Gravel, Hischier Help Rebound Moose

Photo - Shawn Davidson

Rookie goaltender Alexis Gravel had an interesting night on Sunday but he was able to help his team to a 3-0 victory. The 16 year old didn't have to work very much during the first period, facing only 2 shots in a frame that saw neither team score. Joel Bishop got checked into the board with under 5 minutes to go, after a scrum ensued both teams received incidental penalties. Swiss forward Nico Hischier scored 2:37 into the second period with a one timer off a pass from Max Fortier and it ended up being the game winner. Halifax dominated the middle frame, getting 22 shots on Moncton's recently acquired goaltender Alec MacDonald who found his Wildcats down 2-0 after 40 minutes. In the third however, the away team seemed to find another pace as they got more shots on net during the final period than they did in the first two but Gravel stood strong even after getting run over late in the frame. That was part of the interesting night for the Mooseheads goalie. At the 14:38 mark in the 3rd, 20 year old Manuel Wiederer crashed into Alexis who fell back into his net and was down for a few minutes, long enough that the trainer went out to check on him but the Abestos, QC native stayed in the net. The Herd were given a 5 minute power play but were held off the score sheet though by this time it didn't matter as the home team was up 3-0 after Nico Hishier scored his 2nd of the game (and 22nd of the season) with 7:21 left in the match.

FINAL: Wildcats 0 at Mooseheads 3
Stars: 3. Alexis Gravel HAL | 2. Bradley Kennedy HAL | 1. Nico Hischier
Attendance: 5,845
MC's Top Herd: Alexis Gravel

GAME LOG
First period
None

Second period
2:37 HAL Nico Hischier (21) | A: Fortier & Lepage
5:37 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (7), PP | A: Bishop & Kennedy

Third period
12:39 HAL Nico Hischier (22) | A: Fortier & Moynihan

Powerplay: MON - 0-for-3, HAL - 1-for-4
Shots: 43-22 in favour of the Mooseheads

MISSING IN ACTION: Walter Flower (injury), Arnaud Durandeau (injury) and Brett Crossley (injury)

SCORES
Shawinigan 2 at Cape Breton 6
Chicoutimi 5 at Drummondville 4
Rouyn-Noranda 3 at Rimouski 1
Val-d'Or 5 at Sherbrooke 6
Acadie-Bathurst 7 at Victoriaville 6 OT

UP NEXT: Halifax will now travel to Quebec City for a rematch against the Remparts on Wednesday night. Puck drops at 8pm.

Moose Suffer 1st Extra Time Loss

Photo - Shawn Davidson

A chance to jump over division rival Charlottetown Islanders and tie the Quebec Remparts in the standings disappeared when your Halifax Mooseheads squandered a 5-3 lead in the third period and eventually lost in a shootout. The Mooseheads welcomed the Remparts for the first Thursday night hockey game and didn't take long to get on the board as Connor Moynihan got his 15th of the season 23 seconds into the match. This matchup had a few differences in it with offense versus defense as well as disciplined vs. undisciplined. As I mentioned in my preview, the Herd were the second team to score 100 goals this season while Quebec had the 5th lowest goals against coming into this evening. The Remparts came into the match with the least amount of penalty minutes while Halifax is on the other side of the spectrum but in this game were the more undisciplined team. Halifax took a 3-1 lead in to the middle frame and another four goals were scored in the second period giving the home team a 5-3 lead to the final period. Quebec tied the game, scoring twice by the 10 minute mark of the third and forced overtime. The extra five minutes couldn't solve anything as both goaltenders stood up pretty tall in OT especially Callum Booth as the Moose seemed to be trying to do a lot of odd man rushes. Booth also stood tall during the shootout stopping all three shots he faced while Alexis Gravel could only stop one of two shots he faced. It gave the home team their first extra time loss of the year.

