STATS SUNDAY: January

Games played: 13
Record: 8-4-0-1, 17pts
Goals for/against: 45/37
Powerplay*: 21.6%
Penalty kill*: 74.4%
Shutouts: none

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Nico Hischier 20, Maxime Fortier 15, Arnaud Durandeau 11, Frederic Aube 9, Jared McIsaac 8
Goals: Nico Hischier 10, Maxime Fortier 8, Jake Coughler 6, Frederic Aube 4, Otto Somppi 4
Assists: Nico Hischier 10, Arnaud Durandeau 9, Jared McIsaac 8, Maxime Fortier 7, Frederic Aube 5
Penalty minutes: Arnaud Durandeau 28, Keigan Goetz 27, Jordan Lepage 25, Jared McIsaac 18, Joel Bishop 13
Plus/minus: Arnaud Durandeau +10, Nico Hischier +10, Frederic Aube +9, Maxime Fortier +7, Jared McIsaac +5
Rookie scoring: Nico Hischier 20pts, Jared McIsaac 8pts, Jordan Lepage 5pts, Ben Higgins 4pts, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 3pts

Goaltending stats*
Blade Mann-Dixon: 13-9-0-0     2.92 GAA     0.908 SAV%
Alexis Gravel: 14-11-1-3     3.18 GAA     0.902 SAV%



*overall

GAMEDAY #49: at Rimouski

GAME PREVIEW
RIMOUSKI OCEANIC VS HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS
Puck drops at 4:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @HFXMooseheads
Colisee Financiere Sun Life (4,285) ~ Rimouski, QC

It's the final game for your Halifax Mooseheads of a 3-in-3 road trip through the province of Quebec. Today also marks the last road game against a Quebecois team this season. Four points separate the two teams playing this afternoon so fans in Rimouski are in for a big hard fought match I'm guessing. Halifax will be without star rookie Nico Hischier for the second straight game as he gets ready to participate in the Top Prospects game on Monday. The Mooseheads will be hoping to have a gritty performance like they did yesterday as the team is missing more than just Nico this weekend. They played with 3 full lines last night and are most likely going to be doing something similar today but Jared McIsaac should be back on the ice. Rimouski on the other hand, despite being 14th in the league, has the league's top scorer in Tyler Boland who is now 8 points ahead of the Herd's Max Fortier. The Oceanic are 2-0-1-0 in their last 3 games and will be looking to continue collecting points.

This is the second and last meeting between these two teams this season. Halifax is 1-0-0-0 against the Oceanic while Rimouski has a 0-1-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The last matchup was October 7 in Moose Country where the home Mooseheads picked up the 6-5 victory. Bradley Kennedy, Max Fortier & Otto Somppi had a goal and an assist each to lead the team.

OVERALL RECORDS
Mooseheads: 23-21-1-3 = 50 points (5th in Maritimes division, 11th overall)
Oceanic: 21-24-4-0 = 46 points (5th in East division, 14th overall)

LEADING SCORERS
RIM: Tyler Boland 79pts (36G & 43A), Dylan Montcalm 60pts (13G & 47A), Samuel Laberge 38pts (15G & 23A)
HAL: Maxime Fortier 71pts (26G & 45A), Nico Hischier 68pts (33G & 35A), Jake Coughler 39pts (25G & 14A)

PREVIOUS GAMES
Halifax is coming off a hard fought 2-1 victory over the Phoenix on Saturday night. Joel Bishop and Otto Somppi scored for the Mooseheads while Blade Mann-Dixon made 29 saves in Sherbrooke to pick up the win.

Rimouski is coming off a big 9-3 win on home ice over Drummondville. Three different players had a goal and 3 assists each to lead the Oceanic while Alexandre Lagace stopped 23 of the Voltigeurs' 26 shots on Saturday.

ALUM ON OCEANIC - Sam Hunter

HEAD-TO-HEAD
October 7  Rimouski 5 at Halifax 6
January 29  Halifax at Rimouski - 4pm

OUT OF TOWN
Islanders vs. Sea Dogs     3:00pm
Sagueneens vs. Olympiques     5:00pm
Cataractes vs. Drakkar     5:00pm

AFTER THE BUZZER
Halifax will head back home after the game and host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Thursday evening. Puck drops at 7pm.

