GAMEDAY 1: vs Moncton

ITS GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. MONCTON WILDCATS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

Metro Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

PREVIEW - Welcome to a new season. It is tradition in the Quebec league that the President's Cup champions open the season every year at home on opening night. This year your Halifax Mooseheads will not only be raising the QMJHL championship banner but the Memorial Cup championship banner as well. 

One of the biggest questions coming into this season is can they repeat? Well don't expect them to match exactly the success of last season but the Herd are very strong contenders for the President's Cup. Another question is who is going to pick up the scoring now that the top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Marty Frk and Jonathan Drouin is gone? It looks like Halifax has found at least 3 guys who can pick up some of the slack now. The line of international boys were good during preseason play. I am talking about Europeans Nikolaj Ehlers and Timo Meier and American Danny Moynihan. Moynihan was Halifax's leading scorer in the preseason with 7 points. 

Now to the game. It should be an interesting one. With Zach Fucale in Montreal for NHL camp, Kevin Darveau will get the start but the question is will he have a backup? I am assuming he will but there has been no word from the Mooseheads. The rookies are going to be apart of something they didn't get to experience themselves, when the banners are raised to the rafters. Half the boys who were apart of the championship team last season are gone, either aged out and/or NHL camps so it's a little disappointing that not everyone will get to experience it. Fans are asked to be in their seats by 6:50pm which will be when the lights are dimmed. There will be lots of excitement in the air so this game will be a real test for the veterans and rookies on the team to see how good they do under pressure.

This is the first of nine games between these two division rivals. Moncton will be apart of three of the Mooseheads annual events this season (tonight, DND night and teddy bear toss). It's also the first game of the regular season for both teams.

LAST GAMES
The Mooseheads are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to Cape Breton in their last pre-season game. Moncton on the other hand won their last preseason game 4-1 against Saint John.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
This season     0-0-0-0     0GF    0GA
September 12 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
September 20 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
November 8 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
December 1 @ 4pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
December 20 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
December 21 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
January 10 @ 7pm  Wildcats at Mooseheads
February 9 @ 4pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
March 1 @ 7pm  Mooseheads at Wildcats
Last season     6-2-0-0    36GF    26GA

NOT PLAYING - Zach Fucale, Brent Andrews, Darcy Ashley and Mackenzie Weegar

GAME COVERAGE
TV: None
Live: @MC_MooseCountry, live blog
Webcast: TELUS
Radio: News 95.7, News 91.9
Post-game: MooseCountry blog

AFTER THE GAME
Halifax will now travel to Charlottetown to take on the Islanders for a Friday Night Hockey on Eastlink game. Puck drop at 7pm.

Twentieth Season Roster

YOUR 2013-14 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

5  Brian Lovell  D  (Chateauguay, QC)

6  Jacob Jacques  D  (Levis, QC)*

7  Trey Lewis  D  (Moncton, NB)

8  Brendan Duke  D  (Halifax, NS)

9  Andrew Ryan  LW  (St. John's, NL)

10  Jesse Lussier  D  (Petewawa, ON)*

12  Danny Moynihan  LW  (Windham, NH, USA)*
16  Vincent Watt  LW  (Ormstown, QC)*

17  Darcy Ashley  RW  (Alberton, PEI)
19  Ryan Falkenham  RW  (Halifax, NS)

20  Liam Alcalde  LW  (Montreal, QC)

24  Nikolaj Ehlers  LW  (Aalborg, Denmark)*

28  Max Lindsay  LW  (Hamilton, ON)

31  Zach Fucale  G  (Rosemere, QC)
32  Andrew Shewfelt  LW  (Halifax, NS)*

35  Kevin Darveau  G  (Ile Bizard, QC)
44  Matt Murphy  D  (Fredericton, NB)
 48  Luca Ciampini  LW  (Montreal, QC)
51  Sam Leblanc  LW  (Moncton, NB)*
52  MacKenzie Weegar  D  (Ottawa, ON)
71  Connor Moynihan  LW  (Windham, NH, USA)*

79  Brent Andrews  C  (Charlottetown, PEI)

88  Austyn Hardie  D  (Montreal, QC)

96  Timo Meier  RW  (Herisau, Switzerland)*

*indicates rookie

Thursday Thoughts

EASTLINK
Eastlink TV announced today the broadcasting schedule for the 2013-14 QMJHL season. Eastlink will broadcast an Atlantic game every Friday starting with the Halifax-Charlottetown game on September 13th. Three of Halifax's annual events will be broadcasted, Pink in the Rink, DND Appreciation night and Teddy Bear Toss. Halifax will be on the Atlantic television network 11 times this season. Eastlink and the Quebec league are in the second year of a 5 year contract signed in late March 2012.

20TH SEASON
The Mooseheads also announced today that they will unveil a special 20th season anniversary jersey. They tweeted earlier tonight that it will be shown in a game against Baie-Comeau on September 28th. Don't expect a crazy fiery logo per the Halifax Mooseheads twitter page. Here is the announcement;

FUCALE
The goalie who led us to a National Championship was playing once again, this time wearing his national colors. Zach Fucale was in net when Team Canada took on Sweden in Lake Placid, NY. The National Junior Team Canada is playing three games in the New York state to get prepared for the World Juniors in December. The games were yesterday, today and tomorrow as part of Team Canada Development Camp.

Photo credit: Twitter; @EastlinkTV & @HFXMooseheads

Events

The schedule was released months ago but the Mooseheads are just now announcing their annual events schedule. The 20th season will be kicked off in a special way this year after the Herd won both the President's Cup and Memorial Cup. The banners will be raised on opening night.

HOME OPENER - September 12 vs. Moncton Wildcats
Pink in the Rink 6 - October 18 vs. Val-d'Or Foreurs
DND Appreciation Night - November 8 vs. Moncton Wildcats
Battle of Nova Scotia - December 28 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Teddy Bear Toss - January 10 vs. Moncton Wildcats
Fan Appreciation Night/Season finale - March 15 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles


*Details about the banner raising have not been released but when they are I'll keep you guys up to date.

20th season sked released

The schedule for the 2013-14 season was released today and for the first time in franchise history, your Halifax Mooseheads will open the season on opening night after winning the President's Cup. The winner always plays on the first night of the season which is normally a Thursday and will be the only game played that night. The Moose will raise the banners on September 12th against the Moncton Wildcats.

The upcoming season is the 20th anniversary season and it's awesome that the team will raise a championship banner to kick it off. Halifax will play its first game against the newly renamed Charlottetown Islanders the next night, September 13, on the island. The Patrick Roy era in Quebec is now over with and your Mooseheads will play the first game against the new coached team when they visit Halifax on December 6. The final two teams in the 2013 Quebec league playoffs will meet again for the first time since that Game 5 series clinching win on September 28 in a game at the Metro Centre. Halifax will play 4 home and home series in the first half of the season, two of them will be against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The Battle of Nova Scotia will be the last of the home and homes when the teams meet in the last weekend of the year. The two teams will meet on December 28 in Halifax and December 29 in Cape Breton. The season ends on March 15 with another game against our provincial rivals in Halifax and a total of 9 games will be played that day which means every team.

The annual events dates have not been released yet but when they are check back here and I will have a full list of all the exciting things happening this season.

For the full schedule click here.