Seven players reassigned, roster set

Photo - Mooseheads Facebook

Our Halifax Mooseheads announced its regular season roster on Sunday evening after reassigning another seven players earlier in the day. Surprisingly, there were only two rounds of cuts but the NCAA rule change made it a different training camp. It was a very competitive camp as well so that made it hard for the brass to make decisions. With the roster moves today, Halifax will go into the 2025-26 season with 24 players. 

Players cut
F Callum Aucoin (returnee)
G Jack Bell (2025 pick)
D Ryan Fletcher (free agent)
F Cole MacLeod (2024 pick)
F Cade Moser (returnee)
G Olivier St-Onge (2023 pick)
D Logan Trewin (2024 pick)

The regular season roster includes 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders. 17 veterans will be joined by seven new players on the team. One of the new players is 20-year-old free agent signee Connor MacPherson who will start the year as the lone overager on the Mooseheads. 

Congrats to all the guys who made the team and for the new guys, welcome to Moose Country. Good luck to the guys who got cut with their respective teams this season. 

My next post will have the full roster. 

Halifax will play one more pre-season game on September 5 while the home opener is set for September 20 against the Charlottetown Islanders. 

Moose make first roster cuts

Our Halifax Mooseheads made their first round of cuts on Thursday afternoon and it was big one with 18 players being reassigned. Not surprising there was such a large amount who were sent down to their respective teams but I am a bit surprised by a couple of the guys who did get released today. The article put out by the team did not mention if any of the players left voluntarily. 

Players cut:
D Duncan Anderson
D Cole Bent
D Nicolas Blanchette
F Elie Champagne
F Nico Ciardiello 
F Thomas Cote
D Mickael Fournier
D Jameson George
G Thomas Laplante
G Sam Madgett
F Tucker Makinen
F Jayden Napon
F Noah Olmedo
F Nathan Ruel
F Sam Ryan
F Jordan Shaw
D Gavin Sudds
F Ylan Verpaelst

The training camp roster now stands at 17 forwards, 10 defencemen and four goalies. Previous years we would have seen another round of cuts before Saturday's pre-season game but its possible Cam Russell and staff will wait until after the match. We could even see the regular season roster be named after the game in Truro.  

49 players on camp roster

Photo - Herd website

A total of 49 players have been invited to the Halifax Mooseheads 2025 training camp that will start in a few days. The roster includes 27 forwards, 16 defencemen and six goaltenders. It consists of 19 returning players from the 2024-25 season so that will make for a very competitive camp over the next number of weeks. 

The lone 20-year-old on the camp roster is the recently acquired forward Connor MacPherson who was signed by Cam Russell as a free agent, the team announced on Friday. Defenceman Malik L'Italien - the third overall pick in June's QMJHL Entry Draft - headlines the new crop of 16-year-olds arriving in Moose Country along with Americans Cameron Minella and Paulo Gualberto. 2025 CHL import picks Oleg Kulebyakin (Russia) and Jasu Mensonen (Finland) will join Carlos Handel as the Herd's European players this year, however Mensonen won't arrive to Halifax until later in camp after concluding his mandatory military service. 

Roster below
Duncan Anderson   D   Antigonish, NS   (draft '25)
Callum Aucoin   F   Hammonds Plains, NS   (trade)
Jack Bell   G   Antigonish, NS   (draft '25)

Cole Bent   D   Halifax, NS   (draft '24)

William Bent   F   Dover, MA   (draft '24)

Caylen Blake   F   Corner Brook, NL   (draft '24)

Nicolas Blanchette   D   St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC   (draft '25)
Owen Bresson   G   Dominion, NS   (trade)
Shawn Carrier   F   Trois-Rivieres, QC   (trade)

Elle Champagne   F   St-Georges-de-Beauce, QC   (draft '24)

Justin Chiras   D   Bedford, NH   (free agent)

Nico Ciardiello   F   Guilford, CT   (draft '24)

Thomas Cote   F   Quebec, QC   (draft '24)

Eddy Doyle   D   Tignish, PE   (draft '23)

Ryan Fletcher   D   Brookfield, NS   (free agent)

Antoine Fontaine   F   Granby, QC   (draft '22)

Mickael Fournier   D   Laval, QC   (draft '24)

Jameson George   D   Rothesay, NB   (draft '23)

Nicolas Gilham-Cirka   G   Westmount, QC   (draft '24)

Paulo Gualberto   F   Bamstable, MA   (draft '25)

Carlos Handel   D   Erlangen, Germany   (import)

Quinn Kennedy   F   Upper Tantallon, NS   (trade)

Liam Kilfoil   F   Quispamsis, NB   (draft '23)

Oleg Kulebyakin   F   St. Petersburg, Russia   (import)

Malik L'Italien   D   Montreal, QC   (draft '25)

Thomas Laplante   G   Rosemare, QC   (draft '24)

Cole MacLeod   F   Porters Lake, NS   (draft '24)

Connor MacPherson   F   Windsor, ON   (free agent)

Sam Madgett   G   Stillwater Lake, NS   (draft '23)

Tucker Makinen   F   Bedford, NS   (draft '23)

Patrick McNab   F   Beaconsfield, QC   (draft '23)

