New Leadership Group

Photo - Herd website

Our Halifax Mooseheads have announced their leadership group for the 2023-24 season on Friday afternoon. 

Defenseman Jake Furlong was named the 35th captain in team history after returning to the Mooseheads by the San Jose Sharks earlier in the week. According to the press release, Furlong was presented his new position before practice by head coach Jim Midgley with his parents present. The 19-year-old is heading into his fourth season with Halifax after the Herd drafted him in the second round of the 2020 QMJHL entry draft. 

"Jake exemplifies the values of the Halifax Mooseheads. His work ethic, consistency and commitment make him a great ambassador for our organization," said Jim Midgley. 

From the release; Furlong has displayed all of those qualities throughout his Mooseheads career but perhaps no greater than during the 2023 playoff run which saw him log major minutes every game while putting his body on the line and shutting down the top forwards from each opponent on a consistent basis. 

Joining the Upper Tantallon, NS native as leaders for this year are veterans forwards Markus Vidicek and Jordan Dumais along with Brady Schultz and Mathieu Cataford. The first two players will serve as alternate captains for every game while the latter two will rotate wearing a letter during home and away games. 

Congratulations to all five players, especially Furlong on being given the C. 

RECAP: Isles Ruin Herd Home Opener

For the fifth time in the last six years, our Halifax Mooseheads have lost their home opener as the team fell 3-1 on Friday night to start the 2023-24 season. The night started off on a high note though as the 30th anniversary roster was introduced followed by a special jersey retirement ceremony that saw Nathan MacKinnon's number 22 be raised to the rafters. This caused quite a delay for puck drop but it seemed like it wasn't going to affect the Herd with rookie Liam Kilfoil scoring his first career QMJHL goal less than 8 minutes into the match. However, the Charlottetown Islanders got the tying goal by captain Michael Horth a few minutes later and the teams went to their dressing rooms with the score 1-1 after twenty minutes. Halifax had some of the best chances of the game in the final 40 minutes but could not get past the Islanders goaltender. Horth scored his second of the game late in the second period and in the third, the Mooseheads were so close a couple of times to tying it up. 

FINAL: Islanders 3 at Mooseheads 1
Stars: 3. Liam Kilfoil HAL | 2. Logan Crosby HAL | 1. Michael Horth CHA
Attendance: 10,073
MC's Top Herd: Liam Kilfoil

GAME LOG
First period
7:48 HAL Liam Kilfoil (1) | A: Schultz & Crosby
10:12 CHA Michael Horth (1) | A: None

Second period 
16:18 CHA Michael Horth (2), PP | A: Campbell & Morneau

Third period 
19:24 CHA Owen Conrad (1), SH/EN | A: None

Powerplay: CHA - 1-for-3; HAL - 0-for-4
Shots: 24-18 in favour of Halifax

Next game
Halifax will travel to Charlottetown as these two teams meet again tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

Game Day 1: vs Charlottetown

PREVIEW - It's finally game day as our Halifax Mooseheads kick off their 30th anniversary tonight as they host the Charlottetown Islanders at 7pm. The Herd will be starting the 2023-24 season as a younger team than what is on the regular roster as the club has five players who are at National Hockey League main camps this week. Rookie goaltender Jack Milner is set to get the starting job for this evening with veteran Mathis Rousseau at Arizona Coyotes camp. It will be a big night for another reason as the team will raise Nathan MacKinnon's number 22 to the rafters. The Islanders should be a good test and have gotten some reinforcements over the last few days with recently named captain Michael Horth returning from rookie camp. Despite the increase in ticket prices and change over to Ticket Master for the Mooseheads, we should see an almost sold out crowd tonight. Make sure you are in your seats early as the pre-game ceremony begins at 6:45pm. 

Overall records
Islanders: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (2nd in Maritimes division, 5th overall)
Mooseheads: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (6th in Maritimes division, 16th overall)

Top 3 scorers

HAL: n/a
CHA: n/a

Head-to-head

This is the first game of the season between these two teams. Last year, the Mooseheads had a 7-1-0-1 record against Charlottetown. Halifax won the last game by a score of 10-5 on March 25 at home with Josh Lawrence recording three goals and six points. 

