teams will meet again in Moose Country on New Year's Eve for an afternoon game 
• Halifax's longest home-stand will be six games from February 28-March 14 (this game being the home finale as well) while a five game road trip between Nov. 24-Dec. 2 is the longest 
• The regular season will wrap up on March 23 with the Herd visiting Saint John in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday against the Sea Dogs. 

Halifax also announced in the press release that a full promotional schedule will be released later in the summer.