Mar 15: Saint John vs. Mooseheads game preview

It's the last and final game between these two divsion rivals who are on opposite ends of the playoff standings. The Mooseheads and Sea Dogs are most likely going to be battling it out against each other in the first round in this years playoffs. The home team will look to do what the away team was able to 2 years ago when Saint John won the regular season, the President's Cup and the Memorial Cup all in 2011. The Herd have won all but one game this year against the Dogs. Stephen MacAulay played the first five games with the team from New Brunswick with his last game with the old club played at the Metro Centre on Teddy Bear toss night recording a goal and 2 assists to help the blue and white to a 3-2 overtime win. In an October home and home set, the Moose won 4-3 and then pounded the away team 11-2 at the Metro Centre. Halifax won 4-2 on December 9 at Harbor Station, 5-1 on December 21st and toppled the Sea Dogs 8-3 and 6-1 in another home and home series played in late February.
The Mooseheads still has not lost in regulation since the third game in February, a total streak of 15 games. The home team is 9-0-1-0 in their last 10 games overall, while Saint John is 2-8-0-0 in their last 10 and are 10-21-1-0 on the road this season. After coming back from the Juniors, Jonathan Drouin has been on fire recording at least a point in his last 28 games overall.

Overall record:
SNB: 23-42-1-0 = 47 points (5th in Maritimes Division, 15th overall)
HAL: 56-6-3-1 = 116 points (1st in Maritimes Division, 1st overall)

Top Scorers:
SEA DOGS: #7 Jakub Izacky (20G, 16A, 36 PTS), #23 Pierre Durepos (5G, 23A, 28 PTS), #37 Stephen Anderson (12G, 14A, 26 PTS)
HALIFAX: #27 Jonathan Drouin (41G, 62A, 104 PTS), #91 Martin Frk (35G, 49A, 84 PTS), #22 Nathan MacKinnon (30G, 43A, 73 PTS)

link to preview on the website: http://www.halifaxmooseheads.ca/article/game-preview-moose-host-saint-john-friday

Moose avenge Friday's OT loss

Halifax and Acadie-Bathurst finally played their postponed game tonight at the Metro Centre. The game was originally scheduled for a month ago on February 9th but because of a snow storm that hit the Atlantic it was rescheduled. The Moose started the game quickly scoring 26 seconds in to the game with a goal from Fournier. Fucale padded his wins lead even more after recording his 44th win of the season while stopping 27 shots during the game. I had said in my preview that leading scorer Jonathan Drouin would not be in the lineup, however, a couple hours before game time Halifax announced that he would be returning. He did so in convincing fashion, scoring on a very nice breakaway shot and assisting on 2 other goals to tie him with two PEI players for 1st in the league at 101 points.

Notes: Drouin is the second fastest Herd player to reach 100 points in a season, doing so in 46 games, 19 less then the PEI players he is tied with for this season... MacAulay (personal), Lovell (jaw), MacKinnon (knee), Ashley and Falkenham (concussion) were all still out... The Mooseheads hold 9 of the top 10 plus/minus players with Mac Weegar leading the way with an astonishing +51...

50/50
Congratulations to Justin of Newfoundland who got $8,833 winning tonight's 50/50

Three stars:
3. Fournier (HAL)
2. Frk (HAL)
1. Drouin (HAL)

Attendance: 8,338

There was a moment of silence before the singing of the anthem for Stephen MacAulay's family as his mother lost her two year battle with cancer. My condolences go out to Stephen and his family.


Score
Titan 2 at Mooseheads 5

UP NEXT: versus Cape Breton on Wednesday at Centre 200

Five Mooseheads nominated for Golden Puck Awards

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced today the nominees for the Golden Puck awards. Jonathan Drouin was nominated for three awards, while Nathan MacKinnon and Konrad Abeltshauser were both nominated for two awards. Coach Dominique Ducharme also was nominated and so was GM Cam Russell.

Note that Mac Weegar and Zachary Fucale were not nominated which I do not understand. Mackenzie should have at least been nominated for rookie of the year or best defenceman of the year.