Jasu Mensonen   F   Imatra, Finland   (import)

Cameron Minella   D   Darien, CT   (draft '25)

Cade Moser   F   Linacy, NS   (draft '22)

Jayden Napon   F   Montreal, QC   (draft '25)

Alec Nasreddine   F   Mountainside, NJ   (draft '23)

Noah Olmedo-Matte   F   Repentigny, QC   (draft '24)

Owen Phillips   D   Hammonds Plains, NS   (draft '22)

Nathan Ruel   F   Riviere-du-Loup, QC   (draft '25)

Sam Ryan   F   Dartmouth, NS   (draft '25)

Amelio Santini   F   Cote-Saint-Luc, QC   (draft '24)

Jordan Shaw   F   Coleman, PE   (free agent)

Olivier St-Onge   G   Edmundston, NB   (draft '23)

Gavin Sudds   D   Sydney, NS   (draft '24)

Mathieu Taillefer   D   Richelieu, QC   (draft '22)

Logan Trewin   D   Halifax, NS   (draft '24)

Ylan Verpaelst   F   Magog, QC   (draft '25)

Daniel Walters   F   Halifax, NS   (draft '24)

Lincoln Waugh   D   Summerside, PE   (trade)

I suspect we will see first cuts before Tuesday's pre-season game, and the release of the official regular season roster I'm sure will be announced before the end of August. Follow along on this blog and on social media for camp news and updates. 

Training camp starts Saturday

Halifax Mooseheads training camp starts this Saturday when players report to Dartmouth for registration day which normally includes physicals as well. 

The team released its first week schedule at the end of July and it will see the attendees participate in some practices, 4 white-green intrasquad games and three of club's 4 pre-season matches. Camp will take place on Rink B of the RBC Centre with the intrasquad games being free to attend for fans. 

Sun Aug 17         9am & 3pm        Green vs White intrasquad

Mon Aug 18        9am & 3pm        Green vs White intrasquad

Tue Aug 19         7pm                    Pre-season @ Cape Breton (Centre 200)

Wed Aug 20        7pm                   Pre-season vs Cape Breton (St. Margaret's Centre)

Thu Aug 21        10am-1pm          Practice

Fri Aug 22          10am-1pm          Practice

Sat Aug 23          4pm                   Pre-season vs Cape Breton (Rath Eastlink Community Centre)

Sun Aug 24         10am-1pm         Practice

Tickets are on-sale now for the home games at ticketmaster.ca and on the RECC website. I'll share the roster later in the week and any more info as it comes out. 

Final Four Reassignments Made

The Halifax Mooseheads announced their opening night roster for the team's 30th season today. A final four players were reassigned to their respective midget clubs and Halifax will go into the 2023-24 season with 23 young men. 

Players cut on Thursday
G Sam Madgett
D Eddy Doyle
D Jameson George
F Ben Wallace

The regular season roster includes fourteen forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders. 16 veterans will be joined by 7 new players on the team with one of those rookies being Jack Milner after goalie Brady James decided to leave the club earlier this week. His departure means that the Herd have an overage position available so we could see a move in the coming months to fill that spot. 

Congrats to all the guys who made the team and for the new guys, welcome to Moose Country! Good luck to Ben, Sam, Eddy and Jameson this season. 

My next post will have the full roster. 

Halifax will next play a pre-season game on September 9 in Charlottetown while the 30th anniversary home opener is set to go on September 22 against the Islanders. 

Moose Make Big Round of Cuts

Our Halifax Mooseheads made their first official round of cuts on Saturday afternoon. I don't think I have ever seen the team take this long to announce reassignments during training camp. 

We are a week into camp and the Mooseheads have trimmed their roster by 17 players today. Four players left voluntarily earlier in the week after 48 hours, probably to keep their NCAA eligibility. It was announced on Tuesday that forwards Alec Nasreddine, James Chase, Tristan LeBlanc and Tucker Makinen made the decision to leave camp. 

As for today's cuts, it includes two goalies, seven defencemen and eight forwards. The roster now sits at 28 players with several returning veterans expected to arrive arrive for practice on Sunday according to the press release. 

Players leaving
G Olivier St-Onge
G George Foti
D Colin Brodeur
D Hugo Boucher
D Camden McKenzie
D Nik Mokriakov
D Andrew Thompson
D Ryan Fletcher 
D Ben Manos
F Aidan Bent
F Hudson Clarke
F Mathis Laplante
F Will Carroll
F Tyler Totten
F Tully Grant
F Keegan O'Neill
F Justin Breton

Halifax will continue to practice this week and will play their next pre-season on September 9th in Charlottetown. The Herd have not gotten off to a great start, going into the break with a 0-3 record. 

Good luck to all the players above with whatever teams they end up with this season. 

Green Takes Game 1

If you were at the RBC Centre on Sunday afternoon, you were treated to a bit of a one sided match up in the Green vs. White intrasquad game. The on-ice portion of training camp got underway this morning with the team divided into two separate groups for practice at 9 a.m. followed by the intrasquad game at 3 p.m. Team Green took the first contest by a score of 8-3 as three of their players scored two goals each. The team will have the same schedule tomorrow. 