Not playing - Jordan Dumais, Mathis Rousseau, Dylan MacKinnon, Jake Furlong and Mathieu Cataford are all away at NHL camps

Out of town

Titan vs. Sea Dogs - 7:00 p.m.
Eagles vs. Wildcats - 7:00 p.m.
Oceanic vs. Tigres - 8:00 p.m.
Olympiques vs. Voltigeurs - 8:00 p.m.
Phoenix vs. Armada - 8:00 p.m.
Sagueneens vs. Drakkar - 8:30 p.m.

Herd Word

Photo - CHL website

CHL TOP 10
The Canadian Hockey League announced the pre-season top 10 rankings on Wednesday afternoon and our Halifax Mooseheads were among the teams ranked. 

1. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies - QMJHL
2. London Knights - OHL
3. Portland Winterhawks - WHL
4. Saginaw Spirit - OHL
5. Moose Jaw Warriors - WHL
6. Halifax Mooseheads - QMJHL
7. Victoriaville Tigres - QMJHL
8. Sudbury Wolves - OHL
9. Saskatoon Blades - WHL 
10. Owen Sound Attack - OHL

MAIN CAMPS
There are plenty of young men on NHL teams main camp rosters that have suited up for the Halifax Mooseheads sometime in their career. Many of the players are Herd alumni but there are a few who are currently on the Mooseheads' opening night roster (bolded).

Below is a list of players
Samuel Asselin - New York Islanders
Justin Barron - Montreal Canadiens 
Elliot Desnoyers - Philadelphia Flyers
Alexandre Doucet - Detroit Red Wings
Jonathan Drouin - Colorado Avalanche
Jordan Dumais - Columbus Blue Jackets
Arnaud Durandeau - New York islanders
Nikolaj Ehlers - Winnipeg Jets
Jake Furlong - San Jose Sharks 
Benoit-Olivier Groulx - Anaheim Ducks
Nico Hischier - New Jersey Devils
Zachary L'Heureux - Nashville Predators
Raphael Lavoie - Edmonton Oilers
Dylan MacKinnon - Nashville Predators
Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche
Brad Marchand - Boston Bruins
Jared McIsaac - Detroit Red Wings
Timo Meier - New Jersey Devils
Xavier Parent - New Jersey Devils
Mathis Rousseau - Arizona Coyotes
Mackenzie Weegar - Calgary Flames
Filip Zadina - San Jose Sharks

Good luck to all the players in their respective training camps especially the ones looking to crack an NHL roster. 

Photo - Bruins website

ALUMNI AS CAPTAINS
Some news came out of Boston yesterday as the Bruins announced former Mooseheads forward Brad Marchand as the franchise's 27th captain ahead of the 2023-24 season. The Halifax, NS native will be playing in his fifteenth season and could pass 1000 games played sometime this year. Marchand is a Stanley Cup winner in 2011 with Boston after being drafted by the team 71st overall in the 2006 NHL draft. The 35-year-old played 26 games with his hometown team during his junior hockey career. Congrats to Brad on being named captain of this historic club. 

He joins a handful of Herd alumni who will wear the C on their jerseys this season. Switzerland native Nico Hischier will be going into his fourth year as the leader of the New Jersey Devils after being given the captaincy on February 20, 2021. Over in Europe, Cameron Critchlow (Manchester Storm), Petr Vrana (HC Ocelari Trinec), Tomas Knotek (HC Slavia Praha), and Jan Stransky (BK Mlada Boleslav) have been given the responsibility of leading their respective teams once again this season. 

HOME OPENER DETAILS
A few details have come out about Friday's home opener along with some changes to game experience. 

The Mooseheads announced the schedule for the pre-game show which is as follows
Doors open: 5:30pm
Warmup: 6:30pm
Pregame show starts: 6:45pm
Retirement ceremony: 7:05pm

Halifax also made changes following an off-season survey including opening doors at 5:30pm this year. Fans can also buy 50/50 tickets online now so you can get them from your seat or at home. In another hope of reducing congestion on the concourse, improvements at the concessions have been made like a new POS system and added "hawkers" in the stands handing out snacks. Read the full article of what changes were made here. Scott MacIntosh also tweeted out that the team have called up four players for the home opener with five at NHL camps. 

