Round 1 battle against Chicoutimi

Photo - Herd website

The playoffs are set to begin next week and on the last day of the regular season, our Halifax Mooseheads finally know who they will play in Round 1. Being the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference, the Herd will battle against the 2nd seed Chicoutimi Sagueneens. 

Halifax lost their last two games this weekend against Newfoundland on the road to finish with a 29-29-3-3 record. The Mooseheads went 0-1-1-0 against the Sagueneens in during the regular season but as we know anything can happen in the playoffs. Chicoutimi battled it out with Moncton for the last couple of months for the top spot in the QMJHL but they didn't get any help and finished with a 49-10-3-2 record, good enough for 103 points, just behind the Wildcats. The Sags have the top scorer in both points and goals in Maxim Masse who recorded 51 goals and 102 points. 

Full schedule below. With the distance between teams, this series will be 2-3-2 instead of the normal 2-2-1-1-1 format. 

Game 1    Friday March 27 @ 8:00pm at Centre Georges-Vezina
Game 2    Saturday March 28 @ 8:00pm at Centre Georges-Vezina
Game 3    Tuesday March 31 @ 7:00pm at Scotiabank Centre
Game 4    Wednesday April 1 @ 7:00pm at Scotiabank Centre
*Game 5  Friday April 3 @ 7:00pm at Scotiabank Centre
*Game 6  Monday April 6 @ 8:00pm at Centre Georges-Vezina
*Game 7  Tuesday April 7 @ 8:00pm at Centre Georges-Vezina

*if necessary

Single game tickets for Games 3 and 4 are on sale now, you can purchase them at ticketmaster.ca or by phone 902-451-1221. 

Lots to be determined in final weekend

Photo - Herd website

The regular season is nearing its completion with the final two games for all eighteen teams this weekend. The 16 playoff spots have been clinched but our Halifax Mooseheads don't know yet who their first round opponent will be. 

Halifax could still technically move up to 6th place in the Eastern Conference, however the club needs to win both their games and have the Cape Breton Eagles lose theirs. So assuming the Mooseheads finish the season in the No. 7 seed, they will take on the second place team which could either be the Chicoutimi Sagueneens or Moncton Wildcats. 

The Wildcats will play the Charlottetown Islanders in a home-and-home series, while the Sagueneens take on the Quebec Remparts. 

Over in the Western Conference; Drummondville, Rouyn-Noranda and Blainville-Boisbriand are in the mix to win the #1 spot. Meanwhile, at the other end positions 6-8 are locked up. The Shawinigan Cataractes and Sherbrooke Phoenix are the lone playoff series officially determined, however the team with home advantage is still up in the air as the two teams are separated by one point and are the 4th and 5th seeds respectively. 

A few other notes...

• Every team in the league will be on the ice on both Friday and Saturday. Once again, Saturday matches will be afternoon starts. 
• Our Mooseheads, who have won four straight for the first time this season, are set to visit the Newfoundland Regiment this weekend for two road games. 
• At the bottom of the standings are the Baie-Comeau Drakkar (34 points) and Rimouski Oceanic (37 points) who will play each other twice to end the regular season. Both will miss the playoffs. 
• For the draft, scheduled to take place in Halifax, the Mooseheads will have a chance to win the lottery despite being 12th in the league right now. This is because Cam Russell and co. hold Rimouski's first round pick. 

Game Day 31: at Chicoutimi

PREVIEW - It's game day once again finally. The QMJHL restarted their regular season yesterday evening after being off since Dec. 18 and because of current restrictions, our Halifax Mooseheads will be out on the road for a little bit. Halifax's road trip starts tonight with a visit to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens with puck dropping at 5 p.m. Atlantic time. This will be the first game for newcomer Evan Boucher who the Mooseheads picked up as a free agent last month. The Herd have a healthy lineup for I believe the first time this season but will be missing forward Zachary L'Heureux as he begins his six-game suspension from the team's last game. Chicoutimi, meanwhile, did have the league leading scorer on their team before Christmas in Felix Lafrance but traded him to Bathurst along with their second leading scorer so they have lost quite a bit of their offence. The Sagueneens shouldn't be counted out though even if they are 12th in the league at the restart. Buckle up Moose Country, it may not be the march to the playoffs yet but it's probably going to feel like it starting now.

