U-Sports Playoffs Begin Wednesday

The Atlantic University Sport playoffs are set to open on Wednesday night and it will include several former Halifax Mooseheads players. Once again, the post-season includes the Acadia Axemen, Moncton Aigles Bleus, Saint Mary's Huskies, St. Francis X-Men, UNB Reds and UPEI Panthers. 

Here are the final standings  (W-L-OTL-SOL)
#    Team                                            Record     Pts          
1.  University of New Brunswick      28-1-1-0     57
2.  Universite de Moncton                19-9-2-0     40
3.  Saint Mary's University               17-11-2-0    36
4.  St. Francis Xavier University      15-13-1-1   32
5.  Acadia University                        14-14-1-1   30
6.  University of PEI                          9-19-0-2    20
7.  Dalhousie University                    3-26-1-0     7

The Reds and the Aigles Bleus receive a first round bye. The Huskies will take on the Panthers in a series that will start tomorrow night in Halifax. The X-Men go up against the Axemen beginning on Thursday in Antigonish. Both series are a best-of-three. 

Here is the quarter-finals schedule
Feb 19    UPEI at Saint Mary's
Feb 20    Acadia at St. FX
Feb 21    Saint Mary's at UPEI 
Feb 22    St. FX at Acadia
Feb 23    UPEI at Saint Mary's   *if necessary
Feb 24    Acadia at St. FX   *if necessary

Herd alumni on playoff team rosters include; Zack Jones (Acadia), Robert Orr (UPEI), Peter Reynolds (UNB), Cole Stewart (STFX), Brendan Tomilson (Acadia), Denis Toner (Moncton) and Cameron Whynot (Acadia). 

Despite not being local, the road to the Queen's Cup for being the Ontario University Association champion contains a few past Moose players as well. Kevin Gursoy (TMU), Stephane Huard (McGill), David Lafrance (Ottawa) and Ethan Larmand (Queen's). While goaltender Brady James is listed on the Concordia Stingers roster, he only played one game for the team in the regular season so I doubt we will see him in the playoffs. 

Good luck to all the teams and to our former players during the playoffs on the road to the University Cup that will be held in Ottawa later in March. 

Herd Word

Photo - Wikipedia

WORLD JUNIORS
There isn't officially a Halifax Mooseheads representative that will be playing at the 2025 World Juniors but alum forward Mathieu Cataford was named last week to Team Canada's roster for the annual holiday tournament. He is one of only two QMJHL players on the team. It is the first time that the 19-year-old will wear the red and white in his career. Meanwhile, Herd rookie defenceman Carlos Handel was invited to Germany's selection camp and will be hoping to prove himself that he deserves to be on the final team. 

Teams don't have to submit their final roster until late Christmas Eve. Congrats to Cataford on making Team Canada and good luck to Handel at the selection camp with Team Germany. 

SPRYNAR
Forward Jan Sprynar has made the decision to not return to the Mooseheads after the Christmas break and has signed a contract with HC Verva Litvinov in Czechia to continue his career. The 19-year-old will play professionally in his home country after recovering from an upper-body injury that he sustained on December 6th. He had 9 points for Halifax this season and a total of 29 points in 47 games for the club since being acquired by the Herd at last year's trade deadline. 

Thank you Jan for your contributions in Moose Country and good luck with your new team. 

MOOSE TRACKS
Episode 4 of the second season of Moose Tracks has been released on the team's YouTube channel but you can find it below. This one includes scenes from Liam Kilfoil's billet house, captain Brady Schultz on a ride to the game and Shawn Carrier discussing his move to Halifax. 

BARRON
Former Herd defenceman Justin Barron is on the move again. The 23-year-old was traded to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday by the Montreal Canadiens and will be back with former teammate Zach L'Heureux. After being drafted by Colorado 25th overall in the 2020 NHL draft, the Halifax, NS native has played 111 games in the top professional league so far with all but two of those for Montreal. Barron has scored 1 goal only in 17 games played in 2024-25 but has 13 goals and 31 points in his career. 

Good luck to Justin in Nashville. 

Photo - LeNouvelliste.ch

POINT LEADERS
There are a few Moose alumni who sit on top of some different leagues at the time of this writing. James Swan (2020-2022) leads all former Herd players in points so far this season with a total of 56 points but is third in the QJHL in 28 games suiting up for the Valleyfield Braves. Star Nathan MacKinnon (2011-2013) became the first NHL player to hit 50 points in 2024-25 and he actually recorded his 600th career assist on December 10 against Pittsburgh. The 29-year-old has 13 goals and 37 assists in 33 games. Forward Peter Reynolds is tied for the AUS league lead at the Christmas break with 29 points (16G & 13A) for the top-ranked UNB Reds. He and teammate Benjamin Corbeil actually lead all of the U-Sports players and this is only his first year of university hockey. 

