Friday, September 15, 2017

Moose Win Preseason Finale

For the first time in preseason play,  it saw your Halifax Mooseheads take on the Saint John Sea Dogs at the Scotiabank Centre tonight. You could tell that there is quite the rivalry already between the two teams, there were two fights in the span of two minutes. In the second fight, it saw veteran Connor Moynihan go to the room and have his night finished when he received an aggressor penalty. Nine minutes into the first period it saw Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Filip Zadina with a give and go play to get Halifax on the board. In the second period, Filip Zadina and Xavier Parent connected on a short-handed goal to see the home team with a two-goal lead which did not last long when Anthony Boucher scored on a short-handed breakaway, but before the end of the second Xavier Parent scored with one second left on the powerplay. In the third Saint John pushed back to one goal down before rookie Kyle Petten scored the game-winner, but it did not come without a scare when the Sea Dogs scored with 26 seconds left on the clock to come within one. Goalie Alex Gravel came up big for his team with some big saves on the Sea Dog forwards.

 
Game at a Glance
FINAL: Saint John 3 at Halifax 4
Halifax scorers: Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Filip Zadina, Xavier Parent, and Kyle Petten
Saint John scorers: Anthony Boucher, Alexandre Lafrenière, and William Poirier
Powerplay: HFX – 1/4, SNB – 0/6
Shots: Mooseheads – 23, Sea Dogs – 42

Pre-season Game vs Saint John

Opponent: Saint John Sea Dogs
Where: Scotiabank Centre
When: September 15, 2017
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $10.00

Saint John Sea Dogs
Preseason record: 1-5-1-0, 3pts
Goals for: 21
Goals against: 33
Head coach: Josh Dixon
Scoring leader: Isiah Campbell (1G & 4A)
Leading goaltender: Alex D'Orio (0.933 SAV%)

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 5-3-0-0, 10pts
Goals for: 27
Goals against: 25
Head coach: Jon Greenwood
Scoring leader: Justin Barron & Caleb Rich (3G & 3A)
Leading goaltender: Blade Mann-Dixon (0.945 SAV%)

Notes
  • This is the first pre-season game since the 1990's that has been played at the Mooseheads's true home.
  • Saint John has changed quite a bit from their President's Cup winning team including a new coach.
  • Both teams are done their pre-season schedule after tonight.
  • The next game between these two teams will be the Sea Dogs home opener in 6 days.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Plenty of Moose in NHL 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.

A lot of camps began on Tuesday or Wednesday after teams had their rookies participate in tournaments over the weekend.

Below you'll find a list of all the current and former Moose players on NHL teams main camp rosters:
Andrew Bodnarchuk - Dallas Stars
Jocktan Chainey - New Jersey Devils
Cody Donaghey - Ottawa Senators
Jonathan Drouin - Montreal Canadiens
Cavan Fitzgerald - San Jose Sharks
Maxime Fortier - Montreal Canadiens
Martin Frk - Detroit Red Wings
Zach Fucale - Montreal Canadiens
Alexandre Grenier - Florida Panthers
Nico Hischier - New Jersey Devils
Stephen MacAulay - Vegas Golden Knights
Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche
Brad Marchand - Boston Bruins
Timo Meier - San Jose Sharks
Otto Somppi - Tampa Bay Lightning
Jakub Voracek - Philadelphia Flyers
Mackenzie Weegar - Florida Panthers

Though Boston and Philadelphia have not released their training camp rosters I am assuming that both Marchand and Voracek are participating in them. The Vancouver Canucks announced their main camp participants however names were not released of the players who made it through the rookie tournament so I don't know if Danny Moynihan is still with the big club or has been sent down to Utica.

Max Fortier has since been sent down to the Habs new minor league affiliate Laval Rocket and will be looking for an AHL contract.

Friday, September 08, 2017

Pre-season Game vs Moncton

Opponent: Moncton Wildcats
Where: Halifax Forum
When: September 8, 2017
Time: 7:00pm
Tickets: $10.00

Moncton Wildcats
Preseason record: 5-0-1-0, 11pts
Goals for: 28
Goals against: 13
Head coach: Darren Rumble
Scoring leader: Daniil Kuzmin (4G & 6A)
Leading goaltender: Mark Grametbauer (1.000 SAV%)

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 4-2-0-0, 8pts
Goals for: 23
Goals against: 20
Head coach: Jon Greenwood
Scoring leader: Justin Barron & Caleb Rich (3G & 3A)
Leading goaltender: Raphael Blais (0.923 SAV%)

Notes
  • This is the first game for import draft pick and top NHL draft prospect Filip Zadina with the Mooseheads.
  • Otto Somppi, Maxime Fortier, Arnaud Durandeau and Jocktan Chainey will not be playing tonight as they are at NHL camps. Halifax has called 3 players up because of this.
  • Moose Country will get it's first look at 3rd overall pick Jakub Pelletier who is looking to help the Moncton Wildcats out of the basement.
  • Below are the rosters for each team for tonight's game.


Wednesday, September 06, 2017

Fortier, Donaghey Participate in Rookie Tournament

Some current Mooseheads are headed out of Nova Scotia today to attend rookie camps. Otto Somppi, Maxime Fortier, Jocktan Chainey and Arnaud Durandeau were all invited to participate in camps.

