Halifax Mooseheads start strong after rebuild season

Following a challenging 2024-25 season, the Halifax Mooseheads have started this year’s season with promise — just over a third of the way into the season they have a record of 14 – 8 – 1 – 1. They currently sit fourth in the eastern conference and eighth overall in the league. 

“Going into this year, I don’t think a lot of people thought we’d be where we are in the standings right now,” said team centre Liam Kilfoil. 

The 2024-25 season was a tough year for the Mooseheads. 

After multiple key players aged out of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the team’s roster was young and inexperienced. Over the span of the season, the organization traded experienced players for younger prospects and draft picks. They finished second-last in the eastern conference, and barely eked into playoffs as the lowest seed. 

Then there was a glimmer of hope. In the first round of the playoffs, the Mooseheads upset the reigning champion Drummondville Voltigeurs in a seven-game series. The Mooseheads lost in the second round, but a message was sent: the team had potential. 

Head coach Brad MacKenzie said the young team has matured over the past year. MacKenzie was named to the post in summer 2025, but is in his fifth season on the coaching staff. He said it’s nice to be able to get a head coaching job where he already knows most of the players.

He attributed some of this year’s success to the Mooseheads’ new additions. The team selected Russian left winger Oleg Kulebiakin and left winger Jasu Mensonen of Finland in the 2025 import draft, and MacKenzie said the two international players have fit in well and are “contributing offensively but also able to play in all different situations.” 

Kulebiakin is the Mooseheads’ top scorer so far, with 28 points through 24 games. His 17 goals rank him third in the league. With a shooting percentage of 28 per cent (meaning 17 of his 61 shots have scored) his pace may prove unsustainable — last season’s QMJHL’s leading goal scorer last season, Sam Oliver, with 50 goals in 63 games, had a shooting percentage of 15 per cent. 

The Mooseheads will need steady offence across the board to continue their strong start, and MacKenzie said he wants the team to continue to build.

“We’re not a team that talks about goals. For us, it’s all about just the process of getting better every single day. We try to take lessons from every game and get better for the next one,” said MacKenzie. 

It takes time to build a winning hockey team.

Kilfoil, in his third season with the Mooseheads, is one of the longer-tenured players on the team. He’s seen dramatic change over the years — in his first season, the Mooseheads were coming off a loss in the league’s final. Then last season, he was the second-highest scorer on the rebuilding Mooseheads with 46 points in 62 games.

This year, Kilfoil has 21 points in 20 games.

“This year I think we’re getting good again,” said Kilfoil. “I think part of it’s going through all the different phases, but I think it grows you as a player and makes you better.”

Mooseheads defenceman Owen Phillips, in his fourth season with the team, wants to have an impact on the team as their new captain. He hopes to pass down experiences and help his younger teammates as much as he can. As a Hammonds Plains native, his new leadership role is important to him.

“I’m from here and this is a team I grew up watching. I feel like you don’t really think it’ll ever work out that way. It was definitely a cool and special moment for me.”

In their next game, the Mooseheads host the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Dec. 6.