STATS SUNDAY: December (on Tuesday)

Games played: 9
Record: 2-7-0-0, 4pts
Goals for/against: 23/43
Powerplay*: 19.9%
Penalty kill*: 84.0%
Shutouts: none

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Maxim Trepanier 8, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 6, Zack Jones 4, Patrick Kyte 4, Raphael Lavoie 4
Goals: Maxim Trepanier 5, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 4, Zack Jones 3, Jeffrey Burridge 3, Patrick Kyte 1
Assists: Sonny Kabatay 4, Maxim Trepanier 3, Patrick Kyte 3, Raphael Lavoie 3, Kyle Petten 3
Penalty minutes: Maxim Trepanier 10, Jason Horvath 10, Lucas Robinson 10, Cameron Whynot 10, Walter Flower 8
Plus/minus: Maxim Trepanier 3, Sonny Kabatay 1, Jared McIsaac 1, Kyle Petten 1, Lucas Robinson -1
Rookie scoring: Sonny Kabatay 4, Zack Jones 4, Jeffrey Burridge 3, Lucas Robinson 1, Senna Peeters 1

Goaltending stats*
Cole McLaren: 7-7-1-0     3.06 GAA     0.912 SAV%
Alexis Gravel: 8-11-1-1     3.73 GAA     0.890 SAV%



*overall

2019 Ends On Bad Note

Photo - Myles Dennis

Twenty-nineteen has come to a close for the Halifax Mooseheads and it didn't end very well as the Saint John Sea Dogs won 6-4. The Mooseheads New Year's Eve game started good but then Halifax went to sleep in the second period and a third period comeback was too late. Rookie Jeffrey Burridge scored his 5th goal of the season at the 6:45 mark of the first period before recently acquired D'Artagnan Joly extended that lead to 2-0 with 26 seconds remaining in the frame. Saint John was still on the power play to begin the middle frame and it didn't take long for Jeffrey Durocher to pick up his 11th of the season, cutting the home team's lead to one 13 seconds in. The 20-year-old scored again twelve seconds later to tie the game up and the Sea Dogs didn't look back after that. After 40 minutes, the away team was up 4-2 and that would be the end of what we would see of Alex Gravel as backup Cole McLaren was in nets for the final frame of the decade. Senna Peeters and Zack Jones scored in the final 10 minutes to make it an interesting game but a turnover by Cam Whynot with the net empty late in the period took away the Mooseheads last hope of tying it as Durocher finished his hat trick.

FINAL: Sea Dogs 6 at Mooseheads 4
Stars: 3. D'Artagnan Joly HAL | 2. Denis Toner HAL | 1. Jeffrey Durocher SNB
Attendance: 8,070
MC's Top Herd: D'Artagnan Joly 

Powerplay: SNB - 1-for-3; HAL - 1-for-4
Shots: 33-25 in favour of Saint John

NOT DRESSED - Jared McIsaac (World Juniors), Justin Barron (injured), Raphael Lavoie (World Juniors) and Cole Foston (healthy)

SCORES
Rouyn-Noranda 1 at Blainville-Boisbriand 8
Charlottetown 0 at Cape Breton 4
Moncton 7 at Acadie-Bathurst 0
Quebec 6 at Baie-Comeau 4
Rimouski 0 at Victoriaville 3
Drummondville 5 at Chicoutimi 2
Val-d'Or 4 at Gatineau 8
Shawinigan 1 at Sherbrooke 3

UP NEXT - Benoit-Olivier Groulx and the Moncton Wildcats will come to town for a match against our Mooseheads on January 3. Puck drops at 7pm.

Fucale Leads Team Canada to Gold

Photo - TSN.ca

Former Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale led Team Canada to a Spengler Cup trophy on Tuesday.

The Spengler Cup is said to be the oldest invitational tournament in the world, having been played every year since 1923. Team Canada now has the most trophies in the history of the post-Christmas tournament. It is hosted in Davos, Switzerland every year from December 26-31.

Fucale, who currently plays for the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, had another shut out in the championship game as Canada won 4-0 versus HC Ocelari Trinec. His first shut out happened yesterday during the semi-final match. The Rosemare, QC native had a great tournament going 3-0 with a 0.33 goals against average. Fucale is no stranger to the Spengler Cup, having won in 2016 and picking up a silver medal in 2018. The 24-year-old was also named to the tournament's all-star team earlier in the day.

Congrats to Zach Fucale and Team Canada on winning gold!

