STATS SUNDAY: October

Games played: 12
Record: 7-3-2-0, 16pts
Goals for/against: 45/31
Powerplay*: 16.9%
Penalty kill*: 89.0%
Shutouts: 1

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Filip Zadina 17, Maxime Fortier 16, Otto Somppi 12, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 11, Arnaud Durandeau 10
Goals: Filip Zadina 9, Maxime Fortier 7, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 6, Connor Moynihan 5, Otto Somppi 4
Assists:  Maxime Fortier 9, Filip Zadina 8, Otto Somppi 8, Jocktan Chainey 8, Arnaud Durandeau 7
Penalty minutes: Jared MacIssac 20, Joel Bishop 16, Connor Moynihan 16, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 16, Barrett Dachyshyn 10
Plus/minus: Otto Somppi +16, Maxime Fortier +10, Connor Moynihan +9, Justin Barron +7, Filip Zadina +7
Rookie scoring: Filip Zadina 17pts, Justin Barron 6pts, Xavier Parent 4pts, Ryan Barbossa 3pts, Patrick Kyte 2pts

Goaltending stats*
Blade Mann-Dixon: 6-1-1-0    1.99 GAA     0.932 SAV%
Alexis Gravel: 4-2-1-0    3.14 GAA     0.891 SAV%



*overall

What Win Streak

Photo - Myles Dennis

Snapped. Your Halifax Mooseheads had another strong performance from overage goaltender Blade Mann-Dixon en route to a 6-2 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon. The victory for Halifax snapped the Isles six game win streak, which began on October 13 with a victory over Bathurst. The home team got on the board first with a goal by rookie defenceman Justin Barron and that's all the scoring that would happen in the opening 20 minutes. Just like Saturday night, Halifax got off to a 3-0 lead however Charlottetown made it close towards the end of the second period scoring two goals in the last 4 minutes of the frame. In the third it was all Mooseheads and the offence started with a very quick goal by Filip Zadina who scored just 27 seconds into the final period. Halifax's power play was a bit stale today going 0 for 6 but their penalty kill was almost perfect yet again, only letting one goal on 7 opportunities.

FINAL: Charlottetown 2 at Halifax 6
Stars: 3. Maxime Fortier HAL | 2. Blade Mann-Dixon HAL | 1. Jared McIsaac HAL
Attendance: 6,657
MC's Top Herd: Benoit-Olivier Groulx

GAME LOG
First period
12:04 HAL Justin Barron (2) | A: Lavoie & Somppi

Second period
1:22 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (8) | A: Fortier & Jones
14:26 HAL Arnaud Duradeau (5) | A: None
16:14 CHA Marcel Berube (1) | A: Vesterinen
19:28 CHA Hunter Drew (1), PP | A: Meisenheimer & Alexandrov

Third period
0:27 HAL Filip Zadina (12) | A: Somppi
3:58 HAL Connor Moynihan (6) | A: Barbosa
9:21 HAL Xavier Parent (4) | A: Barron & Lavoie

Powerplay: CHA - 1-for-7; HAL - 0-for-6
Shots: 32-29 in favour of Halifax

NOT DRESSED - Alexis Gravel (injured), Walter Flower (injured), Kyle Petten (healthy scratch) & Jordan Lepage (injured)

SCORES
Victoriaville 1 at Acadie-Bathurst 4
Rouyn-Noranda 4 at Saint John 5 OT
Sherbrooke 3 at Quebec 4 OT
Gatineau 1 at Rimouski 2
Shawinigan 3 at Baie-Comeau 4
Drummondville 1 at Chicoutimi 2 SO

UP NEXT: Halifax will travel to take on the Remparts on Wednesday evening in Quebec City. Puck drops at 8pm.