Another forward that is tied for a league lead is Samuel Asselin (2018-2019), who decided to move to Europe to play pro hockey in the summer and seems like it was the right choice. The 26-year-old has 44 points (19G & 25A) for HC Sierre in the SL. His current teammate Josh Lawrence (2022-2023) is third in scoring with 36 points in 30 games played. Meanwhile, Randy Gazzola is the defensive leader of the ICEHL while suiting up for Asiago. 

PODCAST
The third episode of the new podcast "This is Moose Country" was released today and includes guest appearances by newcomer Quinn Kennedy and veteran Owen Phillips. 

MURPHY
There might be more stories like this one regarding alum but its the only one I have seen recently. Former Herd d-man Matt Murphy has been acquired by the Lake Tahoe Knight Monsters in the ECHL from the Cincinnati Cyclones. Murphy skated in 20 games for the Cyclones in 2024-25, scoring two goals and adding six assists. The 29-year-old has suited up for multiple teams since spending five years at UNB and was able to win a professional title with the Fort Wayne Komets in 2021. 

UP NEXT
The QMJHL is on Christmas break and the winter trade period opened on Monday. Our Halifax Mooseheads will be back on the ice on December 28 visiting the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 7pm. The Herd will be looking to end a losing streak against the Titan as they are 0-2-2-0 versus Bathurst this season. Halifax will then head to Sydney to take on the Cape Breton Eagles on December 30 before the two clubs battle each other again in Moose Country the following afternoon to finish 2024. Puck drops at 2:00 p.m., tickets are still available. 

Alumni Update: Champions, Signings, Records

As you will have noticed the past few seasons, I have not done well keeping my blog or social media accounts updated with news about the Halifax Mooseheads alumni. There are so many now that it is hard to keep track plus with the time differences, I don't always see things that teams post about our former players. The 2023-24 season was a pretty good year for a number of alum in terms of records broken, championships won and milestones so I thought I would share them in one post. The summer also brings along signings by hockey clubs so they can get ready for the upcoming season and there were a number of them as well. 

First, let's begin with the league that generally finishes the earliest; U-Sports. A total of 20 former Mooseheads played university hockey during the 2023-24 season. For the third straight year, goaltender Alexis Gravel, defenceman Jordan Lepage and the UQTR Patriotes were champions of the OUA playoffs. Congrats to the Patriotes on winning the Queen's Cup. 

Photo - UQTR Twitter

I did share this news on social media but figured I would post here as well. After spending about seven seasons in North America, former Herd Otto Somppi went back home to Finland and was able to win the SM-Liiga championship with Tappara on April 28. The 26-year-old recorded a goal and six assists in 16 playoff games following a 27 point regular season. On the same day, 39-year-old forward Petr Vrana (who played for Halifax between 2002-2005) once again captained HC Ocelari Trinec to a Czech Extraliga championship trophy. 

Photo - Toronto Star

It was another spectacular season for superstar Nathan MacKinnon. The year of course began with our Mooseheads raising his number to the rafters at the team's home opener and retiring #22. MacKinnon went on to record his first 50 goal season and had a career-high 140 points while playing in all 82 regular season games with the Colorado Avalanche. He scored two assists on April 18, allowing him to pass Peter Stastny for most points in a season in franchise history. 

Though he couldn't help the Avs out of the second round, the 28-year-old did pick up some hardware at the annual NHL Awards ceremony in late June. Nathan was voted as the regular season Most Valuable Player by the Writers' Association and won the Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player). 

Meanwhile, Ottawa, ON native MacKenzie Weegar also silently had a historic season becoming the first player in NHL history to score 20 goals and block 200 shots. The defenceman finished the 2023-24 season with a career high 52 points, which coincidently is his number with the Calgary Flames. Weegar played his 400th career game on November 10. 

