CAMP: 3 more cuts set final roster

Photo - Herd website

The Halifax Mooseheads regular season roster seems to be set after the team made an additional round of cuts on Sunday morning. Three players were released today bringing the roster down to 23 young men, which is how many the club will go into the 2026-27 regular season with. 

I'm surprised who was reassigned to other teams and that it took so long for the brass to announce the roster but it sounds like it was a competitive camp. Halifax has played five pre-season games so far and has won their last four matches after losing the opening tilt against the Cape Breton Eagles. The Mooseheads defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-3 last night at TD Station. 

Players cut:
F Jamie Calla
D Brenden Espenell
F Emrik Menard

Defenceman Brenden Espenell was released after clearing waivers. 

Good luck to these players with their respective teams this season. 

The regular season roster includes 14 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders. There are 11 returning players along with 12 new faces to the team. Congrats to the guys who made the team and welcome to Moose Country. My next post will be the roster. 

CAMP: More cuts made Monday

Photo - Herd website

The Halifax Mooseheads announced their fourth round of cuts on Monday morning during training camp. A total of three players were reassigned to their respective clubs with another released on Friday. The announcement comes about 36 hours after our Moose defeated the Charlottetown Islanders 3-2 in pre-season action on Saturday afternoon. It was Halifax's third straight win after losing their first exhibition match. 

Players cut:
D Jack Cameron
D Samuel Fishbone
F Keith Olympia
F Maveric Thisdelle

This leaves 26 players on the roster, including 16 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders. Nicolas Blanchette, Chase Cleary, Jake Donatelli and Logan Trewin were previously reassigned on Thursday while goaltender Chandler Bell was cut the day before. Free agent forward Will Highes was released on Friday after the team acquired 20-year-old forward Nathan Langlois last week. 

Halifax will announce its regular season roster in the coming days. 

CAMP: Herd make first cuts

Photo - Herd website

After splitting the home-and-home pre-season series against the Cape Breton Eagles, the Halifax Mooseheads announced that they have made a round of cuts on Sunday afternoon. A total of 13 players were reassigned to their respective clubs. The article did not mention if any players left voluntarily. 

Players cut:
G Jack Bell 
F Aaron Carrier
F Elie Champagne
F Thomas Cote 
D Mickael Fournier
F Keegan Kazan
G William Laplante
F Owen O'Donnell
F Nathan Ruel
F Sam Ryan
F Jordan Shaw
D Gavin Sudds
F Ylan Verpaelst

Owen O'Donnell will be sent back to Rouyn-Noranda as he was loaned to the Mooseheads by the Huskies on a try-out basis. This leaves 34 players remaining on the camp roster, including 18 forwards, 13 defencemen and three goaltenders. I suspect we will see the regular season roster named on Thursday following Halifax's next pre-season game on August 26 at the Dartmouth Sportsplex. 

Thursday notes

We are two days into training camp and there have been some news this week that has come out. So I thought I would catch you up. 

Photo - CHL website

Forward Caylen Blake was one of a few players who were on the Halifax Mooseheads last season that did not get an invitation to training camp. GM Cam Russell mentioned that the team wanted to free up some space in a crowded forward group and was looking for a spot on a different team for Blake. On Wednesday, the Herd announced that they have traded the 18-year-old to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for a ninth round pick in the 2029 QMJHL Draft. 

Blake played two seasons in Halifax, appearing in 120 regular season games and scoring 46 career points. The Corner Brook, NL was originally selected in the second round, 34th overall in the 2024 QMJHL Entry Draft. Good luck to Caylen in Chicoutimi. 

Other news...

• Moose Country will still be able to listen to regular season games on the radio as it was announced earlier this week that Jack 92.9 is set to broadcast matches for the 2026-27 season with play-by-play voice Garreth MacDonald back on the mic. 
• Halifax added 20-year-old forward Will Hughes to the camp roster as another free agent invitation. Hughes captained the Collingwood Blues (OJHL) in 2025-26 and had 78 points in 50 games. 
• Interview with American goaltenders Jack Fichthorn and Carson Mertz

• Team White had the upper hand in the two intrasquad games on Thursday as the two teams tied game 1 (3-3) while White won game 2 (5-3). Jamie Calla, Shawn Carrier and Elie Champagne each had two goals over the two matches for White, meanwhile Emrik Menard scored twice for Team Green. 
• Cam Russell mentioned before camp, in his 'interview' with Scott MacIntosh, that Will Bent is not scheduled to be back in the lineup until mid-October but was listed on the training camp roster.
• Interview with Jackson Smail and Brady Smith

• No word when first cuts will be made but I expect we will see them tomorrow or Saturday morning, however the NCAA rules have changed how camps go and this does seem like a short camp. 