CAPTAIN
Once again, general manager Cam Russell and the coaching staff will need to name a new leadership group for the 2023-24 season. At the beginning of the month, I asked on Twitter who you think will be named captain and here are the results. 

Markus Vidicek - 22%
David Moravec - 12%
Jordan Dumais - 57%
Mathieu Cataford - 9%

With three of these young men away at NHL camps, we most likely will not find out who will lead this year's team until possibly October. I suspect we will see Jordan Dumais wear the C. 

2023-24 Promotional Schedule

Photo - Shawn Davidson

The regular season schedule was announced at the beginning of the summer and the Halifax Mooseheads haven't officially announced their events as of the writing of this post. However, they were listed on the form that people who bought 15-game packages received. So I'm going to do this post a little different this year and give you the full promotional schedule below. 

2023-24 promotional schedule
Home Opener - September 22 vs. Charlottetown
Fridge Magnet Giveaway - October 7 vs. Blainville-Boisbriand
30th Ann. T-shirt Giveaway - October 21 vs. Val-d'Or
Mooseheads Fight Cancer - November 4 vs. Sherbrooke
90's Night - November 11 vs. Shawinigan
Kid's Day - November 12 vs. Cape Breton
Toque Toss - December 8 vs. Gatineau
New Year's Eve - December 31 vs. Cape Breton
Towel Giveaway - January 13 vs. Quebec
DND Appreciation - January 20 vs. Chicoutimi
Alumni Night - March 2 vs. Saint John
Fan Appreciation Night - March 10 vs. Moncton

As you can see, there seems to be no teddy bear toss this season and we'll have to wait and see if the New Year's Eve match will be the normal Hurley Cup/Battle of Nova Scotia special event game. I'm not sure why the team never have the DND appreciation game on Remembrance Day if they play that day. 

Pre-season Stats

The Mooseheads have finished their pre-season schedule after playing the Cape Breton Eagles eight days ago as their last exhibition match was cancelled. 

Games played: 5
Scores*: 2-5, 1-7, 1-6, 4-3 OT, 4-2
Record: 2-3-0-0, 4pts
Goals for/against: 12 / 23
Powerplay: 7.7%
Penalty kill: 79.2%

Team leaders
Points: Reece Peitzsche (5pts), Antoine Fontaine (3pts), Markus Vidicek (3pts)
Goals: Reece Peitsche (3G), Antoine Fontaine (2G), Markus Vidicek (2G)
Assists: Dominic MacKenzie (3A), Reece Peitzsche (2A),Markus Vidicek (2A)
Penalty minutes: Dominic MacKenzie (8 mins), Mathis Laplante (6 mins), Hugo Boucher (6 mins)
Plus/minus: Brady Schultz (+3), Markus Vidicek (+2), Jake Todd (+2)

Goaltending stats
Mathis Rousseau:  1-0-0-0   2.00 GAA    0.929 SAV%
Sam Madget: 0-0-0-0   2.13 GAA    0.933 SAV%   
Jack Milner: 1-2-0-0   4.69 GAA    0.840 SAV%
Olivier St-Onge: 0-0-0-0   6.30 GAA    0.800 SAV%
George Foti: 0-1-0-0   7.64 GAA    0.750 SAV%

*Halifax's score is first

Mooseheads at Rookie Camps

It's September which means that rookie camps in the National Hockey League will be underway this week. There are a number of current and former Halifax Mooseheads players participating in camps, most of them in rookie or prospect tournaments. 

Below is the list
Mathis Rousseau - Arizona Coyotes (invite)
Elliot Desnoyers - Philadelphia Flyers
Dylan MacKinnon - Nashville Predators
Attilio Biasca - St. Louis Blues (invite)
Jordan Dumais - Columbus Blue Jackets
Xavier Parent - New Jersey Devils 
Jake Furlong - San Jose Sharks
Zachary L'Heureux - Nashville Predators
Markus Vidicek - Carolina Hurricanes (invite)
Alexandre Doucet - Detroit Red Wings
Mathieu Cataford - Vegas Golden Knights 

Good luck to the young men at camp. Check back next week to see which of them make it to main camps.