Halifax Mooseheads

Moose 3 Stars of the Week

(By: Henry Whitfield)

Halifax exploded last week with 23 goals in four games, beating PEI twice and both Shawinigan and Moncton.

Despite missing star Nathan MacKinnon due to an injury, the team didn’t skip a beat and continues to roll past opponents.

Jonathan Drouin was named 3rd Star of the Q this week, after having a monster offensive output and adding much needed depth Mathew Boudreau and Luca Ciampini combined for 2 goals, 13 assists and a +14 over four games.

Halifax continues to sit 2nd in CHL Rankings and leads the QMJHL with a 42-6-2-1 record so far this season.

Sportstream Moose 3 Stars of the Week

3rd Star – Halifax Defence – (4 Goals, 9 Assists, +27, 25 Shots Taken)

The Mooseheads defensive unit saw 8 different players dress over four games but continued to show growth and dominate offensively. A whopping +27 through the week and they added 13 points on their 25 shots taken. Konrad Abeltshauser, Matt Murphy, Brian Lovell and Brennan Bailey all scored to combine for the D’s four goals

2nd Star – Zachary Fucale (105 Shots Faced, 4 goals allowed, 1 Shutout)

Fucale is the consensus top goalie in this year’s draft for a reason and he continues to show why he’s been so highly touted. He picked up another shutout and allowed just four goals in four games, stopping 101 shots in the process.

1st Star – Jonathan Drouin (5 Goals, 5 Assists, +7)

The kid is ridiculous. Five goals, five highlight reel plays and he can’t stop. Even without lineman MacKinnon around he’s lighting up goalies and is an absolute force on the ice. Why is he the 1st star this week? Here’s why:

Last Week in Moose Country

Feb. 12th – PEI 0 – 7 Halifax

Feb. 15th – Shawinigan 3 – 6 Halifax

Feb. 16th – Moncton 2 – 5 Halifax

Feb. 16th – Halifax 5 – 2 PEI

This Week in Moose Country

Feb. 20th – Halifax @ Saint John

Feb. 22nd – Saint John @ Halifax

Feb. 24th – Acadie-Bathurst @ Halifax

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Henry is a writer for Sportstream.ca and Host of the The Sports Show on 88.1 CKDU every Thursday Morning at 9am. You can follow him on twitter at @HenryWhitfield , where he live tweets about sports far too much.

Mooseheads 3 Stars of The Week

Frk and Drouin battling hard for the Mooseheads

A rough couple of weeks for the Halifax Mooseheads, dropping down to second in the CHL and a couple of tough games, capped off with an 8 – 5 loss to the Moncton Wildcats on National Television.

The biggest concern for the team is a lower body injury to star Nathan MacKInnon, the Cole Harbour native is expected to miss up to two weeks.

Sportstream Moose 3 Stars of the Week

3rd Star – Jonathan Drouin [2 Goals, 2 Assists]

The Quebec native opened the scoring against Rimouski and had picked up two goals and 2 assists over the week, he also showed some physicality throwing the body against Moncton.

2nd Star – MacKenzie Weegar [3 Assists, +2 plus/minus]

Frk continues his hot streak.

Weegar has continued to develop this season and has grown into a great two-way forward, dangerous on the rush and picked up three assists plus the shootout winner against the Oceanic. He capped the week with a shootout winner against Rimouski.

1st Star – Martin Frk [2 Goals, 3 Assists, NO Penalty Minutes]

Martin Frk was crucial on the last two goals against the Oceanic, scoring the 4th goal and setting up MacKinnon on the winner. The Czech forward has shown better discipline recently, staying out of the box both games this week.

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Last Weeks Results

Rimouski 4 – 5 Halifax

Halifax 5 – 8 Moncton

PEI – Halifax [Postponed]

This Week in Moose Country:

Feb. 12th – PEI @ Halifax

Feb. 15th – Shawinigan @ Halifax

Feb. 16th – Moncton @ Halifax

Feb. 16th – Halifax @ PEI

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Top Talent on Show at CHL Prospects Game

Team Cherry practices Monday night.

While Seth Jones is ready to lock horns with Nathan MacKinnon, the two continue to duel for the number one spot overall, Jonathan Drouin has been increasingly talked about for the top spot and Wednesday’s CHL Top Prospects game will give fans a chance to see the top three in action.

With the puck ready to drop in Halifax, we take a look at the top five players – who aren’t Halifax Mooseheads – to keep your eye on at the Metro Centre.