The Mooseheads get underway in pre-season action tomorrow night as they host the Cape Breton Eagles at 7pm. 

46 players to attend training camp

Photo - Herd website

Our Halifax Mooseheads' 2026 training camp begins tomorrow and the team finally released its roster of the forty-six players who will be attending. 

The roster includes 26 forwards, 15 defencemen and five goaltenders. Players will report for registration on Wednesday morning before hitting the ice for afternoon practices. General Manager Cam Russell has made multiple moves over the off-season and he continues to make them as another two players from 2025-26 were left off the camp roster; overage goaltender Owen Bresson and 18-year-old forward Caylen Blake. 

Players invited to camp

Duncan Anderson    D    (draft '25)

Chandler Bell    G    (free agent)

Jack Bell    G    (draft '25)

William Bent    F    (draft '24)

Nicolas Blanchette    D    (draft '25)

Jamie Calla    F    (draft '26)

Jack Cameron    D    (draft '26)

Aaron Carrier    F    (draft '26)

Shawn Carrier    F    (trade)

Elie Champagne    F    (draft '24)

Chase Cleary    F    (draft '26)

Thomas Cote    F    (draft '24)

Jake Donatelli    D    (draft '26)

Eddy Doyle    D    (draft '23)

Brenden Espenell    D    (free agent)

Jack Fichthorn    G    (draft '26)

Samuel Fishbone    D    (draft '26)

Mikael Fournier    D    (draft '24)

Paulo Gualberto Jr    F    (draft '25)

Keegan Kazan    F    (free agent invite)

Quinn Kennedy    F    (trade)

Oleg Kulebiakin    F    (import)

Malik L'Italien    D    (draft '25)

William Laplante    G    (draft '26)

Cole MacLeod    F    (draft '24)

Patrick McNab    F    (draft '23)

Emrik Menard    F    (draft '26)

Carson Mertz    G    (draft '26)

Cameron Minella    D    (draft '25)

Jayden Napon    F    (draft '25)

Evan Nee    F    (free agent)

Mateo Nobert    F    (trade)

Owen O'Donnell    F    (free agent invite)

Owen Phillips    D    (draft '22)

Nathan Ruel    F    (draft '25)

Sam Ryan    F    (draft '25)

Jordan Shaw    F    (free agent invite)

Paul Sintschnig    F    (import)

Jackson Smail    F    (draft '26)

Brady Smith    D    (free agent)

Gavin Sudds    D    (draft '24)

Maveric Thisdelle    F    (draft '26)

Logan Trewin    D    (draft '24)

Nico Uschan    D    (import)

Ylan Verpaelst    F    (draft '25)

Daniel Walters    F    (draft '24)

Seems like we may have a quick training camp as the practices and intra-squad games part is only over two days than the team is right into exhibition matches on Friday and Saturday. Will be very interesting to see how the cuts work out and what kind of final roster Russell makes. Halifax is projected to be a contender this season. 

Good luck to all the players this week. 

Training camp week 1 schedule

Photo - Herd website

It's August which means the Halifax Mooseheads will be back on the ice next week! 

The Herd released their first week schedule of the 2026 training camp that will begin on August 19 at RBC Centre. Players will most likely register Wednesday morning then will participate in a couple of practices. Halifax also announced that the venue for their pre-season game against the Cape Breton next Friday has changed from the team facility to Dalhousie's Oulton-Stanish Centre.  

Check out the schedule below
August 19     
3:00-4:00pm    Team White practice
4:30-5:30pm    Team Green practice

August 20
10:00am-12:00pm    Green vs White Intrasquad Game #1
3:00-5:00pm             Green vs White Intrasquad Game #2

August 21
7:00pm        Pre-season game vs. Cape Breton

August 22
7:00pm        Pre-season game at Cape Breton

Tickets to the three exhibition matches are on sale now, available for $17.50 per adult. Fans can buy them on TicketMaster online here. 

