Game Day 5: vs. Shawinigan

PREVIEW - For the first time since March 6, 2020 our Halifax Mooseheads will be playing a Quebec-based team tonight as the Shawinigan Cataractes come to town for a Friday night match. Halifax picked up a big win last Saturday when the defeated the Charlottetown Islanders on home ice and they will be looking to take that momentum into this evening's game. Shawinigan boasts a similar record to the Mooseheads early in the season but could be more lethal now that they have all three NHL prospects in their lineup. Forward Mavrik Bourque made his season debut on Wednesday in Sydney after the Dallas Stars kept him in training camp for a lengthy time. The Cataractes also have Buffalo Sabres' 2021 pick Olivier Nadeau and Xavier Bourgault who was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1st round of the same draft. All three forwards led Shawinigan in scoring during the 2020-21 season with a combined total of 128 points. With Elliot Desnoyers and Zachary L'Heureux back in the lineup for Halifax, the Herd will hopefully get some offence going and they need it as they are currently 16th overall in goals scored. This evening's game is fridge magnet giveaway night so the first 3,000 fans will receive a 2021-22 fridge magnet schedule. 

Game coverage
TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry | Post-game: Halifax Mooseheads

Overall records
Cataractes: 2-1-0-2 = 6 points (2nd in Central division, 8th overall)
Mooseheads: 2-1-0-1 = 5 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 9th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Mathieu Cataford 3pts (1G & 2A), Jordan Dumais 3pts (1G & 2A), Senna Peeters 3pts (3A)
SHA: Olivier Nadeau 6pts (4G & 2A), Xavier Bourgault 6pts (2G & 4A), Lorenzo Canonica 5pts (3G & 2A)

Head-to-head
Halifax had a 0-2-0-0 record against the Cataractes in the 2019-20 season while Shawinigan was 2-0-0-0 versus the Mooseheads. Kirill Nizhnikov led the Cats with 3 points as Shawinigan picked up a 8-3 victory in the last game featuring these two teams on March 1, 2020 while D'Artagnon Joly had 3 assists to lead Halifax. 

Last games

Shawinigan picked up a 3-2 overtime win in Cape Breton against the Eagles on Wednesday. Lorenzo Canonica scored the game winner while goaltender Charles-Antoine Lavallee made 26 saves to give the Cataractes the victory. 

Halifax is coming off a big 2-0 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders last Saturday. David Lafrance and Robert Orr scored for the Mooseheads while Brady James had a 32-save shutout which earned him the CHL Performer of the Night honours. 

Not playing - I think James Swan and Attilio Biasca are still out with injuries 

Out of town
Sea Dogs vs. Eagles - 7:00 p.m.
Drakkar vs. Phoenix - 8:00 p.m.
Huskies vs. Remparts - 8:00 p.m.
Foreurs vs. Armada - 8:00 p.m.

Tigres vs. Voltigeurs - 8:00 p.m.

Sagueneens vs. Olympiques - 8:30 p.m.

After the buzzer
Halifax head to the province of New Brunswick for a battle against the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 4 p.m.

NHL Season Begins Tonight

The National Hockey League regular season begins tonight and there are multiple alumni on team opening night rosters for 2021-22. While no former Halifax Mooseheads players will play this evening, it should be an exciting season to cheer on these guys. 

For the last few years, there has been eight alumni with full time positions in the NHL while another one (Filip Zadina) has spent the time going up and down between the NHL and AHL but looks to have a full time spot on the Detroit Red Wings this season. 

Former Herd captain forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx has made the Anaheim Ducks opening night roster. Clearly the 21-year-old had a great training camp so it will be interesting to see how long Groulx is able to stay with the big club. Groulx turned pro last season after playing 3 and a half seasons with Halifax and another half season with the Moncton Wildcats from 2016-2020. In 42 games played for the San Diego Gulls, BO scored 10 goals and picked up 29 points for the club. 

Here is the full list of alumni on NHL teams' opening night rosters 
Jonathan Drouin, 26 - Montreal Canadiens (TBL 2013, 8th season)
Nikolaj Ehlers, 25 - Winnipeg Jets (WPG 2014, 7th season)
Benoit-Olivier Groulx, 21 - Anaheim Ducks (ANA 2018, 1st season)
Nico Hischier, 22 - New Jersey Devils (NJD 2017, 5th season)
Nathan MacKinnon, 26 - Colorado Avalanche (COL 2013, 9th season)
Brad Marchand, 33 - Boston Bruins (BOS 2006, 13th season)
Timo Meier, 25 - San Jose Sharks (SJS 2015, 6th season)
Jakub Voracek, 32 - Columbus Blue Jackets (CBJ 2007, 14th season)
MacKenzie Weegar, 27 - Florida Panthers (FLA 2013, 6th season)
Filip Zadina, 21 - Detroit Red Wings (DET 2018, 4th season)

Congratulations to Benoit-Olivier making the Ducks roster and good luck to all ten players this year. I'll have more alumni updates all season so keep checking back. 