Game coverage
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @HFXMooseheads | Post-game: Halifax Mooseheads

Overall records
Mooseheads: 17-11-1-1 = 36 points (2nd in Maritimes division, 6th overall)
Sagueneens: 14-12-0-4 = 32 points (3rd in East division, 12th overall)

Leading scorers
CHI: Matej Kaslik 27pts (15G & 12A), William Rouleau 26pts (5G & 21A), Julien Hebert 20pts (9G & 11A)
HAL: Jordan Dumais 47pts (16G & 31A), Zachary L'Heureux 38pts (16G & 22A), Elliot Desnoyers 36pts (16G & 20A)

Head-to-head
This is the first meeting between these two teams this season. The two clubs last met on January 10, 2020 where Chicoutimi picked up a 8-3 road win in Halifax. Denis Toner scored twice for the Mooseheads while Alex Gravel stopped 36 of the Sagueneens' 44 shots. 

Last games
Halifax is coming off a big 6-2 victory over Moncton before Christmas. Jordan Dumais led the Mooseheads with a goal and 3 assists and Brady James made 21 saves against the Wildcats on Dec. 18. 

Chicoutimi is coming off a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the Tigres on the last day before the break. Three rookies scored for the Sagueneens and Sergei Litvinov got the start in Victoriaville. 

Not playing - Zachary L'Heureux (suspended)

Out of town
Titan vs. Armada - 4:00 p.m.
Drakkar vs. Islanders - 4:00 p.m.
Foreurs vs. Cataractes - 5:00 p.m.
Wildcats vs. Oceanic - 7:00 p.m.
Huskies vs. Phoenix - 8:00 p.m.

After the buzzer
Halifax will continue their road trip with a visit to Baie-Comeau tomorrow to take on the Drakkar. Puck drops at 5 p.m.

TRADE: Deadline Day Moves

Photo - The Guardian

The Halifax Mooseheads have made an unsurprising trade on Monday morning as they traded Raphael Lavoie to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Halifax acquired four draft picks in the transaction; a first and second rounder in 2020 plus a 2021 2nd round pick and 2021 third.

Lavoie, a Chambly, QC native, was drafted by the Mooseheads in 2016 29th overall and has played all 3 and a half seasons so far with the club. He had almost a point per game with the Herd recording 189 points in 192 regular season games. The 19-year-old was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2019 NHL draft and won a gold medal with Team Canada last night during the 2020 World Juniors. He finishes his time with Halifax a plus-50 and with 136 penalty minutes.

Chicoutimi, with the addictions of Lavoie, Patrick Kyte and also recently acquired Dawson Mercer will be in town on Friday night to take on our Mooseheads.

Good luck to Raphael in Chicoutimi! You were always a fan favourite and will be missed in Moose Country. 


Halifax also announced that they have acquired Alexandre David from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in exchange for Cole Stewart and a 2021 5th round draft pick. Stewart leaves the Mooseheads having suited up for 69 regular season games with the team and recording 12 points.

Good luck Cole with Bathurst.

Mooseheads Move Two Defensemen

The Halifax Mooseheads made two moves on the opening day of the winter trade period.

Photo - Getty Images

On Sunday, the Herd announced that they have traded two of their defensemen, both of whom are 1999-born players. Halifax first moved Walter Flower to the Rimouski Oceanic for two draft picks before trading Patrick Kyte to the Chicoutimi Saguneens, for a 2020 first round draft pick.

Flower, a Lunenburg, NS native, was originally drafted by the Mooseheads back in 2015 and joined the team in his first year of eligibility. He finishes his time with his hometown team playing 235 regular season games, which is 16th most in franchise history, over 4 and a half seasons. The 20-year-old piked up 66 points during his time with the club as well as 200 penalty minutes.

Photo - Jackie Photog

Kyte, from Pembroke, ON, was signed by Halifax as a free agent in 2017 and leaves the team with 156 career games. He scored 69 regular season points and had 131 penalty minutes in 2-plus seasons with the Mooseheads.

The two trades have added some valuable early round draft picks this June after GM Cam Russell moved the teams' original selections in previous trades.

Good luck to Walter and Patty with their new clubs. Moose Country will miss both of you. 

Oct 4: Sagueneens vs. Mooseheads preview

CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS VS HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 8:30pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @HFXMooseheads

Centre Georges Vezina (3,683) ~ Chicoutimi, QC

Another Friday night hockey game is among us. This will be the biggest test for our Halifax Mooseheads so far this season as they travel to Chicoutimi to take on the 2nd ranked Sagueneens tonight with the puck dropping at 8:30pm Atlantic time. Halifax has won two straight games after having a rough start to the year and will be hoping to continue their good fortunes this evening on the road. J.J. Daigneault put the line of BO Groulx, Maxim Trepanier and Raphael Lavoie together for the first time on Wednesday after Groulx was returned to the team and it seemed to work well as the 3 players each scored during the match. Chicoutimi has begun 2019-20 without a regulation defeat in four games and have been ranked second in the CHL's Top 10 rankings since the beginning. They seem to be winning by collection as their two leading scorers have 4 points each but almost every one on the team has at least one point. Will the Mooseheads be able to give the Sagueneens their first regulation loss?