In other news...

• Halifax signed free agent goaltender Jack Fichthorn on July 30 to a QMJHL Scholarship and Development Agreement. Fichthorn is 19-years-old from Darien, Connecticut and was selected by the Mooseheads 43rd overall at the 2026 Entry Draft. 
• GM Cam Russell confirmed a rumour earlier this month and secured some future chips when he traded forward Liam Kilfoil to the Moncton Wildcats. Kilfoil played in 180 career regular season games after joining the Herd in 2023 and scored 105 points. 
• Fans can now buy half season packages for 2026-27. There are multiple member benefits including savings over individual prices, parking & merchandise discounts, invites to team events plus more. Find more here.  
• NHL Street Harbour Fest is coming to Halifax next month, September 12-13 at the Emera Oval. It is a 3-on-3 street hockey festival. 

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.  

49 players on camp roster

Photo - Herd website

A total of 49 players have been invited to the Halifax Mooseheads 2025 training camp that will start in a few days. The roster includes 27 forwards, 16 defencemen and six goaltenders. It consists of 19 returning players from the 2024-25 season so that will make for a very competitive camp over the next number of weeks. 

The lone 20-year-old on the camp roster is the recently acquired forward Connor MacPherson who was signed by Cam Russell as a free agent, the team announced on Friday. Defenceman Malik L'Italien - the third overall pick in June's QMJHL Entry Draft - headlines the new crop of 16-year-olds arriving in Moose Country along with Americans Cameron Minella and Paulo Gualberto. 2025 CHL import picks Oleg Kulebyakin (Russia) and Jasu Mensonen (Finland) will join Carlos Handel as the Herd's European players this year, however Mensonen won't arrive to Halifax until later in camp after concluding his mandatory military service. 

Roster below
Duncan Anderson   D   Antigonish, NS   (draft '25)
Callum Aucoin   F   Hammonds Plains, NS   (trade)
Jack Bell   G   Antigonish, NS   (draft '25)

Cole Bent   D   Halifax, NS   (draft '24)

William Bent   F   Dover, MA   (draft '24)

Caylen Blake   F   Corner Brook, NL   (draft '24)

Nicolas Blanchette   D   St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC   (draft '25)
Owen Bresson   G   Dominion, NS   (trade)
Shawn Carrier   F   Trois-Rivieres, QC   (trade)

Elle Champagne   F   St-Georges-de-Beauce, QC   (draft '24)

Justin Chiras   D   Bedford, NH   (free agent)

Nico Ciardiello   F   Guilford, CT   (draft '24)

Thomas Cote   F   Quebec, QC   (draft '24)

Eddy Doyle   D   Tignish, PE   (draft '23)

Ryan Fletcher   D   Brookfield, NS   (free agent)

Antoine Fontaine   F   Granby, QC   (draft '22)

Mickael Fournier   D   Laval, QC   (draft '24)

Jameson George   D   Rothesay, NB   (draft '23)

Nicolas Gilham-Cirka   G   Westmount, QC   (draft '24)

Paulo Gualberto   F   Bamstable, MA   (draft '25)

Carlos Handel   D   Erlangen, Germany   (import)

Quinn Kennedy   F   Upper Tantallon, NS   (trade)

Liam Kilfoil   F   Quispamsis, NB   (draft '23)

Oleg Kulebyakin   F   St. Petersburg, Russia   (import)

Malik L'Italien   D   Montreal, QC   (draft '25)

Thomas Laplante   G   Rosemare, QC   (draft '24)

Cole MacLeod   F   Porters Lake, NS   (draft '24)

Connor MacPherson   F   Windsor, ON   (free agent)

Sam Madgett   G   Stillwater Lake, NS   (draft '23)

Tucker Makinen   F   Bedford, NS   (draft '23)

Patrick McNab   F   Beaconsfield, QC   (draft '23)

Jasu Mensonen   F   Imatra, Finland   (import)

Cameron Minella   D   Darien, CT   (draft '25)

Cade Moser   F   Linacy, NS   (draft '22)

Jayden Napon   F   Montreal, QC   (draft '25)

