Herd Word

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NHL DRAFT RANKINGS

The Central Scouting Services released their final rankings last month for the 2023 NHL draft and there are a few current Halifax Mooseheads players on the list. Sophomore Mathieu Cataford was the highest ranked Herd player at #36 after finishing the season with 31 goals and 75 points. He dropped from 27th on the mid-term rankings. 18-year-old Dylan MacKinnon was ranked #61 while Markus Vidicek found himself at #175. MacKinnon had a huge jump in his point production in his second season, picking up 23 points in 61 games. 19-year-old Vidicek had 32 goals and 80 points during 2022-23. 

The highest ranking QMJHL player is Ethan Gauthier of the Sherbrooke Phoenix who is at #16. The 2023 NHL Entry Draft will be held June 28-29 in Nashville, TN. 

FINAL SERIES
The three final series across the Canadian Hockey League are now set after games on Monday. Fourth place Peterborough came up with another upset in the Eastern Conference final, winning Game 7 3-2 to move on to the OHL championship series. The Memorial Cup hosts Kamloops Blazers are out of the WHL playoffs after losing to the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2 two nights ago. Below are the matchups for the championships.

WHL - E1 Winnipeg ICE vs. W1 Seattle Thunderbirds
OHL - W2 London Knights vs. E4 Peterborough Petes 
QMJHL - 1 Quebec Remparts vs. 2 Halifax Mooseheads

SOLD OUT
Round four tickets for Games 1 & 2 at the Centre Videotron went on sale this past Friday before the Quebec Remparts even knew who their opponent was going to be. Quebec fans went all in, selling out both nights in less than 20 minutes according to the team. 

However, like normal, there are people reselling them on Ticket Master if you would still like some but you'll have to fork up some money. The cheapest I saw yesterday was $59 for one ticket and went up to over $250 each. 

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
Recently, the Canadian Hockey League announced the order of selection for the import draft. 'Your Halifax Mooseheads hold the 50th overall pick while their second round pick is 110th overall thanks to a strong season that saw the Herd post a 50-11-4-3 record. Current imports Attilio Biasca and David Moravec are eligible to return next year as 20-year-old overage players.' So it will be interesting to see if the Herd actually use their selections. The Erie Otters of the OHL will pick first overall followed by the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan and the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). The 2023 Import Draft will take place on July 5 at 11am ET.  

Photo - Trinec Twitter

ALUMNI CHAMPIONS
A couple of Moose alumni are once again champions. Sternberk, Czech Republic native Petr Vrana captained the HC Ocelari Trinec to franchise fifth Czech Extraliga trophy on April 28. According to Elite Prospects; the 38-year-old had an assist in 3 games played during the regular season and two points (1G&1A) in 20 playoff matches. Trinec won the final series 4-2 against the Mountfield HK. 

Defenceman Konrad Abeltshauser won the DEL championship for a fourth time in his career. The EHC Red Bull Munchen battled it out against the ERC Ingolstadt and got the 4-1 series win. The 30-year-old scored 4 times in the regular season and had 18 points while in the post-season he had 4 points in 18 games. 

Congratulations to both players on getting another trophy. 

DUMAIS
According to Saltwire, 'Halifax general manager Cam Russell said on Monday there's "a really food chance" Jordan Dumais will be cleared to play at some point against the Quebec Remparts.' He could possibly play in Game 1 on Friday. Dumais missed the last four games of the semi-final series after getting injured in the second period of Game 2 against the Sherbrooke Phoenix. 

It would be great to see Dumer return to the lineup but Halifax has played really well while he was out so does Sylvain Farveau make changes to a good thing even if Jordan is ready.