Pre-season Game at Saint John

The Halifax Mooseheads continue the pre-season as they visit the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Opponent: Saint John Sea Dogs
Where: TD Station
When: September 13, 2020
Time: 3:00pm

Halifax Mooseheads Preseason record: 3-0-0-0, 6pts
Goals for: 12
Goals against: 4
Head coach: J.J. Daigneault
Scoring leader: Elliot Desnoyers 3pts (1G & 2A)
Goaltending leader: Mathis Rousseau (0.967 SAV%)

Saint John Sea Dogs Preseason record: 1-2-0-0, 2pts
Goals for: 13
Goals against: 13
Head coach: Greg Gilbert
Scoring leader: Alex Drover 4pts (1G & 3A)
Goaltending leader: Carmine-Anthony Pagliarulo (0.867 SAV%)

Notes

• This is the second game of a home and home series in the pre-season between the two teams. 
• Halifax recently cut Sonny Kabatay from the training camp roster. 
• Saint John will stream the match on their YouTube channel. 
• Liam Peyton will make his pre-season debut, below is this afternoon's lineup.

CAMP: Seven Players Released

The Halifax Mooseheads announced this afternoon the first round of cuts. With the reassignments, the players remaining in camp was brought to 27. Halifax is still awaiting for Europeans Seena Peeters and Attilio Biasca as well as American Zack Jones to arrive in the city pending Government approval.

Below is the list of players cut today
Ethan Landry   F   Halifax, NS   Free agent
William Robitaille   F   Levis, QC   Draft '19
Olivier Tourchot   F   Val-Morin, QC   Draft '19
Mason Mantzavrakos   F   London, ON   Free agent
Braeden MacPhee   F   Moncton, NB   Draft '20
Mathis Rousseau   G   Boisbriand, QC   Draft '20
Michael Sack   D    Indian Brook, NS   Draft '19

Good luck to these players this season whenever it begins.

Halifax will continue the pre-season a week from today when they hit the road to Saint John, puck will drop at 3pm.

Photo: Mooseheads website

Schedule Released for Regular Season

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League finally announced the 2020-21 regular season schedule this afternoon. 

Halifax will once again begin the season on the road when they visit their provincial rivals, the Cape Breton Eagles on October 2 at 7pm. However many fans will be allowed to attend matches at the Scotiabank Centre won't have to wait long for the home opener as the two teams meet again the next night. 

Some highlights from the schedule include:

• With the corona-virus pandemic still around, our Mooseheads will play 60 regular season games all within the Maritime division so the rivalries will be strong this year. 83% of games will be played on weekends (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), more than normal seasons 
• The longest road trip will be four games between February 26 to March 13 while the longest home-stand is only 3 matches before the teams go on Christmas break 
• The only game on a holiday this season is on New Year's Eve when the Eagles come to town for a matinee tilt with puck dropping at 2pm. This will most likely be apart of the annual Battle of Nova Scotia weekend 
• Halifax will finish the season on the road as well, visiting the Moncton Wildcats on April 3 at 4pm. The Herd's final home game is April 2nd against the Cats 

The Mooseheads haven't announced their annual events but I'm sure we will see them soon. 

Pre-season Game at Cape Breton

Our Halifax Mooseheads kick off their exhibition schedule tonight in a tilt against the Cape Breton Eagles.

Opponent: Cape Breton Eagles
Where: Centre 200
When: September 2, 2020
Time: 7:00pm

Halifax Mooseheads
Preseason record: 0-0-0-0, 0pts
Goals for: 0
Goals against: 0
Head coach: J.J. Daigneault
Scoring leader: n/a
Goaltending leader: n/a

Cape Breton Eagles
Preseason record: 0-0-0-0, 0pts
Goals for: 0
Goals against: 0
Head coach: Jake Grimes
Scoring leader: n/a
Goaltending leader: n/a

Notes

• This is both teams first pre-season game of the 2020 year
• Since there are no fans allowed, the Eagles will live stream the game on their YouTube channel
• Cam Russell said that they will probably not release any players until the weekend
• Below is the Mooseheads roster for tonight

Training Camp Roster Released

Photo - Herd website

With the news that training camps will start at the end of August, clubs have been announcing details about their camps, this includes our Halifax Mooseheads.

Halifax, like the rest of the league, had some tough decisions to make on who to bring in to training camp as there is a 34 player limit that clubs have this season because of regulations made from the coronavirus pandemic. Meaning that a few players that were used sparingly on last year's roster were not asked to come back. 

Among these regulations is the fact that players not living in the Atlantic provinces had to arrive two weeks early so they could self isolate at a hotel in the city. The top eight players from the 2020 draft are on the roster while there are four players who will arrive in the coming weeks to camp (noted by a *). 

Here is the 34 man roster coming to camp

Justin Barron   D

*Attilio Biasca   F  

Alex Carr   D

Alexandre David   F  

Elliot Desnoyers   F 

Samuel Dube   F

Jordan Dumais   F

Cole Foston   F

Jake Furlong   D

*Alexis Gravel   G

Jason Horvath   D

Keegan Hunt   D

Brady James   G

*Zack Jones   F

Sonny Kabatay   F 

Zachary L'Heureux   F

Ethan Landry   F

Braeden MacPhee   F

Mason Mantzavrakos   F

Cole McLaren   G

Landon Miron   F

Robert Orr   F

*Senna Petters   F

Kyle Petten   F

Liam Peyton   F

Lucas Robinson   D

William Robitaille   F

Mathis Rousseau   G

Michael Sack   D

James Swan   F

Alexandre Tessier   D

Brendan Tomilson   D

Olivier Tourchot   F

Markus Vidicek   F

Cameron Whynot   D

Pre-season Schedule Announced

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced it's pre-season schedule on Tuesday morning but it will be a different kind of exhibition and training camp situation this year.

