Fucale Leads Team Canada to Gold

Photo - TSN.ca

Former Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale led Team Canada to a Spengler Cup trophy on Tuesday.

The Spengler Cup is said to be the oldest invitational tournament in the world, having been played every year since 1923. Team Canada now has the most trophies in the history of the post-Christmas tournament. It is hosted in Davos, Switzerland every year from December 26-31.

Fucale, who currently plays for the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, had another shut out in the championship game as Canada won 4-0 versus HC Ocelari Trinec. His first shut out happened yesterday during the semi-final match. The Rosemare, QC native had a great tournament going 3-0 with a 0.33 goals against average. Fucale is no stranger to the Spengler Cup, having won in 2016 and picking up a silver medal in 2018. The 24-year-old was also named to the tournament's all-star team earlier in the day.

Congrats to Zach Fucale and Team Canada on winning gold!

Hockey Canada Announce Holiday Tournament Teams

Hockey Canada made some announcements the last few days regarding who will represent their country during the holiday season tournaments; the World Juniors and Spengler Cup. A few players associated with the Halifax Mooseheads will be playing in Europe after Christmas.

The IIHF member made it's final cut for it's World Junior team and unfortunately it was Herd forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx who was let go on Saturday. However, that does mean that defenseman Jared McIsaac and forward Raphael Lavoie will represent Canada during the tournament. Some were surprised that Groulx was cut but the team is strong down the middle this year.

QMJHL is well represented this year with five current players and a former player making the team. Alexis Lafreniere (RIM), Dawson Mercer (DRU) and Olivier Rodrigue (MON) plus Joe Veleno who was released by the Detroit Red Wings join Lavoie and McIsaac a the Q league guys. Full roster here.

The Spengler Cup, which is hosted in Davos, Switzerland every year, also begins on Boxing Day. For the second straight year, former Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale will wear the red and white during the 6-team tournament. Fucale will try to lead Team Canada to a 16th championship after losing last year in an eight round shootout gold medal to KalPa.

Congratulations to all three players who will represent their country later this month and good luck.

I will try to keep you updated on how they are doing so check back on my blog next week.

Herd Word

Photo - Shawn Davidson

LAVOIE
On the same day he had been cut from the World Junior team, 18 year old Raphael Lavoie found out he would participate in the 2019 Sherwin-Williams Top Prospects game next month. "The 24th annual showcase of the CHL’s top prospects eligible for the NHL Draft will be played on Wednesday January 23, 2019, at the ENMAX Centrium, home of the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels.  The 40 competing players were chosen by NHL clubs and include talent from across the WHL, the Ontario Hockey League, and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League." according to the press release. It hasn't been the season most expected Lavoie to have after the Montreal, QC native had 30 goals and 63 points in a full season last year however he still has 34 points in 31 games so far.

Congrats to Raphael, go show those scouts that you deserve to be a top 10 draft pick.

TOP 10
The KIA Canadian Hockey League Top 10 for Week 14 was announced on December 19 and your Halifax Mooseheads found themselves going into the holiday break ranked 7th in the country after a 2-0-0-1 record that week.

Full rankings below
1. Prince Albert Raiders (31-2-0-1)
2. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (28-6-0-1)
3. Ottawa 67's (25-6-3-1)
4. London Knights (23-5-2-1)
5. Everett Silvertips (27-7-1-1)
6. Drummondville Voltigeurs (25-7-1-0)
7. Halifax Mooseheads (24-7-1-1)
8. Vancouver Giants (22-8-2-0)
9. Baie-Comeau Drakkar (23-9-1-1)
10. Niagara IceDogs (20-7-5-0)

Honourable mentions: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (21-8-4-1), Sudbury Wolves (21-9-1-1), Moncton Wildcats (23-10-2-1)

FIRST HALF
Despite injuries and a few games that they really should've won, the Mooseheads finished the first half of the 2018-19 season in a pretty good place. Halifax is on top of the Maritimes division having won 24 of their first 33 games. They are third in QMJHL with an even 50 points. Halifax also has the third best power play so far this season while their penalty killing is the best in the league at 88.7%. Samuel Asselin, who was acquired from the Bathurst Titan after the season began, leads the Herd with 24 goals and 42 points which is good enough for 15th in the Q. Third year goaltender Alex Gravel finds himself in the top 5 of a few categories; save percentage (4th - 0.918), wins (2nd - 18) and shutouts (T-2nd - 2).