Hischier Named to Three Stars

Photo - Mooseheads twitter

The QMJHL announced the three stars on Monday. Rookie Swiss forward Nico Hischier was named third star of the week for the week ending January 22nd, 2017. Nico had a goal and two assists Tuesday night in the shoot out win against Cape Breton. He had a goal in the shoot out loss to Chicoutimi on Thursday night. On Friday night he had a goal and two assists in the 7-4 loss to Baie Comeau on DND appreciation night.

First star honours went to Alexis D'Aoust of the Shawinigan Cataractes who had 7 points on the week and a plus six rating on the week. Second star honours went to Matthew Welsh of the Charlottetown Islanders who went 2-0 on the weekend.

Congratulations to Nico who was named third star of the week. Keep up the strong play to finish out the season!

DND Night Results in Defeat

On a night when the Halifax Mooseheads appreciated the Department of National Defense, the team on the ice couldn't get a win for the over 7,600 fans in attendance. The Herd were going up against rival Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Friday evening and despite outshooting the Drakkar all game, it just wasn't a good night for the Halifax goaltenders. With veteran goalie Blade Mann-Dixon still not feeling 100% after being sick the last few days, rookie Alexis Gravel started his second game in a row. Unfortunately for the Moose, Gravel had an off night and allowed three goals on 4 shots as Baie-Comeau led 4-2 after 20 minutes. One of the stories coming into the game was the battle of the Fortier brothers and while Max had the upper hand in points, little bro Gabriel received the team victory. Max ended the evening with 2 goals, the second of which was an odd bounce. Swiss star Nico Hischier kept his strong play going with a goal and two assists but he was unable to help his team pick up a W. After the Drakkar made it 3-1 less than 7 minutes into the game, coach Andre Tourigny decided to pull the rookie and put in Mann-Dixon.

FINAL: Drakkar 7 at Mooseheads 4
Stars: 3. Nico Hischier HAL | 2. Xavier Bouchard BAC | 1. Jordan Martel BAC
Attendance: 7,680
MC's Top Herd: Nico Hischier

GAME LOG
First period
1:39 BAC Simon Chevrier (12) | A: Thibault & Deslauriers
3:38 HAL Maxime Fortier (25) | A: Hischier & Charlebois
5:04 BAC D'Artagnan Joly (13) | A: Corson & Chekhovich
6:48 BAC Jean-Simon Belanger (2) | A: Bouchard & St-Laurent
8:12 HAL Nico Hischier (33) | A: Lepage
10:37 BAC Jordan Martel (14), PP | A: Chekhovich & Bouchard

Second period
6:37 BAC Jordan Martel (15) | A: Bouchard & Deslauriers
6:56 HAL Jake Coughler (24) | A: Somppi & Mann-Dixon

Third period
6:01 BAC Christopher Benoit (4) | A: Girard
6:47 BAC Ivan Chekhovich (17) | A: Corson & Aucoin
17:46 HAL Maxime Fortier (26) | A: Hischier & Durandeau

Powerplay: BAC - 1-for-4, HAL - 0-for-7
Shots: 40-31 in favour of the Mooseheads

MISSING IN ACTION: Caleb Rich, Brett Crossley and Barrett Dachyshyn

SCORES
Chicoutimi 0 at Saint John 1
Rouyn-Noradna 5 at Shebrooke 4
Drummondville 1 at Victoriaville 7
Shawinigan 5 at Blainville-Boisbriand 4
Charlottetown 5 at Gatineau 4 OT
Val-d'Or 4 at Rimouski 3

UP NEXT: Halifax will go on a road trip through Quebec starting with a visit to Drummondville for a match against the Voltigeurs on Friday night. Puck drops at 8:30pm.

Hischier Leads Herd on CSS List

The Central Scouting Services revealed it's mid-term rankings for the upcoming NHL draft today.

Brandon Wheat Kings centre Nolan Patrick is still ranked number 1 among North American skaters despite missing the first half of the season with an injury. Patrick has played the last 2 seasons in the WHL though so the scouts have seen him quite a bit.

Photo - NHL.com

Halifax Mooseheads fans will have a vested interest in who was ranked number two on the CSS list. Rookie Nico Hischier has climbed to the 2nd spot with his strong performance so far this season, scoring 31 goals and 63 points in 37 games played. He also played really well in the World Junior Championships after Christmas recording 7 points (4 goals & 3 assists) helping Team Switzerland to a 7th place finish. Hischier and Patrick will be going head to head for the rest of the season for that top spot now that Nolan has returned from his injury. Their first meeting against each other will be January 30 in Quebec City for the Top Prospects game with both players acting as captains of their respective team. Nico is the highest ranked Mooseheads player since Nathan MacKinnon in 2013.