Photo - Leafs site
Maxime Fortier will join 22 other players at the Montreal Canadiens camp. The Habs will start their camp in Toronto, ON as they are participating in the 2017 Rookie Tournament hosted by the Toronto Maple Leafs, which will be held September 8-10. Fortier goes into camp as a try-out player after not getting selected in either of the last two NHL drafts. The 19 year old I am sure is looking forward to suiting up for his hometown team and after the season he had this past year will be looking to crack the main camp roster and possibly get signed by the Canadiens. Toronto and Montreal are joined this weekend by the Ottawa Senators who have a former Mooseheads listed on their roster. Cody Donaghey, who played for Halifax during the 2015-16 season, will be among 23 prospects suiting up for Ottawa. Donaghey, 21 years old, had his NHL rights traded to the nation's capital in early 2016 by the Leafs. As 2016-17 was the last season he was eligible to play junior hockey, the St. John's, NL native will most likely play for the Sens American Hockey League team the Belleville Senators this year. The two players will see each other on Saturday when their teams go head-to-head.

Below is the schedule for the Leafs tourney held at Ricoh Coliseum:
Friday Sept 8   7pm   Montreal vs. Toronto
Saturday Sept 9    7pm   Ottawa vs. Montreal
Sunday Sept 10    4pm   Toronto vs. Ottawa

Another team hosting a tournament this weekend are the Buffalo Sabres who will welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins September 8-11. The Devils have two Mooseheads on their roster in defenseman Jocktan Chainey, who no doubt will lead a still some what young back end in Halifax this season, and #1 overall draft pick Nico Hischier, who many believe will make the NHL in 2017-18. New Jersey will play a game against each team and you can find more info here for the Prospect Tournament.

Photo - Canucks site
Former Moose forward Danny Moynihan has been invited to the Vancouver Canucks rookie camp and is among the players listed for the Young Stars Classic which is held in Penticton, BC from September 8-11. The tournament includes prospects from the Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. After spending last season in Alaska with Vancouver's ECHL team this is a chance for Moynihan to prove he has improved and deserves to be in a higher league.

The tournament schedule is below:
Friday Sept 8     4pm    Edmonton vs. Calgary
7:30pm    Vancouver vs. Winnipeg
Saturday Sept 9    7:30pm    Winnipeg vs. Edmonton
Sunday Sept 10    2pm   Calgary vs. Vancouver
Monday Sept 11    10:30am    Winnipeg vs. Calgary
2pm    Vancouver vs. Edmonton

18 year old Arnaud Durandeau will participate in New York Islanders rookie camp from September 8-13 which includes a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. Full roster can be found hereOtto Somppi, who was drafted in 2016 by the Tampa Bay Lightning, was supposed to participate in the Florida Panthers Rookie Tournament this weekend but with Hurricane Irma projected to hit the state of Florida, the Panthers decided to cancel it. I'm sure Somppi and the other prospects will still have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves next week.



Good luck to all 7 young men at their respective camps. Moose Country will be cheering you on loud and proud.

Poll #17 results

Last month I asked you Moose Country who would be the Halifax Mooseheads captain for this season. While we don't know for sure yet who Jim Midgley, Cam Russell and company will choose to lead the team, we do know who the majority of fans think it should be. Below you will find the results of Poll 17.

Max Fortier   - 44.72%
Otto Somppi   - 0.8%
Connor Moynihan   - 50.41%
Jocktan Chainey   - 1.63%
Other   - 2.44%



As you can see about half of the people who voted believe that Connor Moynihan should be given the C for 2017-18.

Connor comes into the year as one of the Herd's 20 year olds and was 4th on the team last season in scoring with 41 points in 55 games. While I agree whole-heartedly that he should be captain, the fact that he has not been given a letter before will possibly mean that he won't be chosen to lead the team but maybe he will get an A finally this year.

Thank you very much for voting on this poll. I'm sure I will have more in the future.

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

4 Herd on Craig's List

With the regular season around the corner, a few websites have announced their draft rankings over the past month and a half for the upcoming 2018 NHL entry draft. The Mooseheads have four players who are eligible to be selected in June when the pro teams meet in Dallas, TX. Craig Button, a TSN analyst, released his preliminary draft rankings list early on Tuesday. He named his Top 62 players which includes the first 5 being from outside of Canada. The first Canadian young gun named to Button's list is Herd defenseman Jared McIsaac at number 6. Below you'll find how the 4 17 year olds have been ranked.

Jared McIsaac
Craig's list: #6
Future Considerations: #5
Hockeyprospect.com: #11

Benoit-Olivier Groulx
Craig's list: #15
Future Considerations: #13
Hockeyprospect.com: #28

Alexis Gravel
Craig's list: #53
Future Considerations: #60

Filip Zadina
Craig's list: #10
Future Considerations: #3
Hockeyprospect.com: #7
Also among the Top 10 prospects according The Hockey News.




We'll see lots of scouts around the Scotiabank Centre this season with 3 top prospects on the team and one trying to show he can be an asset to a pro team at some point. It's an exciting time in Moose Country so you'll want to get your tickets to see these guys. This is the most players Halifax has had ranked in an entry draft since 2013 and I believe the highest amount ever projected to go in the first two rounds.

Check back throughout the season as I post recaps, previews, stats and updates on how our boys are doing in the rankings. Go Moose Go.