As in previous years, Halifax will bring in a number of prospects and returning players to camp to determine it's final roster but there will be less. A full detailed list of the training camp roster will be posted later. Training camp will be held behind closed doors this season, including the exhibition matches. The Mooseheads will play six matches over the month of September with the first one being on September 1 at 7pm when they visit the Cape Breton Eagles. Practices and pre-season home games will be at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth. 

Here is the 2020-21 pre-season schedule

September 1 at 7pm - at Cape Breton Eagles (Centre 200)

September 3 at 7pm - vs Cape Breton Eagles (RBC Centre)

September 5 at 4pm - vs Saint John Sea Dogs (RBC Centre)

September 13 at 3pm - at Saint John Sea Dogs (TD Station)

September 25 at 7pm - at Charlottetown Islanders (MacLauchlin Arena)

September 26 at 4pm - vs Charlottetown Islanders (RBC Centre)

Halifax also announced that they are hoping 'to provide digital opportunities that allow our fans to live stream the home games free of charge.'

Herd Word

Just like last year, I took a break over the summer to decide what I want to do with this blog. I have decided to keep it going but I might not post as often this season. Below you will find some of the story lines concerning the Mooseheads and former players from the last few months since the COVID-19 shutdown.

LEAGUE AWARDS
Considering that our Halifax Mooseheads did not have a very good season unfortunately, there was no surprise that no players were nominated for any league awards. However, it wasn't a total loss. The Mooseheads own Allie MacDonald won the Denis-Arsenault Trophy as the academic advisor of the year. Congratulations to Allie. See the announcement here with a special guest.

Former Herd Benoit-Olivier Groulx was awarded the Guy Carboneau trophy as the top defensive forward for the 2019-20 season.

Zachary L'Heureux
Photo - Neutral Zone

TRADES
Halifax made a few roster moves days before the draft in June to help bolster it's young roster. The first trade Cam Russell and company made was to acquire forward Robert Orr from the Saint John Sea Dogs in exchange for 2nd and 4th round picks in the draft.

Later in the day, the Mooseheads announced that they picked up two more forwards, Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers from the Moncton Wildcats. The deal completed earlier trades involving Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Jared McIsaac. They sent the 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2020 back to the Cats along with a 5th in 2021 and 2nd and 3rd round selections in 2022.

1st round pick Markus Vidicik signing a commitment letter to
join the Mooseheads
Photo - Herd Twitter

QMJHL DRAFT
The QMJHL draft was held virtually for the first time in history with the first round done on June 5 while round 2-14 were completed the next day. The Mooseheads brass had multiple picks this year, unlike in 2019.

Multiple moves were made over the two days with most involving the exchange of picks. Russell moved the team's 27th and 60th overall picks plus a 2021 third round pick to Charlottetown for the 22nd overall pick. Halifax used the selection to get defenceman Jake Furlong. The two clubs came together for another trade as the Islanders sent veteran Liam Peyton to the Moose in exchange for a 2020 ninth round pick and a 2021 fourth round pick.

Below is 12 guys that Halifax selected.
RD 1 #14 - C Markus Vidicek - Lac-St-Louis Lions
RD 1 #18 - RW Jordan Dumais - South Kent Selets Academy 15's
RD 2 #22 - LD Jake Fulong - Mt. St. Charles Academy
RD 2 #28 - C James Swan - Lac-St-Louis Lions
RD 4 #61 - G Mathis Rousseau - St-Eustache Vikings
RD 4 #66 - RD Alex Carr - Cole Harbour Wolfpack
RD 5 #78 - LD Alexandre Tessier - St-Eustache Vikings
RD 8 #132 - C Braeden MacPhee - Moncton Flyers
RD 11 #186 - LD Jackson Dorrington - Cushing Academy Penguins
RD 12 #204 - D Travis Badcock - East Coast Blizzard MAAA
RD 13 #222 - LD Sid McNeill - Oakland Jr Grizzlies 15's
RD 14 #240 - LD Brady Schultz - Elite Hockey Program 16U

Click here for a list of all draftees. 

In the import draft held at the end of June, Halifax selected Attilio Biasca with the 5th overall pick. This means that the team has moved on from Marcel Barinka.

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

MACKINNON
Kid Mack had another really good season for the Colorado Avalanche and he is being recognized for it. Nathan MacKinnon, who played for the Herd from 2011 to 2013, was nominated for the Ted Lindsay Award, the Lady Bing Trophy and the Hart Trophy. The latter is for the league's most valuable player while Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) and Artemi Panarin (New York) were also nominated. MacKinnon led the Avalanche in scoring with 93 points in 69 games which was also good enough for being top 10 in the league during the regular season.

Congrats to Nathan for being nominated. The award winners will be announced during the conference finals.

NHL PLAYOFFS
It's August and there is playoffs being competed right now, just another sign of how weird this year as been. A number of alumni participated in the qualifying round and there are still four left as of the writing of this post.

Nikolaj Ehlers and the Winnipeg Jets were ousted by the Calgary Flames 3 games to 1 in the qualifying round while MacKenzie Weegar and the Florida Panthers also didn't make it past that round after losing 3-1 to the New York Islanders. Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia), Jonathan Drouin (Montreal) and Brad Marchand (Boston) are still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

Good luck to all the players participating in the playoffs, especially our former players.