Events

The Halifax Mooseheads released their schedule for the upcoming season earlier this month and have announced the events happening during the 2017-18 season. Check out below for the dates of the yearly special games.

Annual events
HOME OPENER - September 30 vs. Acadie Bathurst Titan
Pink in the Rink 10 - October 14 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
DND Appreciation Night - November 11 vs. Sherbrooke Phoenix
Battle of Nova Scotia/Hurley Cup - December 30 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Teddy Bear Toss - January 27 vs. Saint John Sea Dogs
Fan Appreciation Night - March 16 vs. Moncton Wildcats & March 17 vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan

NHL Draft

The 2017 National Hockey League entry draft was held this weekend in Chicago, Illinois.

• For the first time in a few years, no one really knew absolutely who was going to get drafted first overall except for the team who won the lottery and was selecting in that top spot; the New Jersey Devils who picked Halifax Mooseheads rookie sensation Nico Hischier.
• The expansion Vegas Golden Knights made their first selection in franchise history when they drafted Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks 6th overall. They picked 3 players in the 1st round and a total of 12 over the weekend.
• It was a pretty quiet draft as most of the trades involved draft picks.
• Two more Mooseheads heard their names called when defenseman Jocktan Chainey was picked by the Devils 191st overall while forward Arnaud Durandeau went to the New York Islanders 165th overall. A total of 14 QMJHL players were drafted.
• Somehow, Halifax's leading scorer Max Fortier was passed over for the second year while d-man Walter Flower also didn't get selected.

Hischier Number One

The highest drafted Switzerland hockey player honour now belongs to Nico Hischier of your Halifax Mooseheads.

Nico was selected first overall at the 2017 NHL entry draft on Friday evening by the New Jersey Devils. With getting drafted at number 1 Hischier makes history for his home country in becoming the highest ever Swiss player to be selected, beating out Nino Niederreiter who was picked 5th overall back in 2010. The 18 year old also joins former Herd Nathan MacKinnon as the only Mooseheads to be drafted in the top spot.

Congratulations to Nico and his family on the accomplishment.

We'll most likely see Hischier in the Devils green and red sometime during next week when New Jersey hosts their development camp.

Herd Players, Prospects Invited to Summer Showcase

Photo - Hockey Canada website

There will be lots of Halifax Mooseheads flavour during the Hockey Canada summer showcase next month in Calgary. Hockey Canada announced on Tuesday the players that have been invited to it's annual development and selection camps.

Four current Herd players got an invitation to the under-18 camp and are among the 44 young men who are vying for a spot on the Canadian Ivan Hlinka Team. Newly turned sophomores goaltender Alexis Gravel, forward Raphael Lavoie, defenseman Jared McIsaac and forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx were named to the roster. The 4 players will be in Calgary for five days at the end of July. Full U18 camp roster which is formed of all 2018 draft eligible players from all three CHL leagues as well as two players from the Ontario Junior A Hockey League and the Central Canada Hockey League.

Halifax will also have four prospects participating in the under-17 camp that will see 111 midget players in on- and off-ice sessions at the Markin MacPhail Centre. Defenseman Justin Barron as well as forwards Arlo Merritt, Alex Newhook and Xavier Parent will look to use the development camp as a way to get on the World U17 Championship team. This camp begins on July 22. The roster, which you can view here, is formed of players from many different minor leagues including the Greater Toronto Hockey League, the Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League and Alberta Midget Hockey League plus others.

Per the Hockey Canada press release: Ryan Jankowski, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada, was responsible for all player selections, with assistance from regional scouts Carl Bouchard (Quebec), Barclay Branch (Ontario), Barclay Parneta (West), Kevin Mitchell (Atlantic), and Darrell Woodley (Ontario), Canadian Hockey League general managers and branch representatives for the under-17 roster, and with input from coaches and general managers from across the CHL for the under-18 and under-20 rosters.

With such a young team, the Moose do not have any players who were invited to the World Junior camp. In fact only two players from the QMJHL are on the roster; Samuel Girard of the Shawinigan Cataractes and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada's Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Good luck to all 8 young men next month in Calgary! Moose Country will be cheering you on.

Mooseheads Name New Head Coach

Photo - Mooseheads website

For a second straight year, the Halifax Mooseheads will have a new coach than the year before. The team announced yesterday that they have named Jim Midgley as head coach.

The position is a promotion for Midgley from his previous job. The 39 year old had been an assistant coach for your Herd since 2011. He helped coach Dom Ducharme lead the team to the franchise's first President's Cup in 2013. Before coming to the Mooseheads, the Townsend, ON native was an assistant coach for the Saint John Sea Dogs from 2007 to 2009. He's also helped with Hockey Nova Scotia and Hockey Canada.

“I am honoured and excited to take over behind the bench of the Mooseheads franchise. I can’t wait to get started in August,” noted Midgley in a press release.

The move was necessary since Andre Tourginy, who signed a 5 year contract with Halifax last May, stepped down to take a position with the Ottawa 67's as their head coach and VP of hockey operations. Tourigny took the new job to be closer to his family who live in Rouyn-Noranda.

Your Mooseheads open up their pre-season schedule with the rookie tournament in Moncton against the Saint John Sea Dogs on August 18.

Alum On Protected & Unprotected NHL Lists

In 2017-18 there will be a 31st team in the National Hockey League. The NHL added the Las Vegas Golden Knights as an expansion team and as such Las Vegas needs players. On Wednesday night the league will have an expansion draft before the annual NHL Awards ceremony and the Golden Knights have received a list of players they can select from.

There are a handful of former Halifax Mooseheads that have been left unprotected.

Here's a list of who is available to Las Vegas via NHL:
Andrew Bodnarchuk - Dallas Stars
Martin Frk - Detroit Red Wings
MacKenzie Weegar - Florida Panthers
Stefan Fournier - Tampa Bay Lightning
Alexandre Grenier - Vancouver Canucks



Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Jonathan Drouin (Montreal Canadiens) and Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia Flyers) were all protected by their respective clubs.

Las Vegas will host the festivities on Wednesday evening with the expansion draft beginning at 9 p.m. The NHL Entry Draft is set to play out on Friday and Saturday in Chicago, IL.

Drouin Heading Home

Photo - USA Today

Not because he's retiring but because he has been traded to the Montreal Canadiens.

The former Halifax Mooseheads forward was moved by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team that drafted the 22 year old back in 2013, this afternoon to the Habs along with a sixth round conditional pick in 2018 for Mikhail Sergachev and a conditional second-round pick also in 2018. Drouin will become a restricted free agent on July 1st after finishing his entry level contract at the end of the 2016-17 NHL season. Montreal will have to put him on their protected list now if they do not want the Vegas Golden Knights to pick him in the expansion draft on June 21.

Jonathan had 21 goals and 53 points in 73 games played this past season for the Lightning. He finishes his stint with the Bolts scoring 29 goals and helping on 66 others over 164 games played. The Saint-Agathe, Quebec native also had two stints in the American Hockey League with the Syracuse Crunch.

Good luck to Jonathan in Montreal, I know there is a lot of Habs fans in Moose Country.