Stats Sunday: December

Games played: 10
Record: 8-0-2-0, 18pts
Goals for/against: 56/29
Powerplay*: 22.4%
Penalty kill*: 77.8%
Shutouts: One

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Josh Lawrence 18, Zachary L'Heureux 18, Markus Vidicek 15, Jordan Dumais 14, Mathieu Cataford 12
Goals: Jordan Dumais 8, Zachary L'Heureux 8, Markus Vidicek 7, Mathieu Cataford 5, Josh Lawrence 5
Assists: Josh Lawrence 13, Zachary L'Heureux 10, Markus Vidicek 8, Mathieu Cataford 7, Jake Furlong 7
Penalty minutes: Dylan MacKinnon 11, Braeden MacPhee 11, Zachary L'Heureux 8, Jake Furlong 8, Mathieu Cataford 4
Plus/minus: Zachary L'Heureux +16, Josh Lawrence +14, Markus Vidicek +13, Jordan Dumais +12, Mathieu Cataford +9
Rookie scoring: Braeden MacPhee 4pts, Owen Phillips 2pts, Jack Martin 1pt, Reece Peitzsche 1pt

Goaltender stats*
Mathis Rousseau     17-4-2-1     2.69 GAA     0.907 SAV%
Brady James     6-3-2-0     3.58 GAA     0.880 SAV%

*overall

Big Win in CB to End 2022

Photo - Eagles website

Our Halifax Mooseheads might have been on the road but did they ever end 2022 in a big way! With the 2023 World Juniors being played at the Scotiabank Centre to end the calendar year, the Mooseheads played back-to-back games in Sydney against the Cape Breton Eagles. Halifax lost the first match this weekend but Mathis Rousseau was not going to let his team lose two in a row. Recently acquired forward Josh Lawrence continued to prove that Cam Russell and co. made the right decision as he recorded 7 points on Saturday afternoon as the Herd won 11-3. Zachary L'Heureux also continued to rack up points since his return as he opened the scoring and finished the game with four points. Eagles overager Ivan Ivan tied it up at 1 at the 10:07 mark and he scored again early in the second period which made it 3-2 for the road team at that point. The Mooseheads would go on to score 8 straight goals to extend their lead with Lawrence scoring his hat trick goal with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the middle frame. Surprisingly, only one of the 11 goals Halifax scored were on the man advantage but they did have just 3 power plays during the game. 

FINAL: Mooseheads 11 at Eagles 3
Stars: 3. Jordan Dumais HAL | 2. Zachary L'Heureux HAL | 1. Josh Lawrence HAL
Attendance: 2,140

GAME LOG
First period
6:19 HAL Zachary L'Heureux (12) | A: Lawrence & MacKinnon
10:07 CAP Ivan Ivan (11) | A: Squires & Johnson
14:39 HAL Jake Furlong (4) | A: Doucet & Cataford
18:40 HAL Josh Lawrence (17) | A: L'Heureux

Second period 
0:22 CAP Ivan Ivan (12) | A: Johnson & Lavoie
3:25 HAL Josh Lawrence (18), PP | A: Whynot
7:31 HAL Jordan Dumais (26) | A: L'Heureux & Vidicek
13:14 HAL Cameron Whynot (3) | A: Lawrence & Furlong
17:28 HAL Josh Lawrence (19) | A: L'Heureux 

Third period
0:56 HAL Jordan Dumais (27) | A: Schultz & Vidicek
4:42 HAL Mathieu Cataford (21) | A: Lawrence & Whynot
11:51 HAL Alexandre Doucet (31) | A: Dumais & Vidicek
12:36 HAL Josh Lawrence (20) | A: MacKinnon
18:21 CAP Luke Patterson (8) | A: None

Shots: 43-27 in favour of Halifax 
Powerplay: HAL - 1-for-3, CAP - 0-for-2

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

Missing in action: Attilio Biasca (WJC) and David Moravec (WJC)

Up next: Halifax will continue their road trip with their first game of 2023 against the Sea Dogs in Saint John on January 6

Herd Word

I can't believe today is Boxing Day and since we have a little break, I thought I would catch up on some news that has happened the past few weeks. The second half of the season should be an exciting time.

TOP PROSPECTS
The NHL/CHL top prospects game will make an appearance this season on January 25, 2023 and there will once again be a Halifax Mooseheads player on the roster. The Canadian Hockey League announced the 40 young men that will play in the game earlier this month. 17-year-old Mathieu Cataford will look to impress the scouts next month in Vancouver. Congrats to Mathieu and good luck, show them what you got. 

