Herd Word

Happy New Year everyone! I've been taking a break lately so this is my first blog post of 2024. There's been some news regarding current and former Halifax Mooseheads the last couple of weeks so thought I would do a Herd Word to wrap it all up. 

CATAFORD SIGNS

Photo - Golden Knights website

On December 31, the Vegas Golden Knights announced that they had signed forward Mathieu Cataford to a three-year, entry-level contract. The 18-year-old was leading the QMJHL in scoring at the time of the announcement with 53 points in 35 games. He has posted a current total of 181 points in 169 games played over three seasons with Halifax. The Chateauguay, QC native was drafted by Vegas in the third round (77th overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. 

Photo - Herd Twitter

WORLD JUNIORS
The 2024 World Junior Hockey Championships didn't turn out how Hockey Canada or the Mooseheads representatives probably wanted it to go but that doesn't mean there wasn't highlights of the tournament. Mathis Rousseau took the starting role over for the preliminary round and had a strong tournament meanwhile Jordan Dumais and Jake Furlong both scored a goal but they couldn't help Canada make it past the quarter-finals. Furlong's marker tied up the QF match at 2-2 late in the second against Czechia so it was said that his first point was gigantic. 

Our three guys have lots to be proud of representing their country. 

GREAT SAVE
Like I said above, Rousseau had a good tournament, recording a 2.00 goals against average and was fourth in save percentage at 0.912%. In a game against Finland in the prelims, the 18-year-old made a really nice glove save which ended up being on Sportscentre's 1v1 challenge for a few days. You can watch it below (it's the second clip in the video). 

He also made another stop in the game versus Sweden that impressed former NHL goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The toe save was on a Canadian penalty kill late in the first period to keep the score 0-0. 

FIRST STAR OF MONTH
Halifax Mooseheads alumni Nathan MacKinnon had a stellar month of December and was rewarded for it as the NHL named him the first star of the month. The 28-year-old had eleven goals and 29 points during the month to lead the league as the Colorado Avalanche went 8-5-2-0 in December. According to the NHL, 'his 29 points set a franchise record for a single calendar month, besting Peter Stastny's 28 in February 1981.' Congratulations to Nate. He hasn't slowed down so far in January. 

Photo - NHL PR Twitter

 

HERD MAKE ANOTHER TRADE
The Mooseheads made another move, this one just before the 1pm AST trade deadline on January 6 which saw the team adding forwards Lou-Felix Denis and Jan Sprynar from the Shawinigan Cataractes. 20-year-old Denis was leading the Cats in scoring with 38 points when the deal was made. Sprynar is an 18-year-old import and is on his third team over two seasons. 

Shawinigan received in return overage forward Ethan Larmand, sophomore Reece Peitzsche and rookie import Yannik Ponzetto along with two draft picks. 

Welcome to the team Lou-Felix and Jan! The two new players made their debut for Halifax on Sunday when the team took on the Charlottetown Islanders where Denis scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory. 

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

DROUIN RECORDS 300TH POINT
I missed this originally but alumni Jonathan Drouin had a good night last Thursday to help the Colorado Avalanche win 5-4 in overtime against Dallas. The 28-year-old scored twice during the game with his first goal being the 300th point of his NHL career. Drouin has record 86 goals and 216 points in total over 524 regular season games. 

Drouin was drafted 3rd overall back in 2013 by the Tampa Bay Lightning where he played until 2017. The Ste-Agathe, QC native than suited up for the Montreal Canadiens from the 2017-18 season until 2023. He becomes the 9th former Moosehead player to reach 300 points. 

MOOSE CLAIM MCPHEE
'The Mooseheads filled out the roster with a waiver claim addition late Sunday when GM Cam Russell picked up forward Luke McPhee from the Cape Breton Eagles. The 18-year-old native of Cole Harbour, NS will join the Mooseheads for the remainder of the season and will suit up in his first home game on Saturday' according to the press release. He has played in 59 games between the Moncton Wildcats and Eagles, collecting 3 goals and five points. 

