The Halifax Mooseheads have completed the best hockey year ever in this part of the country. There have been great Maritime teams in the past, but none come close to the team and individual accomplishments of the Mooseheads and some of their star players this year. What a year! The Mooseheads had only seven losses in regulation time in the 68-game regular season. That is the second best mark in the history of the QMJHL. The best, by several tenths of a percentage point, was set by the Quebec Remparts in the glory years of Guy Lafleur. The Mooseheads then won 15 of 16 games in the QMJHL playoffs. Then they took the Memorial Cup. And the accomplishments didnt stop there. The junior leagues are normally dominated by older players, but would you believe three Halifax players were drafted in the first two rounds in Sundays NHL Draft, including two of the first three picks overall? Nathan MacKinnon went first (Colorado), Jonathan Drouin went third (Tampa Bay) and Zach Fucale went 36th (Montreal). Halifax was also built on good draft picks, along with some good trades. "In fact, this season could be traced to trades of players to get picks and ultimately those picks led to a deal for MacKinnon and moving up in the draft to get Jonathan Drouin two years ago," said team owner and president Bobby Smith. The Moose gave up a lot to get MacKinnon from Baie Comeau, but it was worth it. Then with their first pick in the midget draft, the second pick overall behind MacKinnon, the Moose took a skinny kid named Jonathan Drouin. He was a virtual unknown to most Canadians six months ago, but that soon changed and ended up being the third pick in the NHL Draft on Sunday. The third member of this years Moosehead club to be selected in the NHL lottery was goaltender Zach Fucale, a kid who grew up in Rosemere, Quebec and adored the Montreal Canadiens. And of course, the Canadiens picked him in the second round. So three Moose drafted in the first 36 selections. Youth was clearly served with this team. East Coast Greatness There have been good, if not great, hockey teams from Atlantic Canada in the past. The Nova Scotia Vees became the first ever Canadian team to win the AHL Calder Cup in the 1971-72 season. It was the first of three championships for the Vees. The New Brunswick Hawks had good teams in the 80s and the Cape Breton Oilers won the Calder Cup in 1993. Even the St. Johns Leafs had a very exciting debut in 1991-92 when they lost the AHL Final in seven games to the Adirondack Red Wings. Not bad for a first year team. But all these accomplishments pale in comparison to what transpired this year. Its been a long time coming for Moose fans. Halifax became the first team from Maritime/Atlantic Canada to join the QMJHL in the summer of 1994. Their first coach and GM was Clement Jodoin. Teams from the Maritimes have played for the Memorial Cup since then, as the Moncton Wildcats made it to the Finals in 2006 before losing to a Quebec team coached by Patrick Roy. Halifax even hosted the tournament in 2000, but the host Mooseheads did not get out of the semifinal. The Mooseheads broke the mold this year, winning the presidents trophy as QMJHL champs, and then winning the Memorial Cup to become national junior champions. The Down Years For a good two or three years (2008-2010) the Moose were one of the worst teams in Canada. They were in or near the cellar in that time frame. But the kids held tough. "For three years we lost more games than any other junior team in Canada. It was part of the rebuilding process. We knew it would be hard, and it was hard, but it had to be done by our General Manager Cam Russell," Smith told TSN.ca. "It worked out as only four or five players were not with the team when they won the Memorial Cup. The bulk of the club has been with the Moose all their lives with so few trades." Then came the MacKinnon trade, the drafting of Drouin, the pleasant if not surprising development of Furcale and with a few veterans acquired by trade, Halifax had a team that made a big jump last year and jumped right off the charts this season. While the Moose were expected to be very good, few predicted such unprecedented dominance. "Its an amazing story," says Chris Cochrane, a Halifax sports columnist. "Ive been following sports all my life and never have I seen anything like it." One man, though, had a good idea of what was in store. The late sports broadcaster and columnist Pat Connolly, who passed away late last August, told TSN at last years training camp that, "if this team stays healthy they will win the Presidents cup and could do great things." Pat, who was the teams P.A. announcer for 16 years, would have been proud. This man was behind the microphone for the Calder Cup wins by the Vees and Cape Breton Oilers. And the Moose did not disappoint. Checkered Past In the past there was hope that always seemed to get dashed. While they never won the Presidents Cup until this year, they came close. They lost in 2003 to Hull after leading the best of seven 3-2. They dropped the last two games, including the last one at home. They were back in 2005 but got beaten by Rimouski and a kid called Sidney Crosby. Recently, there have been lots of MacKinnon to Crosby comparisons. MacKinnon made a Crosby-like impression on Roy when, as a rookie, he scored five goals against Quebec in a win. Both are from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, which is part of Greater Halifax. In fact the town signs say "Welcome to Cole Harbour, the home of Sidney Crosby". I wonder if they will add Nathan MacKinnon