This is the first game between these two teams this season. Halifax was 1-1-0-0 against the Sagueneens last year while Chicoutimi had a 1-0-1-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The two clubs met January 27th with Samuel Asselin scoring the lone goal in a 2-1 home loss while Alex Gravel made 20 saves. 

Overall records
Sagueneens: 3-0-1-0 = 7pts (2nd in East division, 6th overall)
Mooseheads: 2-3-0-0 = 4pts (4th in Maritimes division, 12th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Raphael Lavoie 6pts (2G & 4A), Maxim Trepanier 4pts (1G & 3A), Zack Jones 3pts (3G)
CHI: Samuel Houde 4pts (2G & 2A), Hendrix Lapierre 4pts (4A), Louis Crevier 3pts (3G)

Out of Town
Islanders vs. Remparts    7:30pm
Tigres vs. Olympiques    8:00pm
Phoenix vs. Oceanic    8:00pm
Foreurs vs. Voltigeurs    8:00pm
Huskies vs. Wildcats    8:30pm
Cataractes vs. Armada    8:30pm
Drakkar vs. Eagles    8:30pm

After the Buzzer
The Halifax Mooseheads will head to Baie-Comeau and take on the Drakkar in the last match of this Quebec road trip on Saturday evening. Puck drops at 5pm.

Nov 6: Mooseheads vs. Sagueneens preview

GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry

Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

It's a battle of the young teams tonight as your Halifax Mooseheads take on the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at home. After a three game road trip, your Herd are back home for two weekend games. The two teams have the lowest average age in the QMJHL this season and are pretty evenly matched going into the matchup. Tonight also happens to be the 12th annual DND Appreciation Night at the Scotiabank Centre. Halifax will be wearing special jerseys for the 8th year in a row which will be raffled off to fans at the game, with 3 being auctioned off online at a later date. This year, the Mooseheads will be playing homage to the Royal Canadian Navy and all money donated from the raffle tickets will be given to the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Garden in Halifax. Both teams will be looking to get back in the win column and spread themselves from the bottom of the standings, Chicoutimi might be a bit more hungry as they've lost 3 in a row. Come down to support the troops Moose Country and watch what should be an exciting game with young talent and Friday night drama. 

Overall Records
Sagueneens: 7-11-1-0 = 15 points (5th in East division, 16th overall)
Mooseheads: 7-11-1-1 = 16 points (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)

Leading Scorers
HAL: Danny Moynihan 22pts (13G & 9A), Maxime Fortier 21pts (10G & 11A), Otto Somppi 20pts (3G & 17A)
CHI: Jonathan Bourcier 26pts (9G & 17A), Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau 22pts (9G & 13A), Nicolas Roy 21pts (11G & 10A)

Last Games
Chicoutimi is coming off a 6-3 defeat to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Wednesday. Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau led the team in scoring with a goal and 2 assists while Julio Billio made 24 saves for the Sags in Sydney.

Halifax is coming off a tough 3-2 road loss on Halloween night against the Oceanic. Kelly Bent and Danny Moynihan had the goals for the Mooseheads while Kevin Resop made 24 saves in the defeat in Rimouski.

Season Series
Head-to-Head: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points
November 6, 2015  Chicoutimi at Halifax - 7pm
November 20, 2015  Halifax at Chicoutimi - 8pm

Out of Town
Titan vs Drakkar 7:00pm
Voltigeurs vs Sea Dogs 8:00pm
Oceanic vs Phoenix 8:30pm
Cataractes vs Remparts 8:30pm

After the Buzzer
The Mooseheads will host the Baie-Comeau Drakkar tomorrow night on home ice. Puck drops at 7pm.

GAMEDAY #58: at Chicoutimi

GAMEDAY

CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS vs. HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

February 26, 2015 at 8:00pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @CoolenTQN

Centre Georges-Vezina (3,683) ~ Chicoutimi, QC

Can you believe it? The Halifax Mooseheads are on the road this weekend in Quebec for their last 3 games against french teams and their first stop is Chicoutimi. It will be the first time the Moose will be seeing former teammate Jesse Lussier since GM Cam Russell traded the 20 year old to the Saguneens back in January. Halifax look to get a bit closer to home ice advantage in the playoffs with another victory. The Herd have collected at least a point in their last 4 games. 

