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 12: vs Eagles

PREVIEW - Your Halifax Mooseheads wrap up their six game home-stand this evening when they host the Cape Breton Eagles for DND Appreciation Night. Surprisingly, this is the first matchup between these two provincial rivals during the regular season, however they did battle it out for all 4 exhibitions games that both teams had. Halifax will honour the Canadian Armed Forces tonight by wearing special themed jerseys that will be auctioned & raffled off with the funds raised going to normally Camp Hill Veterans Hospital. The Mooseheads have played 9 of their first eleven matches this season at the Scotiabank Centre and have given the fans who have showed up lots of things to cheer about as they have a 7-4-0-0 record so far. Despite only having two wins in 8 games played for the Eagles, goaltender Felix Hamel is amongst the league leaders being 4th in goals against average (2.68) and having the third best save percentage (0.913). So we could see a low scoring game tonight. 

Coverage
TV: FloHockey | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry

Overall records
Eagles: 4-4-1-2 = 11 points (6th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)
Mooseheads: 7-4-0-0 = 14 points (2nd in Maritimes division, 6th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Oleg Kulebyakin 9pts (6G & 3A), Shawn Carrier 8pts (5G & 3A), Quinn Kennedy 8pts (5G & 3A) 
CAP: Eliot Litalien 9pts (5G & 4A), Lewis Gendron 9pts (1G & 8A), Romain Litalien 7pts (1G & 6A)

Head-to-head
This is the first match of the season series between these two teams. Halifax had a 2-5-1-0 record against the Eagles last season while Cape Breton went 6-2-0-0 versus the Mooseheads. Caylen Blake led the Mooseheads to a 5-3 victory in the two teams last matchup back on March 16 with two goals and Jacob Steinman stopped 28 of the Eagles 31 shots in Halifax. 

Out of town
Sagueneens vs. Armada - 5:00 p.m.
Drakkar vs. Oceanic - 5:00 p.m.
Huskies vs. Olympiques - 5:00 p.m.
Cataractes vs. Remparts - 5:00 p.m.
Foreurs vs. Voltigeurs - 5:00 p.m.
Tigres vs. Phoenix - 5:00 p.m.
Regiment vs. Sea Dogs - 6:30 p.m.

After the buzzer
Halifax will travel to Moncton and take on the Wildcats in a matinee tomorrow to start a 5 game road trip. Puck drops at 3 p.m.

Steinman Goaltender of Year & Friday News

The QMJHL held their annual Golden Pucks awards gala on Thursday afternoon at a hotel in Quebec City. A couple of players who have ties to the Mooseheads were amongst the nominees. 

Photo - QMJHL website

Goaltender Jacob Steinman, who started the season with the Moncton Wildcats before being traded to Halifax at Christmas, won the Patrick Roy Trophy as Goaltender of the Year. He had a 29-16-4-1 record during the season in 52 games played, finishing second in the QMJHL in GAA (2.41) and save percentage (0.923). Steinman will continue his hockey career with Bowling Green State University in the NCAA. 

Meanwhile, past player Mathieu Cataford was the winner of the Marcel Robert Trophy as Student Athlete of the Year. According to the release; Cataford maintained an average of more than 95% while currently studying Business Administration at Saint Mary's University with a 4.0 GPA while suiting up for the Rimouski Oceanic in 2024-26. 

Other news that has come out this week:

• According to Mikael Lalancette the 2026 QMJHL draft will be held in Halifax

  Ce n’est pas encore officiel, mais tout indique que le repêchage de l’an prochain #LHJMQ aura lieu à Halifax.
  
  Il est encore tôt, mais l’un des beaux espoirs de la cuvée 2026 est Zaac Charbonneau, le neveu de Daniel Brière.

  — Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) June 5, 2025

    
• Two former Herd players are on the move in Europe; D'Artagnan Joly will be playing in the DEL2 with ESV Kaufbeuren next season while Zach Fucale signed a 2 year contract with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL 
• Champions are colliding as the Hockey East Tournament winning Maine Black Bears of the NCAA have received a commitment from Herd alumni Mathis Rousseau, who won the Gilles Courteau trophy in March with the Moncton Wildcats 
• Logan Crosby, who played for the Mooseheads from 2021-2024, will finish his junior career with the Pictou County Crushers during the 2025-26 season   

Photo - Crushers Twitter

• Moose alum Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers find themselves down 1-0 in a Stanley Cup finals rematch against the Edmonton Oilers. Game 2 is tonight in Edmonton

Wildcats Are League Champs

Photo - QMJHL Facebook

First in the Maritimes division, regular season champions and now Gilles Courteau Trophy winners. The Moncton Wildcats were dominate this season and it continued in the playoffs with them finishing as league champs on Monday afternoon for the first time since 2010. 

