Around the CHL ~ volume #1 preview edition #11

The Canadian Hockey League regular season begins in less than 3 weeks so to get you ready I thought I would recap how last season went. Check back all year long for more stories about the CHL and your Mooseheads. 

here are last year's leaders:
Division champions 2024-25
WHL - Everett Silvertips (U.S.) 68 games played, 48-12-4-4 record, 104 points, 277 goals for/178 goals against; Medicine Hat Tigers (Central) 68 games played, 47-17-3-1 record, 98 points, 300 goals for/193 goals against; Victoria Royals (B.C.) 68 games played, 40-17-4-7 record, 91 points, 272 goals for/218 goals against; Prince Albert Raiders (East) 68 games played, 39-23-5-1 record, 84 points, 253 goals for/228 goals against 

OHL - London Knights (Midwest) 68 games played, 55-11-2-0 record, 112 points, 325 goals for/180 goals against; Windsor Spitfires (West) 68 games played, 45-17-4-2 record, 96 points, 309 goals for/223 goals against; Brantford Bulldogs (East) 68 games played, 44-19-5-0 record, 93 points, 281 goals for/221 goals against; Barrie Colts (Central) 68 games played, 42-22-2-2 record, 88 points, 250 goals for/219 goals against
QMJHL - Moncton Wildcats (Maritimes) 64 games played, 53-9-2-0 record, 108 points, 294 goals for/144 goals against; Rimouski Oceanic (East) 64 games played, 46-14-2-2 record, 96 points, 249 goals for/178 goals against; Drummondville Voltiguers (Central) 64 games, 40-18-3-3 record, 86 points, 224 goals for/174 goals against; Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (West) 64 games played, 37-19-3-5 record, 82 points, 258 goals for/210 goals against

League championships 2025
President's Cup - Moncton Wildcats vs. Rimouski Oceanic (Wildcats won series 4 games to 2 games)
J. Ross Robertson Cup - London Knights vs. Oshawa Generals (Knights won series 4 games to 1 game)
Ed Chynoweth Cup - Medicine Hat Tigers vs. Spokane Chiefs (Tigers won series 4 games to 1 game)

Memorial Cup 2025
Teams - London (OHL champion), Medicine Hat (WHL champion), Moncton (QMJHL champion) and Rimouski (Hosts)

Final June 1, 2025 London vs. Medicine Hat 4-1

LONDON KNIGHTS WIN 2025 MEMORIAL CUP!!!


Team changes
The Penticton Vees joined the Western Hockey League as its 23rd team from the BCHL. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were relocated to St. John's and named the Newfoundland Regiment. 

London will look to repeat as Memorial Cup champions. This year the Memorial Cup will be held in Kelowna, home of the Kelowna Rockets who will be in the tournament no matter what. The 2025 CHL USA Top Prospects two game series will be hosted by the Calgary Hitmen and the Lethbridge Hurricanes on November 25 and 26, respectively. 

Poll #25

Now that the roster has been released, I thought I would do this poll. With defenceman Brady Schultz moving on to university, our Halifax Mooseheads are once again in need of a captain for the 2025-26 season. 

Only two of the players who were apart of last season's leadership group will be back, they probably have the biggest chance of becoming the new captain but we'll have to wait and see. So my question is, who do you think will be captain for the upcoming season? 

Who will be captain for Halifax
A. Quinn Kennedy
B. Owen Phillips
C. Connor MacPherson
D. Liam Kilfoil

If you have another name in mind, let me know. 

The poll will be up on X, I will pin it to the top. You'll have until the end of August to vote. 

Herd Official Roster

YOUR 2025-26 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS

7  Carlos Handel  D  Erlangen, Germany

9  Liam Kilfoil  C  Quispamsis, NB
10  Oleg Kulebaikin  LW  St. Petersburg, Russia*
12  William Bent  RW  Dover, MA, USA
14  Connor MacPherson  RW  Windsor, ON