The game appeared like it might go into the second period all tied but Mathis Laplante scored late in the opening frame to give Green a 3-2 lead as the boys headed to the locker rooms. Ben Wallace recorded the first goal of the match however, to give White a 1-0 lead. Goals by Alec Nasreddine, Reece Peitzsche and Aidan Bent made the score 6-2 Team Green after 40 minutes. Bent, Laplante and Nasreddine all scored twice during the game. The other Team White goals came from Cade Moser and Eddy Doyle. 

Most of the veterans did not play in this afternoon's game and I expect we won't see them tomorrow either. If things go like normal, we will probably see the first round of cuts on Monday evening or possibly Tuesday morning. Should I get the opportunity, I will let you know here. 

Training Camp Details

Photo - Herd website

Hockey will be starting very soon. 

The Halifax Mooseheads have announced that their 2023 training camp will begin on August 19 when players arrive to the city for physicals and registration at RBC Centre. A total of 49 players are set to attend camp this year including the 2022-23 leading scorer Jordan Dumais, Halifax's top draft selection in June's Q draft Liam Kilfoil and 2023 import pick Yannik Ponzetto. 

You can find the schedule for the first 2 weeks by looking here. Like previous years, practices and intrasquad games held at the RBC Centre will be open to the public for free. Tickets for the pre-season games are on sale now and can be bought on the new Mooseheads TicketMaster page. 

Here is the 2023 training camp roster (yy-mm-dd)
Name   Pos   Birthdate   From
Aidan Bent   LW   2006-07-08   Nova Scotia
Hugo Bucher   D   2006-01-09   Quebec
Justin Breton   C   2006-02-14   Quebec
Colin Brodeur   D   2007-05-26   Quebec
Will Carroll   C   2007-01-06   Newfoundland
Mathieu Cataford   C   2005-03-01   Quebec
James Chase   LW   2006-04-08   Vermont
Hudson Clarke   C   2006-01-29   Nova Scotia
Logan Crosby   LW   2005-12-14   Nova Scotia
Eddy Doyle   D   2007-11-08   Prince Edward Island
Jordan Dumais   RW   2004-04-15   Quebec
Ryan Fletcher   D   2006-01-20   Nova Scotia
Antoine Fontaine   C   2006-07-10   Quebec
George Foti   G   2006-09-22   Quebec
Brody Fournier   C   2003-05-26   Ontario
Jake Furlong   D   2004-03-04   Nova Scotia
Jameson George   D   2007-03-28   New Brunswick
Tully Grant   C   2005-05-17   Nova Scotia
Brady James   G   2003-02-19   Quebec
Liam Kilfoil   C   2007-03-21   New Brunswick
Mathis Laplante   RW   2006-12-17   Quebec
Tristan LeBlanc   LW   2006-02-16   Nova Scotia
Lou Levesque   C   2006-03-15   Quebec
Dominic MacKenzie   D   2006-06-28   Nova Scotia
Dylan MacKinnon   D   2005-01-12   New Brunswick
Braeden MacPhee   C   2004-05-30   New Brunswick
Sam Madgett   G   2007-07-31   Nova Scotia
Tucker Makinen   LW   2007-05-07   Nova Scotia
Ben Manos   D   2006-07-25   Nova Scotia
Jack Martin   D   2005-02-10   New Brunswick
Camden McKenzie   D   2004-09-09   Nova Scotia
Jack Milner   G   2005-02-05   Nova Scotia
Nik Mokriakov   D   2006-03-14   Nova Scotia
David Moravec   D   2003-09-18   Czechia
Cade Moser   C   2006-03-01   Nova Scotia
Alec Nasreddine   LW   2007-02-14   New Jersey
Keegan O'Neill   LW   2006-12-16   Nova Scotia
Reece Peitzsche   C   2006-12-08   Nova Scotia
Owen Phillips   D   2006-01-12   Nova Scotia
Yannik Ponzetto   LW   2006-06-08   Switzerland
Mathis Rousseau   G   2004-09-10   Quebec
Brady Schultz   D   2004-07-23   Connecticut 
Olivier St-Onge   G   2007-10-10   New Brunswick
Andrew Thompson   D   2006-06-10   Prince Edward Island
Jake Todd   C   2005-07-13   Nova Scotia
Tyler Totten   C   2005-11-18   Nova Scotia
Markus Vidicek   C   2004-03-21   Quebec
Ben Wallace   C   2005-03-04   Nova Scotia
Liam Welsh   C   2005-01-20   Nova Scotia

A few notes about the roster

• The roster consists of 27 forwards, 16 defencemen and six goalies while there are 17 returning players 
• You will notice that a few players who are still eligible are not listed; last season's captain Attilio Biasca has decided to return home to play professionally with EV Zug, Zach L'Heureux seems to be on his way to suit up for the Milwaukee Admirals and Cam Whynot was released (not sure why) 
• Unless Cam Russell and co. make moves before the season begins, it looks like the overagers will be Brody Fournier, Brady James and David Moravec while the Euro spots belong to Moravec and Yannik Ponzetto

First cuts are normally made before the first pre-season game with the final roster generally announced by the end of August, we'll have to wait and see if this holds true again this year.