This is the second and last meeting of these two teams this season. Chicoutimi and Halifax met back in September on the 26th with the Moose coming out on top. Philippe Gadoury led the team to a 6-4 victory with 2 goals and 2 assists while Zach Fucale made 27 saves. 

Overall Records
Mooseheads: 28-23-4-2 = 62 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 11th overall)
Sagueneens: 24-27-4-2 = 54 points (6th in East division, 15th overall)

Leading Scorers
CHI: Laurent Dauphin 62pts (26G & 36A), Alexandre Ranger 47pts (22G & 25A), Nicolas Roy 40pts (13G & 27A)
HFX: Nikolaj Ehlers 79pts (28G & 51A), Timo Meier 76pts (37G & 39A), Philippe Gadoury 52pts (24G & 28A)

Last Games
Halifax is coming off a 2-1 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on the road on Saturday night. Cavan Fitzgerald led the team with 2 assists while Kevin Resop made 31 saves to get the win.

Chicoutimi is coming off a 2-1 loss at home to the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Timothe Simard had the lone Sags goals while Julio Billia made 30 saves to take the defeat.

Season Series
Friday Sept 26  Chicoutimi 4 at Halifax 6
Thursday Feb 26  Halifax at Chicoutimi - 8pm

Out of Town
None

After the Buzzer
Halifax will travel to Baie-Comeau tomorrow night to visit the Drakkar. Puck drops at 8:30pm.

RECAP: Gadoury Surges

FINAL: Sagueneens 4 at Mooseheads 6
Stars: 3. Dauphin CHI | 2. Ranger CHI | 1. Gadoury HAL 
Attendance: 7,261
MC's Top Herd: Philippe Gadoury

HALIFAX: Philippe Gadoury came back to the Mooseheads with a statment. After spending the past two weeks sitting on the sidelines with a headache, the second year forward scored his first 2 goals of the season and added two assists. The re-occurrence of Gadoury, Matt Murphy and Zach Fucale proved to be helpful against a very physical Chicoutimi Sagueneens team. There was two line brawls during the 60 minute game plus lots of hits and even a slash to the back of Timo Meier's head. The Scotiabank Centre is officially minted.

The Chronicle Herald's recap: The return of three key players gave the Halifax Mooseheads the lift they needed Friday night at the Scotiabank Centre. 

Metro Halifax's recap: Go, Gadoury, Go.

halifaxmooseheads.ca's recap: The return of Philippe Gadoury to the Halifax lineup paid off instantly as the 20-year-old forward scored two goals and added two assists in a 6-4 victory over Chicoutimi Saturday night at Scotiabank Place.

The Canadian Press' recap: Philippe Gadoury had two goals and two assists and Zachary Fucale stopped 27 shots as the Mooseheads toppled Chicoutimi.

The Q News' recap: Philippe Gadoury powered the Halifax Mooseheads to a 6-4 win over the visiting Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Friday night in front of 7,261 fans at the Sctiabank Centre.

qmjhl.ca's recap: Game summary.

MISSING IN ACTION: Cavan Fitzgerald (injured), Kelly Bent (healthy scratch), Nikolaj Ehlers (Jets camp) and Jesse Lussier (wrist)

SCORES
Acadie-Bathurst 3 - 4 Charlottetown
Baie-Comeau 3 - Sherbrooke SO
Cape Breton 5 - 7 Blainvile-Boisbriand
Drummondville 4 - 6 Rimouski
Victoiaville 4 - 3 Rouyn-Noranda
Quebec 1 - 5 Shawinigan

NEXT GAME: The Saint John Sea Dogs will host your Halifax Mooseheads tonight at Harbour Station. Puck drops at 7pm.

GAMEDAY #5: vs Chicoutimi

GAMEDAY

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS vs. CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS

September 26, 2014 at 7:00pm

TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry

Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

Reinforcements are coming. Earlier this week it was announced that Zach Fucale and Matt Murphy were reassigned by their respective NHL teams. Philippe Gadoury will also be in the lineup tonight after suffering headaches for over two weeks. The additions of the 3 players should provide more offense and more experience on the backend. Your Halifax Mooseheads will look to get back on track this weekend after losing back to back games last week. This will be the first game against a Quebec region team for your Mooseheads this season. It will also be the first time we welcome back a former member of the Herd as Brian Lovell will be in town playing for the Sagueneens.