The game started pretty even with the teams going to the locker rooms for the first intermission in a scoreless tie in Rimouski. Forward Gabe Smith scored the opening goal for Moncton at the 6:30 mark of the second period and he picked up another one later in the middle frame to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes. The Oceanic weren't going to go away easy though and they scored twice in the third to make the game close but at the final buzzer, the score was 3-2. 

Overage goaltender Mathis Rousseau, a former Halifax Mooseheads player, made 24 saves to pick up the victory. He and the Wildcats' other net-minder Rudy Guimond shared the load throughout the playoffs. 

Draft-eligible forward Caleb Desnoyers, who had 30 points during the post-season, was named Most Valuable Player. 

The moment they were all waiting for! @monctonwildcats | #QPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/WAtljX7u6n

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) May 19, 2025

Herd alumni Markus Vidicek captained the Wildcats and was the first person to lift the trophy before passing it to Rousseau. Fellow alum Dylan MacKinnon and Logan Crosby also became champions after falling just short 2 years ago with Halifax. 

On Rimouski, former Herd Mathieu Cataford finished in the top 10 of playoff scoring with 18 points. Lou Levesque and Jack Martin, who suited up for Halifax before being traded at Christmas time, now play for the Oceanic as well. 

Both clubs will join the London Knights of the OHL and the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2025 Memorial Cup tournament, which will be held in Rimouski, QC starting on Friday night. 

Congratulations to Vidicek, Crosby, Rousseau, MacKinnon and the Moncton Wildcats on winning the Gilles-Courteau Trophy. 

Oceanic Advance, CHL Finals Set

Photo - Cataractes Twitter

The Rimouski Oceanic have advanced to the QMJHL championship series.

Former Halifax Mooseheads defenceman Jack Martin scored at the 5:49 mark of the second period to get the Oceanic on the board first in Game 7 of their semi-final against the Shawinigan Cataractes. It looked like it would be an easy win for Rimouski, who got out to a 3-0 lead but Cole Chandler scored for the Cats late in the frame before Shawinigan forced overtime with two more goals in the third period on Tuesday evening. Forward Eriks Mateiko scored his 6th goal of the playoffs in the 2nd OT period to send the Memorial Cup hosts off to the league final with a 4-3 victory. 

Every game was won by the home team in this series which doesn't happen very often. 

Rimouski will take on the Moncton Wildcats, who already advanced to the fourth round with a sweep against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, for the title. With this result, the Wildcats know they will also be in the 2025 version of the national tournament. 

Martin isn't the only Herd alumni that will be fighting for the Gilles Courteau Trophy this month as Rimouski also has Lou Levesque and Mathieu Cataford on their team while Mathis Rousseau, Logan Crosby, Markus Vidicek and Dylan MacKinnon suit up for Moncton. 

Below you will find the three league final series matchups. 

J. Ross Robertson Cup
#W1 London Knights vs. #E4 Oshawa Generals; series starts Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET

Ed Chynoweth Cup
#E1 Medicine Hat Tigers vs. #W3 Spokane Chiefs; series starts Friday at 7:00 p.m. MT

Gilles-Courteau Trophy
#1 Moncton Wildcats vs. #2 Rimouski Oceanic; series starts Saturday at 5:00 p.m. AT 

Fans can watch all the championship games across the CHL on TSN. 

Game Day 67: at Moncton

Our Halifax Mooseheads will hit the road to take on the CHL’s top team this evening as they visit the Moncton Wildcats. This will be the last road game of the regular season for the Herd and on the opposite side, it is Moncton’s home finale. As such, puck drop will be a bit delayed as the Wildcats have a special presentation for their 20 year old players. The ceremony will be a good chance for Halifax to appreciate former forward Markus Vidicek and goaltender Mathis Rousseau as well. Like I mentioned, Moncton is ranked #1 in the latest CHL top 10 rankings so they will be hard to beat for the Moose. However, we may see them sit their top players and who knows, they could take it easy thinking they have a win in the bag. The Mooseheads do have a playoff spot clinched now after picking up a victory on Sunday but I’m sure they would like to still get wins this weekend to have a ‘better’ matchup in the postseason. 

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

Overall records
Mooseheads: 19-34-8-1 = 47 points (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)
Wildcats: 51-9-2-0 = 104 points (1st in Maritimes division, 1st overall)

Leading scores
MON: Caleb Desnoyers 84pts (35G & 49A), Juraj Pekarcik 66pts (24G & 42A), Markus Vidicek 63pts (37G & 26A)
HAL: Quinn Kennedy 45pts (23G & 22A), Liam Kilfoil 44pts (20G& 24A), Shawn Carrier 43pts (17G & 26A)

Head-to-head

Halifax is 1-5-1-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton has a 6-1-0-0 versus the Mooseheads. The two clubs last met just over a month ago on February 17 with the visiting Wildcats picking up a 3-1 victory with Jacob Steinman making 28 saves for Halifax in the loss. 