CAMP: Mooseheads Make Final Cuts

General Manager Cam Russell and company made their final cuts to the training camp roster on Tuesday morning. The club announced that two players were released with one being veteran Stephen Davis. Halifax also let go of goaltender Jack Milner which really isn't a surprise. 

Photo - TSN

The 20-year-old quickly became a popular player for the Mooseheads and was an alternate captain during the 2021-22 regular season. "We all love Stephen here, the players, coaches and staff. He's a great person and will be missed but we are also extremely excited with the seven talented defencemen who have earned their spots on the roster and are the best fit for our team at this time." Russell said of the move. The departure of Davis means the Mooseheads will begin the season with one overage player in the form of forward Evan Boucher. 

This means that the Herd will break camp with 22 players on the roster and go with 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders to start the 2022-23 regular season. 

Good luck to Stephen with his new team wherever he ends up. 

Herd Word

Former Halifax Mooseheads have had some big things happen over the last week or so while the current team is coming together for the regular season. 

Photo - AMH Photography

MACKINNON PARADE
The 2013 NHL number one pick Nathan MacKinnon won the Stanley Cup back in June with the Colorado Avalanche and he finally had his day with the trophy last weekend. MacKinnon brought the Cup back to Halifax where he played junior hockey for a parade and the city showed up big time. His teammates Gabriel Landeskog and Andrew Cogliano were also in the parade. Before it began, Nathan was on Citadel Hill to shoot off the noon gun. The 28-year-old answered a few questions from Paul Hollingsworth afterwards in Grand Parade Square in front of thousands of fans. 

It was a good parade and it was nice to see Kid Mack give props to his family, coaches and the city of Halifax for helping him get to where he is today. 

Check out some highlights from the day in the video below. 

WORLD JUNIORS
Well, the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were finally able to be completed last weekend with Team Canada raising the trophy on August 20. With Canada's victory, former Mooseheads captain Elliot Desnoyers is a champion! Congrats to Desy on winning the gold medal. The 20-year-old finished the tournament with an assist in 7 games played. The Canadians went undefeated and won the final match 3-2 in overtime over Team Finland. 

Photo - Hockey Canada Twitter

Also in the tournament were Herd alumni Senna Peeters (Austria) and current forward Attilio Biasca (Switzerland). Peeters recorded a goal and 3 points in the preliminary round as Austria lost all 4 games to end in 9th place. Biasca had a great tournament scoring four goals and picking up 2 assists but unfortunately, Switzerland lost in the quarter-finals to Canada.

Photo - Birdgeport Islanders Instagram

DURANDEAU
23-year-old Arnaud Durandeau, who played for Halifax for four years from 2015-2019, got some good news last week when the New York Islanders signed him to a two-year two-way contract along with three other players. Durandeau set new career highs in goals (15), assists (22) and points (37) in 64 games with the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL last season. He ranked third on the team in goals and was tied for fifth in points during his third professional campaign. Congrats to Arnaud on signing a new contract.

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE
Things have been moving quickly at training camp this past week. Cam Russell and company made more decisions, releasing sixteen additional players. On Thursday, a total of nine young men were cut from the camp roster. The following players were cut from the camp roster on Thursday; Justin Breton (F), Mathis Laplante (F), Landon MacIntosh (F), Dominic MacKenzie (D), Cade Moser (F), Joe Power (D), Adam Tkacz (G), Ty Totten (F) and Ben Wallace (F). Goalie George Foti was released from camp on Wednesday. Six players were cut on Saturday morning including forwards Antoine Fontaine, Lou Levesque, Brandon Abbass and Bryson Boudreau along with defencemen Hugo Boucher and Dylan Chisholm. 

Russell made a trade on Wednesday afternoon as well when they acquired centre and Beaver Bank, NS-native Jake Todd from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in exchange for a 2023 4th round draft pick. Todd has played the past two seasons with the Cole Harbour Wolfpack where he has scored 79 points in 55 games with 23 goals and 56 assists. 

All these moves mean that there are 25 players remaining at camp. Another small round of cuts still needs to happen before the 2022-23 regular season roster is named but I suspect that will happen before the end of August. 

ZADINA

Photo - Wings website 

The Detroit Red Wings announced on Friday that they have re-signed right winger Filip Zadina to a three-year contract with an average annual value of $1.825 million. Zadina, 22, skated in 74 games with the Red Wings in 2021-22 and recorded a career-high 24 points (10-14-24) and 10 penalty minutes. Originally selected by Detroit in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Filip has totalled 61 points in 160 NHL games. 

Congrats to Filip on signing a new contract. 

CRITCHLOW
Former Herd Cameron Critchlow has been named captain of the EIHL's Manchester Storm for the 2022-23 season. The 31-year-old is heading into his fourth season in England. Critchlow played one season for Halifax back in 2011-12. He had 14 goals and 37 points in 54 games last season with the Storm. Manchester start their regular season on September 10 against the Coventry Blaze. 

Photo - Storm Twitter

CAMP: Herd Release 7 Before 1st Pre-Season Game

Photo - Mooseheads Twitter

As I expected, our Halifax Mooseheads have made the first round of cuts before they play in their first pre-season game tonight. General Manager Cam Russell made the announcement on Tuesday morning, saying that the club had released seven players.

