Herd Word

Happy New Year everyone! I've been taking a break lately so this is my first blog post of 2024. There's been some news regarding current and former Halifax Mooseheads the last couple of weeks so thought I would do a Herd Word to wrap it all up. 

CATAFORD SIGNS

Photo - Golden Knights website

On December 31, the Vegas Golden Knights announced that they had signed forward Mathieu Cataford to a three-year, entry-level contract. The 18-year-old was leading the QMJHL in scoring at the time of the announcement with 53 points in 35 games. He has posted a current total of 181 points in 169 games played over three seasons with Halifax. The Chateauguay, QC native was drafted by Vegas in the third round (77th overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. 

Photo - Herd Twitter

WORLD JUNIORS
The 2024 World Junior Hockey Championships didn't turn out how Hockey Canada or the Mooseheads representatives probably wanted it to go but that doesn't mean there wasn't highlights of the tournament. Mathis Rousseau took the starting role over for the preliminary round and had a strong tournament meanwhile Jordan Dumais and Jake Furlong both scored a goal but they couldn't help Canada make it past the quarter-finals. Furlong's marker tied up the QF match at 2-2 late in the second against Czechia so it was said that his first point was gigantic. 

Our three guys have lots to be proud of representing their country. 

GREAT SAVE
Like I said above, Rousseau had a good tournament, recording a 2.00 goals against average and was fourth in save percentage at 0.912%. In a game against Finland in the prelims, the 18-year-old made a really nice glove save which ended up being on Sportscentre's 1v1 challenge for a few days. You can watch it below (it's the second clip in the video). 

He also made another stop in the game versus Sweden that impressed former NHL goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The toe save was on a Canadian penalty kill late in the first period to keep the score 0-0. 

FIRST STAR OF MONTH
Halifax Mooseheads alumni Nathan MacKinnon had a stellar month of December and was rewarded for it as the NHL named him the first star of the month. The 28-year-old had eleven goals and 29 points during the month to lead the league as the Colorado Avalanche went 8-5-2-0 in December. According to the NHL, 'his 29 points set a franchise record for a single calendar month, besting Peter Stastny's 28 in February 1981.' Congratulations to Nate. He hasn't slowed down so far in January. 

Photo - NHL PR Twitter

 

HERD MAKE ANOTHER TRADE
The Mooseheads made another move, this one just before the 1pm AST trade deadline on January 6 which saw the team adding forwards Lou-Felix Denis and Jan Sprynar from the Shawinigan Cataractes. 20-year-old Denis was leading the Cats in scoring with 38 points when the deal was made. Sprynar is an 18-year-old import and is on his third team over two seasons. 

Shawinigan received in return overage forward Ethan Larmand, sophomore Reece Peitzsche and rookie import Yannik Ponzetto along with two draft picks. 

Welcome to the team Lou-Felix and Jan! The two new players made their debut for Halifax on Sunday when the team took on the Charlottetown Islanders where Denis scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory. 

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

DROUIN RECORDS 300TH POINT
I missed this originally but alumni Jonathan Drouin had a good night last Thursday to help the Colorado Avalanche win 5-4 in overtime against Dallas. The 28-year-old scored twice during the game with his first goal being the 300th point of his NHL career. Drouin has record 86 goals and 216 points in total over 524 regular season games. 

Drouin was drafted 3rd overall back in 2013 by the Tampa Bay Lightning where he played until 2017. The Ste-Agathe, QC native than suited up for the Montreal Canadiens from the 2017-18 season until 2023. He becomes the 9th former Moosehead player to reach 300 points. 

MOOSE CLAIM MCPHEE
'The Mooseheads filled out the roster with a waiver claim addition late Sunday when GM Cam Russell picked up forward Luke McPhee from the Cape Breton Eagles. The 18-year-old native of Cole Harbour, NS will join the Mooseheads for the remainder of the season and will suit up in his first home game on Saturday' according to the press release. He has played in 59 games between the Moncton Wildcats and Eagles, collecting 3 goals and five points. 

QMJHL Team of the Week

 On Monday, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced it's player and team of the week. With just the Maritime teams playing the past 7 days, the team of the week features young men from Charlottetown, Halifax and Acadie-Bathurst. 