There is also a few other Mooseheads on the list. Sophomore defensemen Jocktan Chainey and Walter Flower are ranked at #95 and #126 respectively while team leading scorer Maxime Fortier is 136th on the rankings. Rounding out the Herd players on the list is rookie Mathieu Charlebois at #214.

Congratulations to all the players and hopefully we'll hear these guys go in the 2017 NHL draft. Especially Max who I believe is in his 3rd entry draft.

CHL Names Top Prospects Game Captains

Nico Hischier is having a good season and it just got a little greater.

Photo - CHL.ca

The Canadian Hockey League announced the captains and alternate captains for the 2017 Sherwin-Williams CHL/NHL Top Prospects game on Tuesday afternoon and the lone Halifax Moosehead player that will be participating in this year's match was among the players given the honour. Hischier was named the captain of Team Orr for the game. The 18 year old joins Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings who will captain Team Cherry. Assisting Nico on Team Orr are the Mississauga Steelheads Nicolas Hauge and Michael Rasmussen of the Tri-City Americans.

Congratulations to Nico on being named captain of on of the teams. Moose Country will be cheering you on during the game. The Naters, Switzerland native had this to say; "It feels really good (to be named captain) because it’s an honour for me and I’m really excited about it,” said Hischier. “It’s a good experience and a chance to meet new friends so it should be fun.”

You can watch the Top Prospects game on Sportsnet on January 30. The match pits the top 40 NHL draft eligible players that are playing in the CHL. This year's version will be hosted by the city of Quebec and the Quebec Remparts.

Herd Get 1st Shootout Win

Photo - Christian Laforce (Local Xpress)

Five out of six. That is an excellent way to start the new year! In a game that saw a couple of players going against their old team and the return of former coaches, the Halifax Mooseheads defeated the Drummondville Voltigeurs in a shootout. Dominique Ducharme, who coached the Moose for the last 5 seasons and won a Memorial Cup with the team, was back in Moose Country on Friday night but he couldn't coach his new team to a victory. On the bench was his assistant coach in Halifax for a few of those seasons; Steve Hartley. For the Herd it was their first shootout victory of the season and it has given the team 5 wins in their last six games to begin 2017. The new recruits have been very good so far but tonight it was a couple of rookies who helped get the win. After a uneventful first period, Drummondville got out to a 1-0 lead over 7 minutes into the middle frame. Halifax had a few powerplays in the second half of the period but despite some pressure could not get a puck past Olivier Rodrigue. Not until that is the 3:27 minute mark of the third period where Max Fotier scored in tight to tie the game. Rodrique and Alexis Gravel kept it a tight game especially in the final minutes. In overtime, the home team took a penalty but Gravel was their to stop all 10 shots he faced in the extra 5 minutes as Drummondville outshot Halifax 10-2. Rookie defenseman Jared McIsaac scored the lone goal in the shootout to propel the Mooseheads.

FINAL: Voltigeurs 1 at Mooseheads 2 SO
Stars: 3. Jared McIsaac HAL | 2. Olivier Rodrigue DRU | 1. Alexis Gravel HAL
Attendance: 6,777
MC's Top Herd: Alexis Gravel

GAME LOG
First period
None

Second period
7:33 DRU Nicolas Beaudin (2) | A: none

Third period
3:27 HAL Maxime Fortier (24) | A: Lepage & Somppi

Overtime
None

Shootout
Round 1 – HAL Maxime Fortier (Save)     DRU Pavel Koltygin (Save)
Round 2 – HAL Jared McIsaac (Save)     DRU Nicolas Guay (Save)
Round 3 – HAL Nico Hischier (Save)     DRU Nicolas Beaudin (Save)

Powerplay: DRU - 0-for-5, HAL - 0-for-4
Shots: 38-32 in favour of Drummondville

MISSING IN ACTION: Mathieu Charlebois, Caleb Rich, Barrett Dachyshyn

SCORES
Victoriaville 1 at Acadie-Bathurst 5
Saint John 4 at Cape Breton 1
Moncton 3 at Charlottetown 8
Blainville-Boisbriand 3 at Chicoutimi 1
Rimouski 3 at Gatineau 6
Sherbrooke 3 at Rouyn-Noranda 6

UP NEXT: Halifax will welcome the Victoriaville Tigres for some Sunday afternoon hockey. Puck drops at 3pm.