Out of town
Islanders vs. Titan - 7:00 p.m.
Sea Dogs vs. Eagles - 7:00 p.m. 
Sagueneens vs. Drakkar - 8:00 p.m.
Oceanic vs. Remparts - 8:00 p.m.
Huskies vs. Armada - 8:00 p.m.
Foreurs vs. Cataractes - 8:00 p.m. 
Tigres vs. Olympiques - 8:00 p.m.
Phoenix vs. Voltigeurs - 8:00 p.m.

Next game
Halifax will wrap up the regular season on home ice tomorrow afternoon against the Charlottetown Islanders. Puck drops at 3:00 p.m.

Herd Move Rousseau, Crosby at Deadline

The Halifax Mooseheads made a couple of moves in the 11th hour of the winter trade period. Not surprisingly, Halifax traded goaltender Mathis Rousseau to the Moncton Wildcats along with forward Logan Crosby late Monday morning in exchange for overage netminder Jacob Steinman plus three draft picks (Rd 2 2025, Rd 2 2026, Rd 4 2026). 

Photo - AMH Photography

Rousseau was drafted by the Mooseheads in 2020 61st overall and made his debut during the 2021-22 season. He will be remembered as one of the best goalies to play for Halifax, securing 93 career wins during his time with the club and scoring the only goalie goal in franchise history on October 20, 2023. The 20-year-old finishes his time in Moose Country with 155 games played, a 2.74 goals against average and 0.912 save percentage over 3 and a half seasons. 

Photo - Saltwire

Crosby, a native of Salt Springs, NS, picked up 22 goals and 58 points in 163 games played for Halifax after being drafted by the team 20th overall at the 2021 QMJHL draft. The two players will join former teammates Dylan MacKinnon and Markus Vidicek on the Wildcats team who are looking to win the ultimate championship this season. Moncton currently sits on top of the league standings with 60 points and are on a 8 game win streak. 

"Mathis has done everything and more that we could have ever expected him to in a Mooseheads jersey. These decisions are never easy, but we wanted to give him a chance at winning a championship while helping our team get better for the future. We wish him and Logan the best of luck in Moncton," Russell said. 

A Toronto, ON native, Steinman leads the QMJHL with 22 wins so far this season and has been a solid goaltender in each of his 3 years after signing as a free agent with the Wildcats in 2022. He is near the top in all goalie statistical categories. 

Photo - Puck Preps

In a separate trade, the Herd acquired Callum Aucoin from the Cape Breton Eagles for a 2025 9th round draft pick. Aucoin, a native of Hammonds Plains, NS, has 16 points in 79 games played for the Eagles. The 18-year-old was drafted by the other Nova Scotian team in the 4th round in 2022. 

Good luck to Mathis and Logan with their new team and thank you for your time with Halifax. Welcome to Moose Country Jacob and Callum, I suspect we will see both in the lineup on Thursday. 

Game Day 4: at Moncton

Our Halifax Mooseheads are still on the road and will be facing probably their biggest test of this young season when they visit the Moncton Wildcats. Sophomore Shawn Carrier has helped his new team to a 3-0 start after being traded by the Wildcats to Halifax in the off-season. Moncton made some big moves over the summer in hopes of going all the way in the spring, including acquiring the Mooseheads 88-point scorer Markus Vidicek and top line defenceman Dylan MacKinnon. They also hired 4-time AUS champion head coach Gardiner MacDougall after he retired from the University of New Brunswick. The Wildcats are 2-0-1 to start the season and are led by sophomore Julius Sumpf. Halifax seems to have taken the underdog role in stride so far, with goaltender Mathis Rousseau looking like the back bone again as he is second in goals against average. Most games between these two clubs have been physical, will we see that again this afternoon? 

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

Overall records
Mooseheads: 3-0-0-0 = 6 points (2nd in Maritimes division, 2nd overall)
Wildcats: 2-0-1-0 = 5 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 5th overall)

Leading scorers
MON: Julius Sumpf 5pts (1G & 4A), Yoan Loshing 3pts (3G), Alex Mercier 2pts (2G)
HAL: Lou Levesque 4pts (2G & 2A), Shawn Carrier 4pts (1G & 3A), Antoine Fontaine 3pts (2G & 1A)

Head-to-head
This is the first game of the season between these two clubs. Halifax had a 5-4-0-0 record versus the Wildcats during 2023-24 while Moncton went 4-3-2-0 against the Mooseheads. Their last matchup was on March 16 with Moncton picking up a 3-2 victory at home, Jake Todd and Markus Vidicek scored for Halifax. 

Out of town
Titan vs. Islanders - 3:00 p.m. 
Eagles vs. Sea Dogs - 3:00 p.m.
Armada vs. Oceanic - 4:00 p.m.
Sagueneens vs. Drakkar - 5:00 p.m.
Voltigeurs vs. Foreurs - 5:00 p.m.
Tigres vs. Remparts - 5:00 p.m.