Halifax's last match before the break was against the Charlottetown Islanders where the Mooseheads skated to a 6-2 victory on home ice. Jordan Maher scored twice while Gravel made 30 saves.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
For the week ending December 17, 2018 the QMJHL announced the players on it's team of the week and there were two Mooseheads among them.

FUCALE
It was announced earlier this week that former Moose goaltender Zach Fucale had been named to the Canadian Spengler Cup team. The majority of Team Canada for this tournament is made up of players who play overseas now because their options to play pro in North America have dried up. Canada will play 2 preliminary matches against European clubs than head to the medal round. Fucale made 24 saves yesterday to help his team to a 2-1 victory against host HC Davos. Zach was apart of the team that won the gold medal two years ago at this tournament.

Good luck to Zach and Team Canada this week!

Photo - Avs website

MACKINNONWith it being December, attention has turned to the NHL All-Star game that will be held by the San Jose Sharks on Kanuary 27. Over the last couple of weeks, fans have been able to vote who they think should be named the captains of each of the division teams. Well the NHL announced the results of that vote this morning and former Herd star forward Nathan MacKinnon was voted as the C for the Central division. Kid Mack has been playing on what many have called the best line in hockey this season and has recorded 22 goals and 59 points. This will be Nathan's third All-Star appearance in his NHL career. He joins Auston Matthews (Toronto - Atlantic), Connor McDavid (Edmonton - Pacific) and Alexander Ovechkin (Washington - Metropolitan) as the captains.

Herd Word

Welcome to the new year. As it's been the holidays, I've been busy so instead of writing individual stories about news that has happened the last few days, I thought I would do a Herd Word.

FUCALE
Former Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale led Team Canada to a championship once again. Fucale was playing in the Spengler Cup last week and went into the tournament as a backup. However after Drew MacIntyre struggled in the first game, the 21 year old started the second preliminary game and had a 33 save performance as the Canadians won 4-3 over host HC Davos. He was than the starter for the rest of the tournament. The Rosemere, QC native performed quite well the rest of the week to help Hockey Canada back to the gold medal game. Team Canada played HC Lugano for the Spengler Cup and Zach stopped 40 shots en route to a 5-2 victory.

HISCHIER
Switzerland has improved on their 9th place finish from last year's World Junior championship and in part it's because of the great tournament Mooseheads rookie Nico Hischier had over the past week. Hischier, who turns 18 tomorrow, led the Swiss in scoring during the tourney with 4 goals and 7 points. One of his goals was an overtime winner last Tuesday against the Czech Republic. He scored again on Friday in regulation versus Denmark which also ended in extra time. The 4 points Team Switzerland picked up gave them a quarter-final berth where they would play the United States on Monday. The rookie had two really great goals but his performance wasn't enough to get his team to the semis because of a great save by the American goaltender in the last 5 minutes of the game which prevented Nico scoring a hat trick. Hischier was named player of the game as well as one of Switzerland's 3 best players of the tournament.

https://twitter.com/mikemorrealeNHL/status/816096671016898560

RESOP
According to the Miramichi Timberwolves, they have acquired the MHL rights of Herd goaltender Kevin Resop from the St. Stephen's Aces. The Mooseheads have not said anything about a trade or demotion of Resop but it's assumed that he will not be back with Halifax as the Moose traded for goalie Blade Mann-Dixon. Will be interesting to see what happens now for Kevin. Wherever he ends up, Moose Country would like to say good luck!

SATURDAY
As you may know, the game this coming Saturday versus the Saint John Sea Dogs is going to be broadcasted on Sportsnet. Because the match up is on national television, the puck drop for it has been changed to 4:00pm. So come out and support the boys against one of the best teams in the QMJHL this weekend. It should be an exciting game.