GAMEDAY #16: vs. Charlottetown

GAMEDAY
HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS CHARLOTTETOWN ISLANDERS
Puck drops at 3pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

After a four game road trip, your Halifax Mooseheads are back home for a single match. The Herd were able to get 6 of a possible eight points while away from the Scotiabank Centre and will look to get back on a winning streak after defeating the Eagles last night. Otto Somppi, a third year centre, has been a welcome return for Halifax after coming back from a shoulder injury, picking up 4 goals and 10 points in 7 games but has been held off the score sheet in the last two games. I'm sure he'll find offense again very soon. Charlottetown on the other hand are on a six game winning streak and have quietly moved up to 11th overall in the standings after starting the season with a 1-6-1-0 record. Moose Country will be hoping that the home team has what it takes to put an end to the Islanders hot streak and they'll need another strong game from Antigonish native Blade Mann-Dixon. The 20 year old goalie will most likely get his second start this weekend as Alexis Gravel is out day to day with an injury sustained during a practice last week. Cole McLaren has been called up to take his place. Come cheer on your Mooseheads in the team's last game of October.

This is the third meeting between the two teams this season. Halifax is 2-0-0-0 against the Islanders while Charlottetown has a 0-2-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The last matchup was on October 1 where the home team picked up a 3-0 victory in Halifax. Raphael Lavoie had a goal and an assist to lead the Herd and Blade Mann-Dixon made 31 saves to get a shutout. 

OVERALL RECORDS
Islanders: 7-6-1-0 = 15 points (5th in Maritimes division, 11th overall)
Mooseheads: 9-4-2-0 = 20 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 7th overall)

LEADING SCORERS
HAL: Filip Zadina 23pts (11G & 12A), Maxime Fortier 22pts (11G & 11A), Benoit-Olivier Groulx 13pts (7G & 6A)
CHA: Adam Marsh 13pts (4G & 9A), Saku Vesterinen 10pts (2G & 8A), Pierre-Olivier Joseph 10pts (2G & 8A)

PREVIOUS GAMES
Charlottetown is coming off a 2-0 victory over Rouyn-Noranda on the island last night. Keith Getson had a goal and was named first star of the game for the Islanders while Matthew Walsh stopped all 25 of the Huskies shots to get the win.

Halifax invaded Cape Breton on Saturday evening and came away with a 4-3 win. Benoit-Oliver Groulx scored twice and had 3 points to lead the Mooseheads while Blade Mann-Dixon stopped 38 of the Screaming Eagles 41 shots picking up his 5th victory.

ALUM ON ISLANDERS
None

MISSING IN ACTION - Jordan Lepage, Alexis Gravel and Walter Flower are out with injuries

HEAD-TO-HEAD
September 23  Halifax 3 at Charlottetown 2
October 1  Charlottetown 0 at Halifax 3
October 29  Charlottetown at Halifax - 3pm
November 24  Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
December 28  Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
January 11  Charlottetown at Halifax - 7pm
January 12  Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
February 6  Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm
February 21  Halifax at Charlottetown - 7pm

OUT OF TOWN
Titan vs. Tigres    3:00pm
Sea Dogs vs. Huskies    3:00pm
Remparts vs. Phoenix    4:00pm
Oceanic vs. Olympiques    4:00pm
Drakkar vs. Cataractes    5:00pm
Sagueneens vs. Voltigeurs    5:00pm

AFTER THE BUZZER
Halifax will go on another Quebec road trip starting off with a game in the province's capital against the Remparts on Wednesday. Puck drops at 8pm.

Moose Players in Canada-Russia Series

Photo - CHL Twitter

Some big news came out of the CHL earlier this month when the league, along with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, announced it’s roster for the Canada-Russia series that will be played in 6 cities during November. Four Halifax Mooseheads players were among those listed on the team. Veterans Jocktan Chainey and Arnaud Durandeau will suit up for Team QMJHL along with sophomore teammates Jared McIsaac and Benoit-Olivier Groulx. They’ll be joined by other draft eligible players like Noah Dobson of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Saint John Sea Dog’s Joe Veleno. Other big names on the roster are goaltender Samuel Harvey of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles’ forward Drake Batherson.

The Canada-Russia series is an annual event where each league in the Canadian Hockey League plays two games against a Russian squad. It helps Hockey Canada determine which players they want to bring to the World Junior Hockey Championships which for 2019 will be held in Buffalo, NY. For the Q portion of the series, the Charlottetown Islanders and Moncton Wildcats will host a match each on November 14 and November 16 respectively. Former Mooseheads head coach Dominique Ducharme will be behind the bench once again to coach Team QMJHL.

Congratulations to Jocktan, Jared, Benoit and Arnaud on being named to the roster. Moose Country is excited to watch and cheer you guys on.