 

Overall Records

Sagueneens: 1-3-0-0 = 2 points (6th in East division, T-16th overall)

Mooseheads: 1-2-1-0 = 3 points (5th in Maritime division, 15th overall)

 

Leading Scorers

HFX: Timo Meier 7pts (3G & 4A), Ryan Falkenham 5pts (4G & 1A), Maxime Fortier 5pts (1G & 4A)

CHI: William Gignac 2pts (2G), Samuel Roussey 2pts (1G & 1A), Samuel Hodhod 2pts (2A)

Last Games

Chicoutimi is coming off a 1-0 loss on Saturday against the Quebec Remparts. Julio Billia made 25 saves in a losing cause on home ice.

The Mooseheads lost on Saturday to the Saint John Sea Dogs in an overtime decision. Timo Meier took over team scoring with two goals and an assist while Kevin Resop made 27 saves to take the loss.

Season Series

Friday Sept 26  Chicoutimi at Halifax - 7pm

Thursday Feb 26  Halifax at Chicoutimi - 8pm

 

Out of Town

Islanders vs Titan 7:00pm
Phoenix vs Drakkar 8:00pm
Armada vs Screaming Eagles 8:00pm
Oceanic vs Voltigeurs 8:30pm
Huskies vs Tigres 8:30pm
Cataractes vs Remparts 8:30pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will travel to Saint John to have a rematch with the Sea Dogs tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7pm.

Lovell Traded To Chicoutimi

The Halifax Mooseheads have announced today that they have traded defenseman Brian Lovell to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for a sixth round pick in 2015.

Brian Lovell, 19, will be in his third junior year during the 2014-15 season if he makes the Sags. In two seasons with the Moose Lovell had 2 goals and 11 points. He played 81 regular season games. In the playoffs, he had 2 helpers in 17 games.

Moose Country would like to wish Brian good luck in Chicoutimi. Watch the Sagueneens training camp starting August 11 to see if Lovell makes the team.

Moose WIN an odd one on Friday

Tonights game was an odd one. The Moose scored the first 2 goals of the game (on their first 2 shots of the game) to lead it 2-0 at the end of one. The Sags got on the board early in the second with a goal by Asselin. After the Sags goal, Halifax just kept on rolling to a 7-1 win. Chicoutimi changed goalies 11:06 in to the second period after the Herd's 4th goal... The Sagueneens outshot the Moose by a 2:1 ratio but were losing 4-1 (shots 22-11) by this point. #22 got his 22nd goal of the season and 2nd of the night on pretty much a breakaway.

Notes: With 3 points tonight, MacKinnon is now tied for first in the Q with 46 points... Boudreau's goal was his 100th career point... Fucale is now tied 2nd overall in Mooseheads goalie wins with 50 after tonight...

50/50
Congratulations to Rob of Halifax who got $11,401 winning tonight's 50/50

Three stars:
3. Fucale (HAL)
2. Lewis (HAL)
1. Frk (HAL)

Fucale also received Dickies hardest working player of the game


Attendance: 8,406

The Mooseheads also honored Pat Connolly before the game. The players will also wear a decal for the rest of the season to honor Pat.


Score
Saguneens 1 at Mooseheads 7  

UP NEXT: versus Victoriaville on Sunday at the Metro Centre

Nov 30: Chicoutimi vs. Mooseheads game preview

This is the second time this season that the Sags have visited Moose Country and it is also the second season meeting between these two teams. Your Moose won the first meeting more than a month ago 6-2 at the Metro Centre on October 27. That very exciting game featured a hat trick by Drouin and a line brawl with 25 seconds left in the game. Sagueneens player Guillaume Asselin had 11 minutes in penalties, most coming from the line brawl.
The Mooseheads come into the game with a 12 game home winning streak and a 7-2-0-1 record in their last 10 games overall, while Chicoutimi is 8-2-0-0 in their last 10. Halifax also posts the best home record in the CHL with 12 (straight) wins and one loss, which came in the home opener. Konrad Abeltshauser will not play tonight because of a broken wrist and will be replaced by 20 year old Sawyer Hannay who is playing for the first time this season.

Overall record:
CHI: 14-11-2-1 = 31 points (4th in Telus East Division, 8th overall)
HFX: 21-3-0-1 = 43 points (1st in Maritimes Division, 1st overall)

Top Scorers:
SAGUENEENS: #27 Laurent Dauphin (14G, 19A, 33 PTS), #38 Guillaume Asselin (10G, 20A, 30 PTS), #10 Charles Hudon (15G, 15A, 30 PTS)
HALIFAX: #22 Nathan MacKinnon (20G, 23A, 43 PTS), #27 Jonathan Drouin (15G, 25A, 40 PTS), #91 Martin Frk (11G, 20A, 31 PTS)