Heart-to-Heart with the moose

Okay boys.

If i'm going to sacrifice my Friday/Saturday nights... and Sunday afternoons, let's start winning, k?

I'm just going to pretend Sunday didn't happen. You're welcome.

(they lost to Victoriaville 4-2 ... and if you really need to read about it, the recap is here)

Also, here's Bobby Smith's reaction to the winless season.


On an upside, former Moosehead Jason Troini has been working with the team, we had him on after the game Saturday night and he was fantastic. He'd previously been behind the bench in the Midget AAA level. And he seems like a good addition to the staff.

Moose drop road game 6-1 to undefeated Sea Dogs

Another third period unraveling, and another turnover by rookie defenseman Garrett Clarke led to the Halifax Mooseheads dropping their fourth straight game Sunday afternoon.

Saint John Sea Dogs forward and Halifax native Steven Anthony put the Mooseheads down early, scoring two of his three goals in the first period.

Mooseheads veteran Travis Randell cut the Sea Dogs lead in half by the end of the first period.

The second period was promising for the Mooseheads, with the young team outshooting the undefeated Sea Dogs 18-6. However they were unable to capitalize.

The Sea Dogs owned the third period, with Danick Gauthier scoring four minutes in, and Steven Anthony completing his hat trick half-way through the third.

Gauthier picked up another and then 33 seconds later Tomas Jurco collected a loose puck on the side of the net to make it 6-1.

Despite the team's winless record, majority owner Bobby Smith still likes what he's seeing from the young team.

"I see we have eight and nine sixteen and seventeen years old in the lineup," says Smith

"This years team will be a very good team, we'll improve as the season goes on, we've got character, we've got lots of speed."

Moose drop home opener 3-1, honour legendary broadcaster Pat Connolly

September 18, 2009 - 10:00 pm
By: Jennifer Casey

Even though it was the Halifax Mooseheads home opener, Friday night belonged to Pat Connolly.

The 81-year-old veteran hockey announcer hung up his microphone this season, and after a 30 minute on-ice ceremony, a banner bearing Connolly's name hung next to the retired players' jersey.

"It was completely overwhelming, it was way beyond anything that I had ever expected," said Connolly.

"It was tough to keep my composure out there because there are so many wonderful memories of so many great events and so many wonderful people."

They Sydney native began with the Halifax Herald in 1945.

During Connolly's storied career his voice has boomed over the public address system in a number of arenas throughout the province including the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, Nova Scotia Oilers, Halifax Citadels and most recently the Halifax Mooseheads.
And the Mooseheads came out swinging after the ceremony.

Late in the first period Garrett Clarke capitalized on a Konrad Abeltshauser shot from the point to make it 1-0.

But it was the Titan came out swinging in the second and so did the momentum. The Titan scored minutes into the period, and followed it up by an odd-man breakaway that just narrowly missed the net.

They were able to carry that momentum into the third, when Taylor Lambke scored a big goal to put the Titan up 2-1.

And it was Lambke that iced the game late in the third when defenseman Garrett Clarke coughed the puck up and knocked it in his own net.

"Well obviously disappointed," said head coach Cam Russell who said some rookie mistakes cost the game.

"The type of team that we have we want a hard working energetic team, we want to see that honest effort. There's some players that do that and there's some that have a tough time with that."

Weekend Moose Roadie.

So the first couple games are under the Moose's (and my) belt.

We had some glitches on the weekend which is to be expected, hopefully Friday runs a lot smoother... for me and for the Mooseheads.

The Moose were in both games Friday and Sunday... but right now it seems they have this problem of flukey goals and a third period unravelling.

Friday before the season opened, Moncton's head coach Danny Flynn called the Atlantic division the toughest in the entire league -- something the Mooseheads will undoubtedly learn this year as they rebuild. But they did look promising, and I would say they will finish higher than last year. (They finished dead last, last seasaon).

The coaches echoed that sentiment after the weekend losses.

“You’d like to come out on the other end winning two hockey games but we know this year is going to be a work in progress,” said Cam Russell.

“We have a lot of young hockey players and new guys and the positives outweigh the negatives right now.”

