Fortier's hatty gives Moose 1st win of season

Maxime Fortier has his first career hat trick! Fortier's three goals on Saturday evening helped your Halifax Mooseheads get their first win of the new season, defeating the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-1. Many believe that the visiting Dogs will win the league title this year, but for most of the game they didn't look like that team. Max got the game going just under the 10 minute mark of the 1st period on the Herd's first shot and the Mooseheads never looked back, outshooting the Dogs 31 to 22 overall. The first few games of the season have been pretty good for Halifax's top rookies with Arnaud Durandeau becoming the third 1st year player to record their first QMJHL career goal. Eric Brassard looked much better tonight and so did the defense in front of him.

FINAL: Sea Dogs 1at Mooseheads 5
Stars: 3. Durandeau HAL | 2. Somppi HAL | 1. Fortier HAL
Attendance: 6,133
MC's Top Herd: Maxime Fortier

GAME LOG
First period
9:51 HAL Maxime Fortier (1) | A: Fitzgerald & Ford
17:36 HAL Arnaud Durandeau (1) | A: Shewfelt & Crossley

Second period
1:02 HAL Vincent Watt (2) | A: Fortier & Somppi

Third period
2:44 SNB Ryan Chaisson (1) | A: Pare
11:08 HAL Maxime Fortier (2) | A: Shewfelt & Somppi
13:39 HAL Maxime Fortier (3), PP | A: D. Moynihan & Somppi

POWERPLAY
Saint John: 0-for-5
Halifax: 1-for-5

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Eric Brassard HAL 21 saves
Losing goaltender: Alex Bishop SNB 4 saves

Sept 18: Mooseheads vs. Titan preview

GAMEDAY
HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS ACADIE-BATHURST TITAN
Puck drops at 7:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @HFXMooseheads
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

Your Halifax Mooseheads will be looking for a bounce back game on home ice after a couple of road losses last weekend. The team's second leading scorer during the 2014-15 campaign is still participating in San Jose Sharks main camp but with another young team on the Scotiabank Centre ice tonight, we should see some quality scoring from the rookies. Ilya Putintsev and Otto Somppi, Halifax's only forward rookies this year, didn't disappoint in the season opener but went dry the next night. Bathurst's record versus the Mooseheads the last few seasons has not been favourable for the Titan but we'll most likely see another pretty even matched series like we did last year when Halifax went 5-4-0-0 against the New Brunswick team.

Overall Record
Titan: 0-1-1-0 = 1 point (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)
Mooseheads: 0-0-1-1 = 1 point (6th in Martimes division, 16th overall)

Team Leaders
HAL: Ilya Putintsev 4pts (1G & 3A), Otto Somppi 3pts (1G & 2A), Maxime Fortier 3pts (3A)
BAT: Jeffrey Truchon-Viel 3pts (1G & 2A), Christophe Boivin 3pts (3A), Antoine Morand 2pts (2G)

Last Games
Acadie-Bathurst is coming off a 6-3 deficit to the Moncton Wildcats on Saturday evening. Rookie Antoine Morand scored two goals to lead the Titan while Reilly Pickard and Daniel Vautour both saw action and made a combined 31 saves on home ice.

Halifax is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs on the road. The Moynihan brothers provided the scoring, with a goal each while Kevin Resop got his first start of the season and made 21 saves on Saturday night.

Season Series
Head to Head: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points
September 18 Acadie-Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm
October 14 Halifax at Acadie-Bathurst - 7pm
October 17 Acadie-Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm
October 28 Halifax at Acadie-Bathurst - 7pm
November 12 Halifax at Acadie-Bathurst - 7pm
January 12 Acadie-Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm
January 29 Halifax at Acadie-Bathurst - 7pm
March 2 Acadie-Bathurst at Halifax - 7pm
March 8 Halifax at Acadie-Bathurst - 7pm

Out of Town
Screaming Eagles vs Sea Dogs 7:00pm
Wildcats vs Islanders 7:00pm
Armada vs Tigres 8:00pm
Sagueneens vs Voltigeurs 8:00pm
Drakkar vs Oceanic 8:30pm
Huskies vs Olympiques 8:30pm
Cataractes vs Remparts 8:30pm
Foreurs vs Phoenix 8:30pm

After the Buzzer
The Mooseheads will host 15 year old Joe Veleno and the Saint John Sea Dogs tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7pm.

Former Herd D named captain of Quebec

The Quebec Remparts have announced that 20 year old Matt Murphy will be captaining their 2015-16 squad. Murphy was traded from your Halifax Mooseheads in December to the Remparts with goaltender Zachary Fucale. In return, Halifax received Cody Donaghey.

In 31 games last season with Quebec, the Fredericton, NB native scored 3 goals and recorded 12 points.

Congratulations Matt!!

Euros score first goals, Moose lose in SO

Your Halifax Mooseheads started the season off on an okay start. European born rookies Ilya Putintsev and Otto Somppi scored their first goals, showing the Moose fans that even though this is a transition year they can still be excited to go see games. Overager Eric Brassard was at most times in mid-season form, facing almost 40 shots during regulation and overtime but so did Darryl MacCallum, who got the best of Brassard in the shootout. Somppi led the Herd with a goal and two assists, while Putintsev scored the first goal of the season for Halifax and added an assist. Last night's first line combined for 7 points.

