Alumni Update: Statistics

Logan Crosby of Pictou County
Photo - Jennifer Weeks

There are plenty of former Halifax Mooseheads players suiting up for teams in different leagues on both sides of the ocean. I figured I would share how some of them are doing in terms of statistics for the leagues that are on a holiday break now in North America. It's crazy that we are already this close to Christmas time. 

QMJHL (major junior)

MJAHL (junior a)

QJHL (junior a)

NSJHL (junior b)

U-SPORTS (university)

NCAA

NSSHL (nova scotia senior)

AESHL (newfoundland senior)

CWSHL (newfoundland senior)

LHSAAAQ (quebec senior)

LHSB (new brunswick senior)

NPHL (ontario senior)

LHCS

LNAH (semi-professional)

Good luck to all the players in the second half of their season. 

Herd Word

NHL DEBUT 
Former Mooseheads forward Xavier Parent made his NHL debut last Thursday for the New Jersey Devils. The 24-year-old did not record any points in the game and was a minus-1 as the Devils lost 8-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Parent, a native of Laval, QC has stayed up with the big team playing four games so far. He led New Jersey's AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets with 12 points (6G & 6A) in 20 games prior to being called up. 

An @NHL debut is one of our favorite things. pic.twitter.com/CacCkjd12E

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 11, 2025

I didn't see this until today but Xavier was called up partly because Timo Meier, who also played for Halifax, asked for a personal leave of absence the same day and continues to be out of the lineup. Meier is dealing with a family matter, Moose Country sends their thoughts to Timo at this time. 

HANDEL TO WORLD JUNIORS
Defenceman Carlos Handel missed the last three games that Halifax has played as he has been invited to and participating in Team Germany's world juniors training camp. The 18-year-old played in the tournament last year so I suspect we will be cheering for him again this holiday season. Germany will have two exhibition games, against Finland on December 19 and December 21 versus USA. The 2026 World Juniors are being hosted by Minnesota, United States from December 26-January 5 with the Germans in Group A. Handel had 0 points in 5 games during the 2025 version so he'll hope to improve on that and help his country do better than the 9th place finish they had. 

Photo - Herd website

MOOSE ACQUIRE ROUSSEAU
Halifax announced on Monday that they have acquired veteran forward Samuel Rousseau from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in exchange for a 2026 5th round draft pick. The move was allowed to be made since Rousseau is a 20-year-old. A native of St. Eustache, QC, Samuel had been playing for the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL this season as the Huskies didn't have any room for him on their roster back in September. He had 30 points in 24 games with the Grizzlies after spending the previous three seasons with Rouyn-Noranda. 

"We are proud to welcome Samuel to the team. His proven leadership and depth of experience will strengthen our work and elevate what we can achieve together," Cam Russell said. 

Welcome to Moose Country Samuel! 

NEW DRESSING ROOM
The team made a pretty big renovation to the Scotiabank Centre, which most fans will likely never see more than the pictures Halifax shared, and released video of it on social media earlier this week. Halifax introduced their new multi-million dollar, state of the art dressing room facility, allowing the Mooseheads to cement their position at the very top of the CHL as said in the press release. On top of updating the area the players get changed in, the team also added or upgraded a kitchen & lounge area, cold tubs & steam room, and coaches room plus giving the hype tunnel new LED signage. 

See the full video below. 

PWHL IN HALIFAX

Halifax, the city, hosted the first game of the 2025-26 Professional Women's Hockey League's Takeover Tour on Wednesday night. It featured the Toronto Sceptres taking on the Montreal Victoire at the Scotiabank Centre. The over 10,000 fans got their money's worth as the match went to a shootout with Montreal taking the 2-1 victory. Unfortunately, the team (Sceptres) with the Nova Scotians did not win but it was still a good game. It was so nice to see a women's professional hockey match in my hometown. I mention it since former Herd head coach Jim Midgley is currently an assistant coach for Toronto. 

The PWHL will be back in Halifax on January 11 as the Ottawa Charge take on the Boston Fleet. 

Photo - Lukko Facebook

LIIGA MILESTONE

I haven't really given any props to alumni achieving milestones in leagues that aren't the NHL, mainly because I haven't seen many posts about it but here is one. Antoine Morand, who suited up in the green and red during the 2018-19 season, played in his 200th Liiga regular season game on Friday. The 26-year-old moved over to Europe in 2022, originally signing with SaiPa before being traded to Lukko on January 22, 2024. Morand has 3 goals and 9 assists in 24 games so far this year. As a member of the Mooseheads, the Chateauguay, QC native had 22 goals and 70 points and served as captain. 

Congratulations to Antoine, keep it up over there. 

