Mooseheads Victorious in DND Appreciation Game

For the first time in 5 years, your Halifax Mooseheads were the winning team during the club's DND Appreciation Night game. The team hadn't won on these special evening since the 2013 version where they shutout the Moncton Wildcats. Tonight, the Herd hosted the men and women of our armed forces plus on the ice the team was playing the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. It was a better result for the Mooseheads this evening after another long pre-game ceremony than the home opener almost two weeks ago. This year the club honoured Shearwater 12th Wing base with special white jerseys that had a thick blue line in the middle and the 100th anniversary logo for Shearwater. Halifax got on the board early when Raphael Lavoie scored his first shorthanded goal of his career just over 6 minutes into the contest. Samuel Asselin got his team leading 13th goal of the season to put the good guys up 2-0 after the first period. Cape Breton controlled the middle frame outshooting Halifax 15-7 in the second but were only able to get one goal past Alexis Gravel who continued to make amazing saves including reaching back a few times to save pucks that were on the goal line. The Screaming Eagles were still down two goals after 40 minutes with the score being 3-1 for the Moose. Wilson Forest made it a one goal game with 4:05 gone in the third but that's as close as the road team would get.

FINAL: Screaming Eagles 2 at Mooseheads 5 
Stars: 3. Declan Smith CAP | 2. Samuel Asselin HAL | 1. Ben Higgins HAL
Attendance: 8,540
MC's Top Herd: Ben Higgins

GAME LOG
First period
6:04 HAL Raphael Lavoie (12), SH | A: none
19:31 HAL Samuel Asselin (13) | A: Safin & Barinka

Second period
6:12 CAP Adam McCormick (3) | A: Gawanke & Lafrance
18:05 HAL Ben Higgins (2) | A: Bishop & McLeod

Third period
4:05 CAP Wilson Forest (3) | A: Smith & Francis
15:45 HAL Walter Flower (3) | A: McIsaac & Groulx
19:26 HAL Arnaud Durandeau (10), EN | A: Maher

Shots: 34-33 in favour of Halifax

NOT DRESSED - Cole Stewart (injured), Kyle Petten (injured), Denis Toner (healthy scratch) and Samuel Dube (injured)

SCORES
Titan 2 at Wildcats 5
Sageneens 2 at Islanders 5
Sea Dogs 2 at Phoenix 6
Drakkar 4 at Foreurs 3
Armada 1 at Voltigeurs 8
Remparts 7 at Cataractes 2
Olympiques 4 at Oceanic 3

UP NEXT - Halifax is back on home ice Saturday night for a rematch against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Puck drops at 7pm.

Big Third Leads to Win

The Halifax Mooseheads got their first win on home ice. After an unfortunate loss in their home opener a week ago, Halifax started off slow but finished strong to send the Moose Country fans home happy. Val-d'Or scored the opening goal of the match and led 1-0 after 20 minutes though it was a pretty back and forth game in the first period. Alex Gravel made a couple of amazing saves in the dying seconds of the frame to keep it a one goal game and the boys in front of him seemed to wake up in the second as the Herd got two goals one minute apart just minutes into the middle frame by Walter Flower and Jordan Maher. A goal by the Foreurs' Ivan Kozlov towards the end of the period tied the game, however it really should not have counted as Flower got high sticked right before the goal was scored. In the third, the home team put a ton of pressure on Mathieu Marquis, getting 16 shots towards the Val-d'Or goaltender and they were able to convert on a few of those. A powerplay marker by Samuel Asselin about 5 minutes into the final frame ended up being the game winner while Flower scored his second of the night (and season) minutes later. Veteran Benoit-Olivier Groulx finished the scoring off with a couple of power play goals in the final minutes to put the game out of reach.

