The 2024-25 season of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) is about to begin and that means a fresh start for the Halifax Mooseheads, who are coming off a disappointing season. The Herd was expected to compete in the league championship and into the Memorial Tournament, however, it fell short in that goal.
Related: Halifax Mooseheads Load Up Memorial Cup Run
A new-look team will be lining up for the Herd, who are also looking to re-emerge and give fans a competitive team despite some drastic changes. With the roster set, the coaching staff will have time to make the final touches before the start of the season. It's time to get the players settled into the club's plans, meet their teammates and prepare for the challenges of next season, where the pressure will be on to compete quickly. The Mooseheads will host Cape Breton in their final pre-season home game at the RBC Center on Friday, September 13.
Halifax reexamines
Back in April, Peter Simon, the new owner of the Halifax Mooseheads sat down for an interview with local media where he shared his disappointment about the Mooseheads being swept in the first round by the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, in a season where expectations were high. competing for the QMJHL title.
“It was unacceptable how we got out of the playoffs. It was the worst result we could have imagined and it was an eye opener for me and my dad in our first year of ownership … regardless of who we have on the ice, we have to compete and show our fans. ”
– Peter Simon
As an owner, he can set a goal to rebuild, and general manager Cam Russell followed through with his plans to retool the plane in the offseason with several draft picks and key imports.
“We want to make sure that if we go through a period where we have a small team … that the product will still be good on the ice even if we don't win as many games as we did. win in the last few years.”
– Peter Simon
I call it a retool because they will have 14 returning players including Liam Kilfoil, a high school freshman, coming off of winning a gold medal in the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Senior goaltender Mathis Rousseau leads the list of returning players as he enters his final season of junior hockey. The other two spots on the 20-year list are held by forward Braeden MacPhee, who brings tough leadership and defenseman Brady Schultz, who provides offense on the blue line.
Halifax Add New Faces
There will be 10 new players in the squad this season. New faces abound in 2024 16-year-olds Caylen Blake and Amelio Santini. The headliner however is homegrown talent, 11th draft pick Danny Walters. The big center (6-feet, 183 pounds) could be a focal point of the rebuild as he brings a slick skating, offensively skilled playmaker to the Mooseheads.
New faces are not only on the roster, but also behind the bench as the team fired coach Jim Midgley after a disappointing season that saw the team finish fourth in the regular season and get swept in the opening round of the playoffs. . This led to Russell's bold move to bring in Andrew Lord to serve as head coach in his first season with Halifax after the reigning ECHL Coach of the Year joined the team in the offseason from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
Russell and the Mooseheads are well known for their ability to add top talent in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft, and this season they added 6-foot-1 defenseman Carlos Handel. The German signing is coming off a strong season in the Malmo Redhawks program scoring six goals and 23 points in 28 games in their under-18 program. He also had a point in each game for Germany's Under 18 World Junior Championship Division 1A (WJC Div 1A) team.
This new face will be a valuable addition as his strong defensive ability bolsters a solid top four. But his mobile, dynamic style will help introduce the fast-paced attacking game that Lord and the coaching staff are developing. It will be a professional style game as the Mooseheads will be playing at a high pace, aiming to force their opponents to make mistakes and capitalize on those mistakes. The home opener for the 2024-25 season is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 4 at the Scotiabank Center against the Quebec Remparts.
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