Dec 28: Eagles vs. Mooseheads preview

CAPE BRETON EAGLES VS HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

Puck drops at 4pm

TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @HFXMooseheads

Centre 200 (5,000) ~ Sydney, NS

It's game two of the annual Hurley Cup home and home series between the two Nova Scotian teams. Our Halifax Mooseheads head to Sydney to take on the Cape Breton Eagles this evening and will be hoping to rebound from a dismal game last night. Cape Breton is currently holding the last playoff spot but have been dominant versus the Mooseheads this season. Xavier Bouchard led the Eagles with a goal and 3 assists on Saturday evening as they defeated Halifax 7-1. It will be interesting to see who the Herd start in goal tonight, as despite letting in seven goals, Alex Gravel did play quite well and made it so the score was not higher. Gravel made 34 saves last night before being pulled. Halifax will need to be much better defensively after allowing almost 50 shots against. The 4th Hurley Cup will be awarded after the match, the Moose have won the last two while Cape Breton claimed the inaugural trophy.

Overall records
Mooseheads: 15-16-2-1 = 33pts (5th in Maritimes division, 13th overall)
Eagles: 18-13-2-1 = 39pts (3rd in Maritimes division, 8th overall)

Leading scorers
CAP: Egor Sokolov 51pts (24G & 27A), Ryan Francis 47pts (15G & 32A), Shawn Boudrias 39pts (19G& 20A)
HAL: Raphael Lavoie 44pts (18G & 26A), Kevin Gursoy 26pts (10G & 16A), Justin Barron 17pts (4G & 13A)

Out of Town
Islanders vs. Titan     3:00pm
Sea Dogs vs. Wildcats     3:00pm
Remparts vs. Sagueneens     4:00pm
Oceanic vs. Armada     4:00pm
Voltigeurs vs. Olympiques     4:00pm
Phoenix vs. Drakkar     4:00pm
Foreurs vs. Huskies     4:00pm
Tigres vs. Cataractes     5:00pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will be back home for a New Year's Eve contest against the Saint John Sea Dogs. Puck drops at 2pm.

TRADE: Captain Moved to Rivals

It's been speculated maybe all season but the Halifax Mooseheads made it official this afternoon that they have traded captain Benoit-Olivier Groulx to the Moncton Wildcats. The Herd acquired three draft picks in return; 2nd round in 2020, 1st round in 2021 and a 2nd round in 2022. 

Groulx was originally drafted by the Mooseheads in 2016 first overall after the team won the draft lottery that year. The 19-year-old finishes his tenure in Halifax with 207 points in 221 regular season games which is good enough for the 7th most points in franchise history currently. BO was recently cut from the world junior team by Hockey Canada which allowed Cam Russell to make this move now instead of in the new year. Over his three and a half years with the club, the Gatineau, QC native picked up 218 penalty minutes and was a plus-34. 

Good luck to Benoit in Moncton. Moose Country will miss you Captain! 

Hockey Canada Announce Holiday Tournament Teams

Hockey Canada made some announcements the last few days regarding who will represent their country during the holiday season tournaments; the World Juniors and Spengler Cup. A few players associated with the Halifax Mooseheads will be playing in Europe after Christmas.

The IIHF member made it's final cut for it's World Junior team and unfortunately it was Herd forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx who was let go on Saturday. However, that does mean that defenseman Jared McIsaac and forward Raphael Lavoie will represent Canada during the tournament. Some were surprised that Groulx was cut but the team is strong down the middle this year.

QMJHL is well represented this year with five current players and a former player making the team. Alexis Lafreniere (RIM), Dawson Mercer (DRU) and Olivier Rodrigue (MON) plus Joe Veleno who was released by the Detroit Red Wings join Lavoie and McIsaac a the Q league guys. Full roster here.

The Spengler Cup, which is hosted in Davos, Switzerland every year, also begins on Boxing Day. For the second straight year, former Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale will wear the red and white during the 6-team tournament. Fucale will try to lead Team Canada to a 16th championship after losing last year in an eight round shootout gold medal to KalPa.

Congratulations to all three players who will represent their country later this month and good luck.

I will try to keep you updated on how they are doing so check back on my blog next week.

TRADE: Trepanier Sent to Shawinigan, Gursoy Acquired

Photo - RDS

The Halifax Mooseheads announced on Monday that they have traded 20 year old Maxim Trepanier to the Shawinigan Cataractes. Halifax received a second round draft pick in 2020 in return.

Maxim was picked up by the Herd last Christmas trading period from Gatineau and has played 38 games in the red and green collecting 49 points. The St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC native also had 36 penalty minutes during his time in Halifax. Shawinigan will be his 4th QMJHL team.

Good luck to Maxim with the Cataractes.


With two defensemen gone, Halifax brought back Denis Toner who played for the club last season and they also promoted 16-year-old Keegan Hunt to fill the void.

Photo - Mooseheads website

Tuesday brought another overger into the fold with the announcement that Halifax has acquired forward Kevin Gursoy in exchange for a sixth round draft pick in 2021 from the Charlottetown Islanders. The 20-year-old has 26 points so far this season and was originally signed by Saint John in 2017 as a free agent.

Welcome to the Mooseheads, Kevin!