Staffing changes made by Halifax

The Halifax Mooseheads has announced multiple changes to the team's staff this summer and the biggest one being that there will be a new head coach on the bench come September. 

Earlier this month, it was put out that Andrew Lord accepted an offer to become the Head Coach for the Ontario Reign (AHL). The team looked within this time and promoted associate coach Brad MacKenzie to the top position. 

"We want to thank Andrew Lord for his contributions to the Mooseheads and wish him noting but the best in the future. We equally believe Brad MacKenzie is the right person to lead our organization as we take the next step in this journey." said Sam and Peter Simon in the press release. 

"At the same time, it's tough to leave Halifax. I love the city and the fans, and I love what we started to build this past season as a team. I want to thank Sam and Peter Simon for believing in me and for giving me the opportunity to coach this storied franchise. I also want to say thank you to Cam Russell and both the hockey operations and business staffs, it's been a pleasure working with you and I know the team is in great hands with Brad," said Lord.

Lord spent just one season with Halifax, coaching a young rebuilding club to a 19-35-8-2 record and the final playoff berth in the QMJHL. MacKenzie meanwhile is entering his fifth season on the Mooseheads bench and becomes the 15th Head Coach in franchise history. 

Good luck to Andrew with the Reign and congrats to Brad on the new position. 

A few days earlier, the team made the announcement that they have hired Josh Crouse as the club's Director of Performance and Colton Funk as the new Head Athletic Therapist. The release says that 'Crouse will handle all strength and conditioning for the players while overseeing injury prevention, recovery and nutrition' in the newly created position. 

Replacing MacKenzie as the Mooseheads associate coach is Josh Hepditch the team announced on July 21. Hepditch had the same title with the UNB Reds men's hockey team during the 2024-25 season after spending seven years as an Assistant Coach for the Moncton Wildcats. 

"Josh is a coach that I've had a lot of respect for, having coached against him for a number of years," said MacKenzie. "He has a track record of excellent work with defencemen and special teams units. I'm excited to have Josh join our coaching staff and to work alongside him."

Photos - Herd website

Herd Word

Since I haven't posted all summer, below you will find some news that you may have missed if you are not on social media. 

Photo - TSN

CATAFORD MVP, ALL-STAR TEAMS
A couple Halifax Mooseheads players were announced as finalists for QMJHL awards back in May to celebrate the 2023-24 season. Mathieu Rousseau had a chance to win the Patrick Roy Trophy as the league's top goaltender, however it was given to William Rousseau of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Meanwhile, Mathieu Cataford was nominated for two awards; the Marcel Robert Trophy (best scholastic player) and the Michel Briere Trophy. The 19-year-old won the latter, being named the QMJHL's regular season Most Valuable Player. He 'had an outstanding season with career highs in goals (40), assists (50) and points (90) to lead the team in scoring while finishing third in the QMJHL scoring race.'

After the individual awards were handed out, the league announced the all-star teams for the 2023-24 season which included forward Mathieu Cataford on the first team while the second team included goaltender Mathis Rousseau and forward Markus Vidicek. Congrats to these three guys on being recognized for their efforts.

Photo - Herd website

NEW HOCKEY STAFF
There were a number of staffing changes once again for our Halifax Mooseheads during the off-season. The first move was head coach Jim Midgley being released of his duties after Halifax bowed out of the 2024 playoffs with a first-round exit. GM Cam Russell made the announcement on April 16, saying the team also dismissed assistant coach Liam Heelis. 

A little less than two months later, Andrew Lord was hired as the 14th head coach in team history while Brad MacKenzie was promoted to associate coach. According to the press release, 'Lord is the reigning ECHL Coach of the Year after leading the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 44-23-4-1 record and the team's first South Division Championship in more than a decade.'

"We are thrilled to have Andrew join our staff and excited to watch him take the reigns of our young, revamped roster," said Russell. 

Two additions to the hockey staff were announced in late July as Morgan MacDonald was named the full-time Video & Player Development Coach while Charles Grant is the new Goaltending Coach. The positions were made available after Joey Perricone and Jon Sim departed. 

Welcome to the team to the new staff members. 

