Herd Word

I can't believe today is Boxing Day and since we have a little break, I thought I would catch up on some news that has happened the past few weeks. The second half of the season should be an exciting time.

TOP PROSPECTS
The NHL/CHL top prospects game will make an appearance this season on January 25, 2023 and there will once again be a Halifax Mooseheads player on the roster. The Canadian Hockey League announced the 40 young men that will play in the game earlier this month. 17-year-old Mathieu Cataford will look to impress the scouts next month in Vancouver. Congrats to Mathieu and good luck, show them what you got. 

Photo - Mooseheads Twitter

DOUCET COMES TO HALIFAX
Our Halifax Mooseheads made yet another big trade last week, acquiring Alexandre Doucet from the Val-d'Or Foreurs. Doucet is from Sherbrooke, QC and has played his whole career with Val-d'Or. The 20-year-old has played really well this season in which he is leading the league in goals with 27 and is second in the Q in points. Halifax gave up three draft picks in the trade; 2023 1st round, 2024 2nd round and 2023 3rd rounder. "He's a game-changer. We think this trade gives us one of the best players in the league this season and makes our lineup even more dangerous than it already was," Cam Russell said. 

Halifax will have to deal with the overage situation now that the team has four players and clubs are only allowed three on their roster. Welcome to the team Alexandre. 

Biasca in pre-comp action
Photo - Swiss hockey Twitter

WORLD JUNIORS
The 2023 World Junior Hockey Championships begin today and while there won't be any Mooseheads players representing the home country Canada, Halifax will have a couple of guys on other country teams. Herd captain Attilio Biasca for the third straight year made Team Switzerland and will actually be wearing the C on his jersey for his country during the tournament. The Swiss are in Group B so they are playing in Moncton. Their first game is today at noon AT against Finland while they'll also play Slovakia, Latvia and the United States in round robin action. Meanwhile, defenseman David Moravec will look to help Team Czechia improve on their 4th place finish at the 2022 summer tournament. Czechia starts the week with a tilt against Canada this evening at 7:30pm AT. They'll also have matches versus Germany, Austria and Sweden. 

UPCOMING GAMES
Your Moose are back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to New Brunswick to battle the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The match will start a four game road stand for Halifax as the Scotiabank Centre is being used for the aforementioned World Juniors. Halifax will play two games in Cape Breton to end 2022 including a New Year's Eve afternoon tilt. Moose Country will have to wait until January 8 to see their team on home ice again. The club's first promotional match of 2023 takes place on January 14 with a t-shirt giveaway. 

Photo - Thunder Twitter

FOURNIER SIGNED BY CARDIFF
Former Halifax Mooseheads forward Stefan Fournier is headed overseas after being signed by the Cardiff Devils of the EIHL. Fournier has played the majority of the last five seasons with the ECHL's Wichita Thunder. The 30-year-old has recorded seven goals and 12 points in 17 games so far during the 2022-23 season. Cardiff doesn't expect the Dorval, QC native to play a game in Wales until December 31. "The reports we have on Stefan are very exciting, a player that I believe our fanbase will instantly embrace. He plays with an edge, throws his weight around, is willing to drop the gloves and scores dirty goals in front of the net," says Devils head coach Brodie Dupont. 

Good luck on the other side Stefan, Moose Country will be cheering for you. 

Herd Word

Former Halifax Mooseheads have had some big things happen over the last week or so while the current team is coming together for the regular season. 

Photo - AMH Photography

MACKINNON PARADE
The 2013 NHL number one pick Nathan MacKinnon won the Stanley Cup back in June with the Colorado Avalanche and he finally had his day with the trophy last weekend. MacKinnon brought the Cup back to Halifax where he played junior hockey for a parade and the city showed up big time. His teammates Gabriel Landeskog and Andrew Cogliano were also in the parade. Before it began, Nathan was on Citadel Hill to shoot off the noon gun. The 28-year-old answered a few questions from Paul Hollingsworth afterwards in Grand Parade Square in front of thousands of fans. 

It was a good parade and it was nice to see Kid Mack give props to his family, coaches and the city of Halifax for helping him get to where he is today. 

Check out some highlights from the day in the video below. 

WORLD JUNIORS
Well, the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were finally able to be completed last weekend with Team Canada raising the trophy on August 20. With Canada's victory, former Mooseheads captain Elliot Desnoyers is a champion! Congrats to Desy on winning the gold medal. The 20-year-old finished the tournament with an assist in 7 games played. The Canadians went undefeated and won the final match 3-2 in overtime over Team Finland. 

Photo - Hockey Canada Twitter

Also in the tournament were Herd alumni Senna Peeters (Austria) and current forward Attilio Biasca (Switzerland). Peeters recorded a goal and 3 points in the preliminary round as Austria lost all 4 games to end in 9th place. Biasca had a great tournament scoring four goals and picking up 2 assists but unfortunately, Switzerland lost in the quarter-finals to Canada.