Alec Nasreddine   F   Mountainside, NJ   (draft '23)

Noah Olmedo-Matte   F   Repentigny, QC   (draft '24)

Owen Phillips   D   Hammonds Plains, NS   (draft '22)

Nathan Ruel   F   Riviere-du-Loup, QC   (draft '25)

Sam Ryan   F   Dartmouth, NS   (draft '25)

Amelio Santini   F   Cote-Saint-Luc, QC   (draft '24)

Jordan Shaw   F   Coleman, PE   (free agent)

Olivier St-Onge   G   Edmundston, NB   (draft '23)

Gavin Sudds   D   Sydney, NS   (draft '24)

Mathieu Taillefer   D   Richelieu, QC   (draft '22)

Logan Trewin   D   Halifax, NS   (draft '24)

Ylan Verpaelst   F   Magog, QC   (draft '25)

Daniel Walters   F   Halifax, NS   (draft '24)

Lincoln Waugh   D   Summerside, PE   (trade)

I suspect we will see first cuts before Tuesday's pre-season game, and the release of the official regular season roster I'm sure will be announced before the end of August. Follow along on this blog and on social media for camp news and updates. 

Training camp starts Saturday

Halifax Mooseheads training camp starts this Saturday when players report to Dartmouth for registration day which normally includes physicals as well. 

The team released its first week schedule at the end of July and it will see the attendees participate in some practices, 4 white-green intrasquad games and three of club's 4 pre-season matches. Camp will take place on Rink B of the RBC Centre with the intrasquad games being free to attend for fans. 

Sun Aug 17         9am & 3pm        Green vs White intrasquad

Mon Aug 18        9am & 3pm        Green vs White intrasquad

Tue Aug 19         7pm                    Pre-season @ Cape Breton (Centre 200)

Wed Aug 20        7pm                   Pre-season vs Cape Breton (St. Margaret's Centre)

Thu Aug 21        10am-1pm          Practice

Fri Aug 22          10am-1pm          Practice

Sat Aug 23          4pm                   Pre-season vs Cape Breton (Rath Eastlink Community Centre)

Sun Aug 24         10am-1pm         Practice

Tickets are on-sale now for the home games at ticketmaster.ca and on the RECC website. I'll share the roster later in the week and any more info as it comes out. 

Final Four Reassignments Made

The Halifax Mooseheads announced their opening night roster for the team's 30th season today. A final four players were reassigned to their respective midget clubs and Halifax will go into the 2023-24 season with 23 young men. 

Players cut on Thursday
G Sam Madgett
D Eddy Doyle
D Jameson George
F Ben Wallace

The regular season roster includes fourteen forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders. 16 veterans will be joined by 7 new players on the team with one of those rookies being Jack Milner after goalie Brady James decided to leave the club earlier this week. His departure means that the Herd have an overage position available so we could see a move in the coming months to fill that spot. 

Congrats to all the guys who made the team and for the new guys, welcome to Moose Country! Good luck to Ben, Sam, Eddy and Jameson this season. 

My next post will have the full roster. 

Halifax will next play a pre-season game on September 9 in Charlottetown while the 30th anniversary home opener is set to go on September 22 against the Islanders. 

Moose Make Big Round of Cuts

Our Halifax Mooseheads made their first official round of cuts on Saturday afternoon. I don't think I have ever seen the team take this long to announce reassignments during training camp. 

We are a week into camp and the Mooseheads have trimmed their roster by 17 players today. Four players left voluntarily earlier in the week after 48 hours, probably to keep their NCAA eligibility. It was announced on Tuesday that forwards Alec Nasreddine, James Chase, Tristan LeBlanc and Tucker Makinen made the decision to leave camp. 

As for today's cuts, it includes two goalies, seven defencemen and eight forwards. The roster now sits at 28 players with several returning veterans expected to arrive arrive for practice on Sunday according to the press release. 

Players leaving
G Olivier St-Onge
G George Foti
D Colin Brodeur
D Hugo Boucher
D Camden McKenzie
D Nik Mokriakov
D Andrew Thompson
D Ryan Fletcher 
D Ben Manos
F Aidan Bent
F Hudson Clarke
F Mathis Laplante
F Will Carroll
F Tyler Totten
F Tully Grant
F Keegan O'Neill
F Justin Breton

Halifax will continue to practice this week and will play their next pre-season on September 9th in Charlottetown. The Herd have not gotten off to a great start, going into the break with a 0-3 record. 