Drouin and the Canadiens will kick off their season on Wednesday evening visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs at 8pm Atlantic time in the first game of the season to include a former Moosehead. You can watch the game on Sportsnet. Groulx and the Ducks hosts Ehlers and the Jets a little later in the evening at 11pm, in a match that can be seen on Sportsnet360. The Avalanche will not actually have MacKinnon in the lineup tomorrow night after he tested positive for the coronavirus today. 

Alumni Named to Olympic Rosters

Early in September, the National Hockey League announced that they will allow their players to represent their countries in the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics. This is great news as I found it wasn't quite as enjoyable to watch the men's tournament without the top players being there in 2018. With the coronavirus still affecting the world, the NHL and the International Olympic Committee have said that they have until January to determine officially if players will participate in the Olympics. 

Governing bodies for each team must announce its first three players by October 15 while also submitting their "long list". Final rosters will be announced in January. Most of the 12 participating countries have named their first 3 players as of last week. If everything works out, it looks like at least 4 former Halifax Mooseheads will represent their country in the tournament come February. 

Jakub Voracek, who was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets this summer, will suit up for the Czech Republic. This will be the second time the 32 year old has played for his country in the Olympics. He has been the Captain of the Czechs at the last 3 world championship tournaments that he has participated in so I wouldn't be surprised if he wears the C in February. 

Team Switzerland will have two alumni on their team as New Jersey Devils' captain Nico Hischier and Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks were two of the 3 guys named to the Swiss team early on. Hischier, 22, and Meier, 25, have both played in two world championships and were teammates in 2021. 

After leading them in scoring and helping his country to qualify for the Olympics, 25-year-old Nikolaj Ehlers is set to play for Denmark. Other than the qualifying tournament, this will be the first time Ehlers has represented his country since the 2017 world championships. 

Congrats to all four players on being named to Olympic teams. I expect we will see more alumni representing their countries come February and I'll keep you updated when the time comes. 

Photos - NHL website and Live Feeds

Game Day 2: vs. Cape Breton

PREVIEW - Our Halifax Mooseheads are back at the Scotiabank Centre tonight for their 2021 home opener and are taking on their provincial rivals for the second night in a row; the Cape Breton Eagles. The two clubs met last night in Sydney with Halifax pulling off a season opening 3-2 victory. Cape Breton will be looking to get revenge on their division rivals while the Mooseheads are going for their first home opener win since 2017. Eastlink tV will have a special Friday Night Hockey broadcast this evening. I expect we will see the same lineup as last night as Elliot Desnoyers is still at Philadelphia Flyers camp. Being from the same province, the two teams have seen a lot of each other the last 13 months between regular season and pre-season matches so there could be more animosity in tonight's game compared to yesterday. Will we find out tonight the Herd's leadership group? Halifax went with 3 alternate captains last night and could do the same this evening. 

Game coverage
TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @MC_MooseCountry | Post-game: Halifax Mooseheads

Overall records
Eagles: 0-1-0-0 = 0 points (4th in Maritimes division, 12th overall)
Mooseheads: 1-0-0-0 = 2 points (3rd in Maritimes division, 7th overall)

Leading scorers
HAL: Jordan Dumais 2pts (1G & 1A), Landon Miron 1G, Markus Vidicek 1G
CAP: Sean Larochelle 1G, Connor Trenholm 1G, Francois-James Buteau 1A

Head-to-head
Halifax is 1-0-0-0 against the Eagles so far this season while Cape Breton has a 0-1-0-0 record versus the Mooseheads. Goaltender Brady James had a first star 22 save performance on Friday evening to lead the Herd to a 3-2 victory. 

Last games
See above.

Not playing - Attilio Biasca (injured), Elliot Desnoyers (NHL camp), Zachary L'Heureux (suspended), James Swan (injured)

Out of town
Foreurs vs. Phoenix - 5:00 p.m.
Wildcats vs. Titan - 7:00 p.m.
Islanders vs. Sea Dogs - 7:00 p.m.
Huskies vs. Voltigeurs - 8:00 p.m.
Olympiques vs. Armada - 8:00 p.m.