Players leaving
G  Russ Decoste  
D  Mathieu Taillefer
D  Ben Robertson
D  Noah Razon
F  James Chase
F  Kyle Greene
F  Hudson Clarke

According to the press release, Clarke suffered a clavicle injury during an intrasqaud game on Monday and has decided to return home. The team is also awaiting the arrival of 2022 CHL import draft pick David Moravec who is expected to arrive later tonight. 

With these moves, it leaves 40 players on the training camp roster. 

Good luck to all the 7 guys who left camp with whatever team you end up with this year. 

47 Players to Attend Training Camp

Photo - Saltwire

Halifax Mooseheads hockey is getting close to being back and it begins with training camp starting on Saturday. The team announced schedule details for camp last week, which you can find here. 

The Mooseheads have invited 47 players to participate in camp over the next month. The roster breaks down to six goaltenders, 15 defenceman and 26 forwards It consists of 17 returning players along with all fifteen of Halifax's draft picks from 2022 plus more. I suspect the first cuts will be made before the first pre-season game on Tuesday. 

Below is the 2022 Training Camp roster. 
Brandon Abbass  F  (free agent)   
Attilio Biasca  F  (import)   
Evan Boucher  F  (free agent)
Hugo Boucher  D  (draft '22)
Bryson Boudreau  F  (free agent)   
Justin Breton  F  (draft '22)   
Mathieu Cataford  F  (draft '21)
James Chase  F  (draft '22)    
Dylan Chisholm  D  (free agent)
Hudson Clarke  F  (draft '22)    
Logan Crosby  F  (draft '21)
Stephan Davis  D  (draft '18)
Russ DeCoste  G  (free agent)
Jordan Dumais  F  (draft '20)
Antoine Fontaine  F  (draft '22)
George Foti  G  (draft '22)
Brody Fournier  F  (free agent)
Jake Furlong  D  (draft '20)
Kyle Greene  F  (draft '22)
Zachary L'Heureux  F  (trade)
Mathis Laplante  F  (draft '22)
Lou Levesque  F  (draft '22)
Landon MacIntosh  F  (free agent)
Dominic MacKenzie  D  (draft '22)
Dylan MacKinnon  D  (draft '21)
Braeden MacPhee  F  (draft '20)
Jack Martin  D  (draft '21)
David Moravec  D  (import)
Jack Milner  G  (draft '21)
Cade Moser  F  (draft '22)
Robert Orr  F  (trade)
Reece Peitzsche  F  (draft '22)
Owen Phillips  D  (draft '22)
Joseph Power  D  (draft '21)
Noah Razon  D  (draft '21)
Ben Robertson  D  (draft '22)
Mathis Rousseau  G  (draft '20)
Brady Schultz  D  (draft '20)
James Swan  F  (draft '20) 
Mathieu Taillefer  D  (draft '22)
Adam Tkacz  G  (free agent)
Tyler Totten  F  (free agent)
Markus Vidicek  F  (draft '20)
Ben Wallace  F  (draft '21)
Liam Welsh  F  (draft '21)
Cameron Whynot  D  (trade)

Training Camp Details Announced

Details for our Halifax Mooseheads 2022 Training Camp were released by the club today and it looks pretty much like a pre-COVID camp. Players will return to Moose Country with registration on August 20 at RBC Centre in Dartmouth. Action on the ice kicks off the following day at 9am with the first-of-four Green vs White scrimmages. All games and practices will be open to the public according to the press release.

Below is the schedule for the first couple of weeks
August 21 & 22
9am   Green vs White Intrasquad Game 
3pm   Green vs White Intrasquad Game

August 23 
7pm   Pre-season game at Cape Breton

August 24 
7pm   Pre-season game vs Cape Breton

August 25 
11am   Practice
3pm   Practice

August 26
7pm   Pre-season game vs Saint John

August 29-September 1
10am   Practice

A limited amount of tickets for the home pre-season games will go on sale August 9th at 11am at TicketAtlantic.com

CAMP: More Moves Made By Team

I was hoping that these would be the final moves made by our Halifax Mooseheads but as of the writing of this post, the team has not announced their regular season roster. The club did make a few cuts this week plus another trade of a veteran. 

On Monday, general manager Cam Russell announced that the team had reassigned two veteran players releasing defenceman Keegan Hunt and Lucas Robinson. Hunt, a Moncton, NB native, was drafted by the Mooseheads in the 5th round in 2019 and picked up one assist in 34 games played over his two seasons with the team. Robinson had a little bit more success, scoring three goals and 5 points with 86 games played between 2019-21. The 19 year old was drafted in the 8th round in 2019. 

Photo - Herd website

Another veteran defenceman got moved by the club on Tuesday morning as 20-year-old Brendan Tomilson was released. The Cameron, ON native played in 80 games for the Mooseheads collecting 4 goals and 13 assists while adding 72 career penalty minutes. His departure left the Herd with an overage spot. 