Good luck to all the players above with whatever teams they end up with this season. 

Green Takes Game 1

If you were at the RBC Centre on Sunday afternoon, you were treated to a bit of a one sided match up in the Green vs. White intrasquad game. The on-ice portion of training camp got underway this morning with the team divided into two separate groups for practice at 9 a.m. followed by the intrasquad game at 3 p.m. Team Green took the first contest by a score of 8-3 as three of their players scored two goals each. The team will have the same schedule tomorrow. 

The game appeared like it might go into the second period all tied but Mathis Laplante scored late in the opening frame to give Green a 3-2 lead as the boys headed to the locker rooms. Ben Wallace recorded the first goal of the match however, to give White a 1-0 lead. Goals by Alec Nasreddine, Reece Peitzsche and Aidan Bent made the score 6-2 Team Green after 40 minutes. Bent, Laplante and Nasreddine all scored twice during the game. The other Team White goals came from Cade Moser and Eddy Doyle. 

Most of the veterans did not play in this afternoon's game and I expect we won't see them tomorrow either. If things go like normal, we will probably see the first round of cuts on Monday evening or possibly Tuesday morning. Should I get the opportunity, I will let you know here. 

Training Camp Details

Photo - Herd website

Hockey will be starting very soon. 

The Halifax Mooseheads have announced that their 2023 training camp will begin on August 19 when players arrive to the city for physicals and registration at RBC Centre. A total of 49 players are set to attend camp this year including the 2022-23 leading scorer Jordan Dumais, Halifax's top draft selection in June's Q draft Liam Kilfoil and 2023 import pick Yannik Ponzetto. 

You can find the schedule for the first 2 weeks by looking here. Like previous years, practices and intrasquad games held at the RBC Centre will be open to the public for free. Tickets for the pre-season games are on sale now and can be bought on the new Mooseheads TicketMaster page. 

Here is the 2023 training camp roster (yy-mm-dd)
Name   Pos   Birthdate   From
Aidan Bent   LW   2006-07-08   Nova Scotia
Hugo Bucher   D   2006-01-09   Quebec
Justin Breton   C   2006-02-14   Quebec
Colin Brodeur   D   2007-05-26   Quebec
Will Carroll   C   2007-01-06   Newfoundland
Mathieu Cataford   C   2005-03-01   Quebec
James Chase   LW   2006-04-08   Vermont
Hudson Clarke   C   2006-01-29   Nova Scotia
Logan Crosby   LW   2005-12-14   Nova Scotia
Eddy Doyle   D   2007-11-08   Prince Edward Island
Jordan Dumais   RW   2004-04-15   Quebec
Ryan Fletcher   D   2006-01-20   Nova Scotia
Antoine Fontaine   C   2006-07-10   Quebec
George Foti   G   2006-09-22   Quebec
Brody Fournier   C   2003-05-26   Ontario
Jake Furlong   D   2004-03-04   Nova Scotia
Jameson George   D   2007-03-28   New Brunswick
Tully Grant   C   2005-05-17   Nova Scotia
Brady James   G   2003-02-19   Quebec
Liam Kilfoil   C   2007-03-21   New Brunswick
Mathis Laplante   RW   2006-12-17   Quebec
Tristan LeBlanc   LW   2006-02-16   Nova Scotia
Lou Levesque   C   2006-03-15   Quebec
Dominic MacKenzie   D   2006-06-28   Nova Scotia
Dylan MacKinnon   D   2005-01-12   New Brunswick
Braeden MacPhee   C   2004-05-30   New Brunswick
Sam Madgett   G   2007-07-31   Nova Scotia
Tucker Makinen   LW   2007-05-07   Nova Scotia
Ben Manos   D   2006-07-25   Nova Scotia
Jack Martin   D   2005-02-10   New Brunswick
Camden McKenzie   D   2004-09-09   Nova Scotia
Jack Milner   G   2005-02-05   Nova Scotia
Nik Mokriakov   D   2006-03-14   Nova Scotia
David Moravec   D   2003-09-18   Czechia
Cade Moser   C   2006-03-01   Nova Scotia
Alec Nasreddine   LW   2007-02-14   New Jersey
Keegan O'Neill   LW   2006-12-16   Nova Scotia
Reece Peitzsche   C   2006-12-08   Nova Scotia
Owen Phillips   D   2006-01-12   Nova Scotia
Yannik Ponzetto   LW   2006-06-08   Switzerland
Mathis Rousseau   G   2004-09-10   Quebec
Brady Schultz   D   2004-07-23   Connecticut 
Olivier St-Onge   G   2007-10-10   New Brunswick
Andrew Thompson   D   2006-06-10   Prince Edward Island
Jake Todd   C   2005-07-13   Nova Scotia
Tyler Totten   C   2005-11-18   Nova Scotia
Markus Vidicek   C   2004-03-21   Quebec
Ben Wallace   C   2005-03-04   Nova Scotia
Liam Welsh   C   2005-01-20   Nova Scotia