Elliot Desnoyers was named the Player of the Week after picking up at 6 points over back to back road games against Cape Breton. The 18-year-old recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday and went a step further, scoring four goals in a 10-2 Mooseheads victory. 

Photo - Q website

He is joined on the team of the week by rookie Jordan Dumais who had 1 goal and 5 points and was a +5 over the weekend. 

Full Team of the Week
Elliot Desnoyers | Mooseheads, Halifax | 2GP-4G-2A, +4
Felix-Antoine Marcotty | Titan, Acadie-Bathurst | 2GP-1G-5A, +2
Jordan Dumais | Mooseheads, Halifax | 2GP-1G-4A, +5
Adam McCormick | Titan, Acadie-Bathurst | 2GP-1G-1A, +4
William Trudeau | Islanders, Charlottetown | 2GP-0G-2A, +3
Colten Ellis | Islanders, Charlottetown | 1-0-0-0, 1.00, 0.960%

Congratulations to Elliot and Jordan as well as the other players. 

Gravel on Team of the Week

The QMJHL Team of the Week ending January 20, 2020 has a number of connections to Halifax.

Mooseheads goaltender Alexis Gravel was among the best six players in the past 7 days determined by the Q. The 19-year-old went 1-1 over the weekend as Halifax went on the road to Quebec for three games. He had a 2.43 goals against average and a 0.938 save percentage.

Former Herd forwards Benoit-Olivier Groulx of the Moncton Wildcats and Chicoutimi Sagueneens' Raphael Lavoie were also named to the team of the week, each with 5 points in two games played.

Halifax natives Luke Henman and Jarrett Baker were also on the team of the week.

Congratulations to all six players, especially our own Alex Gravel.

Herd Word

WORLD JUNIORS
Hockey Canada announced today the 31 players who will participate in the team's selection camp, which begins in a week. Defenceman Jared McIsaac, who just returned from a long term injury on Saturday, was given an invite and will be joined by forward teammates Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Raphael Lavoie at the camp. Many believe McIsaac will be a lock to make the final team as he participated in the tournament last year.

The 31 hopefuls will join together in Oakville, Ontario from December 9-12 and will play two games against a U Sports all-star team on the final two days of the selection process. Other QMJHL players named to the camp roster were Dawson Mercer (Drummondville), Oliver Rodrigue (Moncton), Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski) and Jakob Pelletier (Moncton).

The 2020 Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships is being hosted by Ostrava, Czech Republic from December 26 to January 5. Canada will begin the tournament with a match against their cross border rivals, the United States on Boxing Day at 3 p.m. AT. The final roster will be announced a couple days before the competition starts.

For the full camp roster, click here.

MACKINNON
Former Halifax Mooseheads player Nathan MacKinnon has had another offensive month. Kid Mack was named the NHL first star of the week on Monday, with 3 goals and 9 points in three games. The Colorado Avalanche finished the week with a 3-0-0-0 record. MacKinnon leads the team in scoring and is among the league leaders.

Nathan was also named the second star for the month of November. The Halifax, NS native had 10 goals and 15 assists during the month.

Congrats to Nathan on being awarded for his hard work.

QMJHL STARS

Photo - Q website

Forward Maxim Trepanier was named the QMJHL player of the week for the week ending Dec. 1 after recording 7 points over three games. Trepanier had a big night on Thursday, helping the Mooseheads to a 6-3 win over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan with two goals and 2 assists. A goal on Saturday would give Maxim at least a point in every game in the month of November, who extended his point streak to 13 games on Sunday after picking up two more points in a loss to Charlottetown.

He'll be named to the Q team of the week tomorrow. We may even see another Herd player but I'll share that when it's announced.

Photo - Mooseheads website

BARINKA
Our Halifax Mooseheads will be without forward Marcel Barinka for the remainder of the team's schedule before their Christmas break. Barinka left today to join the Czech Republic team that will participate in the World Junior A Challenge. The Challenge is an under-20 tournament sponsored by Hockey Canada. It will be played December 7-15 in Dawson Creek, BC.

Congratulations and good luck to Marcel.