Other milestones during the season for Mooseheads alumni in the NHL;
- Nikolaj Ehlers (Winnipeg): 400th point October 30, 600th game April 6
- Filip Zadina (San Jose): 200th game November 2
- Raphael Lavoie (Edmonton): NHL debut November 4
- Nico Hischier (New Jersey): 300th point December 16, 400th game December 19
- Jonathan Drouin (Colorado): 500th game November 20, 300th point January 4
- Timo Meier (New Jersey): 500th game January 17

Former Herd forward Jakub Voracek announced his retirement from hockey in mid-April after playing 1,058 regular season games split between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers. I'm sure he would like to have continued his career considering he is only 35 however, the Kladno, Czechia native suffered a concussion during a game on November 4, 2022. The Flyers traded him to the Arizona Coyotes in hopes to give him a chance at coming back but the team made the move knowing it was unlikely. Congrats to Jakub on a great career, Moose Country wishes you all the best with your next adventure. 

Photo - NHL Facebook

In his rookie pro season, Moose alumni Zachary L'Heureux broke out during the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs for the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League. Though he played less games because the Admirals didn't make it to the final series, L'Heureux scored 10 goals which tied him for the league lead in that column by the end. At one point during the post-season, the Montreal, QC native actual led the overall scoring. 

Photo - Oilers Twitter

Like I mentioned, summer brings signings and a number of alum put their name on the dotted line. Below you will find a list of them with contract details

• Jonathan Drouin: (UFA) re-signed Colorado Avalanche - 1-year contract $2.5 million
• Benoit-Olivier Groulx: (UFA) signed with NY Rangers - 1-year contract $775,000
• Justin Barron: (RFA) re-signed Montreal Canadiens - 2-year contract $2.3 million
• Raphael Lavoie: (RFA) re-signed Edmonton Oilers - 1-year 2-way contract $775,000
• Martin Frk: signed with Calgary Flames - 1-year 2-way contract $775,000

There probably have been more but these are the ones I have seen so far for signings overseas. After ending this past season in Norway, Maxim Trepanier has signed a contract with the Herlev Eagles in Denmark meanwhile Jared McIsaac is taking his talents to Czechia so he can suit up for HC Litvinov. 

Alumni at University Cup this weekend

The national championship for university men's hockey is coming up this weekend in Charlottetown, PEI. There will be a few Halifax Mooseheads alumni participating, however there was only one team with former Herd on it to win their regional championship. 

For the second year in a row, Jordan Lepage, Alexis Gravel and the UQTR Patriotes came away as OUA champions on Saturday night. The almost 23-year-old Gravel made 54 saves to help his team win a 3-2 overtime game to get the Queen's Cup against the Windsor Lancers. The first four goals were scored in the first period but then neither team could get the puck past the goaltenders and the match went to a third overtime period. Congratulations to Alex and Jordan on going back-to-back. 

Photo - Patriotes Twitter

Below are the rankings of the teams participating in the 2023 University Cup from March 16-19

1. Calgary Dinos (Canada West champion)
2. UQTR Patriotes (OUA champion)
3. UNB Reds (AUS champion)
4. Windsor Lancers (OUA finalist)
5. Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West finalist)
6. Concordia Stingers (OUA bronze)
7. Saint Mary's Huskies (AUS finalist)
8. UPEI Panthers (Hosts)

Across the eight teams participating in the tournament this year, there will be a total of ten former Mooseheads players. The AUS runner-up Saint Mary's Huskies have the most alum on their team with 4 in defenceman Walter Flower and forwards Keith Getson, Ben Higgins and Joel Bishop. Other guys who played in Moose Country in the past but are now in university whose season has continued are Jordan Maher and Zac Beauregard from the host Panthers, Barrett Dachyshyn with Windsor and Concordia's Maxim Trepanier. 

Good luck to all the players and teams this weekend in Charlottetown. 

University Commits Happening

It may be the off-season but there is still lots that happen in the hockey world in terms of news so I thought I would catch you up. 

Summer time is when players start to make university commitments if they haven't been invited to pro camps. A few universities have announced that some Halifax Mooseheads alumni will be on their rosters come September. On July 12, the uOttawa Gee-Gees announced that they have recruited Ottawa native David Lafrance for the 2022-23 season. The 21-year-old played this past season with the Herd collecting 6 goals and 14 points in 68 games played. 

The same day, the Acadia Axemen have added defenceman Brendan Tomilson to their program this fall. Tomilson played two seasons with Halifax between 2019-2021 where he recorded 17 points in 80 games. The Cameron, ON native captained the OJHL's Pickering Panthers in 2021-22 and helped lead them to the Junior A championship series. He scored 55 points (14G & 41A) last year leading to the 20-year-old winning the OJHL Defenceman of the Year. 