A few notes about the roster

• The roster consists of 27 forwards, 16 defencemen and six goalies while there are 17 returning players 
• You will notice that a few players who are still eligible are not listed; last season's captain Attilio Biasca has decided to return home to play professionally with EV Zug, Zach L'Heureux seems to be on his way to suit up for the Milwaukee Admirals and Cam Whynot was released (not sure why) 
• Unless Cam Russell and co. make moves before the season begins, it looks like the overagers will be Brody Fournier, Brady James and David Moravec while the Euro spots belong to Moravec and Yannik Ponzetto

First cuts are normally made before the first pre-season game with the final roster generally announced by the end of August, we'll have to wait and see if this holds true again this year.

CAMP: Mooseheads Make Final Cuts

General Manager Cam Russell and company made their final cuts to the training camp roster on Tuesday morning. The club announced that two players were released with one being veteran Stephen Davis. Halifax also let go of goaltender Jack Milner which really isn't a surprise. 

Photo - TSN

The 20-year-old quickly became a popular player for the Mooseheads and was an alternate captain during the 2021-22 regular season. "We all love Stephen here, the players, coaches and staff. He's a great person and will be missed but we are also extremely excited with the seven talented defencemen who have earned their spots on the roster and are the best fit for our team at this time." Russell said of the move. The departure of Davis means the Mooseheads will begin the season with one overage player in the form of forward Evan Boucher. 

This means that the Herd will break camp with 22 players on the roster and go with 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders to start the 2022-23 regular season. 

Good luck to Stephen with his new team wherever he ends up. 

Herd Word

Former Halifax Mooseheads have had some big things happen over the last week or so while the current team is coming together for the regular season. 

Photo - AMH Photography

MACKINNON PARADE
The 2013 NHL number one pick Nathan MacKinnon won the Stanley Cup back in June with the Colorado Avalanche and he finally had his day with the trophy last weekend. MacKinnon brought the Cup back to Halifax where he played junior hockey for a parade and the city showed up big time. His teammates Gabriel Landeskog and Andrew Cogliano were also in the parade. Before it began, Nathan was on Citadel Hill to shoot off the noon gun. The 28-year-old answered a few questions from Paul Hollingsworth afterwards in Grand Parade Square in front of thousands of fans. 

It was a good parade and it was nice to see Kid Mack give props to his family, coaches and the city of Halifax for helping him get to where he is today. 

Check out some highlights from the day in the video below. 

WORLD JUNIORS
Well, the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were finally able to be completed last weekend with Team Canada raising the trophy on August 20. With Canada's victory, former Mooseheads captain Elliot Desnoyers is a champion! Congrats to Desy on winning the gold medal. The 20-year-old finished the tournament with an assist in 7 games played. The Canadians went undefeated and won the final match 3-2 in overtime over Team Finland. 

Photo - Hockey Canada Twitter

Also in the tournament were Herd alumni Senna Peeters (Austria) and current forward Attilio Biasca (Switzerland). Peeters recorded a goal and 3 points in the preliminary round as Austria lost all 4 games to end in 9th place. Biasca had a great tournament scoring four goals and picking up 2 assists but unfortunately, Switzerland lost in the quarter-finals to Canada.