FINAL: Remparts6 at Mooseheads 5 SO
Stars: 3. Ross MacDougall QUE | 2. Jocktan Chainey HAL | 1. Benoit-Olivier Groulx HAL
Attendance: 6,359 
MC's Top Herd: Jocktan Chainey

GAME LOG
First period
0:23 HAL Connor Moynihan (15) | A: Fortier & Lepage
3:58 HAL Cooper Jones (5) | A: Kennedy & Groulx
7:12 QUE Jonathan Bourcier (5), PP | A: MacDougall & Kurashev
13:14 HAL Bradley Kennedy (7), PP | A: Jones & Groulx

Second period
6:11 QUE Philipp Kurashev (8) | A: MacDougall & Buynitskiy
10:12 HAL Jocktan Chainey (3) | A: Hischier & Moynihan
13:32 QUE Jonathan Bourcier (6), PP | A: MacDougall & Boucher
17:52 HAL Nico Hischier (20), PP | A: Chainey & Moynihan

Third period
6:41 QUE Matthew Boucher (11) | A: none
9:53 QUE Olivier Garneau (7) | A: Bourcier & MacDougall

Overtime
None

Shootout
Round 1 - HAL Maxime Fortier (Save)     QUE Jonathan Bourcier (Goal)
Round 2 - HAL Nico Hischier (Save)     QUE Philipp Kurashev (Save)
Round 3 - Jared McIsaac (Save)

Powerplay: QUE - 2-for-3, HAL - 2-for-6
Shots: 47-26 in favour of Halifax

MISSING IN ACTION: Walter Flower (injury), Arnaud Durandeau (injury) and Brett Crossley (injury)

SCORES
Shawinigan 5 at Moncton 1
Val-d'Or 2 at Rimouski 6

UP NEXT: Moose Country will welcome the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 3pm.

GAMEDAY #25: vs. Quebec

GAME PREVEW
HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS QUEBEC REMPARTS
Pucks drops at 7:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

For the first (and only) time this season the Quebec Remparts visit the Scotiabank Centre to take on your Halifax Mooseheads. This will also be the first Thursday night hockey game of the year and your Mooseheads will be looking to start another win streak after getting revenge over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Tuesday evening for the previous game. There will be a few extra Nova Scotians on the ice tonight as the Remparts have three NS born players on their team. Halifax is not doing that bad so far this season despite being a very young team. The Mooseheads were the second team to score 100 goals after getting five on Tuesday and are going against the third best goaltender in terms of goals against average; Callum Booth. Should be a battle of goalies tonight.

OVERALL RECORDS
Remparts: 13-9-1-1 = 28 points (2nd in East division, 5th overall)
Mooseheads: 13-11-0-0 = 26 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 7th overall)

LEADING SCORERS
HAL: Maxime Fortier 44pts (15G & 29A), Nico Hischier 41pts (19G & 22A), Connor Moynihan 24pts (14G & 10A)
QUE: Philipp Kurashev 19pts (7G & 12A), Matthew Boucher 18pts (10G & 8A), Derek Gentile 16pts (9G & 7A)

PREVIOUS GAMES
Quebec is coming off 3-2 overtime victory on Sunday evening over Chicoutimi. Matthew Boucher led the Remparts with 2 goals, including the OT winner, at home while Callum Booth made 28 saves to get the win against the visiting Sagueneens.

Halifax is coming off a 5-3 win on Tuesday in the second match of a home and home series against Acadie-Bathurst. Max Fortier streatched his point streak to 6 games after picking up another two goals to lead the Mooseheads while Alexis Gravel stopped 23 of the Titan's 26 shots to get the road win.

ALUM ON REMPARTS - none

HEAD-TO-HEAD
November 24  Remparts at Mooseheads - 7:00pm
November 30  Mooseheads at Remparts - 8:00pm

OUT OF TOWN
Wildcats vs. Cataractes   7:00pm
Oceanic vs. Foreurs   8:00pm

AFTER THE BUZZER
Halifax will stay at home and welcome divisional rival the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 3pm.