Next game
The Mooseheads final game of their road trip will go tomorrow afternoon when they travel to take on the Charlottetown Islanders on the holiday Monday. Puck drops at 2 p.m. 

Game Day 65: vs. Charlottetown

PREVIEW - It's the final home game of the regular season tonight as our Halifax Mooseheads welcome divisional rival Charlottetown Islanders at the Scotiabank Centre for a Thursday evening matchup. If I have calculated correctly, a victory by the home team will allow the Mooseheads to clinch the Maritimes division title for the second year in a row. So far this season, Halifax has played well against the Islanders and they will be looking to end this six game home-stand on a high note. The Herd have gone 3-2-0-0 during the stretch in Moose Country with both losses coming against the team that they are probably going to go against in the playoffs; the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Charlottetown has not had a good season and will go into the post-season as the Eastern Conference's 8th place team. The Islanders are 3-5-2-0 in their last 10 games but winless in the past six. Though the Mooseheads had their 'fan appreciation' game on Sunday (it didn't feel like it really), the team will have a special pre-game ceremony tonight to say thank you to the 20-year-olds who are Lou-Felix Denis, Peter Reynolds and David Moravec. 

Overall records
Islanders: 24-31-5-2 = 55 points (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)
Mooseheads: 40-16-7-1 = 88 points (1st in Maritimes division, 4th overall)

Top 3 scorers
HAL: Mathieu Cataford 84pts (39G & 45A), Markus Vidicek 81pts (41G & 40A), Peter Reynolds 62pts (27G & 35A)
CHA: Michael Horth 48pts (31G & 17A), Marcus Kearsey 46pts (7G & 39A), Cole Huckins 41pts (17G & 24A)

Head-to-head
This is the final matchup between these two teams. Halifax has a 5-2-0-1 record versus the Islanders so far this season while Charlottetown is 3-3-1-1 against the Mooseheads. Their last game was on February 10 with the Mooseheads getting a 7-0 blowout victory as Halifax got goals from seven different players. 

Last games
Charlottetown is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Titan on Sunday. Kyle Powers scored both goals for the Islanders on the road while Carter Bickle stopped 29 of the Bathurst's 33 shots in the defeat. 

Halifax is coming off a 3-1 home win over Moncton. Brady Schultz led the Mooseheads with 3 assists as they also got goals from three different players against the Wildcats on Sunday. 

Not playing - Jordan Dumais and Braeden MacPhee out with injuries

Out of town
Wildcats vs. Eagles - 7:00 p.m.
Sea Dogs vs. Titan - 7:00 p.m.
Cataractes vs. Huskies - 8:00 p.m. 
Phoenix vs. Tigres - 8:00 p.m. 

Moose Win 40th in Front of Sellout Crowd

Photo - AMH Photography

Something that I don't remember experiencing before is fan appreciation night on a Sunday afternoon but that's how the schedule worked out this season and the sell out crowd that was in attendance was treated to a really good game. Our Halifax Mooseheads put their last game behind them and skated to a 3-1 victory today over the Moncton Wildcats. The away team got on the board first with under 6 minutes to go in the first period as Etienne Morin scored on the power play. Before the end of the frame, Mathieu Cataford got his 39th goal of the season on the man advantage at the 17:35 mark. A strong second period plus a four minute power play put Halifax up for good as Lou-Felix Denis and Jan Sprynar scored in the middle frame to make it 3-1 for the home team. Moncton wasn't going to go away lightly, outshooting the Herd 12-7 in the third period and got close to scoring a few times. 

FINAL: Wildcats 1 at Mooseheads 3
Stars: 3. Mathis Rousseau HAL | 2. Brady Schultz HAL | 1. Lou-Felix Denis HAL
Attendance: 10,595 
MC's Top Herd: Lou-Felix Denis 

GAME LOG
First period
14:38 MON Etienne Morin (11), PP | A: Loshing & Desnoyers
17:35 HAL Mathieu Cataford (39), PP | A: Vidicek & Schultz

Second period 
12:16 HAL Lou-Felix Denis (28), PP | A: Schultz
17:06 HAL Jan Sprynar (13) | A: Schultz & Dylan MacKinnon

Third period
No scoring

Powerplay: MON - 1-for-2; HAL - 2-for-3
Shots: 29-28 in favour of Moncton

Next game
The Halifax Mooseheads will play their final home game of the regular season on Thursday night against the Charlottetown Islanders. Puck drops at 7pm. 

Herd Word

Below you will find a round up of some more news that has happened this summer. 

NHL DRAFT 
Two Halifax Mooseheads players heard their name called in Nashville during day 2 of the NHL entry draft back on June 29. Forward Mathieu Cataford was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the third round, 77th overall. Not long after at 83rd overall, the Nashville Predators picked defenceman Dylan MacKinnon. Both players improved in their points amount during their sophomore year last season but had dropped in the CSS rankings by the year-end list. Predators amateur scout J-P Glaude said about MacKinnon, "He's a hard defender and is tough to play against. He's explosive and has a strong lower body; we view him as a type of guy who is hard to find in hockey these days." 