Photo - Birdgeport Islanders Instagram

DURANDEAU
23-year-old Arnaud Durandeau, who played for Halifax for four years from 2015-2019, got some good news last week when the New York Islanders signed him to a two-year two-way contract along with three other players. Durandeau set new career highs in goals (15), assists (22) and points (37) in 64 games with the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL last season. He ranked third on the team in goals and was tied for fifth in points during his third professional campaign. Congrats to Arnaud on signing a new contract.

TRAINING CAMP UPDATE
Things have been moving quickly at training camp this past week. Cam Russell and company made more decisions, releasing sixteen additional players. On Thursday, a total of nine young men were cut from the camp roster. The following players were cut from the camp roster on Thursday; Justin Breton (F), Mathis Laplante (F), Landon MacIntosh (F), Dominic MacKenzie (D), Cade Moser (F), Joe Power (D), Adam Tkacz (G), Ty Totten (F) and Ben Wallace (F). Goalie George Foti was released from camp on Wednesday. Six players were cut on Saturday morning including forwards Antoine Fontaine, Lou Levesque, Brandon Abbass and Bryson Boudreau along with defencemen Hugo Boucher and Dylan Chisholm. 

Russell made a trade on Wednesday afternoon as well when they acquired centre and Beaver Bank, NS-native Jake Todd from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in exchange for a 2023 4th round draft pick. Todd has played the past two seasons with the Cole Harbour Wolfpack where he has scored 79 points in 55 games with 23 goals and 56 assists. 

All these moves mean that there are 25 players remaining at camp. Another small round of cuts still needs to happen before the 2022-23 regular season roster is named but I suspect that will happen before the end of August. 

ZADINA

Photo - Wings website 

The Detroit Red Wings announced on Friday that they have re-signed right winger Filip Zadina to a three-year contract with an average annual value of $1.825 million. Zadina, 22, skated in 74 games with the Red Wings in 2021-22 and recorded a career-high 24 points (10-14-24) and 10 penalty minutes. Originally selected by Detroit in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Filip has totalled 61 points in 160 NHL games. 

Congrats to Filip on signing a new contract. 

CRITCHLOW
Former Herd Cameron Critchlow has been named captain of the EIHL's Manchester Storm for the 2022-23 season. The 31-year-old is heading into his fourth season in England. Critchlow played one season for Halifax back in 2011-12. He had 14 goals and 37 points in 54 games last season with the Storm. Manchester start their regular season on September 10 against the Coventry Blaze. 

Photo - Storm Twitter

CAMP: Herd Release 7 Before 1st Pre-Season Game

Photo - Mooseheads Twitter

As I expected, our Halifax Mooseheads have made the first round of cuts before they play in their first pre-season game tonight. General Manager Cam Russell made the announcement on Tuesday morning, saying that the club had released seven players.

Players leaving
G  Russ Decoste  
D  Mathieu Taillefer
D  Ben Robertson
D  Noah Razon
F  James Chase
F  Kyle Greene
F  Hudson Clarke

According to the press release, Clarke suffered a clavicle injury during an intrasqaud game on Monday and has decided to return home. The team is also awaiting the arrival of 2022 CHL import draft pick David Moravec who is expected to arrive later tonight. 

With these moves, it leaves 40 players on the training camp roster. 

Good luck to all the 7 guys who left camp with whatever team you end up with this year. 

47 Players to Attend Training Camp

Photo - Saltwire

Halifax Mooseheads hockey is getting close to being back and it begins with training camp starting on Saturday. The team announced schedule details for camp last week, which you can find here. 

The Mooseheads have invited 47 players to participate in camp over the next month. The roster breaks down to six goaltenders, 15 defenceman and 26 forwards It consists of 17 returning players along with all fifteen of Halifax's draft picks from 2022 plus more. I suspect the first cuts will be made before the first pre-season game on Tuesday. 