FINAL: Foreurs 2 at Mooseheads 6
Stars: 3. Ostap Safin HAL | 2. Samuel Asselin HAL | 1. Walter Flower HAL
Attendance: 8,256
MC's Top Herd: Walter Flower

GAME LOG
First period
18:22 VDO Julien Tessier (8), PP | A: Ouellet & Kozlov

Second period
5:16 HAL Walter Flower (1) | A: Durandeau & Lavoie
6:16 HAL Jordan Maher (3) | A: Parent & Kyte
18:55 VDO Ivan Kozlov (5) | A: Tessier & Farmer

Third period
4:59 HAL Samuel Asselin (10), PP | A: Safin & Barron
6:58 HAL Walter Flower (2) | A: Groulx & Safin
15:35 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (7), PP | A: Morand & McIsaac
16:42 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (8), PP | A: McIsaac & Lavoie

Shots: 41-23 in favour of Halifax
Powerplay: VDO - 1-for-4; HAL - 3-for-4

NOT DRESSED - Jocktan Chainey (injured), Samuel Dube (injured), Brock McLeod (healthy) and Kyle Petten (injured)

SCORES
Cataractes 2 at Oceanic 6
Armada 1 at Sagueneens 3
Sea Dogs 1 at Drakkar 8
Titan 3 at Screaming Eagles 2
Huskies 4 at Olympiques 3
Islanders 4 at Tigres 3 OT

UP NEXT - The top two teams in the Maritimes will go head to head Sunday afternoon as your Mooseheads host the Moncton Wildcats tomorrow. Puck drops at 2pm.

Nov 3: Mooseheads vs. Foreurs preview

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS VAL-D'OR FOREURS
November 2, 2018 at 7:00pm
TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

Hello November! It's hard to believe that we're into November already and the Halifax Mooseheads are about to play just their second home game of the season tonight when they welcome the Val-d'Or Foreurs to Scotiabank Centre. Halifax will play 8 of their next 9 matches at home though so this month will be busy for the and fans alike. The Mooseheads will look to get back in the win column and a game against the 15th place Foreurs might be what they need. Halifax has yet to lose two games in a row this season. Val-d'Or has been good lately, going 2-0-0-1 in their last three games with the shootout loss coming last night to the Moncton Wildcats. It sounds like Halifax will get some reinforcements this weekend as Ostap Safin is projected to be back in the lineup either tonight or tomorrow but I'm hoping it's this evening. Safin has been out injured since September 30 so fans have yet to decide if the trade that brought him here was a good decision or not. As for the other few trades Cam Russel and the brass made, they seem to be working out pretty well. It feels like almost every game Samuel Asselin is scoring, of course that isn't the case as he has 9 goals in 17 games while Antoine Morand is right behind him in team scoring and Jordan Maher has been creating chances and finds hi self with 7 points.

This is the first game between these two teams. Last season, Halifax had a 2-0-0-0 record against the Foreurs while Val-d'Or was 0-1-0-1 versus the Mooseheads. The last game was December 8 where the Herd picked up a 2-1 shootout victory in Val-d'Or with Otto Somppi getting the SO winner and Halifax outshooting the Foreurs 45-22.

Overall Records
Foreurs: 5-10-2-1 = 13pts (15th overall, 4th in West division)
Mooseheads: 12-4-0-0 = 24pts (5th overall, 2nd in Maritimes division)

Leading Scorers
HAL: Raphael Lavoie 18pts (11G & 7A), Arnaud Durandeau 18pts (7G & 11A), Samuel Asselin 17pts (9G & 8A)
VDO: Felix Boivin 17pts (4G & 13A), Julien Tessier 15pts (7G & 8A), Nicolas Ouellet 10pts (6G & 4A)

Previous games
Val-d'Or is coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Wildcats on Friday night. Julien Tessier had a hat trick to lead the Foreurs while Jonathan Lemieux stopped 41 of Moncton's 44 shots in regulation, receiving third star honours on the road.

Halifax is coming off a 5-2 loss to their provincial rivals Cape Breton a week ago in the team's home opener. Jake Ryczek led the Mooseheads with a goal and 2 points while Alex Gravel took the defeat with 23 saves versus the Screaming Eagles.

Head-to-Head
November 2  7pm  Foreurs at Mooseheads
March 3  5pm  Mooseheads at Foreurs

Out of Town
Rimouski vs. Shawinigan - 5:00pm
Chicoutimi vs. Blainville-Boisbriand - 5:00pm
Baie-Comeau vs. Saint John - 5:00pm
Cape Breton vs. Acadie-Bathurst - 7:00pm
Gatineau vs. Rouyn-Noranda - 8:00pm
Victoriaville vs. Charlottetown - 8:00pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will welcome the CHL 9th ranked Moncton Wildcats to the Scotiabank Centre tomorrow afternoon. Puck drops at 2pm.

