For a second straight year the Halifax Mooseheads found themselves playing in the championship game against the Moncton Wildcats in the Rookie Challenge. The Herd began their 2017 pre-season schedule going against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday afternoon. Moncton received goals from Colton McKenna and Jakob Pelletier in the first period to lead 2-0 before the Herd cut the lead in half getting a goal from Fearghus MacDonald. After 20 minutes of play they found themselves down 2-1. In the middle frame the Wildcats poured on the offence but scoring three to lead it 5-1 after 40 minutes of play. In the third trying to spark his team Miguel Duchaîne fought against Colton McKenna at the start of the period. The Mooseheads did get another goal from Gavin Hart, but it wasn't before Patrick Musico got one past Cole McLaren to make it a 6-2 final for the Wildcats as they take the championship.
Game at a Glance FINAL: Moncton 6 at Halifax 2 Halifax scorers: Fearghus Mac Donald and Gavin Hart Moncton scorers: Colton McKenna, Jakob Pelletier (2), Brodie MacArthur, Jaxon Bellamy, and Patrick Muscio Powerplay: HFX – 0/4, MON – 2/6 Shots: Mooseheads – 19, Wildcats – 39
It's Championship game day at the 2017 Rookie Challenge in Moncton, New Brunswick. The Moncton Wildcats have hosted the other 5 Maritime teams' prospects this weekend for a tournament that the QMJHL began so teams could better evaluate their draft picks and young free agent invites.
After winning their two preliminary games, including a dominate 6-1 victory on Saturday afternoon over the Acadie-Bathurst, your Halifax Mooseheads find themselves in the first place game today. The Moose will look to repeat as tournament champions after winning the HubCity Showcase last August. They'll go up against the Moncton Wildcats for the trophy at 4pm Atlantic time at the Superior Propane Centre. The two teams played in the last game last year as well.
Below is the full schedule for today (ranking after two prelim games in brackets)
10am Fifth place game
(5) Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs (6)
1pm Third place game
(3) Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Charlottetown Islanders (4)
4pm First place game
(1) Halifax Mooseheads vs Moncton Wildcats (2)
Good luck to our Herd in the final game and also to all the other rookies.
For a second straight year the Halifax Mooseheads found themselves playing from behind at the Moncton rookie tournament. The Herd began their 2017 pre-season schedule going against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday afternoon. Saint John received goals from Ben Reid and Alexandre Lafreniere in the first period and led 2-0 after 20 minutes but Halifax didn't back down in the middle frame. Free agent Patrick Kyte scored at 11:25 of the second period to tie the game at 2 for the Mooseheads. The red and white took a lead in the third and looked to be on it's way to winning it's first game of the weekend tournament however with 40 seconds left in regulation Kevin Mason was able to get the puck past 2017 10th round draft pick Maxime Emery to send the match to overtime. In the extra frame, Halifax's top 2 draft selections in June hooked up with each other for a nice play and defenseman Justin Barron scored the game winner.
Game at a Glance FINAL: Halifax 5 at Saint John 4 OT
Halifax scorers: Kyle Petten, Patrick Kyte, Justin Barron (2), Felix Gascon
Saint John scorers: Ben Reid, Alexandre Lafreniere, Jeremie Jacob, Kevin Mason
Powerplay: HFX - 1/4, SNB - 0/1
Shots: Mooseheads - 28, Sea Dogs - 29
Your Halifax Mooseheads announced today the contingent that will participate in the Moncton Rookie Challenge tournament next weekend. The roster includes players born in 1999, 2000 & 2001 between free agent invites and draftees. Halifax is going into the tournament as defending champs, having won the inaugural version in 2016.
The rookie challenge runs from August 18-20 and all games will be played at the Superior Propane Centre in the New Brunswick's city. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now and you can buy a full tournament pass or a single day pass. You can follow along on Twitter at @HubCityShowcase
Roster below
Below is the full schedule Friday August 18 1pm Charlottetown Islanders vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan 4pm Halifax Mooseheads vs. Saint John Sea Dogs 7pm Moncton Wildcats vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Saturday August 19 1pm Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs. Halifax Mooseheads 4pm Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs. Charlottetown Islanders 7pm Moncton Wildcats vs. Saint John Sea Dogs
Sunday August 20 10am 6th vs. 5th 1pm 4th vs. 3rd 4pm 2nd vs. 1st
EURO DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft was at the end of June and your Halifax Mooseheads used one of their two picks during the day. With the 10th overall selection (11th originally but Sherbrooke passed), Cam Russell and company drafted 17 year old Filip Zadina of the Czech Republic. All of the scouts call him a dynamic offensive player. With a late '99 birthday this is Zadina's draft season. In international junior play he has 73 points in 65 games. For more on his stats click here.
FAVREAU
With the promotion of Jim Midgley to the Herd's head coach, Halifax was without a second assistant coach until June 29 when the team announced that they have welcomed Sylvain Favreau to the bench staff. Favreau was Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations with the Cumberland Grads of the CCHL in Ontario during the 2016-17 season. On joining the team, Sylvian said: “I am very proud and excited to join such a storied franchise and to pursue my coaching career with the Mooseheads. I look forward to working with Jim Midgley and Jon Greenwood. The Mooseheads’ talented group of players and the organization’s focus on developing players to their full potential presents a great and welcome challenge."
