Curtains pull back on 2024/25 season Friday night

Halifax, NS –

The 2024/25 QMJHL regular season begins this weekend for the Halifax Mooseheads when they open the schedule with a pair of road games against Maritimes Division rivals.

Andrew Lord and his new-look team will hit the ice on Friday night in Charlottetown to battle Jim Hulton’s Islanders before the Mooseheads travel to New Brunswick on Saturday night to face the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Halifax will be led by star goalie Mathis Rousseau as the team embarks on the new season which features 10 new faces on the 24-player roster. The Islanders also have an overage goalie between the pipes after adding former Cape Breton netminder Nicolas Ruccia in a trade over the summer. Charlottetown also picked up 29-goal scorer Egor Goriunov of Russia in a trade with Victoriaville to fill one of their overage roster slots. 18-year-old defenceman Marcus Kearsey represents the highest scoring returning player for the Isles following a 49-point season from the blueline. Likewise, the Mooseheads’ highest scoring returning player is also a defenceman after Brady Schultz put up a 57-point campaign in 2023-24. He starts the year just 27 points behind Konrad Abeltshauser (150) for the most career points scored by a defenceman in franchise history.

As for the Saint John Sea Dogs, they also brought in a solid 20-year-old goalie in a training camp trade with Baie-Comeau when they landed Charles-Edward Gravel on August 25th from the Drakkar for 4th and 5th round picks. The rebuild is in year three for the Dogs and they will feature a pair of 16-year-old rookies who were top 10 picks in June. Forwards William Yared (5th overall) and Dylan Rozzi (8th overall) were first and second in scoring with the Lac St-Louis Lions last season where they were teammates with Mooseheads rookies Amelio Santini and Patrick McNab. Washington Capitals draft pick Eriks Mateiko represents the highest profile player on the Saint John roster after a 23-goal season by the 6-foot-6 Latvian winger helped him go in the 3rd round to the Caps in June.

The Herd will continue on a season-opening road trip for another three games as renovations at Scotiabank Centre are completed, including a new ice plant. The Home Opener is set for Friday, October 4th at 7pm vs Quebec while MVP Mathieu Cataford and Rimouski will visit on Sunday, October 6th at 3pm to wrap up and exciting weekend of action in Moose Country. Tickets for all 32 Mooseheads home games are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.