halifax mooseheads make bold moves at qmjhl draft, two nova scotians taken in first round
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from left to right, mooseheads general manager cam russell, former captain justin barron, first-round pick emrik menard and owners peter and sam simon at the qmjhl draft at the scotiabank centre on friday. - supplied by the qmjhl
the qmjhl draft was the perfect time for the halifax mooseheads to be bold.
the host team held the third overall pick but packaged it with two players and another pick to land a star centre to kick off the event at the scotiabank centre.
the mooseheads acquired 19-year-old mateo nobert from the blainville-boisbriand armada for the no. 3 pick, a 2027 second-rounder, forward amelio santini and goalie nick cirka.
“part of it is sending a message to our guys that we’re trying to win,” mooseheads general manager cam russell said. “centre was a position that we needed to improve and he’s one of the top centres in the league. we’ve got a good group of players coming back so it made sense to go for it.”
nobert is a third-round pick of the vegas golden knights who had 78 points in 62 games last season. he also has extensive playoff experience from his time with the armada.
“i think i learned a lot from the veterans last year,” nobert said. “we had some great veterans on our team that taught me how to take care of my body in the late playoff series, so i think i should be able to bring some good experience to the team.
the halifax mooseheads acquired centre mateo nobert from the blainville-boisbriand armada on friday. – supplied by the qmjhl
“i’m really excited to come to halifax. it’s going to be nice to play here for the home team instead of being on the other side. they have some exceptional fans and i can’t wait to play here in moose country.”
the blockbuster trade gave the home fans in the arena a big dose of drama to start the proceedings, but they also got a second taste when the mooseheads landed a potential franchise player with the no. 7 pick. halifax selected emrik menard, a dynamic forward from quebec.
“he’s a real good player,” russell said. “he led the quebec bantam league in scoring a year ago. he was one of the guys that we were keying on early in the season and then he got injured and missed a bunch of time, so we’re really excited about him. we think that, had he been healthy all year, he would have pushed for the potential first overall pick.”
halifax mooseheads first-round pick emrik menard poses with some young fans at the qmjhl draft at the scotiabank centre on friday. – supplied by the qmjhl
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thanks to a stockpile of second-round picks, the mooseheads started day 2 of the draft with a bang. they picked stellarton’s jack cameron 20th overall, forward maveric thisdelle 25th and forward john queally 33rd.
cameron is a defenceman who played for the pictou county weeks of the nova scotia under-18 hockey league last season and was ranked 15th overall by the qmjhl’s central scouting service.
“i’m a two-way defenseman who can produce on offence, be reliable on defence and just try to help the team out in any way,” he said. “i think i’m ready. i have a lot of things to work on, but if i put in the work this summer, i can be there (on the team) at training camp.”
after cameron’s selection, a fan yelled out “attaboy jack” to drive home the thrill of being picked by the local team in his home province.
“i don’t know who it was, but i’m glad they were excited,” joked cameron, who had 19 points in 22 regular season games last year. “and it was so exciting for me. all my friends and family are here, so it just means the world to me.”
“i’d come to games here all the time growing up,” he added. “i’ve been watching them since i was four years old, so i’m just so proud to be selected by the hometown team.”
thisdelle is a big, skilled forward who was rated 14th overall by csr.
“it’s amazing, it’s a dream come true,” said thisdelle, who is from gatineau, que. “the fans are amazing here, i’m just super excited to get started.
“i know they’ve got a really rich history and i know the arena’s always full here and they have crazy fans, so i’m really happy.”
queally is from massachusetts and his selection started a run of five american picks in a row by the mooseheads. they also took 19-year-old goalie jack fitchthorn from sioux city in the ushl, 43rd; centre jackson smail from vermont, 44th; centre samuel fishbone 61st and goalie carson mertz 72nd.
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queally and fishbone were teammates and the top two scorers at st. sebastian’s school in needham, ma last season.
“the draft has changed,” russell said. “you’re picking players from all over and you’re not just looking at (players born in 2010). some of these kids are 18 or 19 years old. hopefully if they agree to come (to halifax) they can step in right away and be impact guys.”
fall river’s max brien was the first nova scotian selected. the rimouski oceanic took the six-foot-one, 185-pound centre 10th overall.
max brien was the first nova scotian selected in the qmjhl draft at the scotiabank centre on friday. he is shown with the rimouski oceanic staff after being taken 10th overall. – supplied by the qmjhl
“it was really exciting that it was here in halifax with all my friends and family,” brien said. “the show they put on is really cool, especially the first round. it was pretty loud when i got drafted.
“being the first nova scotian feels great, obviously. there were two other guys from here that were ranked high, too, so i think it just depended on whether a team needed a forward or a d, that kind of thing. it really could have gone either way, but i’m really happy that that they picked me.”
brien played for steele subaru in the nova scotia under-18 hockey league last season and had 43 points in 33 games. he’s also well aware of the legendary players who came before him in rimouski, like sidney crosby.
“i mean, those are some huge shoes to fill,” brien said. “hopefully, i can be half as good and do well there.”
defenceman lawrence williams of kings head also went in the first round to the saint john sea dogs at 14th overall. other nova scotians drafted early were: wolfville’s morgan flemming, forward, 38th, val-d’or foreurs; halifax’s jayden tillman, defenceman, 57th, gatineau olympiques; dartmouth’s colby o’shaughnessy, goalie, 65th, charlottetown islanders and windsor’s eric hanley, forward, 71st, shawinigan cataractes.
centre thomas boisvert from trois-rivieres, que., went first overall to the rouyn-noranda huskies.
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