Moose Get Split In Bathurst

Photo - Herd Twitter

The Halifax Mooseheads attempt at getting 4 points in Bathurst didn't go well on Saturday evening as the team lost 3-2 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Halifax found themselves down 2-0 after the first period with Riley Kidney and Jacob Melanson both scoring their 8th goal of the season late in the frame for the home team. Bathurst clearly carried over their momentum from last night's third period into today and picked up the victory after losing Friday 3-1. Rookie Mathieu Cataford scored his 4th of the year in the second while Elliot Desnoyers tied the game up about halfway through the third period on the power play. The score didn't stay tied for long as 3 minutes later, Kidney gave the Titan the lead which ended up being the game winner. This was the second of three straight games that will be against Acadie-Bathurst for our Mooseheads. 

FINAL: Mooseheads 2 at Titan 3
Stars: 3. David Doucet BAT | 2. Jacob Melanson BAT | 1. Riley Kidney BAT
Attendance: 1,566

Game Log
First period
15:05 BAT Riley Kidney (8) | A: Larkin & Brants
17:49 BAT Jacob Melanson (8), PP | A: Kidney & Bednar

Second period 
7:17 HAL Mathieu Cataford (4) | A: Crosby & Schultz

Third period 
9:48 HAL Elliot Desnoyers (9), PP | A: Vidicek & Whynot
12:46 BAT Riley Kidney (9) | A: Chisholm

Powerplay: HAL - 1-for-6; BAT - 1-for-5

Shots: 35-31 in favour of Bathurst

SCORES
Saint John 3 at Drummondville 4
Charlottetown 4 at Blainville-Boisbriand 3
Quebec 6 at Chicoutimi 2
Baie-Comeau 6 at Gatineau 7
Cape Breton 2 at Shawinigan 5
Rouyn-Noranda 3 at Val-d'Or 4 SO
Moncton 2 at Victoriaville 0

Rimouski at Sherbrooke (still playing)

Missing in action: Landon Miron (healthy), James Swan (injured) and Vincent Gauthier (healthy)

Up next: The two teams will head back to Moose Country for a Remembrance Day matchup with puck dropping at 7 p.m.

Stats Sunday: October

Games played: 11
Record: 6-4-0-1, 13pts
Goals for/against: 35/31
Powerplay*: 28.9%
Penalty kill*: 73.7%
Shutouts: 2

Top 5 leading scorers
Points: Jordan Dumais 19, Elliot Desnoyers 18, Zachary L'Heureux 14, Markus Vidicek 8, Senna Peeters 6
Goals: Elliot Desnoyers 8, Jordan Dumais 6, Markus Vidicek 5, Zachary L'Heureux 4, Mathieu Cataford 3
Assists: Jordan Dumais 13, Zachary L'Heureux 10, Elliot Desnoyers 10, Senna Peeters 5, Jake Furlong 3
Penalty minutes: Zachary Beauregard 33, Zack Jones 17, Elliot Desnoyers 15, David Lafrance 15, Senna Peets 10
Plus/minus: Jake Furlong +11, Elliot Desnoyers +9, Jordan Dumais +6, Zachary L'Heureux +5, David Lafrance +2
Rookie scoring: Mathieu Cataford 5pts, Logan Crosby 2pts, Brady Schultz 2pts, Attilio Biasca 1pt, Vincent Gauthier 1pt

Goaltender stats*
Mathis Rousseau: 3-1-0-0     2.00 GAA     0.935 SAV%
Brady James: 3-3-0-1     2.99 GAA     0.900 SAV%

*overall

Top Line Makes Difference Again

The Halifax Mooseheads top line of Zachary L'Heureux, Jordan Dumais and Elliot Desnoyers had another good game picking up two points each to help lead the club to a 3-2 victory over the Moncton Wildcats on Thursday night. It was the first student night game of the season for Halifax and the match didn't provide much entertainment in the first with the period ending in a scoreless tie. Both teams came out with a new mission in the middle frame with Markus Vidicek opening the scoring by banking the puck off goaltender Thomas Couture. The lead wouldn't last long as 52 seconds later, Francis Langlois scored for Moncton to tie it up. It was clear in the second period that even though it had been more than a year since the last time the teams met that their rivalry did not go away despite the time a part as we saw a couple of fights. The home team would get out of the frame with a 2-1 lead but the tides changed in the third and we could've seen a different game had it not been for rookie Mathis Rousseau making some really nice saves. Jordan Dumais put away the game winning goal with less than 6 minutes to play as the Mooseheads improved to 6-2-0-1 on the young season. 

FINAL: Wildcats 2 at Mooseheads 3
Stars: 3. Jordan Dumais HAL | 2. Thomas Couture MON | 1. Mathis Rousseau HAL
Attendance: 4,133
MC's Top Herd: Mathis Rousseau

Game log
First period
No scoring

Second period
4:41 HAL Markus Vidicek (4) | A: Whynot
5:33 MON Francis Langlois (4) | A: Morin & Mueller
19:34 HAL Elliot Desnoyers (7) | A: L'Heureux & Dumais

Third period
11:56 MON Maxim Barbashev (3) | A: Kalmikov & Olson
14:12 HAL Jordan Dumais (6) | A: L'Heureux & Desnoyers

Powerplay: MON - 0-for-3; HAL - 1-for-3
Shots: 38-33 in favour of Moncton

SCORES
Gatineau 0 at Charlottetown 2
Rimouski 2 at Rouyn-Noranda 3 SO
Victoriaville 5 at Baie-Comeau 2
Shawinigan at Quebec

Missing in Action: Landon Miron, Vincent Guathier and Alexandre Tessier were healthy scratches

Up next: Halifax will welcome the Gatineau Olympiques for Friday night hockey with the puck dropping at 7 p.m. 