GAMEDAY #23: vs. Acadie-Bathurst

GAME PREVIEW
HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS ACADIE-BATHURST TITAN
Puck drops at 2:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

The Halifax Mooseheads have their longest win streak of the season, getting victories in their last four games and on Friday it came with production from all 4 lines. Halifax is going up against another team that is below them in the standings and will look to take the first game of this home and home series between the Herd and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Bathurst on the other hand is coming into this afternoon's game as losers of two straight. Rookie goaltender Alexis Gravel had a solid performance on Friday evening and could start today's match up as Halifax is slowly moving up the standings with this winning streak. The Moose are one of four teams to not have a extra time loss so far this season and it would be surprising if they get their first one today.

This is the third match between these two teams this season. Halifax is 1-1-0-0 against the Titan so far while Acadie-Bathurst has a 1-1-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The two teams last met on October 26 in Moose Country where Nico Hischier broke a franchise record for most points in a game by a rookie with six after scoring a hat trick and assisting on the other 3 goals in a 6-4 victory. Kevin Resop made 29 saves.

OVERALL RECORDS
Titan: 9-11-1-1 = 20 points (5th in Maritimes division, 15th overall)
Mooseheads: 12-10-0-0 = 24 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 8th overall)

LEADING SCORERS
HAL: Nico Hischier 36pts (17G & 19A), Maxime Fortier 36pts (11G & 25A), Connor Moynihan 22pts (13G & 9A)
BAT: Christophe Boivin 25pts (14G & 11A), Antoine Morand 24pts (9G & 15A), Dawson Theede 19pts (8G & 11A)

PREVIOUS GAMES
Acadie-Bathurst is coming off a 6-3 loss on Friday night at home against Saint John. Felix Boivin was named third star after scoring a goal and recording an assist for the Bathurst while Francis Lavallee picked up the loss stopping 18 of the Sea Dogs 21 shots in the final two periods.

Halifax is coming off a 5-1 victory over the Wildcats on Friday. Truro native Ben Higgins scored his first career hat trick to lead the Mooseheads in Moncton while Alexis Gravel was the busier of the two goaltenders, stopping 35 shots to get the win.

ALUM ON TITAN - none

HEAD-TO-HEAD
October 12  Mooseheads 0 at Titan 3
October 26  Titan 4 at Mooseheads 6
November 20  Titan at Mooseheads – 2pm
November 22  Mooseheads at Titan – 7pm
December 14  Titan at Mooseheads – 7pm
February 2  Titan at Mooseheads – 7pm
February 17  Mooseheads at Titan – 7pm
February 24  Titan at Mooseheads – 7pm
March 10  Mooseheads at Titan – 7pm

OUT OF TOWN
Wildcats vs. Sea Dogs   4:00pm
Remparts vs. Sagueneens   4:00pm
Voltigeurs vs. Olympiques   5:00pm
Tigres vs. Cataractes   5:00pm

AFTER THE BUZZER
Halifax will travel to Bathurst to take on the Titan on Tuesday evening in the second match of the home and home series. Puck drops at 7pm.

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.

QMJHL Namee Scholastic POM

Every month, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announces a Scholastic Player of the Month which recognizes a player on each team with his performance on ice and in the classroom. The player is selected based on their school results, their implication, the school-hockey conciliation, their team spirit and their on-ice performances.

For your Halifax Mooseheads, Arnaud Durandeau was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for October 2016. Durandeau had two goals and 2 assists in 13 games played in the month of October while also collecting 8 penalty minutes and was a plus-2.

