Herd Make Some Tough Decisions Following a Losing Start to the Pre-season.

It's Training camp. With that in mind, you have to make some tough decisions as an organization. Early Monday, the Halifax Mooseheads made their first round of cuts; following 2 losses one a close shootout contest to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, and they other a tough 5-1 Loss to the Moncton Wildcats at the Red Ball Internet Centre.

14 Players were cut, most notably among them 2 of the teams 20 year olds. Brandon Vuic, and Sam Leblanc Were released from training camp.

Vuic, a native of Waterdown Ontario, played 69 games over 2 seasons with the Halifax Mooseheads. He put up 5 goals and 3 assists over 2 seasons, compiling 175 PIM. He also played 24 playoff games as a member of the Mooseheads, scoring twice and totally 44 penalty minutes. Vuic was more known for his ability to use his fists, than he was his goal scoring ability. I'm not going to touch too much on this but the organization had to move on from Vuic, due to reasons a simple google search will tell you.

Sam Leblanc of Moncton New Brunswick, played 2 seasons with the Moose. He appeared in 2 games in 2012-2013. Leblanc played a total of 95 games, putting up 10 goals and 13 assists, as well as 82 penalty minutes. He also appeared in 17 playoff games, scoring 1 goal and getting an assist.  He put up 20 penalty minutes.

With these decisions being made the Halifax Mooseheads 20 year old situation has been solved. Kelly Bent, Danny Moynihan, and Eric Brassard will be the 20 year olds. The Mooseheads will be looking for their first pre-season win on Saturday, when they face-off against the Charlottetown Islanders at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro. Puck drop is 7 p.m.

Here is a look at the first round of cuts from training camp:

SAM LEBLANC	1995-05-21	5'11" 171	Moncton, NB
BRANDON VUIC	1995-07-06	6'04" 215	Waterdown, ON
RYAN MACDONALD	1999-05-18	5'09" 157	Middle Sackville, NS
BLAKE FUDGE	1998-07-17	6'01" 178	Conception Bay South, NL
TRISTAN TARDIF	1997-12-01	6'00" 173	Trois-Rivieres, QC
MARC-OLIVIER GILBERT	1999-09-26	5'11" 162	La Prairie, QC
DREW PACKMAN	1997-05-05	6'00" 197	Halifax, NS
GABRIEL VANIER	1998-03-29	6'01" 189	Boisbriand, QC
JOSH FITZGERALD	1996-03-12	6'00" 188	Gander, NL
NICHOLAS GIBSON	1996-02-10	6'01" 182	Halifax, NS
JORDAN LEPAGE	1999-07-05	6'00" 167	Rimouski, QC
KIRKLIN ALLEN	1999-04-03	5'11" 224	Stillwater Lake, NS
RYAN HUESTIS	1997-02-28	6'00" 151	Wellington, NS
J-P BRAIS	1996-05-07	5'10" 189	Valleyfield, QC

Putintsev, Bent, shine in Mooseheads Intrasquad finale.

It was a fast-paced Friday afternoon at Cole Harbour Place as the Mooseheads closed out their intrasquad training camp match-ups. Team Green skated to a 4-3 victory over team Red, their first win of the intrasquad games.

Standing out for Team Green was Halifax native Kelly Bent. Bent beat JP Brais with a wrist shot from just inside the hash marks, for his first tally and then he tipped in a Walter Flower slap shot past Kevin Resop;  for the game winning goal. Bent continues to battle with Sam LeBlanc and Brandon Vuic for the available 20 year old roster spots.  

Standing out for Team Red was newcomer Ilya Putintsev. He notched 2 goals, and showed off some impressive moves as Team Red fell just short of a victory. The Russian-American has been one of the most followed prospects in the off-season and he may just become a fan favorite down the line.

The Mooseheads open up their pre-season schedule with the Battle of Nova Scotia tomorrow night at the Halifax Forum. Puck drop at 7pm.

Notes:
-16 year old forward Dallas Farrell of Stratford PEI voluntarily left Mooseheads Camp today. He was selected by the Herd in the 11th round of the 2015 QMJHL Draft.\

-Otto Somppi and Cody Donaghey have yet to arrive at Training Camp. Somppi is participating in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament, while Donaghey has just arrived in Halifax after having some car issues in Newfoundland.