HISCHIER WINS SILVER
Former Halifax Mooseheads forward Nico Hischier has a silver medal after Switzerland lost to Czechia in the 2024 IIHL World Championship game back in late May. The Swiss finished second in Group A with a 5-1-0-1 (w-otw-otl-l) record during the preliminary round to advance to the quarter-finals. They defeated Germany and Canada (in a shootout) to make it to the gold medal match. Hischier had 6 goals and 5 assists in 10 games played during the tournament and finished 7th in scoring. 

Alum Cam Critchlow also participated in the tournament for Team Great Britain, who unfortunately finished 15th overall.  

QMJHL ENTRY DRAFT
Our Halifax Mooseheads added 15 prospects to their roster and made a couple of trades during the 2024 QMJHL Draft weekend that was held June 7-8 in Moncton, NB. 

Before the draft began, Halifax moved forwards Markus Vidicek and Dylan MacKinnon along with two third rounders to the Moncton Wildcats in two separate trades for Shawn Carrier and three 2026 draft picks. The Mooseheads received a first round draft pick in 2024 plus 4 other picks in exchange for Mathieu Cataford from the Rimouski Oceanic. 

Photo - Herd website

With the first rounder, the Moose drafted Halifax native Daniel Walters 11th overall. Walters played the 2023-24 season with the Halifax McDonalds where he scored 27 points (9G & 18A) in 27 games. 

Full list of selections is below:
RD 1 #11 - C Daniel Walters - Halifax Macs U18
RD 2 #34 - LW Caylen Blake - Mount St. Charles Academy
RD 3 #48 - C Amelio Santini - Lac St. Louis Lions U18
RD 4 #71 - RD Logan Trewin - Halifax Macs U18
RD 5 #89 - LD Mickael Fournier - Quinte Red Devils U16AAA
RD 6 #107 - LD Gavin Sudds - Halifax Macs U18
RD 7 #125 - G Nicolas Gillham-Cirka - Taft School USHS
RD 8 #143 - RW Noah Olmedo-Matte - College Esther-Blondin
RD 9 #150 - C Nico Ciardiello - Mount St. Charles Academy
RD 9 #161 - LW Thomas Cote - Quebec Blizzard
RD 10 #179 - F Elie Champagne - South Kent School
RD 11 #197 - LD Cole Bent - Cole Harbour U18
RD 12 #215 - C Cole MacLeod - Cole Harbour U18
RD 13 #233 - G Thomas Laplante - Mille-Isles QM17AAA
RD 14 #251 - RW Will Bent - Mount St. Charles Academy 

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft was held on July 3 and the Mooseheads used their first of two selections to pick defenceman Carlos Handel from Erlangen, Germany. According to the press release, Handel is 6-foot-1 and played both at the J18 and J20 levels this past season with the Malmo Redhawks program in Sweden. "We've been watching him for the last year-and-a-half. We saw him about 18 months ago in Germany and he just dazzled us as an underage player. He's a heck of a hockey player and he plays a complete game," said General Manager Cam Russell. 

Handel will join sophomore Jan Sprynar as the team's two import roster spots for the 2024-25 season. 

TEAM CANADA WINS HLINKA
The annual summer Hlinka Gretzky Cup saw Team Canada be on top of the podium once again. Forward Liam Kilfoil scored in the championship game to help the Canadians win Gold as they beat Czechia 2-1 in Edmonton, AB. Kilfoil added two assists during the tournament, playing five games. A total of 22 players with ties to the CHL won the ultimate trophy. 

Prospect Carlos Handel participated in the tournament as his German team finished 6th out of eight teams. 

Congrats to Liam and Team Canada on becoming champions. 

Photo - Hockey Canada website

OTHER THINGS

• Goaltender Alexis Gravel agreed to teams on an ECHL standard player contract with the Orlando Solar Bears
• Former Mooseheads head coach Jon Greenwood was announced the new bench boss for the Truro Bearcats junior A team and will be joined by alum Ryan Falkenham who played for Halifax from 2011 to 2015 
• The WHL will host the 2026 Memorial Cup and five teams have announced they intend to bid on hosting: Brandon, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Spokane and Kelowna   
• Current Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers helped Team Denmark book their ticket to the 2026 Olympics at the beginning of this month as the Danes won all three games in the final qualification tournament
• Jim Midgley wasn't out of a coaching job for long as PWHL Toronto announced he would be an assistant coach for the upcoming season