Sean Monahan

5. Sean Monahan, C (Ottawa 67’s, OHL) Team Orr – Slated to go in the top 5 in the upcoming draft, despite a 10-game suspension in November for a hit, he has continued to build on early season hype even with his team sitting at the cellar of the OHL.

4. Jason Dickinson, LW (Guelph Storm, OHL) Team Cherry – A Top 20 prospect, Dickinson has already matched his stats from last year and the talented forward is looking to continue to impress. He has he creativity to compete at the next level and isn’t afraid to mix it up in the corners.

Darnell Nurse

3. Darnell Nurse, D (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL) Team Cherry – In a year with Seth Jones, Nurse would be the top defenceman drafted, the 6-foot-5 Hamilton, Ont. native uses his size to his advantage, playing a physical game but has already racked up 27 points this season.

2. Valentin Zykov, RW (Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL) Team Cherry – The young Russian forward continues to build on a strong start, being named the Q Star of the week this past week after 10 points in three games. He’s already picked up 17 points in January, helping his team to second in the QMJHL.

Seth Jones

1. Seth Jones, D (Portland Winterhawks, WHL) Team Orr – Currently the consensus top pick in the upcoming NHL draft, he’s got the whole package: Big, Talented and strong both ways. Now that he’s also a World Junior winner, the Portland Winterhawks are hoping he can help lead them to a Memorial Cup before he jets off to the NHL.

Throw in the trio of Nathan Mackinnon, Jonathan Drouin and top draft goalie prospect Zachary Fucale and fans in Halifax are getting ready for some exciting hockey.

MacKinnon and Jones are Captains of their respective teams, while Drouin, Nurse, Monahan and Hunter Shinkaruk have been named Alternates.

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Golden Ticket for Mooseheads Duo

By: Henry Whitfield

(Photo Credit: Richard LaFortune)

With a packed Metro Centre awaiting news anxiously, the final cuts were made to the Canadian World Junior team and both Mooseheads were left standing.

The dynamic duo of Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin have been wowing crowds at the Metro Centre for a while now, this time they will have a chance to wow the world when they make the trip to Ufa, Russia.

The NHL lockout meant that spots were even more limited than usual, especially for a pair of 17 year olds, but MacKinnon and Drouin did enough to impress Team Canada and beat out Daniel Catenacci, Mark McNeil, Hunter Shinkaruk and Tom Wilson for the final forward spots.

Next up for Team Canada will be a warm up game against Finland on December 20th, before meeting defending World Junior Champion Sweden in the final tune up before the tournament kicks off on Boxing Day.

Canada will open the tournament with games against Germany, Slovakia and continental rival Team USA before a tough final group game against Russia.

[Notes: Czech Republic Forward Marty Frk will also be in Ufa, representing his home country – – The Mooseheads prevailed in a 3 – 1 win over the PEI Rockets, despite missing their top three forwards, lead by rookie Dominic Beauchemin’s two goal performance – – The Mooseheads host Acadie Bathurst Titans Friday night before heading on the road for a pair of games]

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Henry is a writer for Sportstream.ca and part of the The Sports Show on 88.1 CKDU every Thursday Morning at 9am. You can follow him on twitter at @HenryWhitfield , where he live tweets his thoughts during each Mooseheads game.

Moose Down Screaming Eagle

By: Henry Whitfield

Photo Credit: Richard LaFortune

The Boudreau/Ciampini show picked up back up last night, the two combining for six points helped power the visiting Halifax Mooseheads past a tough Sceaming Eagles in a 5 – 3 final.

The hometown Screaming Eagles came out with some heavy hits and big energy, needing just a 1:10 to score the opening goal, despite being outshot 37 – 22 on the night.

Marty Frk, Darcy Ashley and Boudreau all answered back before the first period was over and the Herd kept on rolling.

Both teams battled hard in the second, with Brett Malone cutting the scoreline to 3 – 2, but the third period shut things up for the Moose.

Stefan Fournier scored early in the third and Luca Ciampini added his 13th of the season as the Mooseheads walked out eventual 5 – 3 winners in front of 3,045 fans.

The attendance was the second highest of the season for Cape Breton, showing that the cross province rivalry is still alive and well.

Notes:Chris Clarke picked up his 5th win on the season, earning the win with a 19 save effort while Zach Fucale took a night off. Marty Frk also rebounded well after four minor penalties in his previous game, picking up a goal and finishing +1 with no trips to the penalty box.