After the buzzer
Halifax will travel to the island and take on the Charlottetown Islanders on Friday evening. Game time is 7:30 p.m. 

Halifax Open New Season With Victory

Photo - Jeremy Fraser (Saltwire)

The 2021-22 regular season got underway for our Halifax Mooseheads on Friday night and the good guys came away with a 3-2 victory to start the year. Halifax got off to a slow start as veteran Connor Trenholm scored the first goal of the game for Cape Breton at the 11:28 mark of the opening period. Just over two minutes later, sophomore Jordan Dumais tied the game up on the power-play and Halifax basically took over the match from there. The Eagles were celebrating the beginning of their 25th season this evening and tried to make a comeback in the third period as they outshot the Herd 10-5 in the final frame but they were down 3-1 with less than 12 minutes to go in the game. Recently acquired overager Sean Larochelle, who is the captain for the black and gold, scored his first goal with Cape Breton late in the third to make it a close one. Wasn't much action in between play despite these two teams being provincial rivals until after the final buzzer went as there was some shoving and discussions before players got off the ice. Four players (two from each team) received unsportsmanlike conduct penalties from the scrum so we may see some extra punishment tomorrow. 

FINAL: Mooseheads 3 at Eagles 2
Stars: 3. Jordan Dumais HAL | 2. Connor Trenholm CAP | 1. Brady James HAL
Attendance: 2,113

Game Log
First period 
11:28 CAP Connor Trenholm (1), PP | A: Shortall & Buteau
13:36 HAL Jordan Dumais (1), PP | A: Whynot & Peeters

Second period
18:53 HAL Markus Vidicek (1) | A: Orr & Dumais

Third period 
8:06 HAL Landon Miron (1), PP | A: Schultz & Cataford
19:04 CAP Sean Larochelle (1) | A: Ivan & Stairs 

Powerplay: HAL - 2-for-4; CAP - 1-for-4
Shots: 28-24 in favour of Halifax

SCORES
Moncton 2 at Acadie-Bathurst 4
Charlottetown 4 at Saint John 2
Rimouski 3 at Quebec 2
Sherbrooke 2 at Rouyn-Noranda 3
Drummondville 2 at Val-d'Or 5
Baie-Comeau 2 at Chicoutimi 3
Gatineau 1 at Blainville-Boisbriand 2
Victoriaville 3 at Shawinigan 2 SO

Missing in Action: Attilio Biasca (injured), William Robitaille (healthy), James Swan (injured), Zachary L'Heureux (suspended), Elliot Desnoyers (NHL camp)

Up next: Halifax will host their home opener on Saturday night against Cape Breton. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

Game Day 1: at Cape Breton

PREVIEW - The 2021-22 regular season begins tonight as our Halifax Mooseheads meet their provincial rivals, the Cape Breton Eagles with game time being 7 p.m. in Sydney. It's been quite a while since I last wrote a game preview and it's good to be back. The biggest question going into this year is will the QMJHL actually get to complete a full 68 game season? Both Halifax and Cape Breton will be playing in a very tough Maritimes division with any one of Charlottetown, Bathurst and Saint John being among the frontrunners to win the league championship in May. The Mooseheads should be competitive as many predict the team to finish 4th in the division while Willy Palov of the Chronicle Herald actually thinks they'll get home ice advantage in the playoffs by finishing 8th in the league. Cape Breton meanwhile is in the beginning of a rebuild but just like any other year, don't count them out. 19-year-old Ivan Ivan is back for the Eagles after missing out of the 2020-21 season because of the pandemic and the travel restrictions that were in place. He was able to score 22 points in 62 games as a rookie two years ago, evenly split between goals and assists and he'll look to improve on that. Halifax will be without a couple of their top scorers from last year with Elliot Desnoyers still at Philadelphia Flyers camp and Zachary L'Heureux suspended for the first three games. The Herd dominated their provincial rivals during the exhibition schedule winning 3 of 4 pre-season games, outscoring the Eagles 17-10. 

Game coverage
TV: Eastlink | Radio: News 95.7 | Live: @HFXMooseheads | Post-game: Moose Country

Overall records
Mooseheads: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (t-1st in Maritimes division, t-3rd overall)
Eagles: 0-0-0-0 = 0 points (t-1st in Maritimes division, t-3rd overall)

Head-to-head
Halifax was 10-4-2-0 against the Eagles last season while Cape Breton had a 6-9-1-0 record versus the Mooseheads. The last game between the two teams during the 2020-21 regular season was April 2 with Halifax picking up a 7-2 home win as Zachary L'Heureux recorded 2 goals and 2 assists. 