Tomilson said; "While playing in Halifax for a couple years I heard a lot about the atmosphere around Acadia and how close of a community it is with having the small-town feel. Acadia offers both a first-class education as well as a first-class hockey program that sees a lot of players turn pro, and after talking to the coaching staff it felt like a perfect fit for me from all aspects."

The final one that I have seen that has committed so far is Ryan Barbosa. The 24-year-old is actually transferring from the University of Windsor to the Toronto Varsity Blues for the 2022-23 season. With the Lancers, Barbosa collected 26 points. 

"Ryan's proven to be one of the top defenceman in the OUA during the last few seasons," said Varsity Blues head coach Ryan Medel. "He brings a little bit of everything to the table. He's mobile, he can move pucks out of his own end and he's effective up top on the powerplay."

Good luck to these guys with their new teams come the fall.

Photos - teams' twitter accounts

Alumni Update: Multiple Former Herd Win Championships

Sorry I haven't been doing very well at keeping you updated on how the alumni of our Halifax Mooseheads have done this season, with school and now a job and all the craziness that COVID has caused it's been difficult to keep track. As you know, it's hard to pay attention to the leagues overseas but since we're starting the playoffs here in the QMJHL I thought I would give you an update. 

USPORTS
Let's start with the university season. The University Cup was held in Wolfville, NS in early April with 8 universities participating. I had already mentioned who was in the tournament and that 7 Herd alumni were on team rosters but I never gave an update on the blog who won the whole thing. Goaltender Aleix Gravel and defenceman Jordan Lepage along with their UQTR Patriotes went into the weekend as OUA champions and ranked third. The Patriotes defeated the UBC Thunderbirds and Ryerson Rams to punch their ticket in the gold medal game. They battled the #1 Alberta Golden Bears but came out on top in double overtime after being down 4-2 after 40 minutes. Gravel made 66 saves in the contest and was named tournament MVP after the game. 

In the bronze medal game, the StFX X-Men got the 3-2 overtime victory over the Ryerson Rams. Former Moosehead Blade Mann-Dixon did not play but Patrick Kyte did for the X-Men. Forward Kevin Gursoy scored a goal for the Rams and was named Ryerson's player of the game in the loss. 

Congrats to Gravel, Lepage and the Patriotes on winning the David Johnston University Cup and to Kyte, Mann-Dixon and the X-Men getting the bronze medal. 

CZECHIA
In Czech Republic, a couple of former Moose players battled it out in the final best-of-7 series where the championship trophy was won on April 28. Milan Jurcina and Sparta Praha took on Petr Vrana and Trinec with Trinec coming out on top to win the Czech Extraliga for the third straight season. 

Jurcina had an assist in 23 games played during the regular season and the same in 16 playoff games. This is the third season Milan has played for Praha after a few years in the DEL. The 38-year-old suited up for Halifax between 2000-2003 collecting 53 points. Vrana meanwhile has been on all three championship teams for Ocelari Trinec, captaining the last two seasons. In the regular season, the 37-year-old had 13 goals and 26 points in 52 games and added 6 points in 14 post-season matches. 

Congrats to Petr Vrana and HC Ocelari Trinec on winning the Czech Extraliga championship. 

Regular season stats

Petr Vrana           Trinec       52   13   13   26
Jan Stransky        Boleslav   52    6     3    9
Cody Donaghey  Kladno      34    1    1    2
Milan Jurcina      Praha        23    0    1    1

EIHL

More congratulations are in order as another former Herd won a championship trophy recently, this time in the EIHL which is a league in the United Kingdom. Jake Coughler and the Cardiff Devils defeated the Belfast Giants in the final game 6-3 with Coughler actually scoring in the match. The 26-year-old finished the regular season with 21 goals and 35 points for Cardiff before adding 4 points in 4 games during the post-season. 

Regular season stats
Gabriel Desjardins   Dundee          49   13   27   40
Cameron Critchlow  Manchester   54   14   23   37

Jake Coughler           Cardiff          33   21  14   35

DEL
Konrad Abeltshauser and the EHC Red Bull Munchen were back in the final series again for the first time since the 2018-19 season but they couldn't get over Eisbaren Berlin on Wednesday evening. Berlin were victorious winning the series 3-1. Abeltshauser scored a goal and recorded 5 points in 8 post-season games. The 29-year-old had 3 goals and 25 points in 50 games played during the regular season. 