Photo - Birdgeport Islanders Instagram

DURANDEAU
23-year-old Arnaud Durandeau, who played for Halifax for four years from 2015-2019, got some good news last week when the New York Islanders signed him to a two-year two-way contract along with three other players. Durandeau set new career highs in goals (15), assists (22) and points (37) in 64 games with the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL last season. He ranked third on the team in goals and was tied for fifth in points during his third professional campaign. Congrats to Arnaud on signing a new contract.

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE
Things have been moving quickly at training camp this past week. Cam Russell and company made more decisions, releasing sixteen additional players. On Thursday, a total of nine young men were cut from the camp roster. The following players were cut from the camp roster on Thursday; Justin Breton (F), Mathis Laplante (F), Landon MacIntosh (F), Dominic MacKenzie (D), Cade Moser (F), Joe Power (D), Adam Tkacz (G), Ty Totten (F) and Ben Wallace (F). Goalie George Foti was released from camp on Wednesday. Six players were cut on Saturday morning including forwards Antoine Fontaine, Lou Levesque, Brandon Abbass and Bryson Boudreau along with defencemen Hugo Boucher and Dylan Chisholm. 

Russell made a trade on Wednesday afternoon as well when they acquired centre and Beaver Bank, NS-native Jake Todd from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in exchange for a 2023 4th round draft pick. Todd has played the past two seasons with the Cole Harbour Wolfpack where he has scored 79 points in 55 games with 23 goals and 56 assists. 

All these moves mean that there are 25 players remaining at camp. Another small round of cuts still needs to happen before the 2022-23 regular season roster is named but I suspect that will happen before the end of August. 

ZADINA

Photo - Wings website 

The Detroit Red Wings announced on Friday that they have re-signed right winger Filip Zadina to a three-year contract with an average annual value of $1.825 million. Zadina, 22, skated in 74 games with the Red Wings in 2021-22 and recorded a career-high 24 points (10-14-24) and 10 penalty minutes. Originally selected by Detroit in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Filip has totalled 61 points in 160 NHL games. 

Congrats to Filip on signing a new contract. 

CRITCHLOW
Former Herd Cameron Critchlow has been named captain of the EIHL's Manchester Storm for the 2022-23 season. The 31-year-old is heading into his fourth season in England. Critchlow played one season for Halifax back in 2011-12. He had 14 goals and 37 points in 54 games last season with the Storm. Manchester start their regular season on September 10 against the Coventry Blaze. 

Photo - Storm Twitter

University Commits Happening

It may be the off-season but there is still lots that happen in the hockey world in terms of news so I thought I would catch you up. 

Summer time is when players start to make university commitments if they haven't been invited to pro camps. A few universities have announced that some Halifax Mooseheads alumni will be on their rosters come September. On July 12, the uOttawa Gee-Gees announced that they have recruited Ottawa native David Lafrance for the 2022-23 season. The 21-year-old played this past season with the Herd collecting 6 goals and 14 points in 68 games played. 

The same day, the Acadia Axemen have added defenceman Brendan Tomilson to their program this fall. Tomilson played two seasons with Halifax between 2019-2021 where he recorded 17 points in 80 games. The Cameron, ON native captained the OJHL's Pickering Panthers in 2021-22 and helped lead them to the Junior A championship series. He scored 55 points (14G & 41A) last year leading to the 20-year-old winning the OJHL Defenceman of the Year. 

Tomilson said; "While playing in Halifax for a couple years I heard a lot about the atmosphere around Acadia and how close of a community it is with having the small-town feel. Acadia offers both a first-class education as well as a first-class hockey program that sees a lot of players turn pro, and after talking to the coaching staff it felt like a perfect fit for me from all aspects."

The final one that I have seen that has committed so far is Ryan Barbosa. The 24-year-old is actually transferring from the University of Windsor to the Toronto Varsity Blues for the 2022-23 season. With the Lancers, Barbosa collected 26 points. 

"Ryan's proven to be one of the top defenceman in the OUA during the last few seasons," said Varsity Blues head coach Ryan Medel. "He brings a little bit of everything to the table. He's mobile, he can move pucks out of his own end and he's effective up top on the powerplay."

Good luck to these guys with their new teams come the fall.

Photos - teams' twitter accounts

Alumni Update: Multiple Former Herd Win Championships

Sorry I haven't been doing very well at keeping you updated on how the alumni of our Halifax Mooseheads have done this season, with school and now a job and all the craziness that COVID has caused it's been difficult to keep track. As you know, it's hard to pay attention to the leagues overseas but since we're starting the playoffs here in the QMJHL I thought I would give you an update. 