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, Justin Barron was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for October 2018. Barron had a goal and 5 assists in 12 games played in the month of October while also collecting 6 penalty minutes and was a plus-1.

Here's the list:

BAC	Louis Jr. Tardif	Cégep de Baie-Comeau	Sciences
BAT	William Champagne	Cégep à distance	Natural Sciences
BLB	Ryan Poorman	GrandyWine Virtual Academy	High School
CAP	Antoine Crête-Belzile	Cégep à distance	Natural Sciences
CHA	Matthew Welsh	PEI University	Business
CHI	Jérémy Diotte	Cégep de Chicoutimi	Economy & Management
DRU	Dawson Mercer	Ascension College	High School
GAT	Chris McQuaid	PEI University	Arts
HAL	Justin Barron	Halifax West High School	High School
MON	Jack Tucker	University of New Brunswick	Arts
QUE	Étienne Verette	Cégep Limoilou	Human Sciences
RIM	Anthony D’Amours	Cégep de Rimouski	Industrial Maintenance Technology
ROU	Jacob Neveu	Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue	Natural Sciences
SHA	Mathieu Boulianne	Centre scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain	High School
SHE	Yann-Félix Lapointe	Cégep de Shawinigan	Human Sciences
SNB	Jérémie Jacob	Cégep de Sherbrooke	Human Sciences
VDO	Jacob Gaucher	University of New Brunswick	Financial Accounting
VIC	Fabio Iacobo	Eastern Township Schoolboard	High School

Stats Sunday: September/October

Games played: 16
Record: 12-4-0-0, 24pts
Goals for/against:64/46
Powerplay*: 21.3%
Penalty kill*: 85.5%
Shutouts: two

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Raphael Lavoie 18, Arnaud Durandeau 18, Samuel Asselin 17, Antoine Morand 17, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 15
Goals: Raphael Lavoie 11, Samuel Asselin 9, Arnaud Durandu 7, Antoine Morand 7, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 6
Assists: Arnaud Durandeau 11, Antoine Morand 10, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 9, Samuel Asselin 8, Raphael Lavoie 7
Penalty minutes: Xavier Parent 16, Samuel Asselin 16, Arnaud Durandeau 14, Benoit-Olivier Groulx 13, Raphael Lavoie 12
Plus/minus: Jared McIsaac +10, Antoine Morand +10, Raphael Lavoie +10, Samuel Asselin +9, Justin Barron +7
Rookie scoring: Marcel Barinka 8pts, Cole Stewart 2pts, Gavin Hart 1pt, Nathan MacMillan 1pt, Cole McLaren 1pt

Goaltending stats*
Cole McLaren: 3-0-0-0    1.99 GAA    0.934 SAV%
Alexis Gravel: 9-4-0-0    2.93 GAA    0.911 SAV%



*overall

Rivalry Week Tie

The Halifax Mooseheads and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles have a tie in their rivalry week match up. In a night that was highly anticipated after starting the season with the 15 game road trip, going 12-3, the Herd were looking forward to finally getting home and being in front of their fans again but we're unable to get the final result they wanted. The Mooseheads got off to a quick start with Jared McIssac getting the scoring started just 2:53 into the game. The Eagles seemed to have the better legs most of the game and were able to tie it up 5 minutes later when Mitchell Balmas scored on a breakaway. The game's first penalty didn't come until the end of the first. Cape Breton didn't look back after the Balmas goal and found themselves with a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes despite no scoring by either team in the middle frame. Halifax received a penalty about five minutes into the third but were able to kill it and that seemed to spark the Mooseheads as they started pressing. Veteran Jake Ryczek scored with exactly 10 minutes left which gave the home team some life but they couldn't get past the Eagles goaltender to get the score even closer. In the end, Cape Breton secures their victory with an empty netter which made the game 5-2 and avenged a loss to the Moose last night in Sydney. Tonight's attendance was the highest in attendance for a home opener in franchise history with 9,949 in attendance.