TOUGH DECEMBER
The Mooseheads will have a tough December as they battle two of the top 6 teams in the league during the month plus Saint John, who have not made it easy on Halifax this season despite being close to the bottom of the standings. Halifax will play the Charlottetown Islanders 3 times, the Cape Breton Eagles 4 times and the Sea Dogs twice. Charlottetown defeated the Herd yesterday evening and are currently in 4th place overall, the two will meet for a home and home series on December 11 and 13. Saint John has a 3-1-0-0 record versus Halifax and the two will end 2019 battling each other in a New Year's Eve matinee in Moose Country. The two Nova Scotia clubs will have two home and home series, on this weekend and the other after the break in the annual Hurley Cup set.

Q Team of the Week

The QMJHL released it's team of the week on Monday and there are three Halifax Mooseheads players on it. This is the first time this season that at least one Moosehead has been given the honour. The Q doesn't do the stars of the week anymore, just the top player for the week.

Raphael Lavoie, Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Walter Flower were among the 5 guys on the team of the week. Lavoie picked up 4 goals and 8 points in 3 games over Thanksgiving weekend while Groulx had five assists, eight points and a +5. Flower meanwhile had a goal and 5 points.

Lavoie was also put on the CHL team of the week as one of the forwards. He had a 4 point night on Sunday against the Val-d'Or Foreurs and was named the 2nd star of the game.

Congratulations to all three players and keep up the strong play.

Huskies Win National Title

Photo - Vincent Ethier

Well, the QMJHL's 50th season has come to an end and it couldn't have finished any better I'm sure as both league representative's in the tournament were in the championship game.

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies defeated our Halifax Mooseheads for the sixth time in the month of May to claim it's first Memorial Cup trophy on Sunday night. Halifax got out to a 2-0 lead in the final match of the year before the Huskies came back to score 4 unanswered goals to win a trophy once again on Scotiabank Centre ice. Rouyn-Noranda were crowned the President Cup winners earlier this month while the Mooseheads were the tournament hosts. The two teams finished the round-robin with 2-1 records, Halifax was given a bye to the last game because of the tie-breaker rules while the Huskies had to defeat the Guelph Storm (OHL) in the semi-final. Peter Abbandonato scored what would end up being the game winning goal just 3:02 into the third period to help his team get a 4-2 victory.

Congratulations to the Huskies on being 2019 national champs!


In other news...

• With the best goals against average and save percentage of the tournament, Alexis Gravel was named the Top Goaltender. He was also named to the all-star team along with teammate Benoit-Olivier Groulx 
• The Stanley Cup finals are underway and there is one former Moosehead still playing; Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins are taking on the St. Louis Blues for the holy grail. Marchand leads the Bruins with 8 goals and 19 points through 18 games in this year's playoffs 
• Herd alumni Ladislav Nagy played his last international game last Tuesday, representing Slovakia at the 2019 IIHF World Championships. Nagy, who turns 40 on Saturday, scored the shootout winner for the Slovaks against Denmark in the country's final round robin game as the team did not advance to the playoff round this year

Asselin Leads Q This Week

For the second time this season, veteran forward Samuel Asselin was named the QMJHL Player of the Week for the week ending on February 3. The 20-year-old finished the week with 11 points over the three matches Halifax played between January 28 and February 3. On Thursday, he had two goals and 2 assists as the Mooseheads won 7-5 against the Victoriaville Tigres while Asselin had great game on Friday, scoring a hat trick and a couple of helpers. Samuel was named the first star on Friday when the Sherbrooke Phoenix came to town. In Moncton, the L’Assomption, QC native had a goal and an assist to lead to the Herd’s third victory in as many nights. He is the first player in the Q to reach 40 goals this season. In his 3 previous seasons combined Asselin had 34 goals in total.

The QMJHL also announced the Team of the Week today which included forwards Asselin and Antoine Morand as well as defenceman Jared McIsaac. Morand had a career night on Thursday, scoring a hat trick and picking up two helpers for a 5 point game, earning him the first star. The 19-year-old ended the week with 9 points. McIsaac also recorded 9 points last week as he scored twice and had 7 helpers.