Friday: Halifax Mooseheads 4 -- Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 6

The Moose seem unable to stop Screaming Eagle Michael Stinziani as he got his first career hattrick. This hattrick included the empty netter at the end of the game to hault the Moosehead's near comeback in the third period.

Rookie Konrad Abeltshauser, one of the team's two European players, is looking like a fantastic pickup.

The Mooseheads outshot the Eagles in this game, but they were unable to shut down the other team. A few questionable goals (which hopefully can be written off as first-of-the-season jitters for goaltender Mathieu Corbeil) led to the Eagles win.

Sunday: Halifax Mooseheads 4 -- PEI Rocket 7

Don't let the score fool you. This was a spirited affair. The Moose had this game tied at 4 in the third period... only to have the Rocket take the lead just over a minute later on a flukey goal that hit the partition behind the net and bounced into the goal.

After that, it unravelled.

But some pluses for the Mooseheads, Tomas Knotek, who was away on NHL camp was back in uniform for the game. And he wasted no time, scoring twice. Abeltshauser also scored again.

Puke.

The Senators rolled out their new third sweater today. Barf. This has got to be a joke, right?

It sorta looks like something the Anaheim Mighty Ducks woulda done when they actually officially had the "mighty" in their name.

It just screams Impact Bold, you know that font that was over-used in the 90s...

Now, the entire sweater isn't awful, it's really just the font of the name. I like the black, and the detailing is nice... It actually reminds me of the new Halifax Mooseheads third sweater, which gives that retro feel (even though the team is less than 20 years old). The obvious choice for the Senators would've been to go with their sweaters from back in the day, but the Ottawa 67s (the Major Junior team) uses that design.

So really, if the Sens had've gone with a font closer to the Halifax sweater, it would actually be really nice.

And I wouldn't have to write a blog post titled, "Puke".

QMJHL PLAYOFFS! Round 3 Game 1 and 2.

Oh ya.... forgot about the Mooseheads. There was probably a subconscious reason for it. The subconscious reason being the Moose lost both games one and two in overtime... at home. And are off to play Gatineau, in Gatineau for the next three games due to the playoffs travel rule (if you have to travel far you play 2-3-2 style instead of 2-2-1-1-1). Needless to say, I think the Moose are pretty much doomed. I was at both games and they did not play very well. They looked tired, had constant give aways in their own end and kept attempting long passes that went into the feet of the forward. The only person exempt from this is Brad Marchand... who did not pass at all.

Not a great year to be a Senator

I know... I haven't been around the past few days. I've been working all day and then have been dragged off to some local watering hole by friends. It's that time of year in Canada. We're all starting to go a little loopy waiting for winter to end. And gosh darnit, a nice Mojito really hit the spot. So there's lots to talk about. Let's get started.

NHL
Anyway. The Habs pulled out a huge win last night at home... wait, no they weren't at home. It just felt that way. Scotiabank Place was about half full of screaming, noisy, Canadiens fans, who could be heard chorusing "ole, ole, ole!" right from puck drop. To top it off Carey Price got a shutout (3-0) and those fans sang a rendition of "Goodbye" to the Senators in their own rink.

A couple amusing points around this game. Previous to the game Jason Spezza was asked if his team wasn't performing because they were "lazy". Spezza responded with, "That's Bullshit, that's bullshit". Most hockey pundits last night expected the team to come out angry and pull out a win. Perhaps this would be true, if Jason Spezza wasn't too lazy to even commit to being lazy.
Also there are two games left and the once-mighty Senators (who in early November were touted to be the ones to finally bring home the Stanley Cup to Canada) need to win these last two games or risk not making the playoffs.

Conversely, the Canadiens tied up the top spot in the Northeast, are guarenteed at least the top two seeds, and are neck and neck with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference title.

Curling

Jennifer Jones and Team Canada captured the World Curling Championship in front of the home town crowd in Vernon, British Columbia. The Final grabbed record television ratings and it also marked the first time an Asian team would finish in the medals, with China finishing with a silver.

QMJHL PLAYOFFS! Round 1 Games 5 and 6

The Halifax Mooseheads were back into their old form. Winning game 5 and 6 by healthy margins (7-2, 7-0) to win the series. Next up: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. aka the Battle of Nova Scotia.