Offence Leads to PITR Win

Well that was a bunch of everything. Offence, lead changes, physicality. Just everything you would want in a game when the two teams from Nova Scotia battle it out on a Saturday night. The evening started out with a special ceremony where a father and son came out to drop the puck to honour their mother/wife who lost her battle with breast cancer. This puck drop was special because it was Pink in the Rink night at Scotiabank Centre, raising money for breast cancer research. Less than 3 minutes into the game, the big Connor Moynihan got the home faithful on their feet scoring a pretty nice goal. There was back and forth action in the first forty minutes with both periods ending in brawls at the buzzer. With under a minute to go in the middle frame Halifax native Justin Barron scored his first career goal in front of family and friends. In the third however, after going the first 12 minutes without a goal, the Mooseheads took over propelling the guys in pink to a big 9-5 victory over their provincial rivals.

FINAL: Screaming Eagles 5 at Mooseheads 9 
Stars: 3. Justin Barron HAL | 2. Filip Zadina HAL | 1. Max Fortier HAL
Attendance: 7,717
MC’s Top Herd: Justin Barron

GAME LOG
First period
2:26 HAL Connor Moynihan (3) | A: Fortier & Chainey
8:46 CAP Phelix Martineau (3), PP | A: McCormick & Kalmikov
10:51 CAP Drake Batherson (8) | A: Gawanke & Sokolov
17:35 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (6) | A: Chainey & Fortier
19:07 HAL Raphael Lavoie (3) | A: Zadina & Jones

Second period
1:08 HAL Max Fortier (7) | A: Groulx
4:35 CAP Igor Sokolov (5) | A: none
9:11 CAP Jordan Ty Fournier (4) | A: MacDougall & Kalmikov
12:48 HAL Filip Zadina (7) | A: Somppi
13:45 CAP Jordan Ty Fournier (5) | A: none
19:31 HAL Justin Barron (1) | A: Fortier

Third period
12:53 HAL Joel Bishop (2) | A: McIssac
14:31 HAL Filip Zadina (8) | A: Somppi & Durandeau
19:10 HAL Otto Somppi (1) | A: Barbosa

Powerplay: CAP – 1-for-5, HAL – 0-for-4
Shots: 41-37 in favour of Halifax

MISSING IN ACTION – Walter Flower and Jordan Lepage were out with injuries and Ben Higgins

SCORES
Sherbrooke 8 at Drummondville 4
Chicoutimi 5 at Baie Comeau 2
Gatineau 1 at Blainville 2
Bathurst 3 at Charlottetown 4
Moncton 3 at Saint John 2
Rouyn Noranda 4 Val Dor 5
Shawinigan 4 at Victoriaville 2

UP NEXT: Halifax will welcome the Wildcats to town for the first matchup in Moose Country against Moncton on Tuesday. Puck drops at 7pm.

 

GAMEDAY #10: vs. Cape Breton

GAMEDAY
HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS CAPE BRETON SCREAMING EAGLES
Puck drops at 7:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

It's Pink in the Rink night! Your Halifax Mooseheads were one of the first teams to host such an event and now each QMJHL team participates in dedicating one game in October each year to raise money for breast cancer research in Canada. This evening is the 10th annual game of this event and will see the Herd take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Halifax will be looking to get back in the win column after losing 4 straight in the past 8 days. Pink in the Rink matches have raised an average of $110,000 a year since it became a league wide event. Fans can buy raffle tickets at the Scotiabank Centre for a chance to win a special game worn pink jersey from a Moosehead player with all money going to the Atlantic region of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. October 13-15 also happens to be rivalry week in the Q with different rival teams playing a home and home series against each other. As Cape Breton and Halifax are provincial rivals it only makes sense that the two teams would be pitted against each other this weekend in the first set of the Battle of Nova Scotia. The Screaming Eagles are another team that should be fighting for the division title at the end of the season with the Moose and Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

This is the second meeting between the two teams this season. Halifax is 0-1-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles while Cape Breton has a 1-0-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The last matchup was actually last night in Sydney where the Eagles skated away with a 4-3 victory. Filip Zadina scored twice to lead the Herd and Alexis Gravel made 23 saves to take the loss.