FINAL: Screaming Eagles 5 at Mooseheads 2
Stars: 3. Jake Ryzek HAL | 2. Kevin Mandolese CAP | 1. Mitchell Balmas CAP
Attendance: 9,949
MC’s Top Herd: Jake Ryzek

GAME LOGFirst period2:53 HAL Jared McIssac (4) | A: Ryzek
7:57 CAP Mitchell Balmas (9) | A: none
9:53 CAP Declan Smith (4) | A: Balmas & Sokolov
18:01 CAP Isiah Campbell (2) | A: Forest

Second periodNo Scoring

Third period2:30 CAP Adam McCormick (2) | A: Laferriere
10:00 HAL Jocktan Chainey (1) | A: Groulx & Durandeau
17:56 CAP Leon Gawanke (6) EN | A: Smith & Proulx

Shots: 28-27 in favour of Cape Breton
Powerplay: CAP 0-for-3; HAL 0-for-2

NOT DRESSED – Samuel Dube, Ostap Safin, and Kyle Petten were out with injuries and Brock McLeod was a healthy scratch.

Out of Town - Drakkar 4 at Sagueneens 1


UP NEXT – Halifax will stay home and welcome the Val d'Or Foreurs a week from today for the first of two meetings on the year. Puck drops at 7pm.

Oct 27: Mooseheads vs. Screaming Eagles preview

HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS CAPE BRETON SCREAMING EAGLES
October 27, 2018 at 7:00pm
TV: Webcast | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry
Scotiabank Centre (10,595) ~ Halifax, NS

Finally it's home opener gameday for our Halifax Mooseheads! The Herd are finally back in Moose Country for their first game at the Scotiabank Centre this season after a 15 matches on the road to start the year. Halifax did pretty well on the road, finishing the trip with a 12-3-0 record which includes 4 overtime victories. The boys have been warriors so far in the last 6 weeks but everyone is really excited to be home with new forward Samuel Asselin stating; "You have no idea how excited we are to play in front of our fans! See you tonight Moose fans and be loud." Halifax will have a little bit more of a complete roster tonight as veteran Joel Bishop returned to the lineup last night after missing a couple of games while Ostap Safin may possibly return from the injured list tonight. This evening's match up is the second game of a home-and-home series between the Mooseheads and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The two clubs met last night in Sydney where the away team took a 4-3 win. Rookie Cole Stewart scored his first goal of his QMJHL career to get the goal scoring started however Cape Breton was the team who was leading the game after 40 minutes 3-2. Anaheim Ducks prospect Benoit-Olivier Groulx scored twice in third period and Alexis Gravel stopped all 6 shots as the Moose were able to hold on for the victory. Make sure to get to your seats early Moose Country as there will be a pre-game ceremony to celebrate 25 years in Halifax while the boys will also be debuting their new anniversary jersey.

This is the third meeting this season between these two teams. Halifax is 2-0-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles while Cape Breton has a 0-2-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads.

Overall Records
Eagles: 7-7-0-1 = 15pts (11th overall, 4th in Maritimes division)
Mooseheads: 12-3-0-0 = 24pts (1st overall, 1st in Maritimes division)

Leading Scorers
HAL: Raphael Lavoie 18pts (11G & 7A), Arnaud Durandeau 18pts (7G & 11A), Samuel Asselin 16pts (9G & 7A)
CAP: Egor Sokolov 21pts (12G & 9A), Mathias Laferriere 19pts (6G & 13A), Mitchell Balmas 17pts (8G & 9A)

Previous Games
See above

Head-to-Head
September 28  Mooseheads 4 at Eagles 2
October 26  Mooseheads 4 at Eagles 3
October 27  7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
November 9  7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
December 12  7pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
December 30  2pm  Mooseheads at Eagles
December 31  2pm  Eagles at Mooseheads
January 11  7pm  Mooseheads at Eagles
February 9  7pm  Mooseheads at Eagles

Out of Town
Baie-Comeau vs. Chicoutimi - 5:00pm

After the Buzzer
Halifax will stay home and welcome the Val-d'Or Forerus a week from today. Puck drops at 7pm.