Stats Sunday: December

Games played: 11
Record: 4-5-1-1, 10pts
Goals for/against: 30/39
Powerplay*: 22.9%
Penalty kill*: 82.8%
Shutouts: None

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Mathieu Cataford 17, Markus Vidicek 12, Liam Kilfoil 8, Brady Schultz 6, Jordan Dumais 6
Goals: Mathieu Cataford 9, Markus Vidicek 7, Liam Kilfoil 4, Jordan Dumais 2, Owen Phillips 2
Assists: Mathieu Cataford 8, Markus Vidicek 5, Brady Schultz 5, Liam Kilfoil 4, Jordan Dumais 4
Penalty minutes: David Moravec 8, Ethan Larmand 8, Jake Todd 8, Jake Furlong 6, Braeden MacPhee 6
Plus/minus: David Moravec +4, Jake Furlong +3, Liam Kilfoil +3, Mathieu Cataford +2, Markus Vidicek +1
Rookie scoring: Liam Kilfoil 8pts, Cade Moser 1pt, Dominic MacKenzie 1pt

Goaltender stats*
Mathis Rousseau     16-3-2-0     2.07 GAA     0.934 SAV%
Jack Milner     7-6-2-1     3.27 GAA     0.889 SAV%

*overall

Herd Make Trades With Moncton & Saint John

The Halifax Mooseheads announced a couple of trades on Friday afternoon. 

Up first was an exchange of draft picks with the Moncton Wildcats. Halifax received a 2nd rounder in 2024 and a 2025 1st round pick plus a 3rd rounder that was originally Victoriaville's in exchange for three picks all in 2026. Considering there will be a number of players leaving once again at the end of this season, having these early picks for the next two drafts should be helpful. 

In addition, Cam Russell moved overager Brody Fournier and the 2025 1st round pick they got from the Wildcats earlier in the day to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Coming back is 20-year-old Peter Reynolds. 

Fournier leaves the Mooseheads with 26 points over 35 games played so far this season, which is one more than he had during the whole 2022-23 year. Reynolds suited up for Saint John in 166 games while collecting 158 points, 44 of which have come this season. The Fredericton, NB native was drafted by the Sea Dogs 21st overall at the 2019 QMJHL draft. 

Good luck to Brody in Saint John, we'll miss watching you battle it out for the red and green. Welcome to Moose Country Peter. 

Photos - Mooseheads Twitter

Holiday break is upon us

STATS

Last night's home game was the final match for our Halifax Mooseheads before the holiday break and unfortunately, it did not end well as the Saint John Sea Dogs won in overtime 3-2. As we are at the half-way point of the season, I thought I would give you an update on the team's stats at this time. 

Halifax has been without their star players so they have limped into the break but it has been a good chance for the second tier players some playing time and put up some points. Forward Mathieu Cataford has been stellar lately picking up 13 points (8G & 5A) in the last five games and he now leads the QMJHL in scoring with 51. The Mooseheads are 4-4-2-0 in their last 10 games, however they still sit on top of the Maritimes division. 

First half stats

Record overall: 22-9-4-0 = 48 points 

Goals for: 124
Goals against: 97

Power play: 22.6%

Penalty kill: 82.8%

Top 5 scorers: Mathieu Cataford 51pts (22G & 29A), Jordan Dumais 47pts (16G & 31A), Markus Vidicek 45pts (23G & 22A), Brady Schultz 27pts (3G & 24A), Brody Fournier 26pts (13G & 13A)

Goalies: Mathis Rousseau 16-3-2-0 record, 3 shutouts, 2.07 GAA, 0.934 SAV%; Jack Milner 6-6-2-0 record, 0 shutouts, 3.62 GAA, 0.876 SAV%

TRADE PERIOD OPENS TODAY

The holiday break also begins the trading period for the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. There hasn't been as many rumours as in previous years and I've only seen one related to the Mooseheads. According to some sources, Israel Mianscum will be traded to Halifax. Moves have already been made today and more will be made official over the next couple of weeks. Trades that involve players at the World Juniors won't be announced until January 6 when they come back. 

NEXT UP

When the team returns from the break, they will host the Charlottetown Islanders on December 28 before playing in a home-and-home series against provincial rivals, Cape Breton Eagles during the last weekend of 2023. 

Photo - Vecteezy

THANK YOU

Lastly, I just wanted to a big Thank You to all of you who have read my blog, followed me on social media and liked/commented on my posts this year. I also would like to say I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season. 

TBT: MacKinnon Jersey Retirement

The Halifax Mooseheads are celebrating their 30th anniversary this season and the club kicked it off in style with the retirement of Nathan MacKinnon's #22 jersey in a pre-game ceremony during the home opener on September 22. Since it is Throwback Thursday, I thought I would share some media from the ceremony. 

"I've never experienced anything like this before... being from here, I spent my summers back home in Halifax. Definitely a close connection to the city, a lot of family and friends here tonight," MacKinnon said to press before the event. "It's cool to share it with people, not just myself. I think the best part is having everyone around me." 

Among the 10,198 fans in attendance were Nathan's parents, sister and girlfriend plus the new Mooseheads owners; Sam and Peter Simon who all joined him on the ice for the ceremony. Before MacKinnon stepped up to the podium, a video was played that showed prominent members of the hockey and Halifax community saying congratulations to the 28-year-old. 

