Eagles Visit Mooseheads to Kick off 2022-23 Season
October 1, 2022 – Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) – Cape Breton Eagles News Release
In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, the Cape Breton Eagles and Halifax Mooseheads will renew their storied rivalry as the two sides both kick open their 2022-23 campaign in the capital city tonight.
There are 16 new faces in the 23 man Cape Breton lineup as new general manager Sylvain Couturier was very busy in the off-season. New head coach Jon Goyens is excited to start in Cape Breton after stepping aside after his QMJHL debut season in 2019-20 due to Covid-19 concerns.
All eyes around the league will be on Eagles rookie defenseman Tomas Lavoie, the top pick in this year’s QMJHL draft. Along with forwards William Shields and Thomas Desruisseaux, it’s the first time in Eagles history that the club has selected three players in the opening round of the draft.
Three Eagle rookies saw QMJHL playing time as affiliate players last year- including 18 year old Sydney native Preston Pattengale on the blueline. 17 year old Xavier Daigle lead all defensemen in the Quebec U18 league in scoring, while 17 year old Luke Patterson capped off his season by capturing the MVP award as part of the national U18 championship Moncton Flyers.
Other rookies in the Eagles lineup are forwards Angelo Fullerton (17) & Olivier Houde (18), defenseman Owen Arnold (17) and netminder Gio DiMattia (19)- the latter of whom will make up the Eagles goaltending tandem along with third year netminder Nicolas Ruccia (18).
Six veteran players were acquired in trades by Couturier, including a pair of overage forwards- Samuel Johnson and Zachary Gravel. Gravel, who scored 27 goals last season for Quebec, and will wear an “A” this year along with fellow 20 year old Ivan Ivan. (Also debuting for this Eagles are a quartet of 19 year olds acquired in swaps- forwards Charles Boutin, Jordan Côté, Julien Hébert and defenseman Justin Bergeron.)
Ivan (Detroit) and 18 year old defenseman FJ Buteau (Buffalo) are coming off appearances as free agents at NHL training camps, while new Eagle captain Jérémy Langlois was at Arizona camp after the Coyotes chose the defenseman in the third round of the 2022 NHL draft. The 19 year old is beginning his fourth season in the QMJHL and is the longest serving Eagle. The Eagles backend sees the most carry over of any position, with 19 year old defenseman Conor Shortall returning for his second year with the Eagles (and third in the QMJHL.)
Other returning Eagles up front are 17 year old forward Cam Squires & 18 year old forward Peter Repcik. Last year Squires placed fourth in scoring among 16 year olds in the QMJHL, while Repick represented Slovakia at this summer’s World Juniors.
Halifax will return a more familiar roster, with 15 players from last year’s playoffs on the squad. It’s a team that comes with high expectation- listed as an honourable mention in the pre-season CHL Top 10 ranking.
Four Mooseheads have an NHL draft pedigree- defensemen Cam Whynott (Calgary) Jake Furlong (San Jose), along with forwards Zachary L’Heureux (Nashville) & Jordan Dumais (Columubs). L’Heureux was chosen in the first round by the Preds in 2021, while Dumais was tabbed in the third round this year after an eye popping 109 points last season.
19 year old import Attilio Biasca has been given the “C” and will look to shake off the injury bug that plagued him last season. Halifax expects a lot from sophomore Mathieu Cataford,who led all 16 year olds in scoring in 2022-23.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on Eastlink Television, and also is available for purchase online at https://watch.chl.ca with commentary from Patrick McNeil. Cape Breton Eagles twitter @cbehockey will also be providing coverage of this evening’s contest.
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