FINAL: Mooseheads 3at Islanders 4SO
Stars: 3. Somppi HAL | 2. Deschenes CHA | 1. MacCallum CHA
Attendance: 2,687
MC's Top Herd: n/a

GAME LOG
First period
6:42 CHA Oliver Cooper (1) | A: Kennedy & Rydstrom
15:14 HAL Ilya Putintsev (1), PP | A: Fortier & Somppi
16:36 CHA Filip Rydstrom (1) | A: Deschenes

Second period
6:30 HAL Otto Somppi (1), PP | A: Putintsev & Fortier
11:08 HAL Vincent Watt (1) | A: Fortier & Somppi

Third period
0:56 CHA Mitchell Balmas (1), PP | A: Deschenes

Overtime
No scoring

Shootout
Round 1 - CHA Chris Chaddock (Goal)     HAL Danny Moynihan (Save)
Round 2 - CHA Bradley Kennedy (Save)     HAL Otto Somppi (Save)
Round 3 - CHA Mitchell Balmas (Save)     HAL Ilya Putintsev (Save)

POWERPLAY
Halifax: 2-for-7
Charlottetown: 1-for-5

GOALIES
Winning goaltender: Darryl MacCallum CHA 37 saves
Losing goaltender: Eric Brassard HAL 36 saves

Sept 11: Islanders vs. Mooseheads preview

GAMEDAY
CHARLOTTETOWN ISLANDERS VS HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS
Puck drop at 7:00pm
TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @IslesLive
Eastlink Center (3,717) ~ Charlottetown, PEI

It's been one of the longest off-seasons that your Halifax Mooseheads have had in the lest few years but it is finally over and the 2015-16 regular season is upon us. The year begins with Halifax taking on the Charlottetown Islanders on the island tonight. The Mooseheads are still in the midst of a rebuild, evident by the amount of rookies again on the team this season. Last season, the challenge was on defense with 6 out of the 8 players playing in their first year in the QMJHL. This year, there's 6 new faces on the forward lines and only two in the back end. Though the Herd may be young, they have some scoring punch waiting to explode. Halifax will be without Timo Meier, Cody Donaghey and Cavan Fitzgerald who will all be at NHL camps.

Overall Record
Mooseheads: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (T-1st in Maritimes division, T-1st overall)
Islanders: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (T-1st in Maritimes division, T-1st overall)

Team Leaders
CHA: n/a
HAL: n/a

Last Game
Halifax is coming off of a 3-1 loss to their provincial rivals the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles to finish off the preseason. Ilya Putintsev had the lone goal in the loss for the herd.
Charlottetown is coming off of a 4-1 win against the Quebec Rempart to finish the preseason. Daniel Sprong had the hat trick along with Bradley Kennedy had the other goal.

Season Series
Head to Head: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points
September 11 Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
November 29 Halifax at Charlottetown - 3pm
January 3 Halifax at Charlottetown - 3pm
January 5 Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
January 17 Halifax at Charlottetown - 3pm
February 6 Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
February 20 Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
March 12 Charlottetown at Halifax - 4pm
March 19 Halifax at Charlottetown - 4pm

Out of Town
Titan vs Screaming Eagles 7:00pm
Olympique vs Armada 8:00pm
Phoenix vs Huskies 8:00pm
Tigres vs Foreurs 8:00pm
Voltieurs vs Drakkar 8:30pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will travel to Saint John to take on the Sea Dogs on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7pm.

Moose to start season with four alternate captains

L-R Cavan, Danny & Taylor
Photo - Mooseheads website

Today the Halifax Mooseheads announced that they are going to be starting the 2015-16 season with four alternate captains. They will be veterans Danny Moynihan and Cody Donaghey, as well as sophomore defencemen Cavan Fitzgerald and Taylor Ford. The Moose said in an article that there will be no one to wear the C to start the season. 

Cody Donaghey
Photo - Herd twitter

The Moose start the regular season tomorrow night against the Charlottetown Islanders in Charlottetown. The Herd will play their first home game next Friday night against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

PRESEASON: Stats Sunday

Games Played: 5
Record: 0-4-0-1, 1pt
Scores*: 4-5 SO, 1-5, 2-2^, 2-4, 2-7, 1-3
Goals for/against: 12 / 24
Powerplay: 7.1%
Penalty kill: 80.0%
Shutouts: none

Top 3 leading scorers
Points: Ilya Putintsev (3pts), Connor Moynihan (3pts), Arnaud Durandeau (3pts)
Goals: Ilya Putintsev (2G), Danny Moynihan (2G), Connor Moynihan (2G)
Assists: Arnaud Durandeau (3A), Maxime Fortier (2A), Cavan Fitzgerald (2A)
Penalty Minutes: Connor Moynihan (20 mins), Samuel Hunter (12 mins), Kelly Bent (11 mins)
Plus/Minus: Maxime Fortier (+3), Walter Flower (+1), Arnaud Durandeau (+1)
Rookie Scoring: Ilya Putintsev (3pts), Arnaud Durandeau (3pts), Cooper Jones (2pts)

Goaltending Stats:
Eric Brassard: 0-1-0-0   2.66 GAA%   0.917 SAV%
Kevin Resop: 0-2-0-0   7.20 GAA%   0.857 SAV%

*Mooseheads score is first
^game cancelled at 11:51 of the first period because of fog