It didn't take long for Russell to fill that open overage spot as he made a trade with the Charlottetown Islanders acquiring forward Zachary Beauregard in exchange for a 5th round pick in 2023. Beauregard was a 'thorn in the side of the Mooseheads throughout the season last year with nine assists and 38 penalty minutes in 19 games played against Halifax.' 

"We like the style he brings to the lineup for us. He's the type of player that can be extremely difficult to play against," Russell said. "He's going to bring some veteran leadership and experience. We're just happy we don't have to play against him anymore."

These recent moves leave 24 players on the training camp roster. Considering that Elliot Desnoyers and William Robitaille are out with injuries, the current names could be what the team starts the regular season with but we'll have to wait and see. The official roster should be announced this week according to Russell.

Photo - Saltwire 

Herd Word

NEW COACHING POSITIONS 
More former Halifax Mooseheads coaches have been given positions with new teams. Townsend, ON native Jim Midgley has joined the National Hockey League's New York Rangers staff as an assistant coach. Midgley, who head coached the Herd during the 2017-18 season, is currently an assistant coach on Team Canada at the Women's World Championships in Calgary. Check out the reaction from the ladies when they were told of Jim's new job here. 

The Saint Mary's Huskies announced last week that Cole Harbour native Jon Greenwood has been added to their coaching staff as the new defense coach. Greenwood had spent the last 7 seasons with our Mooseheads. 

Photo - Rangers website

RECENT CUTS
After the pre-season game on Friday night, Cam Russell, Sylvain Favreau and the staff announced another round of cuts which leaves 26 players now in training camp. A surprise to many, the Herd reassigned free agent Bryson Boudreau along with Liam Welsh and Merle Putnam. Boudreau was on another level during the first week of camp, scoring 8+ goals over the multiple intrasquad games and picked up 3 assists in 3 pre-season matches. Many expected him to make the team after his performance the last two weeks. 

With the moves, the regular season roster is starting to shape up and unlike I previously thought, we could see the announcement of who made the team sometime this week. We're getting close Moose Country. 

SIGNINGS
It looks like a couple more Herd alumni will be playing in the ECHL in 2021-22. The Allen Americans announced they re-signed tough guy Kelly Bent on Tuesday. The Halifax native played for the Americans last season in 18 games and collected 71 penalty minutes. Bent was apart of the Mooseheads for two seasons (2014-16) before joining the Dalhousie Tigers for university. 

A teammate of Bent with both the Herd and Tigers, 25 year old forward Andrew Shewfelt will presumably turn pro after being signed by the Wichita Thunder late last week. He suited up for his hometown junior team for three seasons (2013-16) collecting 58 points with Halifax. Shewfelt was supposed to play in his fourth season with Dalhousie in 2020-21 but the pandemic cancelled university hockey. 

"I'm thrilled to be coming to Wichita for my first year of professional hockey," stated Shewfelt. "I've heard nothing but great things about the city, fans, and the organization. I'm excited to get down there and get to work."

Check back later in the year to see which teams the other former players are suiting up for this season in the next Where Are They Now? blog post. 

TICKETS
Some new about Halifax Mooseheads tickets for 2021-22. Previous season ticket and 15-game pack holders have until September 3 to renew their tickets or their seats will be released. The team has been told that they should be able to have full capacity this year meaning that members who had season tickets in 2019-20 should have those seats again. For fans who want to become members, full season, 15-games and family flex 20 packs go on sale tomorrow August 30 at 10 a.m. 

Individual tickets for the general public will go on sale September 23. For full info (including benefits) and prices, check out mooseheadstickets.ca 

MCKENNA

Herd alumni Jordan Mckenna had some big news come his way on Saturday evening as he was drafted by the Toronto Rock in the National Lacrosse League. McKenna, who played 55 games for Halifax in 2019-20, plays for the Orangeville Northmen lacrosse team during the hockey off-season. The 21-year-old captained the Yarmouth Mariners last year picking up 14 goals and 41 points in 35 games. He is committed to York University for the upcoming season. The NLL is a professional lacrosse league with teams in the United States and Canada. Congrats to Jordan on being selected. 

TIM HORTONS
It looks like we'll get a new Tim Hortons commercial featuring a couple of the top Nova Scotian hockey players. Alumni Nathan MacKinnon shared an Instagram story of himself and fellow Cole Harbour native Sidney Crosby in front of a Tim Hortons store with both wearing Team Canada jerseys. The two have done many advertisements together for Canadian restaurant chain over the years. Hopefully Nathan will have another fantastic season and be able to lead the Colorado Avalanche past the second round. 

TRADE
Your Halifax Mooseheads made a minor trade on Sunday afternoon, moving prospect Alex Carr to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. In return, Halifax receives a 4th round pick in 2023. Carr was drafted by the Herd in 2020 and recently participated in the team's training camp before being reassigned on Friday. He was set to play in the Maritime Hockey League this season but could possibly make the Huskies team. 

I'm sure we will see more trades in the coming days and there have been plenty already by other teams around the league as all 18 QMJHL clubs get ready for the regular season which is set to start September 30. 