Herd on Prelim CSS Rankings

The National Hockey League along with the Central Scouting Services announced their preliminary Players to Watch list for the 2022 NHL draft. The players are ranked in three different categories; 'A' players are projected to go in the first round while 'B' players are 2nd and 3rd round candidates. 'C' ranked players most likely will go in the 4th to 7th rounds. Of course, rankings can change through out the season depending on how the player does. 

There are four current Halifax Mooseheads among the list of prospects and they were all given a 'C' rating. Sophomore defenceman Jake Furlong and forwards Markus Vidieek, Jordan Dumais and James Swan will be on NHL scouts radars this season. 17-year-old Dumas leads the team in scoring through three weeks of play with 4 goals and 9 points in 6 games. 

I'm sure we will see these guys rise in the rankings during the season. 

A total of 23 players were given an 'A' rating which includes two QMJHL players; Nathan Gaucher of the Quebec Remparts and the Gatineau Olympiques' Tristan Luneau. You can check out the full list here. 

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 you Halifax Mooseheads, Mathieu Cataford was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for September 2021. 

Team Player Program Institution

BAT Lane Hinkley     Grade 12 Bathurst High School

BAC Isaac Dufort Social Sciences Cégep de Baie-Comeau

BLB Charles-Edward Gravel     Grade 12     Northern Pre University

CAP Émile Perron Secondary 5 Académie les Estacades

CHA Kieran Gallant Business     UPEI

CHI         William Rouleau Economy and Management Cégep de Chicoutimi

DRU Luke Woodworth Grade 12     Park View Education Center

GAT Tristan Luneau Grade 12     Northern Pre University

HAL Mathieu Cataford Grade 11     Prince Andrew High School

MON Vincent Filion     Grade 12     Bernice MacNaughton High School

QUE Pier-Olivier Roy Social Sciences Cégep de Limoilou

RIM Alexander Gaudio Natural Sciences Cégep à distance

ROU Marc-Antoine Séguin Natural Sciences Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue

SNB Noah Patenaude Grade 12     Northern Pre University

SHA Alexis Bonefon Natural Sciences Cégep Shawinigan

SHE Milo Roelens Grade 12     Northern Pre University

VDO Zachary Michaud Social Sciences Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue

VIC         Raphaël Blouin Secondary 5 École secondaire Sainte-Marie

2021-22 Leadership Group Announced

On Thursday afternoon, head coach Sylvain Favreau made the team's leadership group announcement during a group meeting and the club released the video to the public yesterday. 

To probably no one's surprise, forward Elliot Desnoyers was named captain of the 2021-22 Halifax Mooseheads. The 19-year-old missed some time at the beginning of the season but has been good for the Herd since coming back from Philadelphia Flyers training camp. I am surprised that they didn't name the leadership group last weekend when he did return. Forwards Stephen Davis, Zachary L'Heureux and Zac Beauregard were given the A's for this year's squad. 

Congrats to Elliot and the rest of the guys who now have letters on their jerseys. 

Check out the video below from the team

Penalties Almost Cost Mooseheads

As noted by everyone, Friday night was the first time since March 6, 2020 that a team from the province of Quebec has visited the Scotiabank Centre and boy, it did not disappoint. You would never know that the Shawinigan Cataractes and Halifax Mooseheads did not play each other last season as there was some animosity among the players during the whole game. Despite a not so great penalty kill tonight, the home Mooseheads came away with the 6-4 victory. The penalties started early with Brady Schultz getting called for hooking at the 4:32 mark and on the ensuing power play Xavier Bourgault got Shawinigan on the board. Less than two minutes later, Jordan Dumais picked up a loose rebound and tied the game up. The 17-year-old would go on to score again late in the first to give Halifax a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. In the middle frame, the Herd quickly extended their lead to 4-1 with goals from Zachary L'Heureux and Senna Peeters in the first 91 seconds of the period. Another two power play goals from the Cataractes made it a very close game at the end of 40 minutes but Brady James was able to make some really nice saves throughout the match to get another win after a few more goals were scored in the third. 

FINAL: Cataractes 4 at Mooseheads 6
Stars: 3. Nadeau SHA | 2. Elliot Desnoyers HAL | 1. Jordan Dumais HAL
Attendance: 5,250
MC's Top Herd: Jordan Dumais

Game Log
First period
5:39 SHA Xavier Bourgault (3), PP | A: Nadeau & Veillette
7:24 HAL Jordan Dumais (2) | A: Desnoyers & L'Heureux 
18:18 HAL Jordan Dumais (3) | A: Desnoyers & L'Heureux

Second period 
0:50 HAL Zachary L'Heureux (1), PP | A: Dumais & Desnoyers
1:31 HAL Senna Peeters (1) | A: None
6:25 SHA Olivier Nadeau (5), PP | A: Bourque & Bourgault
13:09 SHA Mavrik Bourque (1), PP | A: Booth & Nadeau

Third period 
5:07 HAL Elliot Desnoyers (2) | A: Dumais
14:32 SHA Marek Sramaty (1) | Bourque & Nadeau
19:40 HAL Zack Jones (1), EN | A: Desnoyers 

Powerplay: SHA - 3-for-4; HAL - 1-for-6
Shots: 32-24 for Halifax

SCORES
Cape Breton 5 at Saint John 4 SO
Sherbrooke 7 at Baie-Comeau 6
Quebec 6 at Rouyn-Noranda 2
Blainville-Boisbriand 2 at Val-d'Or 3
Drummondville 6 at Victoriaville 0
Gatineau 0 at Chicoutimi 3

Missing in Action: Attilio Biasca, Alexandre Tessier & James Swan

Up next: Our Halifax Mooseheads will go on the road again to visit the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday. Game time is 4 p.m.