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.

MooseTalk Monday

(Photo Credit: Richard LaFortune)

By: Henry Whitfield

After stumbling into 2012 with back-to-back losses, the Halifax Mooseheads got back to basics this week and picked up two wins, despite a tough loss to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.

Here’s what happened over the weekend.

Mooseheads 6 – 2 Voltigeurs: Opening a three game stretch over the weekend, the Moose rode strong goaltending from Zachary Fucale and dominated visiting Drummondville. With members of the Toronto Blue Jays in attendance, Alexandre Grenier lead the way with 2 goals and an assist, while 2^nd overall draft pick Jonathan Drouin scored his first career QMJHL goal.

Moosehead of the Game: Alexandre Grenier

Play of the Game: Scoring his first QMJHL goal and the eventual game winner, Jonathan Drouin took a pass from Grenier and snapped it past the Voltigeurs goalie.

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Mooseheads 4 – 7 Sagueneens: On a night that the whole nation was watching, the Halifax Mooseheads failed to show up and were outplayed for a full 60 minutes.

The Sags dominated through three periods, out shooting the Herd 50-25 and running away with a 7-4 win. A lack of discipline cost the home team, racking up 43 penalty minutes and giving up two powerplay goals.

Moosehead of the Game: Alexandre Grenier

Play of the Game: Opening the scoring, Marty Frk combined with Trey Lewis for a tic-tac-toe play that the Czech forward snapped home and ignited the 6,385 fans in attendance.

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Mooseheads 6 – 4 Screaming Eagles: Bouncing back from a tough game, the Mooseheads had six difference scorers in a game that they trailed 4-3 at the end of the second period.

Goals by Marty Frk, Brad Cuzner and Travis Randell in the third period gave the Moose the win, while Grenier added his fourth goal in three games.

Moosehead of the Game: Marty Frk

Play of the Game: Tying up the game early in the third period, Frk blew past two defenders and snapped home an important goal.

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Coming Up

The Mooseheads head back into action Friday night, they host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on their annual Teddy Bear Toss night before heading to Saint John to play the Memorial Cup Champions on Saturday night.

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Henry is a writer for Sportstream.ca  and part of the Bill McLean Sports Show on 88.1 CKDU  every Monday Morning at 10am. You can follow him on twitter at @HenryWhitfield , where he live tweets his thoughts during each Mooseheads game.

Let the Drouin Rumours Continue…

The saga of the Jonathan Drouin tale in Halifax continues.

The second overall pick behind Nathan MacKinnon in this year’s QMJHL draft has been the subject of speculation and rumours since it was announced he would not be reporting to the Halifax Mooseheads training camp, choosing instead to stay in Quebec and play midget AAA for Lac-St. Louis.

Since that day, rumours of trading the player all the way to stories about a holdout for money have been thrown around in blogs and fan forums, while both the family and the Mooseheads have stayed quiet for the most part. That is, until Drouin visited the Mooseheads this past week and set off a frenzy of fan speculation, many hoping the highly touted forward would be an answer to recent injury problems and make a surprise midseason jump to the Herd.

To further to fuel, the following picture has surfaced with a clearly labelled “#27 Drouin” stick nestled in-between Konrad Abeltshauser and Travis Randell and taken prior to the November 25th game verse the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles:

Appearing on a photo stream from a Halifax Mooseheads photographer*, is it a sign that Drouin is on his way?

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, how much can be taken from this photograph?

Although it is clear that there is also a Parisien stick present, the over-age forward at least attended training camp, while Drouin never even showed up.

With speculation already rife in Moose Country, this picture will surely excite a fan base of a team that is enjoying great success early on this season.

*Photo Credit goes to David Chan, he’s been taking pictures for about 5 years for the Mooseheads.

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Henry is a writer for Sportstream.ca  and part of the Bill McLean Sports Show on 88.1 CKDU  every Monday Morning at 10am. You can follow him on twitter at @HenryWhitfield , where he live tweets his thoughts during each Mooseheads game.