Here are a couple of photos from the night as well. 

Photo - AMH Photography

Photo - Global News

It was a very nice speech that Nate shared. I hope I wasn't the only one but the clips and speech made me emotional. The Halifax, NS native of course spent only two seasons with the Herd, collecting 153 points in 102 games played. He then went on to be drafted 1st overall by the Colorado Avalanche at the 2013 NHL draft. Check out the full ceremony below. 

What a great way to start this anniversary season, unfortunately the current team went on to lose the home opener game 3-1 against the Charlottetown Islanders. 

Nathan MacKinnon is having a pretty good 2023, helping the Avalanche win a Stanley Cup back in June and just picked up his 800th career NHL point on Wednesday evening. He is 3rd in league scoring this season with 41 points. 

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, Lou Levesque was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for November. Levesque scored two goals and five points in the month over 6 games before getting injured. 

Team	Player	Program	Institution
BAT	Colby Huggan	Business	Acadia University
BAC	Anthony Lavoie	Social Sciences	Cégep de Baie-Comeau
BLB	Eliot L’Italien	Grade 12	Northern Pre University
CAP	William Shields	Grade 12	Sydney Academy
CHA	Anthony Flanagan	Secondary 5	Académie Les Estacades
CHI	Samuel Vachon	Management and Accounting	Cégep de Chicoutimi
DRU	Tristan Roy	Social Sciences	Cégep de Drummondville
GAT	Charles Boutin	Social Sciences	Cégep de l’Outaouais
HAL	Lou Lévesque	Grade 12	Woodlawn High School
MON	Vincent Collard	Business	Université de Moncton
QUE	Carl-Anthony Massé	Social Sciences	Cégep de Limoilou
RIM	Cédric Massé	Natural Sciences	Cégep de Rimouski
ROU	Antonin Verreault	Introduction to Management	Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
SNB	Jacob Beaulieu	Grade 12	Saint John High School
SHA	Kody Dupuis	Grade 12	NPU
SHE	Mathys Routhier	Natural Sciences	Cégep de Sherbrooke
VDO	Alexis Tanguay	Social Sciences	Cégep de Val-d’Or
VIC	Lucas Fortin	Natural Sciences	Cégep de Victoriaville

Cataford Scores Hat Trick in Win

It was another close game on Friday night but this time against a team that should not have been in the game really at all. Veteran forward Mathieu Cataford had a great night, factoring in all of the Mooseheads goals as Halifax won 5-4 in overtime over the Gatineau Olypiques. The away team got on the board pretty early on with rookie Matthew Eric scoring at the 1:55 mark in the first period. Leading scorer Jordan Dumais looked to score the tying goal, however the referees called it back as it was determined there was an offside earlier in the play after review. As soon as the puck went in though, many of the 8,015 fans in attendance threw on the ice toques, socks and gloves in support of the team's inaugural toque toss game. With just over a minute left in the opening period, Markus Vidicek scored the official tying goal and the clubs went into their locker rooms for the first intermission tied at 1. There was a bit more scoring in the middle frame with the score being 3-3 after 40 minutes. The Olympiques took a 4-3 lead 5:47 into the third period but Cataford scored again less than five minutes later on the power play and the game headed to overtime. Halifax got the 2 points when Cataford got his third goal of the night (and 5th point) just 1:06 into the extra frame. The win meant that the Mooseheads got back to back victories in their anniversary jerseys. 

FINAL: Olympiques 4 at Mooseheads 5 OT
Stars: 3. Jeremie Minville GAT | 2. Jordan Dumais HAL | 1. Mathieu Cataford HAL
Attendance: 8,015 
MC's Top Herd: Mathieu Cataford

GAME LOG
First period
1:55 GAT Matthew Eric (2) | A: Kaine
18:56 HAL Markus Vidicek (23) | A: Cataford & Dumais

Second period
4:56 GAT Thomas Chafe (6) | A: Wold
5:13 GAT Alexander Gaudio (4) | A: Eric & Blais
10:49 HAL Mathieu Cataford (15), PP | A: Dumais & Vidicek
16:40 HAL Jordan Dumais (16) | A: Cataford & Furlong

Third period 
5:47 GAT Jeremie Minville (20) | A: Ling & Golicic
10:31 HAL Mathieu Cataford (16), PP | A: Fournier & Dumais

Overtime 
1:06 HAL Mathieu Cataford (17) | A: Moravec & Vidicek

Powerplay: GAT - 0-for-2; HAL - 2-for-5
Shots: 34-24 in favour of Halifax 

Next game
The Halifax Mooseheads will head to Saint John to take on the Sea Dogs tomorrow night to wrap up a 3-in-3. Puck drops at 7 p.m.