Photos - teams' Facebook pages & MacKinnon's Instagram

CAMP: 6 Players Reassigned

The Halifax Mooseheads seem to have figured out there goaltending situation after making another round of cuts on Friday morning, trimming the roster by 6 players. Goalies Adam Tkacz and Jack Milner were reassigned which leaves sophomore Brady James and rookie Mathis Rousseau as the choices for head coach Sylvain Favreau in net but there is always the possibility the Herd trade for or sign another goaltender at some point. 

Below are the 6 players that were cut from the training camp roster.
D  Alex Carr    Draft '20
D  Jack Martin    Draft '21
D  Michael Sack    Draft '19
F  Brandon Abbass    FA invite
G  Jack Milner    Draft '21
G  Adam Tkacz    FA invite

It was also announced that three more players left earlier in the week for different reasons. They are forwards Ethan Landry and Braeden MacPhee and defenceman Sid McNeill. 

This leaves 30 guys on the current training camp roster. 

Photo - Mooseheads website

First Cuts Made at Camp

General manager Cam Russell and the coaching staff announced the first round of cuts on Tuesday afternoon before the Halifax Mooseheads pre-season opener against Cape Breton. Three players were released and reassigned to their respective clubs. 

Players cut:
D  Keiran Burke    Draft '19
D  Travis Badcock    Draft '20
D  Noah Razon    Draft '21

There was also multiple roster changes in the first week of camp that I did not mention here on the blog. American draft selection Chris Battaini had problems with his paperwork so was unable to report which left a space open for Halifax MacDonald's forward Bryson Boudreau to receive an invite to camp. US players Jake Freelove and Henry Wilson voluntarily left to keep their NCAA eligibility while Ben Wallace has also gone home on his own accord. Defenceman Joseph Power and forward Alexandre Freechette were forced to leave camp recently because of injury. Veteran Alexandre David decided not to report to camp on Saturday and Ethan Landry was added to the roster. 

All this leaves 38 players on the current training camp roster. Veteran Elliot Desnoyers is the only player who is on the roster not currently in Halifax as he is in Philadelphia after having surgery recently with the Flyers medical staff looking after him. 

The rookies have given the team staff lots to think about already so we could see another cut announcement tomorrow or not until later in the week. The opening night roster is normally released before the end of August during when the QMJHL takes a break in their pre-season schedule but I have a feeling it will not be announced that quickly this year. 

Photo - Herd website

CAMP: Rookies Report on Wednesday

Photo - Herd website

A new Halifax Mooseheads season will begin in a few days when training camp opens on Wednesday with player registration and the prospects arriving. The team announced schedule details for camp last week, which you can find here. 

The Mooseheads released the names today of the 47 players that will be participating in training camp over the next month. The roster breaks down to 4 goaltenders, 24 forwards and 19 defenceman. It consists of 22 returning players,  ten of the 12 2021 draft selections along with four free agent invitees plus more. I suspect the first cuts may be made by the end of the weekend before the veterans arrive. 

Below is the 2021 Training Camp roster. Asterisk (*) denotes players attending rookie camp. 

Forwards
Brandon Abbass*                Chris Battanini*                Attilio Biasca
Mathieu Cataford*                Logan Crosby*                Alexandre David
Elliot Desnoyers                Jordan Dumais                Cole Foston
Alexandre Frechette*            Vincent Gauthier*            Zack Jones
Zachary L'Heureux            Braeden MacPhee*            Landon Miron
Bobby Orr                        Senna Peeters                    Merle Putnam*         
William Robitaille            James Swan                    Markus Vidicek
Ben Wallace*                      Liam Welsh*                    Henry Wilson*                                                  

Defenceman
Travis Badcock*            Kieran Burke*                Alex Carr*

Stephen Davis             Jake Freelove*                Jake Furlong

Keegan Hunt                David Lafrance             Dylan MacKinnon*
Jack Martin*                  Sid McNeill*                 Joseph Power*
Noah Razon*                Lucas Robinson              Michael Sack*           
Brady Schultz*            Alexandre Tessier             Brendan Tomilson
Cam Whynot

Goaltenders
Brady James        Jack Milner*        Mathis Rousseau*        Adam Tkacz*                

More info on each player can be found here.  Good luck to all the players on making the team this season. 

Training Camp Details Released

Photo - Herd website

Our Halifax Mooseheads are ready to return to action with the start of 2021 Training Camp presented by Eastlink on Wednesday August 18 at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth.

Two waves of players will register at camp with prospects arriving on Wednesday and the veterans arriving on August 21st. All practices and intrasquad games will be closed to the general public unfortunately due to current Covid-19 protocols at the RBC Centre.  The Mooseheads will keep fans up to date throughout camp with articles and video interviews on HalifaxMooseheads.ca and social media platforms. I of course will share updates on this blog as they become available. 

Below, you can find the Training Camp schedule through to September 2. 
August 18
3-5pm         Prospect arrival registration & medicals

August 19-20
9-11am        Practice/Intrasquad game
3-5pm          Practice/Intrasquad game

August 21
10am-12pm    Veteran arrival & medicals
3-5pm             Practice

August 22-23
9-11am        Practice/Intrasquad game
3-5pm          Practice/Intrasquad game

August 24
10-11am       Gameday skate
11am-1pm    Skate for players not in game
7pm              Preseason Game vs Cape Breton @ RBC Centre

August 25
10-11am        Practice for players not in game
7pm               Preseason Game @ Cape Breton (Glace Bay Miners Forum)

August 26
3-5pm            Practice/Intrasquad game

August 27
10-11am       Gameday skate
11am-1pm    Skate for players not in game
7pm              Preseason Game vs Moncton @ RBC Centre

August 28-29
10am-12pm    Practice
3pm                Off-ice workout

August 30-September 2
10am-12pm    Practice
12:15pm         Off-ice workout

The remainder of the camp schedule will be released at a later date. 