Here are the nominees for the awards that will be passed out on April 3rd:

*via the QMJHL
Michael Briere Trophy (Most Valuable Player)
Josh Currie - PEI Rocket
Jonathan Drouin - Halifax Mooseheads
Dimitrij Jaskin - Moncton Wildcats

RDS Cup (Rookie of the Year)
Ivan Barbashev - Moncton Wildcats
Marvin Cupper - Shawinigan Cataractes
Philippe Desrosiers - Rimouski Oceanic
Frederik Gauthier - Rimouski Oceanic
Jan Kostalek - Rimouski Oceanic
Valentin Zykov - Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Emile "Butch" Bouchard Trophy (Best Defenseman)
Konrad Abeltshauser - Halifax Mooseheads
Mathieu Brisebois - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Kevin Gagne - Rimouski Oceanic

Frank J. Selke Trophy (Sportsman of the Year)
Ben Duffy - PEI Rocket
Michael McNamee - Sherbrooke Phoenix
Zach O'Brien - Acadie-Bathurst Titan

Michael Bossy Trophy (Top Professional Prospect)
Jonathan Drouin - Halifax Mooseheads
Nathan MacKinnon - Halifax Mooseheads
Anthony Mantha - Val-d'Or Foreurs

Marcel Robert Trophy (TELUS Scholastic Player of the Year)
Marc-Antoine Carrier - Quebec Remparts
Charles-David Beaudoin - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Allain Saunier - Moncton Wildcats

Ron Lapointe Trophy (Coach of the Year)
Serge Beausoleil - Rimouski Oceanic
Dominique Ducharme - Halifax Mooseheads
Eric Veileux - Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Maurice Filion Trophy (General Manager of the Year)
Steve Ahern - Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Philippe Boucher - Rimouski Oceanic
Cam Russell - Halifax Mooseheads

Paul Dumont Trophy (Personality of the Year)
Jonathan Drouin - Halifax Mooseheads
Nathan MacKinnon - Halifax Mooseheads
Jerome Mesonero - Victoriaville Tigres

Humanitarian and Community Involvement Trophy
Konrad Abeltshauser - Halifax Mooseheads
Liam O'Brien - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Xavier Ouellet - Blainville-Boisbriand Armada

Please note that the following trophies will be awarded at special pre-game ceremonies held at the beginning of the playoffs: Michel Bergeron (Offensive Rookie of the Year), Raymond Lagace (Defensive Rookie of the Year), Guy Carbonneau (Best Defensive Forward), Kevin Lowe (Best Defensive Defenseman), Robert Lebel (Best goals against average - team), Jean Rougeau (Regular Season Champions) and Luc Robitaille (Best Offensive Team)

Michel Bergeron Trophy
Ivan Barbashev - Moncton Wildcats
Frederik Gauthier - Rimouski Oceanic
Valentin Zykov - Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Raymond Lagace Trophy
Marvin Cupper - Shawinigan Cataractes
Philippe Desrosiers - Rimouski Oceanic
Jan Kostalek - Rimouski Oceanic

Guy Carbonneau Trophy
Phillip Danault - Moncton Wildcats
Frederik Gauthier - Rimouski Oceanic
Felix Girard - Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Kevin Lowe Trophy
Etienne Boutet - Gatineau Olympiques
Alexandre Chenevert - Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Jonathan Narbonne - Moncton Wildcats

The nominees for the Adminstrator of the Year, Marketing Director of the Year and Academic Consultant of the Year trophies will revealed at a later date as the actual awards will be presented at the Entry Draft in Chicoutimi.

Mar 11: Acadie-Bathurst vs. Mooseheads game preview

Yet again I am going to a Maritimes division competition as the Mooseheads take on the Titan tonight at 7pm in the rescheduled game that was originally to be played on February 9. Both teams played yesterday on the road as tonight's home team was able to score 2 goals in a shootout and Zach Fucale saved 30 shots to lead to a 3-2 shootout win. This is the eighth and last game between these two division rivals. Halifax has won five games including the 3 games at the Metro Centre. Halifax won 6-2 in their first game of October, 4-3 on Dec 14 and 11-3 in February all in halifax, while away in New Brunswick the Herd won 4-3 and then lost 7-6 in a high scoring game. In another high scoring game Bathurst was leading with the Moose coming back to lead and then ended up being forced to overtime losing 8-7.
Halifax has not lost in regulation in the past thirteen game while being 9-0-1-0 in their last 10 games overall. Acadie is 4-5-0-1 in their last 10 and are 12-18-3-0 being the away team this season. The Mooseheads will be without Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Brian Lovell, and Ryan Falkenham tonight.

