It isn't often you see a rookie crop quite like what the Halifax Mooseheads have this year.
Four of the QMJHL's top six first-year scorers are Halifax forwards, Jake Furlong logs important minutes on the Mooseheads blue line and Brady James leads the team in all major goaltending categories. That type of impact by such a young group is far from the norm in a league typically dominated by the older players.
"All the rookies are doing really well right now and we've just got to stay humble and keep it going," said 16-year-old forward James Swan. "We know we have to keep working and keep grinding at the little things. Hopefully we can keep contributing to the success of the team."
Swan is tied with Jordan Dumais for fifth in league rookie scoring with 17 points in 29 games, while Markus Vidicek is first with 22 points and Bobby Orr is right behind him in second place with 21. Amazingly, all four of those forwards, plus James, all came up through the same minor hockey system in Montreal's west island. They've all known each other since they were little kids and even had years of experience as linemates in some cases.
Dumais played last season at prep school in the United States but the other four were teammates with the Lac St-Louis Lions of the Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League.
"We're just lucky enough to all be here together playing for the Mooseheads," Orr said. "All five of us really feel fortunate to be here. We came a long way together and we're going to have a bright future so we're just looking forward to everything that's coming for us."
"All the rookies are doing really well right now and we've just got to stay humble and keep it going,"
- James Swan
With the exception of Orr, who was acquired from the Saint John Sea Dogs in an off-season trade, the other five rookies were all drafted by the Mooseheads. Vidicek (14th overall), Dumais (18th overall), Furlong (22nd overall) and Swan (28th overall) were all taken in the top two rounds of the 2020 draft and James was a sixth-round pick (106th overall) in 2019.
"We're very fortunate to get the ice time and the chances that we get as 16's," Swan said. "We have four of us on our team and a bunch of 17-year-olds so we're a really young team. We're just lucky that we're contributing and we really want to keep that going and keep working."
Because the Mooseheads are such a young team, all of the rookies have played higher up in the lineup than what you'd normally see. All of the first-year forwards have seen time on the first line and on special teams, James has had stretches of multiple starts in a row and Furlong routinely quarterbacks the second power play.
There have even been occasions when Furlong is the lone defenceman on the power play, with four rookies filling the forwards spots. That is highly unusual at the major junior level.
"It's good but I'm always looking to get better," said Furlong, who is from Upper Tantallon. "That's just the type of person I am in general and I guess it's nice to get that ice but I know I need to be better. I want to keep learning and keep improving."
At this point in the season, Elliot Desnoyers leads the Mooseheads in scoring with 30 points in 27 games and Zachary L'Heureux is tied with Vidicek for second with 22 points. Orr, Swan and Dumais fill the next three spots, followed by veteran defencemen Justin Barron and Cameron Whynot, who are tied for seventh.
That is slightly deceiving because Barron missed some time because of the world juniors and L'Heureux and some of the other veterans, like Senna Peeters and Zack Jones, have also spent stretches out of the lineup. But still, the point remains that the rookies did not wilt when the team needed them to come through.
"We're a team that wants to win and obviously we're 16 and we're young and new to the league," said Furlong, who has eight points in 29 games. "Our older guys are a lot more experienced. They've been here a while and they know what they're doing so missing those guys is really tough on our team. But I guess it's good that extra ice time every now and then."
The Nova Scotia government announced on Thursday games can be played again in Halifax Regional Municipality so the Mooseheads and Cape Breton Eagles will return to action soon. The Mooseheads host the Charlottetown Islanders on Tuesday and the Eagles on Thursday.