Here's the full list:

BAC	D’Artagnan Joly	Cégep de Baie-Comeau
BAT	Jonathan Bourcier	Cégep à distance
BLB	Alexandre Alain	Cégep de Saint-Jérôme
CAP	Phélix Martineau	Cégep à distance
CHA	Carl Gervais	Éducation des adultes
CHI	Mark Bzowey	Athabasca University
DRU	Frédéric Aubé	Cégep de Drummondville
GAT	Mark Grametbauer	Nova Scotia Online Education
HAL	Arnaud Durandeau	Prince Andrew High School
MON	Cameron Askew	Harrison Trimble High School
QUE	Alexandre Drapeau	Cégep de Limoilou
RIM	Justin Paré	Cégep de Rimouski
ROU	Samuel Harvey	Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
SHA	Samuel Blier	Collège de Shawinigan & Cégep à distance
SHE	Nicolas Roy	Cégep de Sherbrooke
SNB	Samuel Dove-McFalls	Cégep à distance
VDO	Dereck Baribeau	Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
VIC	James Poval	Cégep de Rosemont

GAMEDAY #21: vs. Charlottetown

GAME PREVIEW
HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS CHARLOTTETOWN ISLANDERS
Puck drops at 7:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

What will they do next? The line of Connor Moynihan, Nico Hischier and Max Fortier have 23 points over the last two games helping the Halifax Mooseheads to back to back victories in the past week. Halifax will be looking for a third straight win as they host the Charlottetown Islanders this evening. For the Isles this will be their 3rd game in 3 nights. Another question on a lot of people's minds is who will coach Andre Tourigney start in goal tonight. Veteran goalie Kevin Resop began last night's game and let in a goal on the first shot but finished the period before getting pulled in favour of rookie Alexis Gravel after Sherbrooke scored 3 times on 11 shots. Should be an exciting game as this match features the top 3 leading scorers in the league (Filip Chlapik, Hischier and Fortier) and 8 of the top 31 overall.

This is the third matchup between these two teams this season. Halifax is 1-1-0-0 against the Islanders so far while Charlottetown has a 1-1-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The two teams last met on October 8 in Moose Country where Connor Moynihan scored twice to lead the home team to a 5-2 victory while Alexis Gravel picked up first star honours making 35 saves. 

OVERALL RECORDS
Islanders: 12-8-1-0 = 25 points (2nd in Maritimes division, 6th overall)
Mooseheads: 10-10-0-0 = 20 points (4th in Maritimes division, 12th overall)

LEADING SCORERS
HAL: Maxime Fortier 31pts (9G & 22A), Nico Hischier 30pts (14G & 16A), Connor Moynihan 21pts (12G & 9A)
CHA: Filip Chlapik 31pts (18G & 13A), Kameron Kielly 26pts (11G & 15A), Mitchell Balmas 24pts (8G & 16A)

PREVIOUS GAMES
Charlottetown is coming off a 7-3 loss at the hands of division leader Saint John on Friday evening. Pierre-Olivier Joseph led the team with 3 assists while the Islanders got goals from three different players. Matthew Welsh picked up the defeat stopping 23 of the Sea Dogs 27 shots in relief on home ice.

Halifax is coming off a big 9-5 victory over the visiting Phoenix last night. Maxime Fortier led the Mooseheads with a franchise record 6 assists while the team was led in goals by Connor Moynihan who scored his first career hat trick. Alexis Gravel picked up the win versus Sherbrooke making 14 saves on 16 shots.

ALUM ON ISLANDERS - Cody Donaghey

HEAD-TO-HEAD
October 2  Halifax 2at Charlottetown 9
October 8  Charlottetown 2 at Halifax 5
November 12  Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
December 28  Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
January 11  Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
February 10  Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
February 18  Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
March 5  Halifax at Charlottetown - 3pm
March 15  Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm

OUT OF TOWN
Drakkar vs. Screaming Eagles   5:00pm
Armada vs. Huskies   5:00pm
Sagueneens vs. Titan   5:00pm
Olympiques vs. Foreurs   5:00pm
Sea Dogs vs. Phoenix   7:00pm
Voltigeurs vs. Wildcats   8:00pm
Remparts vs. Oceanic   8:00pm

AFTER THE BUZZER
Halifax will travel to Moncton to take on the Wildcats on Friday evening. Puck drops at 7pm.