TRADE PERIOD 
A break in the schedule means that the QMJHL trade period has opened, as of Friday teams can move any player on their roster and the deadline is January 6. Number of moves were made already mainly by Chicoutimi, Blainville, Victoriaville and Cape Breton on the first day. According to Willy Palov, this year will be about patience and perspective for the Halifax Mooseheads. Considering this is the second year of a rebuild, the Herd seem to be doing better at this point of the season than they were projected to so could we see Cam Russell make some moves that bolster the roster? "No big plans right now but obviously there are a few things we're looking at, like every year," Russell said. "We're happy with the core of players that we have and how they're growing. It's a really good group of kids that we're building around, but we're always looking for ways to make our team better."

Moose go into break on winning note

Photo - Herd website

The end of the unofficial first half of the 2025-26 season is here and our Halifax Mooseheads finished on a winning note. Halifax won back to back games against the Saint John Sea Dogs this week with three players having two goal games. Shawn Carrier and Quinn Kennedy were the ones to put the puck in the back of the net on Wednesday evening in Saint John in a 4-3 victory. In their final game before the holiday break, sophomore Amelio Santini scored twice the following night while defenceman Eddy Doyle potted the overtime winner to give the Mooseheads another 4-3 win. Saint John came back in both games during the third period. 

So let's have a look at how the Herd have done so far this year. 

First half stats
Record - 17-12-1-1 = 36 points    31 GP (9th overall, 4th Maritimes division)
Goals for - 107
Goals against - 116

Penalties - 289
Power play - 18.6%

Penalty kill - 79.4%

Streak - 2-0-0-0

Last 10 - 4-6-0-0

Top 5 scorers: Oleg Kulebiakin (17-17-34), Shawn Carrier (19-11-30), Liam Kilfoil (6-18-24), Quinn Kennedy (15-7-22) and Connor MacPherson (7-12-19)

Goalies: Owen Bresson 12-8-0-1 record, 0 shutout, 3.43 GAA, 0.894 SAV%; Nick Cirka 5-4-1-0 record, 1 shutout, 4.00 GAA, 0.873 SAV%

Your Mooseheads will be back at the Scotiabank Centre on December 28 as they host the Newfoundland Regiment . They then play provincial rivals Cape Breton Eagles on the 30th before heading to Sydney on New Year's Eve. 

Have a happy holiday break Moose Country, see you back at the arena in a week and a half. Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoy it. 

Game Day 25: vs Huskies

PREVIEW - After another five game road trip, our Halifax Mooseheads are back home for a few matches starting with one this evening as they host the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies during the annual toque toss charity game. Both teams have had 0.500 records over their last 10 games and are coming off a loss. The Huskies will be looking for their first win on their current run through the Maritimes division while Halifax hopes to not get swept in their season series against Rouyn-Noranda. Mooseheads rookie forward Oleg Kulebiakin continues to be on a hot streak including scoring a hat trick on November 21 and posting 4 assists in one game a week later. The Russian leads the team with 30 points after twenty-five games, and probably would have been invited to the world juniors if the country was still in the tournament. This is the first time since the 2011-12 season that a rookie has led the Herd in scoring. So don't forget to bring some toques and when the home team scores their first goal tonight, throw them on the ice so they can be donated to HRM shelters. 

Coverage
TV: FloHockey | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry

Overall records
Huskies: 15-8-2-1 = 33 points (2nd in West division, 6th overall)
Mooseheads: 14-8-1-1 = 30 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 9th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Oleg Kulebiakin 30pts (17G & 13A), Shawn Carrier 24pts (14G & 10A), Liam Kilfoil 20pts (5G & 15A)
ROU: Thomas Verdon 39pts (12G & 27A), Samuel Beauchemin 25pts (8G & 17A), Eliot Ogonowski 23pts (10G & 13A)

Head-to-head
Halifax is 0-0-1-0 against the Huskies this season while Rouyn-Noranda has a 1-0-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The two teams met on Halloween night in Rouyn where Antoine St. Laurent scored twice, including the overtime winner, to help his Huskies get a 5-4 OT victory over Halifax. 

Out of town
Cataractes vs. Phoenix - 5:00 p.m.
Eagles vs. Foreurs - 7:00 p.m.

After the buzzer
Halifax will welcome the Val-d'Or Foreurs tomorrow afternoon for the toy drive game. Puck drops at 3 p.m.

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, Nicholas Cirka was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for November. 