Last games
Cape Breton is coming off a 4-2 road victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on September 18. Rookie Kian Bell and Romain Rodzinski picked up a goal and an assist to lead the Eagles. 

Halifax finished the pre-season with a 3-2 shootout loss on Scotiabank Centre ice to the Saint John Sea Dogs on September 24. Markus Vidicek led the team with a goal and an assist and Brady James made 38 saves in the Mooseheads defeat. 

Not playing - James Swan (injured), Zachary L'Heureux (suspended), Attilio Biasca (injured), Elliot Desnoyers (NHL camp)

Out of town
Titan vs. Wildcats - 7:00 p.m.
Sea Dogs vs. Islanders - 7:00 p.m.
Remparts vs. Oceanic - 8:00 p.m.
Huskies vs. Phoenix - 8:00 p.m.
Foreurs vs. Voltigeurs - 8:00 p.m.
Sagueneens vs. Drakkar - 8:30 p.m.
Armada vs. Olympiques - 8:30 p.m.
Cataractes vs. Tigres - 8:30 p.m.

After the buzzer
Halifax and Cape Breton will head back to Moose Country for the Mooseheads home opener tomorrow night. Game time is 7 p.m.

QMJHL Season Begins Tonight

The 2021-22 QMJHL regular season begins this evening with the defending champion Victoriaville Tigres hosting the Shawinigan Cataractes at 8 p.m. Atlantic time. 

Some news before we get into the previews. 

Last week, the Canadian Hockey League announced that the 2021 CIBC Canada Russia Series will not be played given the ongoing challenges presented by the global pandemic. Details regarding the 2022 event will be announced at a later. This kind of sucks as it would've been nice to see if a couple of Halifax Mooseheads players were invited. We'll have to wait now most likely until December to see if Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers or any other guys will participate in Team Canada's world junior camp.

Three of the four current Mooseheads players that were invited to NHL main camps have been reassigned back to the junior club earlier this week. Bobby Orr and Cameron Whynot were released from the Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames respectively on Saturday meanwhile Zachary L'Heureux got sent down by the Nashville Predators on Monday. From the Herd's preview for the home opener, L'Heureux is currently day-to-day with an upper body injury suffered at Predators camp last week. He is also due to serve the remaining three games of a four-game suspension to start the year after receiving the sentence on April 13th of last season. 

James Swan and Attilio Biasca will be out to start the season after both players suffered hand injuries during training camp and remain on the sideline indefinitely with a mid-to-late October return timeframe. Halifax is hopeful that they will have forwards Jordan Dumais and Vincent Gauthier in the lineup when puck drops tomorrow night after they both received injuries as well. 

Welcome back Moose Country! The Halifax Mooseheads have been permitted by the Nova Scotian government to host games at full capacity once again. Proof of full vaccination will be required meanwhile masks will still be mandatory for the immediate future. Check out the video the team put out to hype up fans. 

Even though our Halifax Mooseheads failed to make the CHL Top 10 pre-season rankings, which were released today, I thought I would share the list anyways. There are four QMJHL teams who got ranked with two of them coming from the Maritimes division. Another Maritime club is in the honourable mentions (London Knights, Charlottetown Islanders, Brandon Wheat Kings). 

Now let's get to the previews from other media personnel.

• Sportsnet has one question for every team in the Quebec league. 
• Junior hockey is finally getting back to normal after the pandemic wiped out the 2020 post-season for all 3 leagues under the CHL and the Ontario Hockey League lost it's entire 2020-21 season. 
• CBC Sports' Rob Pizzo and CHL play-by-play man Victor Findlay try to preview the season below. 
  
  
  
  
• Saltwire's Willy Palov, who has been covering the Halifax Mooseheads for years, has shared his thoughts on how good the Herd will be this year. 
• Most analysts have Halifax finishing the regular season 4th in the Maritimes division including Stephane Leroux from RDS and Palov from Saltwire

Yes it's going to be another different season but I am really excited to get back to cheering for the boys and hopefully it will be much more normal year. With a number of the Mooseheads' leading scorers returning and being a year older, Halifax should have an offensive team and could make some waves in what will be a tough Maritime division. Go Moose Go! See you Saturday Moose Country. 

Photos - QMJHL, Mooseheads & CHL websites