Below is the 2022 Training Camp roster. 
Brandon Abbass  F  (free agent)   
Attilio Biasca  F  (import)   
Evan Boucher  F  (free agent)
Hugo Boucher  D  (draft '22)
Bryson Boudreau  F  (free agent)   
Justin Breton  F  (draft '22)   
Mathieu Cataford  F  (draft '21)
James Chase  F  (draft '22)    
Dylan Chisholm  D  (free agent)
Hudson Clarke  F  (draft '22)    
Logan Crosby  F  (draft '21)
Stephan Davis  D  (draft '18)
Russ DeCoste  G  (free agent)
Jordan Dumais  F  (draft '20)
Antoine Fontaine  F  (draft '22)
George Foti  G  (draft '22)
Brody Fournier  F  (free agent)
Jake Furlong  D  (draft '20)
Kyle Greene  F  (draft '22)
Zachary L'Heureux  F  (trade)
Mathis Laplante  F  (draft '22)
Lou Levesque  F  (draft '22)
Landon MacIntosh  F  (free agent)
Dominic MacKenzie  D  (draft '22)
Dylan MacKinnon  D  (draft '21)
Braeden MacPhee  F  (draft '20)
Jack Martin  D  (draft '21)
David Moravec  D  (import)
Jack Milner  G  (draft '21)
Cade Moser  F  (draft '22)
Robert Orr  F  (trade)
Reece Peitzsche  F  (draft '22)
Owen Phillips  D  (draft '22)
Joseph Power  D  (draft '21)
Noah Razon  D  (draft '21)
Ben Robertson  D  (draft '22)
Mathis Rousseau  G  (draft '20)
Brady Schultz  D  (draft '20)
James Swan  F  (draft '20) 
Mathieu Taillefer  D  (draft '22)
Adam Tkacz  G  (free agent)
Tyler Totten  F  (free agent)
Markus Vidicek  F  (draft '20)
Ben Wallace  F  (draft '21)
Liam Welsh  F  (draft '21)
Cameron Whynot  D  (trade)

Training Camp Details Announced

Details for our Halifax Mooseheads 2022 Training Camp were released by the club today and it looks pretty much like a pre-COVID camp. Players will return to Moose Country with registration on August 20 at RBC Centre in Dartmouth. Action on the ice kicks off the following day at 9am with the first-of-four Green vs White scrimmages. All games and practices will be open to the public according to the press release.

Below is the schedule for the first couple of weeks
August 21 & 22
9am   Green vs White Intrasquad Game 
3pm   Green vs White Intrasquad Game

August 23 
7pm   Pre-season game at Cape Breton

August 24 
7pm   Pre-season game vs Cape Breton

August 25 
11am   Practice
3pm   Practice

August 26
7pm   Pre-season game vs Saint John

August 29-September 1
10am   Practice

A limited amount of tickets for the home pre-season games will go on sale August 9th at 11am at TicketAtlantic.com

CAMP: More Moves Made By Team

I was hoping that these would be the final moves made by our Halifax Mooseheads but as of the writing of this post, the team has not announced their regular season roster. The club did make a few cuts this week plus another trade of a veteran. 

On Monday, general manager Cam Russell announced that the team had reassigned two veteran players releasing defenceman Keegan Hunt and Lucas Robinson. Hunt, a Moncton, NB native, was drafted by the Mooseheads in the 5th round in 2019 and picked up one assist in 34 games played over his two seasons with the team. Robinson had a little bit more success, scoring three goals and 5 points with 86 games played between 2019-21. The 19 year old was drafted in the 8th round in 2019. 

Photo - Herd website

Another veteran defenceman got moved by the club on Tuesday morning as 20-year-old Brendan Tomilson was released. The Cameron, ON native played in 80 games for the Mooseheads collecting 4 goals and 13 assists while adding 72 career penalty minutes. His departure left the Herd with an overage spot. 

It didn't take long for Russell to fill that open overage spot as he made a trade with the Charlottetown Islanders acquiring forward Zachary Beauregard in exchange for a 5th round pick in 2023. Beauregard was a 'thorn in the side of the Mooseheads throughout the season last year with nine assists and 38 penalty minutes in 19 games played against Halifax.' 

"We like the style he brings to the lineup for us. He's the type of player that can be extremely difficult to play against," Russell said. "He's going to bring some veteran leadership and experience. We're just happy we don't have to play against him anymore."

These recent moves leave 24 players on the training camp roster. Considering that Elliot Desnoyers and William Robitaille are out with injuries, the current names could be what the team starts the regular season with but we'll have to wait and see. The official roster should be announced this week according to Russell.

Photo - Saltwire