TIDE FEST
This weekend, Brett Crossley of your Mooseheads along with 2017 Q draft pick Justin Barron were in attendance to help kids attending Tide Fest shoot on a gigantic blown up Zach Fucale. Each child got the chance to be able to score on the former fan favourite.
HISCHIER
The New Jersey Devils announced today the signing of Nico Hischier to a 3 year entry level contract. In his first season with the Halifax Mooseheads, he led the QMJHL rookie scoring with 86 points during the regular season while also being second in team scoring. Hischier was named the CHL & QMJHL rookie of the year, Q offensive rookie of the year as well as top professional prospect. The Swiss star has a good shot at making the devils come October. Nico was impressive during the Devils' scrimmages this week while showing off his stickhandling skills and skating along teammate Jocktan Chainey.
Good luck in New Jersey Nico and congratulations on signing your first pro contract! Moose Country is cheering for you loud and proud.
GRENIER
Herd alumni Alexandre Grenier has signed a one year two way deal with the Florida Panthers on July 3rd. Grenier was on the Utica Comets this past season and spent 3 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks organization after the team drafted him in 2011. Will be interesting to see if this gives Alex another chance at making the NHL or if he spends most of 2017-18 in the American Hockey League. Read more here.
Photo - Canadiens' twitter
DROUIN
Since being traded to the Montreal Canadians, it was presumed that Jonathan Drouin would change his jersey number since the team already had a #27 on player Alex Galchenyuk. The Sainte-Agathe, Quebec native announced earlier this month that he will be wearing number 92 for the upcoming season. It was thought that Drouin would go with 72 so it was a surprise to all that he went with 92.
ROOKIE TOURNIMENT
With training camp just around the corner, there has a change in the name of the mini tournament the Halifax Mooseheads will participate in. Last year, the Moncton Wildcats welcomed the 5 other Maritime teams' rookies to the Hub City Showcase. This year the tourney is called the Rookie Challenge. Tickets for this are on sale now, you can call to secure your tickets to see the defending champs; your Mooseheads. The tournament runs from August 18-20 at Superior Propane Centre in Moncton.
We are about a month away from the rookies reporting to camp and making it that much closer to the regular season.
Rookie camp is over but it ended on a good note. Your Halifax Mooseheads skated to a 4-3 shootout victory to end the first ever HubCity Showcase on Sunday evening and it gave the team the championship trophy. Halifax found themselves down 2-0 to the host Moncton Wildcats before 2016 draft pick Raphael Lavoie scored with a minute and 25 seconds left in the first period to close the gap. After a scoreless second period, 18 year old Gabriel Vanier scored 8 minutes in the third period to tie the game. Lavoie scored his second of the game with less than 8 minutes left but the Wildcats tied it with 2:02 left to send the game to overtime. Extra time solved nothing so the two teams went to a shootout where Lavoie and Jared McIsaac scored for the Moose and Mike Cyr was the only one to get a goal past goalie Alex Gravel.
Halifax-Moncton Game at a Glance FINAL: Halifax 4 at Moncton 3 SO Halifax scorers: Raphael Lavoie (2), Gabriel Vanier Moncton scorers: Samuel Miesenheimer, Casey Fox, Brendan Bornstein Powerplay: HFX - 0/3, MON - 0/3 Shots: Mooseheads - 42, Wildcats - 20 Attendance: n/a
After winning the first two games of their pre-season, your Halifax Mooseheads will play in the championship game at the HubCity Showcase. The Mooseheads improved to 2-0 on Saturday afternoon in a game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Ilya Putintsev, a sophomore, had a goal and assist to help lead the Herd to a 4-2 victory over the Titan. Kirklin Allen started the game for Halifax while Raphael Blais played the last 40 minutes.
Halifax will now play the Moncton Wildcats in the last game of the rookie tournament to decide the champion of the rookie tournament. Game time is 4pm today.
It didn't start very good but the first pre-season game of the 2016-17 Halifax Mooseheads year ended well. The Saint John Sea Dogs got on the board first just 38 seconds in to the match with a goal by Cedric Pare but that would be the only goal 2nd round draft pick Alexis Gravel would let in as the Mooseheads went on to win the game 4-1. For Halifax it was a mix of young veterans and rookies leading the way on the score sheet. 2016 second overall selection Jared McIsaac tied the game for the Herd early in the second period while sophomore Ilya Putintsev scored the go ahead goal less than a minute later. Sea Dogs goaltender Alex D'Orio played the whole game while Kirklin Allen came in for the third period for the Moose.
Halifax-Saint John Game at a Glance FINAL: Halifax 4 at Saint John 1 Halifax scorers: Jared McIsaac, Ilya Putintsev, Ben Higgins, Raphael Lavoie Saint John scorers: Cedric Pare Powerplay: HFX - 0/6, SNB - 0/6 Shots: Mooseheads - 46, Sea Dogs - 16 Attendance: n/a
