For a second straight year the Halifax Mooseheads found themselves playing from behind at the Moncton rookie tournament. The Herd began their 2017 pre-season schedule going against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday afternoon. Saint John received goals from Ben Reid and Alexandre Lafreniere in the first period and led 2-0 after 20 minutes but Halifax didn't back down in the middle frame. Free agent Patrick Kyte scored at 11:25 of the second period to tie the game at 2 for the Mooseheads. The red and white took a lead in the third and looked to be on it's way to winning it's first game of the weekend tournament however with 40 seconds left in regulation Kevin Mason was able to get the puck past 2017 10th round draft pick Maxime Emery to send the match to overtime. In the extra frame, Halifax's top 2 draft selections in June hooked up with each other for a nice play and defenseman Justin Barron scored the game winner.
Game at a Glance FINAL: Halifax 5 at Saint John 4 OT
Halifax scorers: Kyle Petten, Patrick Kyte, Justin Barron (2), Felix Gascon
Saint John scorers: Ben Reid, Alexandre Lafreniere, Jeremie Jacob, Kevin Mason
Powerplay: HFX - 1/4, SNB - 0/1
Shots: Mooseheads - 28, Sea Dogs - 29
At the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia and Břeclav, Czech Republic 3 Halifax Mooseheads have led their country to the championship game again. Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Jared McIsaac, Alex Gravel and Team Canada are going for gold after a 4-1 win over Sweden earlier today.
McIsaac set up the eventual game winner, Groulx had the insurance goal along with an assist, and Gravel was the back up to Olivier Rodrigue. Team Canada will play Team Czech Republic tomorrow at 12pm Atlantic in the final match of the tournament.
So far for the tournament:
Benoit: 3 points (2G & 1A), 6 PIM
Jared: 2 assists, 4 PIM
Alexis: 1 GP, 3.69 GAA & .857 SAV%
Canada is currently 3-0-1 with their only loss being in a shoot out to Russia in the first game of the tournament. Czech Republic is 3-1 on the tournament with their only loss being a 7-3 one to Sweden.
Your Halifax Mooseheads announced today the contingent that will participate in the Moncton Rookie Challenge tournament next weekend. The roster includes players born in 1999, 2000 & 2001 between free agent invites and draftees. Halifax is going into the tournament as defending champs, having won the inaugural version in 2016.
The rookie challenge runs from August 18-20 and all games will be played at the Superior Propane Centre in the New Brunswick's city. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now and you can buy a full tournament pass or a single day pass. You can follow along on Twitter at @HubCityShowcase
Roster below
Below is the full schedule Friday August 18 1pm Charlottetown Islanders vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan 4pm Halifax Mooseheads vs. Saint John Sea Dogs 7pm Moncton Wildcats vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Saturday August 19 1pm Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs. Halifax Mooseheads 4pm Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs. Charlottetown Islanders 7pm Moncton Wildcats vs. Saint John Sea Dogs
Sunday August 20 10am 6th vs. 5th 1pm 4th vs. 3rd 4pm 2nd vs. 1st
The Halifax Mooseheads recently announced the schedule for the 2017 training camp. Rookie camp is slated to begin on August 17 with registration and medicals. There will be a small group of players born in 2000 that were on the team last season attending the first weekend of camp along with those 16 and 17 year olds who are trying to make the squad this year.
Below you will find the schedule for the first 2 weeks. August 17 12-3pm Player registration & medicals 3pm Team meeting 4:30-6pm Practice
August 18-20 Moncton Rookie Challenge August 21 7:30am All players report 10-11:30am Intrasquad game 11:30am-1pm Goalie practice 2:30-4pm Intrasquad game August 22 10am-noon Intrasquad game 12-1pm Goalie practice 4pm Off-ice workout
August 23 7pm Pre-season game - Mooseheads vs. Cape Breton
August 24 10am-1pm Practice 4pm Off-ice workout
August 25 7pm Pre-season game - Mooseheads @ Cape Breton
August 26 10am-noon Available ice 4pm Off-ice workout
August 27 2pm Pre-season game - Mooseheads @ Saint John
August 28 10am-noon Available ice 4pm Off-ice workout
August 29-31 10am-noon Practice 4pm Off-ice workout
All practices and intrasquad games are at Cole Harbour Place and are open to the public free of charge. I'm sure the first cuts will be made after the team gets back from the Moncton tournament. I will keep you up to date with news from camp.
Hockey Canada released the roster tonight for who will participate in the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Tournament next week. The announcement comes after an U18 development camp in Calgary during the past week. For the first time since 2012, your Halifax Mooseheads will have multiple players on the Team Canada roster.
Three players who were rookies for the Herd in 2016-17, will represent their country later this month. Forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx, defenceman Jared McIsaac and goaltender Alexis Gravel are among the 22 young men who will wear the red and white. All 3 are ranked to go in the first round of the 2018 NHL draft in June and this will be a great opportunity for them to improve on their draft position before playing their second junior season with Halifax in 2017-18. Gravel, McIsaac and Groulx all doned the maple leaf at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games so the trio aren't strangers to international completion.