17  Patrick McNab  C  Beaconsfield, QC
19  Caylen Blake  LW  Corner Brook, NL

20  Daniel Walters  C  Halifax, NS
23  Cameron Minella  D  Darien, CT, USA*

26  Owen Phillips  D  Hammonds Plains, NS
29  Owen Bresson  G  Dominion, NS

32  Alec Nasreddine  LW  Mountainside, NJ, USA

37  Amelio Santini  RW  Cote-Saint-Luc, QC
39  Nicolas Cirka  G  Westmount, QC
51  Eddy Doyle  D  Tignish, PE

55  Shawn Carrier  LW  Trois-Rivieres, QC
56  Lincoln Waugh  D  Summerside, PE

70  Jasu Mensonen  LW  Imatra, Finland*
72  Mathieu Taillefer  D  Richelieu, QC
73  Justin Chiras  D  Bedford, NH, USA

77  Malik L'Italien  D  Montreal, QC*
88  Quinn Kennedy  C  Upper Tantallon, NS

89  Antoine Fontaine  RW  Granby, QC
93  Junior Gualberto  C  Barnstable, MA, USA*

*indicates rookie

Seven players reassigned, roster set

Photo - Mooseheads Facebook

Our Halifax Mooseheads announced its regular season roster on Sunday evening after reassigning another seven players earlier in the day. Surprisingly, there were only two rounds of cuts but the NCAA rule change made it a different training camp. It was a very competitive camp as well so that made it hard for the brass to make decisions. With the roster moves today, Halifax will go into the 2025-26 season with 24 players. 

Players cut
F Callum Aucoin (returnee)
G Jack Bell (2025 pick)
D Ryan Fletcher (free agent)
F Cole MacLeod (2024 pick)
F Cade Moser (returnee)
G Olivier St-Onge (2023 pick)
D Logan Trewin (2024 pick)

The regular season roster includes 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders. 17 veterans will be joined by seven new players on the team. One of the new players is 20-year-old free agent signee Connor MacPherson who will start the year as the lone overager on the Mooseheads. 

Congrats to all the guys who made the team and for the new guys, welcome to Moose Country. Good luck to the guys who got cut with their respective teams this season. 

My next post will have the full roster. 

Halifax will play one more pre-season game on September 5 while the home opener is set for September 20 against the Charlottetown Islanders. 

Moose make first roster cuts

Our Halifax Mooseheads made their first round of cuts on Thursday afternoon and it was big one with 18 players being reassigned. Not surprising there was such a large amount who were sent down to their respective teams but I am a bit surprised by a couple of the guys who did get released today. The article put out by the team did not mention if any of the players left voluntarily. 

Players cut:
D Duncan Anderson
D Cole Bent
D Nicolas Blanchette
F Elie Champagne
F Nico Ciardiello 
F Thomas Cote
D Mickael Fournier
D Jameson George
G Thomas Laplante
G Sam Madgett
F Tucker Makinen
F Jayden Napon
F Noah Olmedo
F Nathan Ruel
F Sam Ryan
F Jordan Shaw
D Gavin Sudds
F Ylan Verpaelst

The training camp roster now stands at 17 forwards, 10 defencemen and four goalies. Previous years we would have seen another round of cuts before Saturday's pre-season game but its possible Cam Russell and staff will wait until after the match. We could even see the regular season roster be named after the game in Truro.  

Pre-season Game vs Cape Breton

Opponent: Cape Breton Eagles
Where: St. Margaret's Centre
When: August 20, 2025
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $18.50

Cape Breton Eagles
Pre-season record: 1-0-0-0, 2pts
Goals for: 3
Goals against: 0
Head coach: Sylvain Couturier
Scoring leader: Jacob Hartlin (1G & 1A)

Halifax Mooseheads
Pre-season record: 0-1-0-0, 0pts
Goals for: 0
Goals against: 3
Head coach: Brad MacKenzie
Scoring leader: n/a

Notes

• This is the second of 4 games between these provincial rivals during the pre-season, Cape Breton took the first game last night in Sydney 3-0. 
• Here is Halifax's roster for tonight - it's a mix of veterans and 2025 draft picks 

• You can watch the game on the Mooseheads YouTube channel. 
• Roster moves will most likely be made tonight but announced tomorrow morning. 
• Tickets are sold out for this evening which is not surprising since there's only 1,000 seats.

Eastlink to show 9 Herd games

Eastlink TV has announced their QMJHL Friday Night Hockey schedule for the 2025-26 season. A total of nine Halifax Mooseheads games will be shown on the regional network. The Herd's season opener against the Islanders in Charlottetown is set to be broadcasted. 

Below are the games featuring Halifax (puck drop is 7pm & Friday evenings unless otherwise stated)

September 19 at Charlottetown Islanders
September 26 vs. Saint John Sea Dogs

October 17 vs. Newfoundland Regiment

January 9 at Charlottetown Islanders 

January 23 vs. Sherbrooke Phoenix 

February 6 at Cape Breton Eagles

February 13 vs. Moncton Wildcats

February 27 vs. Saint John Sea Dogs

March 6 vs. Cape Breton Eagles

I think this is the least amount of Moose games shown in a season. The Cape Breton Eagles and Charlottetown Islanders also have home contests on Eastlink. You can view the full 20-game schedule here.