Regular season stats
Stephen MacAulay      Dussseldorfer   56   13   25   38
Konrad Abeltshauser   Munchen          50    3    22   25
Marcel Barinka            Kolner              48   11   12   23
Andrew Bodnarchuk    Nurnberg         42    2    11   13

ECHL
Over here in North America, the ECHL finished their regular season a few weeks and are waiting the start of the second round. The teams remaining to participate in the division finals include Reading, Newfoundland, Florida, Jacksonville, Toledo, Wheeling, Utah and Rapid City. Forward Randy Gazzola is the lone remaining Moose alumni in the post-season and he led all alumni who played in the ECHL in points during the regular season.  

      

 

AHL
The playoffs for the American Hockey League is a bit confusing as the second round will begin before the first one is scheduled to conclude. Partially because of that and the fact that guys seem to go up and down between the AHL and ECHL, I will just give you the regular season stats. Forward Martin Frk had a great year for the Ontario Reign scoring 40 goals and 73 points in 58 games. The 28-year-old also was named to the AHL second all-star team. 

NHL

Despite nine alum playing regularly in the top professional league during 2021-22, there are only 3 guys who are competing for the Stanley Cup. Mackenzie Weegar and the Florida Panthers were the top team in the NHL during the regular season, picking up 122 points. Florida is taking on the Washington Capitals in the first round which began May 3. The Colorado Avalanche were the next best team and are up 1-0 in their series against the Nashville Predators. Former Herd Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for the Avs in Game 1. Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins series versus the Carolina Hurricanes started on May 2. 

Good luck to the remaining players who are battling it out for trophies. Follow me on Twitter (MC_MooseCountry) as that will be where the most up to date info on current and former Mooseheads is shared. 

For more player statistics, check out Elite Prospects to see how our alumni did during the regular season. 

Photos - Radio-Canada, Trinec Twitter, Devils Twitter

Alumni in University Cup

A few former Halifax Mooseheads players will be participating in the University Cup this weekend in Wolfville, NS. 

Eight schools play in the tournament for the chance to become champions. The last completed tournament was in 2019 where UNB defeated Alberta for the trophy. The 2020 University Cup was cancelled after the opening day because of the original COVID-19 sports shutdown. 

The Alberta Golden Bears once again find themselves ranked first and will take on the host Acadia Axemen this evening at 7pm. The quarter-finals, semis, bronze and gold medal games will all be played at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. Other schools that qualified include the UBC Thunderbirds (CW finalists, #6), UQTR Patriotes (OUA champions, #3), Brock Badgers (OUA finalists, #4), Ryerson Rams (OUA third-place, #7), UNB Reds (AUS champions, #2) and StFX X-Men (AUS finalists, #5). 

In total, seven Mooseheads alumni are on rosters for teams that qualified for the University Cup. Olivier DesRoches (Brock), Alexis Gravel (UQTR), Kevin Gursoy (Ryerson), Patrick Kyte (StFX), Jordan Lepage (UQTR), Blade Mann-Dixon (StFX) and Morgan Nauss (Acadia). DesRoches did not play in any games with Brock this season but is still listed on their roster.

Below you will find the full schedule
March 31
1 p.m.  Quarter-final #1 - No. 5 StFX vs. No. 4 Brock
7 p.m.  Quarter-final #2 - No. 1 Alberta at No. 8 Acadia

April 1
1 p.m.  Quarter-final #3 - No. 7 Ryerson vs. No. 2 UNB
7 p.m.  Quarter-final #4 - No. 6 UBC vs. No. 3 UQTR

April 2
1 p.m.  Semifinal #1 - Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2
7 p.m.  Semifinal #2 - Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4

April 3
1 p.m.  Bronze Medal game
7:30 p.m.  Gold Medal game

Good luck to all teams and especially the former Mooseheads participating. 

Photo - Wikipedia

Gravel, Lepage Win OUA Championship

A few Halifax Mooseheads alumni are OUA champions!

Goaltender Alexis Gravel and defenceman Jordan Lepage were on the winning UQTR Patriotes team which picked up a 3-1 victory on March 26 in the championship game against the Brock Badgers. Because of the coronavirus, the university playoffs had to be shortened and the OUA decided to play a knockout post-season. Gravel, in his first university season, stopped 32 of 33 shots to pick up the win. 

UQTR will now head to Nova Scotia for the University Cup this weekend, along with Brock and the Ryerson Rams who won the bronze medal game. 

Former Herd Kevin Gursoy help lead the Rams to the bronze scoring a goal and picking up an assist as Ryerson defeated McGill 2-1. 

Congrats to UQTR on winning the Queen's Cup and good luck to all three teams in the national championship. I'll share a U-Cup preview later in the week.