A few notes about the draft. To no one's surprise, Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats was made the first overall selection by the Chicago Blackhawks. Drummondville Voltigeurs' player Tyler Peddle waited inside the Bell Centre through both days to hear his name called last at 224th overall in the 7th round. Unfortunately, Herd forward Markus Vidicek didn't get selected for the second year in a row. 

Photo - Herd website

IMPORT DRAFT
Despite having the max two Euro players on the team already, general manager Cam Russell used the Mooseheads first round pick (44th overall) in the 2023 CHL Import Draft on Switzerland forward Yannik Ponzetto. The 17-year-old played at both the U17 and U20 level with Kloten Elit last season where he had 26 goals and 52 points in 34 games in the Swiss U17 league. 

"We were happy to be able to get Yannik at that spot. He's a big, skilled winger who will be able to immediately step in and play," Russell said. 

The team announced that Ponzetto has committed to coming to Halifax and that former captain Attilio Biasca will return to his hometown to play hockey during the upcoming season. 

GRETZKY CUP
The 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was earlier this month and Canada were able to repeat as champions after defeating the Czech Republic in the gold medal game by a score of 3-2 in overtime on August 5. Former Herd coach Sylvain Farveau was apart of the championship team as an assistant coach meanwhile general manager Cam Russell also received a medal as a member of the Program of Excellence management group. Halifax's 2023 import draft selection Yannik Ponzetto participated in the tournament for Switzerland who finished 6th overall. Ponzetto picked up a goal and two assists in four games played. 

Photo - Herd website

CANADA SUMMER MEETINGS
We may see some Mooseheads representing the maple leaf later in 2023 as there were five players named to Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence summer meetings rosters. Prospect Liam Kilfoil, who Halifax drafted 31st overall in the 2023 Q draft, is among the sixty-six under-17 players that were selected. The 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge will take place November 2-11 in Charlottetown and Summerside, PEI. 

Meanwhile, veterans Jordan Dumais, Jake Furlong, Markus Vidicek and Mathis Rousseau were selected to participate in the under-20 meetings along with 41 other players. The 2024 World Junior Championships will take place from December 26 to January 5 in Gothenburg, Sweden. According to the release; 'players took part in virtual meetings that covered a variety of topics, including education on the Program of Excellence, sport safety presentations, short-term international competition preparation and meetings with the Hockey Canada management group. Players will continue to be evaluated through the early portion of the 2023-24 season before the Canadian rosters are named.' 

Congratulations to these five young men and good luck. I hope we can cheer them on with Team Canada this winter. 

Photo - QMJHL website

WILDCATS TO HOST DRAFT
It was announced last month that the city of Moncton along with the Moncton Wildcats will host the 2024 QMJHL Entry Draft. The draft is schedule for June 8 at the Avenir Centre. This will be the second time the Wildcats have hosted the draft, having held the event in 2009 as well but it was in the Moncton Coliseum, the club's previous arena. 

Moncton will also host the the 2024 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in January. 

FIGHTING BANNED
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced its safety regulations for the 2023-24 season on August 10 and as expected, there have been changes made to the fighting rules. According to the document, 'as soon as a fight occurs, those engaged must be systematically ejected from the game.' Read the full update below and you can see the league's safety regulations here. 

Photo - Adam Kimelman on Twitter

MANN-DIXON
Former Mooseheads goaltender Blade Mann-Dixon has been named the Goaltender Coach and Video Coach for the Cape Breton Eagles the team announced recently after the Eagles promoted staff member Scott Gouthro. "I'm extremely excited to be a part of the Eagles organization and join the community of Sydney," says Mann-Dixon. "It's a surreal experience coming back to coach in the league after playing for four years. I am grateful for the opportunity and very thankful to have someone around with as much experience as Scott." The Antigonish, NS native is a graduate of his hometown St. F.X. University after playing for Moncton, Charlottetown, Saint John and Halifax while in the QMJHL. 

Moose Dominate in Game 5

The Halifax Mooseheads started off shaky but calmed down in the second half of the game leading to a dominate 7-3 victory in Game 5 on Sunday afternoon over the Moncton Wildcats. Mathieu Cataford got the home team on the board first at the 3:19 mark of the opening frame. However, agitator Maxim Barbashev tied the game up a little more than 3 minutes later on what ended up being the lone power play of the game. The first period ended in a 2-2 tie but there was some sloppy play by both teams which continued in the second. Regular season leading scorer Jordan Dumais got a weak one past Jacob Steinman to give Halifax the lead with under 10 minutes to go in the middle frame. The Mooseheads didn't look back after that as the club scored two more times in the final minute of the second to make the score 5-2. Moncton closed the gap to two goals at the 7:58 mark and pulled their goaltender late in the third but the Wildcats couldn't get any closer. The victory gave the Mooseheads a 4-1 series win in Round 2. 