Free live streaming will be available for the two home pre-season games in August on the Mooseheads Official YouTube channel with play-by-play from Garreth MacDonald and Scott MacIntosh. An on sale date for General Public tickets for the September exhibition matches will be announced in the coming weeks. 

Herd Word

Photo - Trinec Facebook

VRANA
I don't pay too much attention to the European leagues so I missed one of the alumni winning a championship during the 2020-21 season. Petr Vrana captained his Trinec club to a Czech Extraliga first place back in April. Ocelari Trinec won the best-of-7 series 4-1 with a 3-0 victory on April 26 over Liberec. Congrats to Vrana and his team on becoming champions. 

MHL DRAFT
A number of Herd prospects were also recently drafted into the Maritime Hockey League this past weekend. There was a total of 120 players that were selected by the 12 teams. Halifax drafted Travis Badcock in 2020 while the other 5 names below were picked in the 2021 draft. 

Travis Badcock  Rd 1, #5   Miramichi
Jack Martin  Rd 2, #19   Edmundston
Logan Crosby  Rd 3, #27   Pictou County
Liam Welsh  Rd 4, #46   South Shore
Jack Milner  Rd 8, #89   Truro
Ben Wallace  Rd 10, #109   Valley

Congrats to all the players selected. 

TOURIGNY
Former Herd head coach Andre Tourigny has yet another new team. The Arizona Coyotes announced on July 1st that they have hired Tourigny as the 19th head coach in the team's history and signed him to a three year contract. 

The Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong had this to say; "Andre is a tremendous person and one of the best young coaches in the game today. He is a winner, a great teacher and a strong communicator who has a proven track record of developing young talent. We are confident that he is the right person to lead our team on the ice and we are thrilled to have him in our organization."

Tourigny coached the Mooseheads for one season, 2016-17, before leaving to coach the Ottawa 67's to be closer to home and his family. Congrats to Andre on the new gig and good luck in Phoenix.  

TRAINING CAMP
No word on when training camp will begin but the team has said they do have commitments from some of their players that they will be attending. According to Willy Palov, imports Attilio Biasca and Senna Peeters are returning for another season with the Mooseheads which is why Cam Russell didn't draft anyone else in the CHL Import Draft last week. Scott MacIntosh also tweeted out that Halifax will have it's last four American draftees at camp come next month. 2020 draft picks Brady Schultz and Henry Wilson along with 2021 picks Chris Battaini and Jake Freelove are going to attend. Hopefully Zack Jones will be at camp also, he had 5 goals and 13 points in 2020-21 for the Herd. 

We're probably still another month away before we find out what regulations the Herd will have to follow this season and the team releasing details for training camp. With a Tuesday night game to start the pre-season, players will most likely arrive for camp the Friday before. I hope we get more info on everything sooner than later. 

MOOSE TRACKS
Our Halifax Mooseheads have come out with a new video, the first in what looks to be a new series called Moose Tracks and this episode showcases a behind the scenes look at the 2021 QMJHL draft day. Check out what happens in the Herd war room and hear what Cam Russell and Allie MacDonald have to say about the selections they made in the first round last month. 

I hope they continue these as it would be cool to see more behind the scenes stuff throughout the season. 

BURRIDGE
Jeffrey Burridge, a Moose alumni who played for the team during the 2019-20 season, has been named Captain of the London Nationals junior B team. The Nationals play in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Burridge collected nine goals and 15 points in 56 games with Halifax. Read the London Press' full release here. 

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
The Stanley Cup was awarded on July 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, about 3.5 weeks later than the trophy is normally won. Tampa Bay defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the best-of-seven final series. Former Herd coach Dominique Ducharme missed the first two games of the final round because he was in isolation after a positive COVID test on June 17. He returned to coach the Canadiens for Game 3 but couldn't lead his team to a championship. Jonathan Drouin, who played for Halifax for two seasons, did not play in any playoff games so I'm not really sure if he will have his name engraved on the trophy. 

The city of Seattle officially have an NHL team after they payed their final expansion payment a few weeks ago so there is now 32 teams in the top North American professional league. With it, the clubs will have a busy second half of July as the expansion draft goes July 21 and the entry draft is on July 23 & 24 before free agency opens July 28. I'm sure there will be lots of Mooseheads connections during these events. I will keep you updated as details become available. 

CRAIG'S LIST
Since we are getting close to the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button released his final rankings. There are three current Mooseheads players on the list which features 75 names in total. Sophomore Zachary L'Heureux is ranked the highest at #12 followed by Robert Orr at #57 and Cameron Whynot two picks later. For the full list, click here. L'Heureux was also ranked #30 by the NHL Central Scouting Services in their final rankings.