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Mooseheads Roundup

Rebounding from a 3 – 0 shutout at Moncton last weekend, the Mooseheads came back and beat both Victoriaville and Chicoutimi over the weekend.

An offensive explosion on Friday night saw the Moose smash the Chicoutimi Sagauneens 7 – 1, Nathan MacKinnon and Marty Frk leading the charge combining for 7 points between them.

While in the Sunday afternoon game, the Mooseheads struggled but eventually overcame a tough Victoriaville Tigres team, where they walked out 3 – 2 winners after a late Stefan Fournier goal sealed the win on the power-play.

Two more wins for goaltender Zachary Fucale means the goalie is the quickest to reach 50 wins in the history of the QMJHL and gives the Quebec native 19 wins in just 23 games this season.

Frktastic November

Marty Frk lead the team with 9 goals and 12 assists, while MacKinnon and Drouin combined for just 9 goals between them in the month.

Sure, Frk has been red-hot since returning from injury and his 12 goals and 23 assists have him on pace to smash his career highs of 22 goals and 28 assists from his rookie campaign.

But despite the great numbers, he has continued to rack up penalty minutes this year and already has 52 after just 25 games, including six minor penalties in his last two games.

Sunday’s game saw the culmination of his penalty trend, ending up in the box four times and resulted in being sat down for much of the third period.

Frk is a huge asset to the team when he’s on his game, but his temper and lack of discipline continues to be a liability and here’s hoping he gets it under control before the post-season.

Mooseheads Stars of the Week

Nathan MacKinnon (2 goals, 2 assists +3) – MacKinnon is the star of this team and continues to shine, he’s a human highlight real and continues to impress.

Marty Frk (1 goal, 3 assists, +3) – Played a great game Friday night, but turned all Jekyll and Hyde with no points and four penalties on Sunday. He needs to find consistency, but his play is improving.

Zachary Fucale (2 Wins, 54 Saves) – He became the quickest goalie in QMJHL history to 50 wins and continues to rack up the wins, he’s becoming a bonafide stud in the blue ice.

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Mooseheads crush Sagueneens

Coming off a 3 – 0 shutout in their last game, the Halifax Mooseheads rebooted their engines and powered past the Chicoutimi Sagueneens 7 – 1, routing the visitors from Quebec in front of a packed crowd.

Nathan MacKinnon had a three point night, including two goals, while Marty Frk had a goal and three assists. Fellow standout Jonathan Drouin had a quiet night by his standards, picking up a lone assist but still finishing with a +3.

MacKinnon opened the scoring early, before Frk doubled the lead to take a 2 – 0 lead after the first period. Despite the early lead, the Moose were outshot 15 – 5 in the opening frame, eventually outshooting the Chicoutimim 29 to 28 on the night.

The Sagueneens looked to make a game of it in the second period, Guillaume Asselin scored early on the powerplay but a freak goal by Mathew Boudreau off an open bench door put the Mooseheads up 3 – 1 and the hometown team never looked back.

Trey Lewis, Ryan Falkenham and Ciampini all added goals, while MacKinnon scored a sumptuous breakaway goal to put the icing on the cake late in the 3rd period.

The game also saw Zachary Fucale become the fastest goalie to reach 50 wins in the history of the QMJHL, a big achievement for the Mooseheads rock, and a big boost in his draft year.

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The Hannay Effect

By: Henry Whitfield

(Photo Credit: Richard LaFortune)

A month or so ago, I would have laughed you out of the room you’d told me Sawyer Hannay would be in the Mooseheads lineup before Christmas.

I’ll apologize now, for now, as Hannay looks to be back into the Mooseheads lineup and we’re still a month away from the return of Santa Claus and mistletoe.

In a bit of a whirlwind, the Vancouver Canuck draft pick returned from Austria and looked to be on the trade block with Stefan Fournier, Konrad Abeltshauser and Steve Gillard locked into the three overage spots.

But a wrist injury to Abeltshauser opened the pathway for a return to the Mooseheads, with Hannay tweeting his return on Wednesday:

Officially a Halifax Moosehead again

— Sawyer Hannay (@sawyerhannay) November 28, 2012

While it’s uncertain when Hannay will jump into the lineup, his return will add some toughness to a team that is heavy on talent and a little short on truculence.

With so much talent up front, the addition of Hannay fills a void that can help this team weather the World Junior Storm; when top talent Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin and Zachary Fucale could be across the world in Ufa, Russia.

In the end, what’s worst that could happen?

Added veteran leadership on a young, talented hockey team.