Coach Eric Veilleux put Asselin, Morand and 18-year-old Raphael Lavoie together on a line Thursday evening and it seemed to have worked as the line combined for 28 points in Halifax’s three victories.

Congrats to all three players on being recognized for their awesome production last week. Keep up the great work boys.Coach Eric Veilleux put Asselin, Morand and 18-year-old Raphael Lavoie together on a line Thursday evening and it seemed to have worked as the line combined for 28 points in Halifax’s three victories.

Photos - QMJHL website

Former Herd Named a Star for November

Some congratulations are in order for a former Halifax Mooseheads forward today after the NHL announced it's three stars for the month of November. Herd alumni Nathan MacKinnon was named the first star of the month! In November, MacKinnon had 20 points, which broke down to 5 goals and 15 assists in 12 games played. Nathan's month was highlighted by a 5 point game on November 16, which if I remember correctly is the most points recorded in one match by a Colorado Avalanche player. Kid Mack was also a +11 during the month.






The 22 year old's 28 points this season leads the Avalanche. Since he was drafted 1st overall in 2013, he has played 323 regular season games scoring 83 goals and 151 assists for a total of 234 points.


Congrats Nathan! Keep up the good work.

Hischier Named to Three Stars

Photo - Mooseheads twitter

The QMJHL announced the three stars on Monday. Rookie Swiss forward Nico Hischier was named third star of the week for the week ending January 22nd, 2017. Nico had a goal and two assists Tuesday night in the shoot out win against Cape Breton. He had a goal in the shoot out loss to Chicoutimi on Thursday night. On Friday night he had a goal and two assists in the 7-4 loss to Baie Comeau on DND appreciation night.

First star honours went to Alexis D'Aoust of the Shawinigan Cataractes who had 7 points on the week and a plus six rating on the week. Second star honours went to Matthew Welsh of the Charlottetown Islanders who went 2-0 on the weekend.

Congratulations to Nico who was named third star of the week. Keep up the strong play to finish out the season!

Aube Named to 3 Stars

The QMJHL announced the 3 stars of the week today. Newly acquired Mooseheads defenseman Frederic Aube has been named the third star for the week ending January 8, 2017. The 20 year old had 2 assists in his last game with the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday. Aube showed the Herd faithful that the brass made the right decision in acquiring him, scoring 2 goals and recording 4 points on Friday night helping Halifax secure a 6-2 victory over the Moncton Wildcats. He added another assist on Saturday evening in another win by a score of 4-1 against Saint John.

First star honours went to goaltender Francis Leclerc of the Boisbraind Armada who had back to back shutouts while Voltigeurs' forward Mathieu Sevigny, who recorded 8 points in 3 games, was named second star.

Congratulations to Frederic on being named a star of the week. Keep up the strong play the rest of the season.

Rookie Goalie Gets Rewarded

Photo - The Chronicle Herald

For the fourth time in the past 6 weeks, a Halifax Mooseheads player was named a star of the week in the QMJHL. This week it was rookie goaltender Alexis Gravel who was rewarded for his strong play by being named the 2nd star. The 16 year old started the first two games of the team's Quebec road trip and went 1-1 letting in 3 goals over the two games. On Saturday Gravel came into the match against Baie-Comeau in relief but despite not allowing a goal in the 17 minutes he played, he couldn't pick up the win in the shootout. The Asbestos, QC native had a goals against average of 0.88 last week and a 0.962 save percentage. He was the first rookie goalie to collect 10 wins this season after a 4-1 victory over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Friday.

The 1st star of the week was awarded to Quebec Remparts goalie Callum Booth, who the Herd played on Wednesday evening. Booth stopped 61 of 63 shots last week winning both games he participated in. Meanwhile, Vincent Lanoue of the Victoriaville Tigres was named the third star. The defenseman collected 6 assists and maintained a +6 rating during the week.

Congratulations to Alexis and the other two players on being given the honours on Monday.

Mooseheads on QMJHL Monthly Stars

Photo - QMJHL website

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced the three stars for the month of November today. Halifax Mooseheads fans will be interested in who was named on the monthly stars this time as two players on the Herd were given a star. Rookie Nico Hischier was named 1st star of the month while veteran Max Fortier follows right after with 2nd star honours.