FINAL: Wildcats 3 at Mooseheads 7
Stars: 3. Dylan MacKinnon HAL | 2. Evan Boucher HAL | 1. Jordan Dumais HAL
Attendace: 8,667

GAME LOG
First period
3:19 HAL Mathieu Cataford (2) | A: Boucher
6:34 MON Maxim Barbashev (4), PP | A: Beaudoin & Morin
14:46 MON Trent Ballentyne (2) | A: Sampson
18:32 HAL Attilio Biasca (3) | A: Dumais & Martin

Second period
10:06 HAL Jordan Dumais (3) | A: Vidicek & Schultz
19:12 HAL Zachary L'Heureux (6) | A: Furlong & Schultz
19:40 HAL Evan Boucher (3) | A: Dumais & MacKinnon

Third period

7:58 MON Gabe Smith (1) | A: Auger & Hamel

18:13 HAL Josh Lawrence (6), EN | A: L'Heureux & Cataford

19:01 HAL Jordan Dumais (4), EN | A: L'Heureux

Powerplay: MON - 1-for-1; HAL - 0-for-0

Shots: 37-20 in favour of Halifax

DID NOT PLAY - David Moravec (illness)

Second Period Domination Boosts Herd

A dominating second period gave our Halifax Mooseheads the boost it needed as they skated to their fourth straight win on Friday night, picking up a 5-3 victory over the Moncton Wildcats. The away team got on the board first as Alex Mercier broke the scoreless game with a minute remaining in the opening frame. The first period went pretty quickly with only like three whistles and no penalties. Halifax came out flying in the middle frame and Jordan Dumais scored to tie the game at 1 a piece at the 4:38 mark. It would be the first of four goals in the period for the home team who found themselves up 4-1 after 40 minutes. The Mooseheads outshot the Wildcats 27-1 in the period and 44-19 overall. Dumais scored his third of the game to extend the lead to 5-1 but Moncton wasn't going away easily as they got two goals from Alexis Daniel to make it close. The hot start to April has given the Herd a 7 point lead on the Cats in the standings as we near the end of the regular season. 

FINAL: Wildcats 3 at Mooseheads 5
Stars: 3. Attilio Biasca HAL | 2. James Swan HAL | 1. Jordan Dumais HAL
Attendance: 5,770
MC's Top Herd: Jordan Dumais

Game Log
First period
19:00 MON Alex Mercier (4) | A: Casey & Mueller

Second period 
4:38 HAL Jordan Dumais (28), PP | A: Desnoyers & Schultz
8:01 HAL James Swan (8) | A: None
17:24 HAL Attilio Biasca (11) | A: Schultz
19:12 HAL Jordan Dumais (29) | A: Beauregard & Cataford

Third period
4:10 HAL Jordan Dumais (30) | A: None
7:24 MON Alexis Daniel (11), PP | A: Cloutier & Kalmikov
11:21 MON Alexis Daniel (12) | A: None

Shots: 44-19 in favour of Halifax
Powerplay: MON - 1-for-2; HAL - 1-for-3

SCORES 
Gatineau 2 at Acadie-Bathurst 3 OT
Rouyn-Noranda 5 at Val-d'Or 2
Victoriaville 4 at Chicoutimi 2
Sherbrooke at Drummondville 
Shawinigan at Rimouski

Missing in action: Vincent Gauthier (healthy scratch)

Up next: The Mooseheads will host the league-leading Quebec Remparts for DND Appreciation Night tomorrow. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

Photo - Shawn Davidson

Top Line Makes Difference Again

The Halifax Mooseheads top line of Zachary L'Heureux, Jordan Dumais and Elliot Desnoyers had another good game picking up two points each to help lead the club to a 3-2 victory over the Moncton Wildcats on Thursday night. It was the first student night game of the season for Halifax and the match didn't provide much entertainment in the first with the period ending in a scoreless tie. Both teams came out with a new mission in the middle frame with Markus Vidicek opening the scoring by banking the puck off goaltender Thomas Couture. The lead wouldn't last long as 52 seconds later, Francis Langlois scored for Moncton to tie it up. It was clear in the second period that even though it had been more than a year since the last time the teams met that their rivalry did not go away despite the time a part as we saw a couple of fights. The home team would get out of the frame with a 2-1 lead but the tides changed in the third and we could've seen a different game had it not been for rookie Mathis Rousseau making some really nice saves. Jordan Dumais put away the game winning goal with less than 6 minutes to play as the Mooseheads improved to 6-2-0-1 on the young season. 