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Moose Talk Tuesday

By: Henry Whitfield

(Photo Credit: Richard LaFortune)

With their stars splitting time between their Country and the Herd, the Mooseheads finished their road trip through Quebec with two wins and two losses.

Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin represented the QMJHL against Team Russia in the Subway Super Series, picking up 8 points in game two as they helped power their team to a 5-2 win and a 1 – 1 series tie.

Back with the Herd, Drouin had a goal and two assists against Victoriaville but the Moose fell just short in a 5-4 loss, despite outshooting their opponents 36 – 22.

Jonathan Drouin is continuing his hot streak, three goals and three assists for the Herd with his four point outing for Canada has him turning heads.

While Marty Frk has continued his strong play since returning to the lineup, picking up five goals and four assists on the road trip.

The Mooseheads now how a four game home stand, welcoming Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d’Or, Baie-Comeau and Cape Breton to town.

Mooseheads Stars of the Week

3.Nathan MacKinnon (3 Assists) – Quiet by his standards, but MacKinnon continues to click with Drouin and took that game to the national stage against Russia.

2. Jonathan Drouin (3 Goals, 3 Assists) – He’s been wowing Mooseheads fans all season and his strong display against Russia in Game 2 continues that streak. He’s been lightning quick and shows no signs of slowing down.

1. Marty Frk (5 Goals, 4 Assists) – Frk missed a stretch of games much like Drouin, but looks twice the player since returning. He’s been skating hard and take the smart shots, the new found work ethic is paying early dividends

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Henry is a writer for Sportstream.ca and part of the Bill McLean Sports Show on 88.1 CKDU every Thursday Morning at 9am. You can follow him on twitter at @HenryWhitfield , where he live tweets his thoughts during each Mooseheads game.

Marvelous Mooseheads take 2-0 Series Lead

(Photo Credit: Richard LaFortune)

By: Henry Whitfield

Despite going into their first round matchup with the Moncton Wildcats as favourites, the Halifax Mooseheads had a lot to prove with a talented roster and almost four years since their last win in the playoffs.

The Mooseheads rose to the occasion on the weekend, sweeping the first two games with a combined score of 9-2, riding strong performances from Zachary Fucale to dominate the scoreboard. Fucale stopped 45 of 47 shots faced on the weekend, coming up with the big saves when the Mooseheads needed them.

Halifax fell behind early in the Game 1, with James Melindy scoring on the powerplay, but the Herd tied it up when Nathan MacKinnon scored a highlight reel goal late in the period.

Unable to match the intensity of the Mooseheads, Moncton gave up four more unanswered goals and took 5 straight penalties in the third period on the way to a 5-1 Mooseheads win.

The only setback was a suspension to Konrad Abeltshauser, handed two games for a hit where no penalty was called, which seemed to galvanize the team, who stormed out to a 2-goal lead in less than a minute to start Game 2.

Martin Frk and Alex Grenier combined for the two goals before most of the crowd had even found it’s seat, while Cameron Critchlow added the third goal midway through the third period.

MacKinnon once again stole the show with another brilliant goal, hauled down on the breakaway the Cole Harbour native beat Roman Will on a penalty shot and ignited the nearly 8,000 fans in attendance.

Melindy would later ruin Fucale’s shutout, but that wouldn’t damper the mood as the Mooseheads skated to a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of seven series.

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The Numbers

Alex Grenier – 1 goal, 2 assists

Nathan MacKinnon – 3 goals, 1assist

Martin Frk – 3 goals, 1 assist

Zachary Fucale – 45 Saves, 1.00 GAA, 0.957 SV%

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The series now heads back to Moncton, where the teams will play back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday, if needed game five will be played Friday in Halifax.

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The Ignorant Sports Fan

A look at the Beautiful game and the Brutal Game. A Soccer and Hockey Blog.

Halifax Mooseheads

Moose 3 Stars of the Week

Mooseheads 3 Stars of The Week

Sportstream Moose 3 Stars of the Week

3rd Star – Jonathan Drouin [2 Goals, 2 Assists]

2nd Star – MacKenzie Weegar [3 Assists, +2 plus/minus]

1st Star – Martin Frk [2 Goals, 3 Assists, NO Penalty Minutes]

Top Talent on Show at CHL Prospects Game

Golden Ticket for Mooseheads Duo

Moose Down Screaming Eagle

Mooseheads Roundup

Mooseheads crush Sagueneens

The Hannay Effect

Moose Talk Tuesday

Marvelous Mooseheads take 2-0 Series Lead