Photo - Mooseheads Twitter

DOUCET COMES TO HALIFAX
Our Halifax Mooseheads made yet another big trade last week, acquiring Alexandre Doucet from the Val-d'Or Foreurs. Doucet is from Sherbrooke, QC and has played his whole career with Val-d'Or. The 20-year-old has played really well this season in which he is leading the league in goals with 27 and is second in the Q in points. Halifax gave up three draft picks in the trade; 2023 1st round, 2024 2nd round and 2023 3rd rounder. "He's a game-changer. We think this trade gives us one of the best players in the league this season and makes our lineup even more dangerous than it already was," Cam Russell said. 

Halifax will have to deal with the overage situation now that the team has four players and clubs are only allowed three on their roster. Welcome to the team Alexandre. 

Biasca in pre-comp action
Photo - Swiss hockey Twitter

WORLD JUNIORS
The 2023 World Junior Hockey Championships begin today and while there won't be any Mooseheads players representing the home country Canada, Halifax will have a couple of guys on other country teams. Herd captain Attilio Biasca for the third straight year made Team Switzerland and will actually be wearing the C on his jersey for his country during the tournament. The Swiss are in Group B so they are playing in Moncton. Their first game is today at noon AT against Finland while they'll also play Slovakia, Latvia and the United States in round robin action. Meanwhile, defenseman David Moravec will look to help Team Czechia improve on their 4th place finish at the 2022 summer tournament. Czechia starts the week with a tilt against Canada this evening at 7:30pm AT. They'll also have matches versus Germany, Austria and Sweden. 

UPCOMING GAMES
Your Moose are back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to New Brunswick to battle the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The match will start a four game road stand for Halifax as the Scotiabank Centre is being used for the aforementioned World Juniors. Halifax will play two games in Cape Breton to end 2022 including a New Year's Eve afternoon tilt. Moose Country will have to wait until January 8 to see their team on home ice again. The club's first promotional match of 2023 takes place on January 14 with a t-shirt giveaway. 

Photo - Thunder Twitter

FOURNIER SIGNED BY CARDIFF
Former Halifax Mooseheads forward Stefan Fournier is headed overseas after being signed by the Cardiff Devils of the EIHL. Fournier has played the majority of the last five seasons with the ECHL's Wichita Thunder. The 30-year-old has recorded seven goals and 12 points in 17 games so far during the 2022-23 season. Cardiff doesn't expect the Dorval, QC native to play a game in Wales until December 31. "The reports we have on Stefan are very exciting, a player that I believe our fanbase will instantly embrace. He plays with an edge, throws his weight around, is willing to drop the gloves and scores dirty goals in front of the net," says Devils head coach Brodie Dupont. 

Good luck on the other side Stefan, Moose Country will be cheering for you. 

Moose Ranked 9th Before Christmas

Photo - QMJHL website

Our Halifax Mooseheads head into the Christmas break ranked 9th in the country after two big victories against the Charlottetown Islanders over the weekend. 

Halifax leads the Maritimes division with a record of 21-7-3-1 which is also good enough for third place overall in the QMJHL. Markus Vidicek had two goals and an assist in a 7-2 win versus the Islanders on Saturday night while defenseman Dylan MacKinnon also picked up three points (1G&2A). The night before, the Mooseheads top line of Jordan Dumais, Zach L'Heureux and Josh Lawrence recorded a combined nine points in a 7-3 victory. 

The Mooseheads are sure to look a bit different once they return to the Scotiabank Centre which unfortunately will not be until January 8 against Cape Breton. The winter trade period began on Sunday so we'll have to see what moves Cam Russell makes over the next two weeks to get ready for the second half. After Christmas, our Herd will return to action with a road trip Bathurst before heading to Cape Breton to end 2022. 

Below is the full standings

The top 5 leading scorers for Halifax 
Jordan Dumais 61pts (24G & 37A) 

Mathieu Cataford 44pts (20G & 24A)

Josh Laawrence 43pts (16G & 27A)

Markus VIdicek 40pts (16G & 24A)

Attilio Biasca 27pts (8G & 19A)

Twenty-one wins in 32 games is pretty good. Hopefully we will see even more victories in the second half of the season. Either way, I am excited to cheer the boys on in the new year. 

QMJHL Names 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, Jake Furlong was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for November. Furlong had a goal and 10 points in the month over 14 games. 