Hischier was named a star of the week twice so far this season and had a very strong month in terms of scoring. The 17 year old leads the league in rookie scoring by a large margin. He had 14 goals and 25 points in 11 games played in the past 30 days, collecting points in every game in November except for the last match against Quebec last night. The Naters, Switzerland natve maintained a +10 rating during the month and has helped his line of Fortier and Connor Moynihan become one of the most dangerous in the league. Nico is one of the top prospects for the 2017 NHL entry draft.

Fortier has streaked up the leaderboard in November with 7 goals and 26 points this month and is now a top of the league scoring. Twice the almost 19 year old has recorded 6 points during a game, leading to first star honours from the media. The Montreal, QC native has been good when Halifax has been down a man on the ice, scoring 5 shorthanded goals (3 in November) which leads the Q. Max had a +6 rating during the month and was even rewarded with a second stint on Team QMJHL for the Canada/Russia series.

Francois Beachemin of the Val-d'Or Foreurs rounds out the stars of the month being named third star by the league. The 20 year old had 22 points in his team's 11 games.

Congratulations to our boys for being rewarded for their hard work. Hope there is many more to come and many more exciting games for the Mooseheads.

Nico Given Star/Player of the Week

Photo - CHL twitter

With a nine point week, Halifax Mooseheads rookie forward Nico Hischier was named by the Canadian Hockey League as the player of the week for the week ending November 13, the league announced today. Hischier helped the Mooseheads to two high scoring victories over the weekend recording 4 goals and 5 assists while being a plus-4. The 17 year old scored twice and record 3 assists on Friday night as the Herd defeated the Sherbrooke Phoenix 9-5 on home ice. He than scored a hat trick and got a helper on another goal in Halifax's 7-4 win over the Charlottetown Islanders the next evening. It was his second hat trick of the season in his young career, bringing his points total to 34 in 21 games which is third in the league.

On Monday, Nico was also named the QMJHL's first star of the week. He was joined by Alex Dostie of the Gatineau Olympiques who was announced as the second star with 4 goals and 6 points in 3 games as well as Chicoutimi Sagueneens' Nicolas Roy who had 4 goals and 7 points in 2 games.

Congratulations to Nico on receiving both honours, very well deserved for the young man.

Hischier Named to 3 Stars

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced their three starsfor the week of October 24, 2016. For the first time this season, a Halifax Mooseheads player is among the 3 on the list that was put out today. Nico Hischier, a 17 year old rookie for the Herd, was named the second star of the week ending October 30. Hischier had seven points in the three games played this past week for Halifax. The Naters, Switzerland native had a big night on October 26 versus the Acadie-Bathurst Titan where he set a franchise record for most points in a single game for a rookie with 6 points. He was named the first star of the game on Wednesday after scoring a hat trick and assisting on 3 others helping the Moose to a 6-4 win.

QMJHL named Alexandre Goulet of the Victoriaville Tigres first star while Guilluame Beaudoin of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada received third star honours.

Congratulations to Nico on being named the QMJHL's 2nd star of the week. Keep up the strong play this season.

Herd Word

CHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Canadian Hockey League announced it's player of the week today. After being named the first star of the QMJHL for the week of March 2-8, Danish forward Nikolaj Ehlers was named the CHL Player of the Week. The 19 year old had 12 points and a plus/minus rating of plus-8. This is the second time Ehlers has been given the honour this season. Read the full press release here. Congrats once again Nikolaj.

UNIVERSITY CUP

CIS University Cup logo
via ticketatlantic.ca

The Canadian Interuniversity Sport's hockey championships are less than 48 hours away. This year they will be hosted at the Scotiabank Centre by the St. FX X-Men and will be held March 12-March 15. There are 7 former Mooseheads players in the tournament, all on Atlantic University Sport teams. The host X-Men will be joined by the Alberta Golden Bears, UNB Varsity Reds, Guelph Gryphons, Windsor Lancers, Acadia Axemen, Patriotes UQTR and Calgary Dinos. The quarterfinals will be held on Thursday and Friday with the winners playing in the semis on Saturday. The bronze medal and championship games will be on Sunday at 2pm and 6:30pm respectively. Click here for the University Cup website and a more in depth look at the tournament.