FINAL: Wildcats 2 at Mooseheads 3
Stars: 3. Jordan Dumais HAL | 2. Thomas Couture MON | 1. Mathis Rousseau HAL
Attendance: 4,133
MC's Top Herd: Mathis Rousseau

Game log
First period
No scoring

Second period
4:41 HAL Markus Vidicek (4) | A: Whynot
5:33 MON Francis Langlois (4) | A: Morin & Mueller
19:34 HAL Elliot Desnoyers (7) | A: L'Heureux & Dumais

Third period
11:56 MON Maxim Barbashev (3) | A: Kalmikov & Olson
14:12 HAL Jordan Dumais (6) | A: L'Heureux & Desnoyers

Powerplay: MON - 0-for-3; HAL - 1-for-3
Shots: 38-33 in favour of Moncton

SCORES
Gatineau 0 at Charlottetown 2
Rimouski 2 at Rouyn-Noranda 3 SO
Victoriaville 5 at Baie-Comeau 2
Shawinigan at Quebec

Missing in Action: Landon Miron, Vincent Guathier and Alexandre Tessier were healthy scratches

Up next: Halifax will welcome the Gatineau Olympiques for Friday night hockey with the puck dropping at 7 p.m. 

Orr Leads Mooseheads to Win

Our Halifax Mooseheads picked up their second win of the pre-season schedule on Friday night at the RBC Centre with a 7-4 victory over the Moncton Wildcats. Sophomore Robert Orr continued on his hot streak scoring another 2 goals while the goaltenders that suited up once again played about half a game each. Moncton got on the score board first at the 3:14 mark of the opening period but Halifax led 3-2 after 20 minutes. Senna Peeters scored early in the third for the Mooseheads 5th goal which ended up being the game winner in the high shooting match. The Herd's next exhibition game will be on September 10 against Cape Breton. 

Game at a Glance
FINAL: Moncton 4 at Halifax 7
Moncton scorers: Charles Antoine-Pilote (2), Alexis Daniel, Thomas Auger
Halifax scorers: Dylan MacKinnon, Mathieu Cataford, Robert Orr (2), Senna Peeters, Jordan Dumais, Attilio Biasca
Powerplay: MON - 2/6, HAL - 1/5
Shots: Wildcats - 41, Mooseheads - 40

Photo - Saltwire

Pre-season Game vs. Moncton

Opponent: Moncton Wildcats
Where: RBC Centre
When: August 27, 2021
Time: 7:00 p.m.

Moncton Wildcats
Preseason record: 2-2-0-0, 4pts
Goals for: 17
Goals against: 15
Head coach: Daniel Lacroix
Scoring leader: Alex Mercer 6pts (2G & 4A)

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 1-1-0-0, 2pts
Goals for: 7
Goals against: 6
Head coach: Sylvain Favreau
Scoring leader: Robert Orr 3pts (2G & 1A)

Notes

• As announced earlier today, six more players were cut from the team leaving 30 in training camp 
• Tonight's match will again be behind closed doors so you can watch it on the Mooseheads YouTube page 
• Below is the roster for Halifax 

Gameday #3: vs Moncton

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS MONCTON WILDCATS

October 9, 2020 at 7:00pm

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

Scotiabank Centre - Halifax, NS

Our Halifax Mooseheads will look to bounce back from a disappointing overtime loss last weekend as they host the Moncton Wildcats tonight to kick off Thanksgiving weekend. Meanwhile, the Cats have had a rough start to the new season, going winless in their first two game and being outscored 6-2. Moncton went all in last year, making huge moves in hopes to win the league championship and as such lost some key players during the off-season including forwards Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers who are now members of the Mooseheads. However, they're not completely without offensive power as overage forward Gabriel Fortier and veteran Jordan Spence are still in the lineup. I expect we'll see Cole McLaren in net once again for Halifax and he'll probably give a better showing then he did on Saturday. We should be in for another good match and you can watch it on Eastlink TV if you aren't one of the lucky ones attending the game. 

Overall records
Wildcats: 0-2-0-0 = 0 points (6th in Maritimes division, 16th overall)
Mooseheads: 1-0-1-0 = 3 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 5th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Zachary L'Heureux 4pts (2G & 2A), Liam Peyton 3pts (2G & 1A), Markus Vidicek 3pts (1G & 2A)
MON: Vincent Labelle 2pts (2G), Mathis Cloutier 1pt (1A), Yoan Loshing 1pt (1A)

Out of Town
Eagles vs. Islanders     7:00pm
Sea Dogs vs. Titan     7:00pm
Drakkar vs. Tigres     8:00pm
Voltigeurs vs. Foreurs     8:00pm
Cataractes vs. Oceanic     8:00pm
Olympiques vs. Huskies     8:00pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will head on the road to take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 3:00pm. 