Team	Player	Program	Institution
BAT	Joseph Henneberry	Business	Acadia University
BAC	Vincent Collard	Social Sciences	Cégep de Baie-Comeau
BLB	Eliot L’Italien	Secondary 5	Académie Les Estacades
CAP	Owen Arnold	High School	Sydney Academy
CHA	Alexandre Tessier	Business	UPEI
CHI	Félix Bédard	Natural Sciences	Cégep de Chicoutimi
DRU	Tristan Roy	Social Sciences	Cégep de Drummondville
GAT	Tye Austin	Sciences	Acadia University
HAL	Jake Furlong	Finance	St. Mary’s University
MON	Vincent Filion	Sciences	Université de Moncton
QUE	Andrew Gweon	Health Sciences	Dalhousie University
RIM	Patrik Hamrla	English	École cours d’anglais de Rimouski
ROU	Kyle Hagen	Grade 12	Northern Pre University
SNB	Alexis Cournoyer	High School	Northern Pre University
SHA	Alexis Bonefon	Natural Sciences	Cégep de Shawinigan
SHE	Anthony Munroe-Boucher	Social Sciences	Cégep de Sherbrooke
VDO	Nathan Drapeau	High School	Northern Pre University
VIC	Loick Daigle	Natural Sciences	Cégep de Victoriaville

Halifax Make Big Trade

The Halifax Mooseheads made a big trade on Monday, picking up 20-year-old Josh Lawrence from the Blainville Armada. In exchange, the Herd let go of two draft picks; a 2023 second rounder and 1st round selection in 2024. Lawrence, a native of Fredericton, NB, has played strong so far this season scoring 32 points in 25 games with the Armada. The overager had a career best 101 points in 2021-22, helping the Saint John Sea Dogs to a Memorial Cup. 

Photo - Herd website

“We are very pleased to add someone of Josh's caliber to our already talented lineup. He brings elite level offense and valuable experience that will help our club tremendously this season,'' Russell said in the team's press release. 

I would like to welcome Josh to Moose Country! Looking forward to next Thursday when the Moose will be back home to take on Blainville.

DUMAIS SIGNS ELC
Congratulations are in order to forward Jordan Dumais who signed a 3-year entry level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets over the weekend. Dumais was selected by the Jackets in June 96th overall after putting up 109 points last season. The 18-year-old may surpass that number this year as he already has 54 points in 24 games. He leads the Canadian Hockey League in scoring and some have said that his play so far could get him on a spot on Canada’s world Junior team during the holiday break. 

Photo - Swiss hockey twitter

Other news and notes..

• Zachary L’Heureux made his season debut this past Friday where he picked up a goal and an assist. 
• Talking about the World Juniors, we know at least one Mooseheads player that will be participating as captain Attilio Biasca was named to Team Switzerland today for the tournament. 
• Here’s a crazy stat according to the NHL website, the New Jersey Devils are 17-0-0-0 this season when former Herd Nico Hischier records at least a point. 
• Arenas in Antigonish and Truro will get a pre-tournament game each in a few weeks while the Scotiabank Centre will host 4 matches. 
• Nobody cares probably but on Nov. 19 I got to watch Moose alumni Brad Marchand play live where he picked up 3 assists in a 6-1 Bruins win. Here’s a picture from that night (sorry it’s blurry, I was far away & using my phone camera) 

Stats Sunday: October

Games played: 12
Record: 8-1-2-1, 19pts
Goals for/against: 45/34
Powerplay*: 30.0%
Penalty kill*: 82.9%
Shutouts: None

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Jordan Dumais 27, Markus Vidicek 22, Mathieu Cataford 15, Attilio Biasca 12, Jake Furlong 8
Goals: Jordan Dumais 12, Markus Vidicek 8, Mathieu Cataford 7, Attilio Biasca 5, Jake Furlong 2
Assists: Jordan Dumais 15, Markus Vidicek 14, Attilio Biasca 8, Mathieu Cataford 8, Cameron Whynot 6
Penalty minutes: Dylan MacKinnon 19, Mathieu Cataford 12, Brady Schultz 10, Markus Vidicek 10, Jake Todd 9
Plus/minus: Markus Vidicek +14, Jordan Dumais +12, Mathieu Cataford +6, Brady Schultz +5, Cameron Whynot +3
Rookie scoring: Braeden MacPhee 3pts, Owen Phillips 2pts, Jack Martin 1pt, Reece Peitzsche 1pt

Goaltender stats*
Mathis Rousseau     6-1-1-1     2.63 GAA     0.909 SAV%
Brady James     2-0-1-0     2.94 GAA     0.899 SAV%

*overall