OVERALL RECORDS
Screaming Eagles: 6-4-0-0 = 12 points (2nd in Maritimes division, 4th overall)
Mooseheads: 4-3-2-0 = 10 points (4th in Maritimes division, 10th overall)

LEADING SCORERS
HAL: Maxime Fortier 13pts (6G & 7A), Filip Zadina 12pts (6G & 6A), Arnaud Dirandeau 10pts (4G & 6A)
CAP: Drake Batherson 13pts (7G & 6A), Egor Sokolov 7pts (4G & 3A), Jordan Ty Fournier 6pts (3G & 3A)

PREVIOUS GAMES
See above.

ALUM ON EAGLES
None

MISSING IN ACTION - Jordan Lepage and Walter Flower are out with injuries still

HEAD-TO-HEAD
October 13  Halifax 3 at Cape Breton 4
October 14  Cape Breton at Halifax - 7pm
October 28  Halifax at Cape Breton - 7pm
November 18  Cape Breton at Halifax - 2pm
December 13  Halifax at Cape Breton - 7pm
December 16  Cape Breton at Halifax - 7pm|
December 30  Cape Breton at Halifax - 2pm
December 31  Halifax at Cape Breton - 2pm
January 19  Cape Breton at Halifax - 7pm

OUT OF TOWN
Voltigeurs vs. Phoenix   4:00pm
Drakkar vs. Sagueneens   5:00pm
Armada vs. Olympiques   5:00pm
Islanders vs. Titan   7:00pm
Sea Dogs vs. Wildcats   7:00pm
Foreurs vs. Huskies   8:00pm
Tigres vs. Cataractes   8:00pm

AFTER THE BUZZER
Halifax will stay home for another game, hosting the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday evening. Puck drops at 7pm.

Non-Call Loses Moose the Game

A non-call in the overtime period was the deciding factor in the Halifax Mooseheads game against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday evening. Less than a minute into extra time, Anthony Poulin put a rebound into a partial empty net to get the win for the away team seconds after the referees decided not to call a penalty for too many men on Blainville. The Armada had control of the puck while they were about to change players which the whole Mooseheads bench were screaming was too many men and while it was initially called a penalty by linesman Chris Ivanko, the other black & white stripes overturned his call. Arnaud Durandeau got the home team on the board first, a little over 9 minutes into the 1st period scoring a goal on the power play. Two minutes later Blainville tied it up on the power play. It was back and fourth in the second period and Durandeau put the good guys in front again close to the end of the frame. In the third it was an exciting period with lots of chances, pretty good saves and five goals.

FINAL: Armada 5 at Mooseheads 4OT
Stars: 3. Joel Bishop HAL | 2. Joel Teasdale BLB | 1. Arnaud Durandeau HAL
Attendance: 5,007
MC's Top Herd: Arnaud Durandeau

GAME LOG
First period
9:25 HAL Arnaud Durandeau (3), PP | A: Zadina & Groulx
11:4 BLB Anthony Poulin (3), PP | A: Paquette-Bisson & Hladonik

Second period
16:16 HAL Arnaud Durandeau (4) | A: Crossley & Kyte

Third period
1:34 BLB Joel Teasdale (3) | A: Bramwell
4:46 BLB Thomas Ethier (2) | A; Poulin
9:33 HAL Xavier Parent (2) | A: Bishop & McIsaac
12:33 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (4) | A: Fortier & Durandeau
12:49 BLB Joel Teasdale (4) | A: Crete-Belzile & DaSilva

Overtime
0:57 BLB Anthony Poulin | A: Katerinakis & Crete-Belzile

Powerplay: BLB - 2-for-4, HAL - 1-for-5
Shots: 30-29 in favour for Blainville

MISSING IN ACTION - Walter Flower, Otto Somppi and Jordan Lepage were out with injuries

SCORES
Quebec 0 at Acadie-Bathurst 3
Cape Breton 4 at Drummondville 5
Moncton 3 at Rimouski 4 OT
Victoriaville 5 at Sherbrooke 4
Val-d'Or 3 at Gatineau 5
Chicoutimi 5 at Shawinigan 0

UP NEXT: Halifax will go on the road now for a matchup against the Wildcats in Moncton on Wednesday. Puck drops at 7pm.