Jan 3: Mooseheads vs. Wildcats preview

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS MONCTON WILDCATS

Puck drops at 7:00pm

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

Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

You wouldn't know that our Halifax Mooseheads are big rivals with the Moncton Wildcats by the way they have come together over the trade period with the changing of a couple of players and possibly more after the weekend. Moncton is a title contender and have made plenty of moves the last few weeks to bolster their already strong roster, including two big trades that have brought Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Gabriel Fortier to the team. Former Mooseheads' captain Groulx was traded to the Wildcats before Christmas after he was cut from the World Junior team and had a good debut on NYE where he scored two goals and had an assist. The two clubs made another trade on Thursday afternoon as Halifax acquired 19-year-old Ozzie King. Halifax will have a tough time against the 3rd overall Cats tonight but will still be looking to break a five game losing streak. Both clubs will be without some key players this evening when they meet each other at the Scotiabank Centre, as Moncton is missing Alexander Khovanov while Raphael Lavoie and Jared McIsaac are still away at the World Juniors as well. It's the first game of 2020 so come out and get your weekend started with the Mooseheads.

This is the fourth time these two clubs have met this season. Halifax is 1-1-1-0 against the Wildcats while Moncton has a 2-1-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The last matchup was on November 23 in Moose Country where Maxim Trepanier led Halifax with a goal and an assist while Alex Gravel made 23 saves on 25 shots before being pulled in a 4-2 loss. 

Overall records
Wildcats: 26-10-0-0 = 52pts (1st in Maritimes division, 3rd overall)
Mooseheads: 15-18-2-1 = 33pts (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)

Leading scorers
MON: Alexander Khovanov 53pts (20G & 33A), Jakob Pelletier 51pts (18G & 33A), Benoit-Olivier Groulx 44pts (17G & 27A)
HAL: Raphael Lavoie 44pts (18G & 26A), Kevin Gursoy 28pts (11G & 17A), Justin Barron 17pts (4G & 13A)

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

After the Buzzer
Halifax will take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan when they visit the Scotiabank Centre tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7pm.

Comeback Falls Short

Photo - Shawn Davidson

Our Halifax Mooseheads have their first overtime loss of the season after Alexander Khovanov scored with 67 seconds remaining in the extra frame to propel the Moncton Wildcats to a 5-4 OT victory. Khovanov continues to be a thorn in Halifax’s side as the Herd were minutes away from picking up a win before the Russian tied the game, stopping our comeback. 

Moncton got off to a good start and found themselves up 1-0 after 20 minutes on a goal from Haligonian Ozzie King. The opening period didn't end without some physical stuff. Jason Horvath and Sean Stewart dropped the gloves late in the 1st with Horvath winning the bout. The second period was entertaining with more hatred and a few more goals. Elliot Desnoyers scored for the visiting Wildcats before defenceman Cam Whynot recorded his first goal of his QMJHL career to get the good guys on the board. Max Trepanier sent the two clubs to the dressing rooms tied at 2 after 40 minutes with a goal at the 18:33 mark of the second period. Khovanov would not leave Raphael Lavoie alone when the two were on the ice together and Lavoie finally had enough, forcing the referees to give them both penalties at the end of the middle frame. Moncton retook the lead in the third before the home team scored back to back goals to make it a 4-3 Mooseheads lead.

FINAL: Wildcats 5 at Mooseheads 4 OT
Stars: 3. Alexander Khovanov MON | 2. Zachary L'Heureux MON | 1. Maxim Trepanier HAL
Attendance: 7,152
MC's Top Herd: n/a

Powerplay: MON - 0-for-2; HAL - 0-for-1
Shots: 41-39 in favour of Halifax

NOT DRESSED - Brandon Tomilson (healthy), Jared McIsaac (injured), Said Abi-Faycal (healthy) and Cole Foston (injured)

SCORES
Drummondville 4 at Quebec 1
Acadie-Bathurst 0 at Val-d'Or 10
Rimouski 1 at Shawinigan 2 

UP NEXT - The Mooseheads hit the road for a single game and visit the Saint John Sea Dogs tomorrow. Puck drops at 7pm. 

Pre-season Game vs. Moncton

Opponent: Moncton Wildcats
Where: Halifax Forum
When: September 13, 2019
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $11.00

Moncton Wildcats
Preseason record: 1-5-0-0, 2pts
Goals for: 18
Goals against: 27
Head coach: John Torchetti
Scoring leader: Dominic Leblanc (3G&2A)
Leading goaltender: Giovacchino DiMattia (0.964 SAV%)

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 3-2-0-0, 6pts
Goals for: 16
Goals against: 15
Head coach: J.J. Daigneault
Scoring leader: Senna Peeters (4G&2A)
Leading goaltender: Cole McLaren (0.927 SAV%)

Notes

• Halifax announced that they have signed free agent Brendan Tomilson. He will be in the lineup tonight 
• Walter Flower is the lone player returning to the club from NHL camps meaning that the Mooseheads have had to make some call-ups 
• This is the final pre-season game for both teams and the second game of a home & home