KID MACK HURT
Former Halifax Mooseheads player Nathan MacKinnon won't be playing hockey for awhile. The current Colorado Avalanche forward will be out for 6-8 weeks with a broken foot. The reigning NHL rookie of the year sustained the injury on Wednesday in the Avs 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unless Colorado makes the playoffs, MacKinnon's season is done. The Avalanche are currently 7 points out of a playoff position with 16 games to go.

CROSSLEY
It's been almost a week since the scary moment that happened last Wednesday in a game versus the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Elijah Francis laid out a hit on rookie Brett Crossley near the boards and the 17 year old Mooseheads forward was stretchered off the ice after laying still for about 10 minutes. Luckily, Crossley is doing okay after the hit. His father Brad had this to say on Facebook on Thursday.

METRO NEWS 
Coach Domique Ducharme told the Metro News that the QMJHL reffing has 'been ridiculous in the last seven, eight games we've played in the Maritimes Division'. For the full article click here.

NEXT UP
Your Halifax Mooseheads will be on the road this weekend, travelling to Bathurst and Saint John. The Herd will visit the Titan on Friday night and than the Sea Dogs on Saturday night. Friday's match-up will be the last of the season series between the Moose and Titan. Halifax is 5-3-0-0 against Acadie-Bathurst this year. The Moose will be meeting Saint John again after this weekend, in the season finale for both teams. Halifax has yet to beat the Dogs this season, going 0-5-1-0 against them.

LIVE TWEETS
Talking about this weekend, I will be heading up to Saint John to watch the boys play and as such will be doing some live tweeting. Let's pray I don't forget my phone charger like I did last year! Though I will be going to the last two home games of the regular season, Saturday's away match-up will be my last live tweet until the playoffs.

1st Star for Nikolaj

Nikolaj Ehlers
Photo via metronews.ca

With a 12 point week, the QMJHL's first star of the week is Halifax Mooseheads alternate captain Nikolaj Ehlers. The 19 year old scored 5 goals and assisted on 7 others in three games played in the past week. He had a goal and 4 assists in a first star performance on Wednesday night, with the Herd winning 7-4. In a tough 5-4 loss to their provincial rivals, Nik scored his 7th career hat trick. The Danish forward is now 4th in league scoring with 94 points.

Ehlers is joined by Daniel Sprong of the Charlottetown Islanders and Chicoutimi Sagueneens' Julio Billia. Sprong was named the second star after recording a 11 point week. The sophomore had 6 goals and 5 assists in four games. Goaltender Billia was 2-0-0-0 this week for the Sags, receiving third star of the week honours, while recording a 1.49 goals against average.

Congratulations to Nikolaj!

Ehlers Named 3rd Star

Nikolaj Ehlers
Photo credit: David Chan

The QMJHL has released its three stars of the week for January 5-11, 2015 and Halifax Mooseheads forward Nikolaj Ehlers was given the 3rd star. In a 6-3 victory over the Gatineau Olympiques, Ehlers scored a hat trick to help the team in his return from the World Juniors. He recorded a total of 4 goals and 2 assists in two game played this past weekend, both wins. Nik was also a plus-5 this week.

This weekend's games give Ehlers 20 goals and 53 points in 25 games played this season. That's good enough for thirteenth overall in Q scoring. 

He joins Evgeni Svechnikov of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Shawinigan Catractes' Gabriel Slight. Svechnikov had 3 goals and 6 assists in 3 games with a plus-4. Slight also scored three goals and collected 7 points in two games. 

Moynihan Gets First Star

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced today the stars of the month for December. Halifax Mooseheads player Daniel Moynihan was named the first star. The Boston, Massachusetts native led the Herd in points and assists. In 9 games, Moynihan scored 6 goals and collected 11 assists. He maintained a plus-5 rating for the month which was third on the team.

Danny is joined this month by Cameron Darcy of the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Darcy recorded 14 points in 6 games played during the month of December. Quebec Remparts player Ryan Graves received third star honours. Graves scored 6 goals and assisted on 5 others. 

Congratulations to Danny and the other two players. 