CHAINEY
It was announced on Monday that defenseman Jocktan Chainey has been suspended for 4 games after a hit that occurred during the December 30th game in Cape Breton. He will be eligible to return on Sunday afternoon when the Mooseheads visit Saint John. For video and full explanation, click here.

Photo - Eagles website

HURLEY CUP
Talking about the Screaming Eagles, they swept your Mooseheads in the home and home series late last week which gave them the first ever Hurley Cup. For a number of years now, the two provincial rivals have had back to back games against each other after the holiday break and wear special blue jerseys that get raffled off for Feed Nova Scotia normally. This season, the teams decided to add another aspect to the series in which the team with the most goals over the two games wins the Hurley Cup. For more info on how it worked, click here. Cape Breton won both games and had a 11-5 goal advantage.

UP NEXT
Your Halifax Mooseheads start 2017 by taking a trip to New Brunswick today to visit the Moncton Wildcats. Game time is 7pm and it's Camo Night at the Moncton Coliseum. The two teams will play again on Friday evening in Halifax. Friday's match will be shown on Eastlink TV and it's Teddy Bear Toss night at the Scotiabank Centre. Don't forget to bring a stuffed animal to the game so you can throw it on the ice when the Herd score their first goal of the game.

Herd Word: Fucale To Play in Spengler Cup

HISCHIER
The Canadian Hockey League released the rosters for the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game that will be held on January 30, 2017 in Quebec City. Halifax Mooseheads rookie Nico Hischier was among the players who will participate in the annual showcase of draft eligible players. Hischier leads the league in rookie scoring with 48 points and has been ranked in the top 10 on scouting services listings all season long. Despite not playing in the last few games, Nico still is second on the Moose team.

Congrats to Nico on representing the Mooseheads in the top prospects game.

Photo - Brampton Beast's Facebook

FUCALE
It was announced on Tuesday that Zach Fucale will represent Hockey Canada once again, this time at the Spengler Cup.

The former Halifax Mooseheads goaltender was among the 23 players that were named to Team Canada's roster for the tournament. Fucale is in second year of professional hockey and is playing for the Brampton Beast of the ECHL. He is doing pretty good, recently playing to a shutout in a game against the Adirondack Thunder on Saturday night. Zach and the rest of Team Canada will start the Spengler Cup on Boxing Day in Davos, Switzerland. The tournament will end on December 31 with the gold medal game.

Congrats to Zach and good luck in the tournament. Moose Country will be cheering big time for you!

TAILLEFER
With the holiday break now in full swing, it also brings with it a multitude of trades in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. One of those trades in the first week included a Herd alum. The Gatineau Olympiques announced a big trade on Wednesday with the Charlottetown Islanders. Gatineau traded former Moosehead Jean-Sebastien Taillefer in a 7 player deal.

Moose Country would like to wish good luck to Jean-Sebastien with the Islanders.

WORLD JUNIORS
Another tournament that begins on December 26th is the World Junior Hockey Championships which this year are being held right here in Canada, splitting between Montreal and Toronto. There is no Mooseheads on the host country team but former head coach Dominique Ducharme leads the home nation in a role behind the bench. However, a current player will be in the tourney. The almost 18 year old; Nico Hischier will be on Team Switzerland and will hope to help his country better their 9th place finish at last year's championship.

Good luck to both men next week. Go get em.

LAVOIE
Rookie Raphael Lavoie will be back in the lineup after the holiday break. Halifax announced today that their 2016 second round pick is returning to the team after spending the last 2 and a half months in the Quebec triple A league. The 16 year old began the season with the Moose but after a difficult start made the decision to play for the team he was on last season. Lavoie scored seven goals and recorded 18 points in 15 games played with the College Antoine-Girouard Gaulois.

POSTPONED GAME
The match between the Saint John Sea Dogs and your Halifax Mooseheads on December 16 was postponed until further notice because of bad weather that caused the Herd unable to get out of Nova Scotia. The QMJHL announced the other day a makeup date for the game. The two teams will now play on March 1st at 7pm in Harbour Station.