USPORTS
Let's start with the university season. The University Cup was held in Wolfville, NS in early April with 8 universities participating. I had already mentioned who was in the tournament and that 7 Herd alumni were on team rosters but I never gave an update on the blog who won the whole thing. Goaltender Aleix Gravel and defenceman Jordan Lepage along with their UQTR Patriotes went into the weekend as OUA champions and ranked third. The Patriotes defeated the UBC Thunderbirds and Ryerson Rams to punch their ticket in the gold medal game. They battled the #1 Alberta Golden Bears but came out on top in double overtime after being down 4-2 after 40 minutes. Gravel made 66 saves in the contest and was named tournament MVP after the game. 

In the bronze medal game, the StFX X-Men got the 3-2 overtime victory over the Ryerson Rams. Former Moosehead Blade Mann-Dixon did not play but Patrick Kyte did for the X-Men. Forward Kevin Gursoy scored a goal for the Rams and was named Ryerson's player of the game in the loss. 

Congrats to Gravel, Lepage and the Patriotes on winning the David Johnston University Cup and to Kyte, Mann-Dixon and the X-Men getting the bronze medal. 

CZECHIA
In Czech Republic, a couple of former Moose players battled it out in the final best-of-7 series where the championship trophy was won on April 28. Milan Jurcina and Sparta Praha took on Petr Vrana and Trinec with Trinec coming out on top to win the Czech Extraliga for the third straight season. 

Jurcina had an assist in 23 games played during the regular season and the same in 16 playoff games. This is the third season Milan has played for Praha after a few years in the DEL. The 38-year-old suited up for Halifax between 2000-2003 collecting 53 points. Vrana meanwhile has been on all three championship teams for Ocelari Trinec, captaining the last two seasons. In the regular season, the 37-year-old had 13 goals and 26 points in 52 games and added 6 points in 14 post-season matches. 

Congrats to Petr Vrana and HC Ocelari Trinec on winning the Czech Extraliga championship. 

Regular season stats

Petr Vrana           Trinec       52   13   13   26
Jan Stransky        Boleslav   52    6     3    9
Cody Donaghey  Kladno      34    1    1    2
Milan Jurcina      Praha        23    0    1    1

EIHL

More congratulations are in order as another former Herd won a championship trophy recently, this time in the EIHL which is a league in the United Kingdom. Jake Coughler and the Cardiff Devils defeated the Belfast Giants in the final game 6-3 with Coughler actually scoring in the match. The 26-year-old finished the regular season with 21 goals and 35 points for Cardiff before adding 4 points in 4 games during the post-season. 

Regular season stats
Gabriel Desjardins   Dundee          49   13   27   40
Cameron Critchlow  Manchester   54   14   23   37

Jake Coughler           Cardiff          33   21  14   35

DEL
Konrad Abeltshauser and the EHC Red Bull Munchen were back in the final series again for the first time since the 2018-19 season but they couldn't get over Eisbaren Berlin on Wednesday evening. Berlin were victorious winning the series 3-1. Abeltshauser scored a goal and recorded 5 points in 8 post-season games. The 29-year-old had 3 goals and 25 points in 50 games played during the regular season. 

Regular season stats
Stephen MacAulay      Dussseldorfer   56   13   25   38
Konrad Abeltshauser   Munchen          50    3    22   25
Marcel Barinka            Kolner              48   11   12   23
Andrew Bodnarchuk    Nurnberg         42    2    11   13

ECHL
Over here in North America, the ECHL finished their regular season a few weeks and are waiting the start of the second round. The teams remaining to participate in the division finals include Reading, Newfoundland, Florida, Jacksonville, Toledo, Wheeling, Utah and Rapid City. Forward Randy Gazzola is the lone remaining Moose alumni in the post-season and he led all alumni who played in the ECHL in points during the regular season.  

      

 

AHL
The playoffs for the American Hockey League is a bit confusing as the second round will begin before the first one is scheduled to conclude. Partially because of that and the fact that guys seem to go up and down between the AHL and ECHL, I will just give you the regular season stats. Forward Martin Frk had a great year for the Ontario Reign scoring 40 goals and 73 points in 58 games. The 28-year-old also was named to the AHL second all-star team. 

NHL

Despite nine alum playing regularly in the top professional league during 2021-22, there are only 3 guys who are competing for the Stanley Cup. Mackenzie Weegar and the Florida Panthers were the top team in the NHL during the regular season, picking up 122 points. Florida is taking on the Washington Capitals in the first round which began May 3. The Colorado Avalanche were the next best team and are up 1-0 in their series against the Nashville Predators. Former Herd Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for the Avs in Game 1. Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins series versus the Carolina Hurricanes started on May 2. 

Good luck to the remaining players who are battling it out for trophies. Follow me on Twitter (MC_MooseCountry) as that will be where the most up to date info on current and former Mooseheads is shared. 

For more player statistics, check out Elite Prospects to see how our alumni did during the regular season. 

Photos - Radio-Canada, Trinec Twitter, Devils Twitter