The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup runs from August 7-12 in Breclav, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia. Eight countries will participate, Canada joins host Slovakia, Finland and Russia in Group B while in Group A, Czech Republic will host Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Our boys and Team Canada will begin the tournament on Monday against Russia. For the full roster, click here.
Follow me on Twitter to get up to date scores and stats. I'll also try to post some on the blog. Go Canada Go!
EURO DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft was at the end of June and your Halifax Mooseheads used one of their two picks during the day. With the 10th overall selection (11th originally but Sherbrooke passed), Cam Russell and company drafted 17 year old Filip Zadina of the Czech Republic. All of the scouts call him a dynamic offensive player. With a late '99 birthday this is Zadina's draft season. In international junior play he has 73 points in 65 games. For more on his stats click here.
FAVREAU
With the promotion of Jim Midgley to the Herd's head coach, Halifax was without a second assistant coach until June 29 when the team announced that they have welcomed Sylvain Favreau to the bench staff. Favreau was Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations with the Cumberland Grads of the CCHL in Ontario during the 2016-17 season. On joining the team, Sylvian said: “I am very proud and excited to join such a storied franchise and to pursue my coaching career with the Mooseheads. I look forward to working with Jim Midgley and Jon Greenwood. The Mooseheads’ talented group of players and the organization’s focus on developing players to their full potential presents a great and welcome challenge."
TIDE FEST
This weekend, Brett Crossley of your Mooseheads along with 2017 Q draft pick Justin Barron were in attendance to help kids attending Tide Fest shoot on a gigantic blown up Zach Fucale. Each child got the chance to be able to score on the former fan favourite.
HISCHIER
The New Jersey Devils announced today the signing of Nico Hischier to a 3 year entry level contract. In his first season with the Halifax Mooseheads, he led the QMJHL rookie scoring with 86 points during the regular season while also being second in team scoring. Hischier was named the CHL & QMJHL rookie of the year, Q offensive rookie of the year as well as top professional prospect. The Swiss star has a good shot at making the devils come October. Nico was impressive during the Devils' scrimmages this week while showing off his stickhandling skills and skating along teammate Jocktan Chainey.
Good luck in New Jersey Nico and congratulations on signing your first pro contract! Moose Country is cheering for you loud and proud.
GRENIER
Herd alumni Alexandre Grenier has signed a one year two way deal with the Florida Panthers on July 3rd. Grenier was on the Utica Comets this past season and spent 3 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks organization after the team drafted him in 2011. Will be interesting to see if this gives Alex another chance at making the NHL or if he spends most of 2017-18 in the American Hockey League. Read more here.
Photo - Canadiens' twitter
DROUIN
Since being traded to the Montreal Canadians, it was presumed that Jonathan Drouin would change his jersey number since the team already had a #27 on player Alex Galchenyuk. The Sainte-Agathe, Quebec native announced earlier this month that he will be wearing number 92 for the upcoming season. It was thought that Drouin would go with 72 so it was a surprise to all that he went with 92.
ROOKIE TOURNIMENT
With training camp just around the corner, there has a change in the name of the mini tournament the Halifax Mooseheads will participate in. Last year, the Moncton Wildcats welcomed the 5 other Maritime teams' rookies to the Hub City Showcase. This year the tourney is called the Rookie Challenge. Tickets for this are on sale now, you can call to secure your tickets to see the defending champs; your Mooseheads. The tournament runs from August 18-20 at Superior Propane Centre in Moncton.
We are about a month away from the rookies reporting to camp and making it that much closer to the regular season.
The NHL draft has been over for a couple of weeks now and while only 3 players got selected during that weekend in Chicago, there are a number of former and current Halifax Mooseheads on team development camp rosters.
Nico Hischier, who was second in Herd team scoring in 2016-17, is the biggest name of players who have played for Halifax and will or have participated in camps this summer. Hischier made history last month by becoming the first Swiss born player to be drafted 1st overall.
Below you'll find a list of Mooseheads who are attending development camps: Otto Somppi - Tampa Bay (2016) - Tampa Bay Lightning development camp June 27-July 1 Maxime Fortier - undrafted - invited to Montreal Canadiens camp July 2-5 Timo Meier - San Jose (2015) - San Jose Sharks development camp July 3-7 Jocktan Chainey - New Jersey (2017) - New Jersey Devils development camp July 11-15 Mathieu Charlebois - undrafted - invited to Anaheim Ducks camp June 29-July 2 Nico Hischier - New Jersey (2017) - New Jersey Devils development camp July 11-15 Cavan Fitzgerald - undrafted - invited to San Jose Sharks camp July 3-7 Arnaud Durandeau - New York (2017) - New York Islanders development camp June 26-July 1 Cody Donaghey - undrafted - invited to Ottawa Senators camp June 27-July 3
Halifax 2016 draft pick Jack Rathbone participated in the Vancouver Canucks camp after being drafted by the them last month.