Herd Word

Zach Fucale in play with the Mooseheads

FUCALE
Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale is in St. Catherines, Ontario this week preparing for the 2015 World Juniors that will be held in Toronto and Montreal between the December 26 and January 5. On the weekend, Team Canada had a couple of exhibition games against CIS all-stars. Fucale played in goal on Saturday and stopped 23 of 26 shots on route to helping Canada beat the university team 10-3. He did not play on Sunday evening when Canada had a rematch against the CIS. Fucale and Team Canada will have their next game on Saturday night for their first pre-comp game.

EHLERS
Winnipeg Jets prospect Nikolaj Ehlers on the other hand is trying to help his Denmark team win a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge that is being held in Saskatchewan this week. The Danes are in the tournament as preparation for the U20 World Championships after Christmas. Ehlers and the Danes were playing Canada West on Sunday afternoon, winning 3-2 on the back of Nik's 2 goals. The good game led to Ehlers being named the Star of the Day. Nik got a hat trick during Denmark's 4-2 victory over Russia in today's action. The two wins mean that Denmark wins their division and will play next in the tournament's semifinals on Thursday.

GADOURY
Forward Philippe Gadoury was named the second star of the week today by the QMJHL. He had 3 goals and 6 points in two games played during the week of December 8, 2014. He also had a plus-5 rating in the week's games, which were both victories for the Mooseheads.

TWO WINS
Your Halifax Mooseheads skated to two very close victories on Thursday and Saturday night. The Quebec Remparts visited Moose Country on Thursday night and were able to claw back from a 3-1 deficit to take it in a shootout. Matt Murphy scored 2 goals in the last 6 minutes to tie the game and Timo Meier scored the shootout winner. Kevin Resop was in nets for the Moose with Fucale away at WJC camp and made 30 saves for the win. Timo Meier also led the Herd to a win on the road on Saturday night as they visited the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, skating away with another 5-4 ovetime win against the Titan. Meier scored the first and last goal for Halifax while Gadoury scored the tying goal with less than 2 minutes left in regulation.

WEEGAR
Former Halifax player MacKenzie Weegar scored his first professional goal on Friday night. He gave the San Antonio Rampage a 2-0 lead which led to a 3-0 win for the Rampage against the Iowa Wild. Congrats to Weegs on the goal. Here's to more in the future.

TRADE PERIOD

Acadie-Bathurst Titan logo

The QMJHL winter trade period opens on Friday December 19th officially. Some trades have already taken place including one with the Moncton Wildcats sending Vladimir Tkachev to the Quebec Remparts for Taylor Burke. It's a mix opinion about what the Mooseheads will do this holiday season. Some have been speculating that Cam Russell will trade Fucale to the Remparts while he is in Montreal playing for Team Canada. After Matt Murphy was a healthy scratch on Saturday, speculation started that there was a trade in the works to send the 20 year old veteran somewhere else in return for some picks. What will happen will soon be told but keep it here and I will let you know.

UP NEXT
The Moose will welcome the Titan on Wednesday night. This game was originally supposed to be played last Wednesday but had to be rescheduled to this week because of a snow storm in Bathurst. Halifax will then travel to Charlottetown to take on the Islanders on Thursday night. These are the last two games for the boys before Christmas break. They will be back in action after Christmas on December 28.

Great Month For Nikolaj Continues

A day after being named the QMJHL's first star of the week, the Halifax Mooseheads Danish forward Nikolaj Ehlers was named the 1st star of the month for November as well as the CHL Player of the Week.

Nikolaj's player profile pic
on halifaxmooseheads.ca

Ehlers played in all 12 Mooseheads games in November and had at least a point in each game. Nik had a total of 34 points which included 12 goals and 22 assists. He led the team in most categories during the month and had an incredible plus-15 rating. In just 21 games played this season, Ehlers has 43 points which has jumped him to a tie for fourth in league scoring.

He is joined by forward Conor Garland of the Moncton Wildcats is the 2nd star and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada's goaltender Samuel Montembeault is the 3rd star.


Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League today announced that Winnipeg Jets prospect Nikolaj Ehlers of the Halifax Mooseheads is the CHL Player of the Week for the week ending November 30 with 13 points in three games including five goals and eight assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-5.