Overall record:
BAT: 25-32-5-2 = 57 points (4th in Maritimes Division, 14th overall)
HAL: 54-6-3-1 = 112 points (1st in Maritimes Division, 1st overall)

Top Scorers:
TITAN: #43 Zach O'Brien (45G, 42A, 87 PTS), #91 Michael Beaudry (32G, 46A, 78 PTS), #71 Marc-Olivier (22G, 40A, 62 PTS)
HALIFAX: #27 Jonathan Drouin (39G, 59A, 98 PTS), #91 Martin Frk (33G, 46A, 79 PTS), #17 Darcy Ashley (25G, 46A, 71 PTS)

Moose sweep Quebec trip

The Halifax Mooseheads have swept another Quebec road trip this season. Last nights game was the last game that the Moose have against a Quebec team this season. The Herd will now finish the season off with 7 games against their Maritime division rivals with two games each against Acadie-Bathurst, Moncton and Cape Breton and one game against Saint John. The second of the games against the Titan is the rescheduled game that was supposed to be played on February 9th.

The Quebec road trip this time was against Shawinigan, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or. They won 4-2 versus the Cataractes on Wednesday and then 5-2 against the Huskies on Friday. The win on Wednesday was Halifax's 50th win of the season, the first time in franchise history that they have won that many games. Last night, the Mooseheads were leading 3-0 after the first period but allowed the Foreurs to come back to force overtime. Val-d'Or peppered Zach Fucale with 52 shots through 65 minutes of play. Overtime didn't solve anything after the Foreurs tied the game at three with 54 seconds left in the game. Marty Frk scored the shootout winner in the third round of the penalty shot portion. He was the only player to score. No goals were scored on the powerplay.

Last Quebec road trip

Your Halifax Mooseheads will be playing their last road trip to Quebec in the next week. The road trip starts tonight against the Shawinigan Cataractes, will continue on Friday against Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Saturday against Val-d'Or Foreurs. This isn't the last road trip of the year but it's the last time the Herd will play any Quebec teams until the playoffs. Halifax will travel to one more city during the road trip before coming home for a game. The Moose will play two more games against Maritime teams on the road then come home for their last two games of the regular season.

The team is one win away from recording 50 wins for the first time in franchise history. They also tied the franchise record for most points in a season on Sunday recording their 101st point after beating Acadie-Bathurst 11-3. The Moose had enough time in that game to break another franchise record for scoring the most goals in one goal however they weren't able to achieve it, it was the 9th time and third this season that Halifax has scored 11 goals in one game.

The team's leading point scorer, Jonathan Drouin also became the league's leading point scorer on Sunday after recording four points during the win. Drouin was honoured on Monday with first player of the week after recording 11 points in 3 games last week which included TWO one goal and 3 assists performances with a three assist performance in the middle game. I will be surprised if he is not player of the month for February.

Go MOOSE Go

MARITIME DIVISION CHAMPIONS!!!

Your Halifax Mooseheads have clinched their 5th division title in franchise history. The Herd were playing in Saint John last night and they only needed one point to clinch the division. Halifax had a chance to clinch on Tuesday if Moncton lost their game in any way against Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The Wildcats obviously didn't want to help their Maritime rivals as they beat the Titan, another Maritime team, 5-1 in Moncton. The Moose were able to get the point they needed to clinch the title as the defeated the Sea Dogs 8-3 riding on Jonathan Drouin and Marty Frk each getting 4 points. Frk scored a hat trick and assisted on another one while Drouin was the opposite scoring one goal and recording 3 assists. Stephen MacAulay scored a goal against his old team that traded him in January. He also assisted on a goal. Weegar, Duke and Abeltshauser also had multi-point night. One of Mackenzie's points was a goal while Ciampini and Ryan scored the other goals. Jurij Repe, Maxime Villemaire and Matthew Highmore scored the goals for the Dogs. SJ decided to pull their starting goalie after Halifax scored 6 goals against him. No one recorded more then one penalty during the game. Chris Clarke recorded his 10th win of the season as starting goalie for the Herd.

Not only did your Mooseheads clinch the division title last night but they also broke two franchise records. The team has now recorded the most wins in a season with their 47th win. Forty six was the previous record which was in the 1998-99 season. They also recorded their 22nd road win which is also a new franchise record, the previous was 21 set during the 2007-08 season.

The team decided to give Zach Fucale the night off which I believe was quite deserved after winning 3 games in the past week and being named CHL goalie of the week. With the team winning on Saturday, he also recorded a franchise record for most wins in one season by a goaltender receiving his 36 W of the season.

This is a little late but congratulations are again in order, I think, as your team swept its second 3-in-3 nights tilt.

Notes: There are twelve games left in the season and half of those are at home starting with a rematch against the Sea Dogs tomorrow night at the MC. A half century worth of wins is looking pretty good now as the Moose have now won their last 5 games. As aforementioned this was Halifax's fifth title, the last one being in the 2007-08 season.