Team	Player	Program	Academic Establishment
Baie-Comeau Drakkar	Zachary Hachey	Cours préparatoires BAC finances	Université LAVAL
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada	Matt Gosselin	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP de Terrebonne
Cape Breton Eagles	Jacob Hartlin	High School – Grade 12	Sydney Academy
Charlottetown Islanders	Jabez Seymour	High School – Grade 11	Northern Pre-University (NPU)
Chicoutimi Saguenéens	Maxim Massé	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP de Chicoutimi
Drummondville Voltigeurs	Cooper Campbell	High School – Grade 12	Nebraska High School
Gatineau Olympiques	Louis-Étienne Halley	Secondaire 5	Académie Les Estacades
Halifax Mooseheads	Nicholas Gillham-Cirka	High School – Grade 12	Woodlawn High School
Moncton Wildcats	Dominik Necak	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University (NPU)
Newfoundland Regiment	Biagio Jr. Daniele	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University (NPU)
Québec Remparts	Alex Desruisseaux	Secondaire 5	Académie Les Estacades
Rimouski Océanic	William Lacelle	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University (NPU)
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies	Alexandre Raymond	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Shawinigan Cataractes	Louis-Félix Gagnon	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP de Shawinigan
Sherbrooke Phoenix	Mavrick Lachance	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University (NPU)
Saint John Sea Dogs	Alexis Joseph	Secondaire 5	Académie Les Estacades
Val-d’Or Foreurs	Josh Demers	Sciences de la nature	CEGEP de Val-d’Or
Victoriaville Tigres	Maxime Lambert	Sciences de la nature	CÉGEP de Victoriaville

Stats Sunday: October

Games played: 11
Record: 8-2-1-0, 17pts
Goals for/against: 45/32
Powerplay*: 19.2%
Penalty kill*: 79.3%
Shutouts: One

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Oleg Kulebiakin 13, Liam Kilfoil 11, Quinn Kennedy 10, Shawn Carrier 9, Eddy Doyle 8
Goals: Oleg Kulebiakin 9, Quinn Kennedy 7, Shawn Carrier 5, Caylen Blake 5, Liam Kilfoil 3
Assists: Liam Kilfoil 8, Eddy Doyle 8, Malik L'Italien 6, Owen Phillips 6, Connor MacPherson 5
Penalty minutes: Daniel Walters 14, Mathieu Taillefer 14, Connor MacPherson 11, Shawn Carrier 10, Quinn Kennedy 10
Plus/minus: Connor MacPherson +11, Mathieu Taillefer +9, Eddy Doyle +8, Liam Kilfoil +7, Jasu Mensonen +7
Rookie scoring: Oleg Kulebiakin 13pts, Malik L'Italien 7pts, Jasu Mensonen 5pts, Cameron Minella 5pts, Junior Gualberto 2pts

Goaltender stats*
Owen Bresson     7-4-0-0     3.16 GAA     0.896 SAV%
Nicolas Cirka     3-1-1-0     3.22 GAA     0.895 SAV%

*overall, as of Nov 2 but everything else is just October 

Import rookies propel Halifax to DND win

Mensonen's goal celebration
Photo - Ashley Hennigar

Well it was quite the night for the import rookies who helped lead the Halifax Mooseheads to a 5-3 victory over the Cape Breton Eagles on DND Appreciation Night. Russian Oleg Kulebiakin added onto his team leading point totals by scoring twice and helping on another Saturday night while Imatra, Finland native Jasu Mensonen also had 3 points (1 goal & 2 assists) as both players received stars of the game honours. The game began with a ceremonial puck drop from a couple of Canadian Armed Forces members and another signing O Canada. Fans weren't too happy about midway through the first period as a Herd player got interfered with and there was no call on the play but the referees did make a call on a similar play late in the frame which led to Will Bent scoring the opening goal on the power play. Halifax kept on going in the second, getting out to a 3-0 lead halfway through the period but the lead after 40 minutes would only be 3-2. Kulebiakin's two goals happened in the third extending the lead with his 8th of the season (goal #2 in game) being scored during the Needs Minute It to Win It giveaway so someone went home with $6,300 in Needs gift cards. The 'pot' had grown since at least late in the 2023-24 season. Surprisingly, Cape Breton did not have a power play opportunity during the match while the Moose had just one. 

FINAL: Eagles 3 at Mooseheads 5
Stars: 3. Lewis Gendron CAP | 2. Jasu Mensonen HAL | 1. Oleg Kulebiakin HAL 
Attendance: 8,397 

GAME LOG
First period
17:13 HAL William Bent (2), PP | A: Kennedy & L'Italien 

Second period 
6:25 HAL Jasu Mensonen (3) | A: Kulebiakin & Carrier
9:41 HAL Caylen Blake (4) | A: None
18:00 CAP Lewis Gendron (2) | A: Burke & De Ladurantaye
19:08 CAP Samuel Rocca (3) | A: Peitzsche & Hartlin

Third period 
2:15 HAL Oleg Kulebiakin (7) | A: Mensonen 
10:29 HAL Oleg Kulebiakin (8) | A: Mensonen & Kilfoil
14:09 CAP Romain Litalien (2) | A: Gendron

Powerplay: CAP - 0-for-0; HAL - 1-for-1
Shots: 35-25 in favour of Halifax

Did not play - Alec Nesreddine (healthy), Lincoln Waugh (injured), Justin Chiras (healthy) & Antoine Fontaine (injured)

Next game
The Halifax Mooseheads will head out for a 5 game road trip starting tomorrow in Moncton against the Wildcats. Game time is 3 p.m.