to that some day? Both went off to the hockey prep school of Shattuck-St. Marys in the United States for one year and excelled. Both were the first picks of their midget draft. And, following Sunday, both were the first overall pick of the NHL draft. But MacKinnon was able to achieve one thing that Crosby didnt – win a Memorial Cup. Crosby reached the final with Rimouski, but went down to the London Knights. The Drouin story is even better. While MacKinnon was a star and had great lower body power as a midget, Drouin was under-sized. While he was the first player drafted after MacKinnon in the midget draft, he did not think he was big enough to play major junior and elected to stay in Quebec and play midget in the fall of 2010. But the Mooseheads persisted and Russell convinced Drouin and his family that he had nothing to gain by staying in the midget league. Drouin came to Halifax before the Christmas break and that turned out to be a sterling move for both Drouin and the Mooseheads. In the space of one year this kid became a national star. He starred in the playoffs in 2011 when the Moose trailed Quebec 3-0 and then won the next four games to take the series with Drouin scoring the OT winner in game seven. Then last year he became a household name to those who follow the world juniors. "He made the team on the opening shift on opening day. Hes just an amazing offensive talent," said Team Canada coach Steve Spott. No member of the Halifax Mooseheads has ever won the QMJHL scoring title, but Drouin came close. With one game left he was tied for the lead with PEIs Ben Duffy. Drouin had a two-point night in his final game but Duffy had a five pointer to win. But Drouin only played 49 games! He missed some due to an injury and a month being with the world juniors. In all, he missed 19 games and was the only junior in Canada to average two points a game. Dan Robertson does the Moose Television play by play on Eastlink and has followed the team for 15 years. Drouin made an impression on the veteran broadcaster. "Ive never seen a better puck handler and his lateral movement is exceptional if not downright amazing,"said Robertson. "He is also deceptive strong in his lower body." Drouin was named the CHL Player of the Year. As for the year that just passed in Halifax, Robertson said it might take time for locals to realize how special the season really was. "We will, in 20 years, realize what just happened. From cellar-dwellers to the highest echelon of major junior hockey - it was a glorious and amazing season. To think that a few short years ago the Moose only won 13 games!" The summation of the season is incredible. Presidents Trophy winners, Memorial Cup champs, three top picks in the NHL draft – headed by MacKinnon at first overall, and Drouin being named CHL Player of the Year. Did we mention a franchise record for attendance? Almost 9,000 per game. It doesnt get any better. They are the best ever hockey team in Atlantic Canada. For TSN.ca, Im Alex J. Walling. Fausse Balenciaga Triple s . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. Air Max Plus France . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. http://www.airmaxpaschervente.fr/destockage-air-max-90-france.html . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Acheter Air Max 270 Pas Cher . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Vente Yeezy 700 . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Winning the Pacific-12 Conference is nothing new for the Stanford football team. After all, the Cardinal has won three of the past four Pac-12 titles under David Shaw, entering his sixth season.But getting the preseason nod as the favorite? Thats a first for this regime.Amid those expectations, No. 8 Stanford opens its season against Kansas State on Friday night at Stanford Stadium.This is hardly a slam-dunk opening victory, but it does figure to be the easiest game of a brutal first half of the season for the Cardinal, which returns Heisman runner-up running back Christian McCaffrey but is breaking in only its third starting quarterback since 2009.Redshirt junior Ryan Burns won the job in camp, following in the footsteps of Andrew Luck and Kevin Hogan. But Burns, who has thrown one collegiate pass, isnt a lock to keep the job. Sophomore Keller Chryst competed well enough in camp to get a look, too.Keller Chryst will play as well, Shaw said. Were going to play both guys and try to win a game. There hasnt been a huge separation between the two. Both guys have played extremely well. Ryan has been enough ahead to get the nod.Kansas State, which was 6-7 last year in an injury-riddled campaign, welcomes back quarterback Jesse Ertz, who suffered a torn ACL on the teams first snap last season. Ertz, who should be active in the run game, beat out Joe Hubener and Alex Delton in fall camp to reclaim his starting job.One day youd say this guy lit it up and the next day it was somebody else, said Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, who has 193 wins with the Wildcats, the most of any FBS coach at his current school.It was very competitive, and Jesse pulled himself away probably in the last four days of being able to have greateer consistency on the practice field.dddddddddddd.The Friday night will be a good spotlight for McCaffrey in advance of a full holiday weekend of great college football matchups. McCaffrey had 20-plus touches in every game last season except the season-opening loss to Northwestern (17). Hell get all the work he can handle this week with speedy sophomore backup Bryce Love out with an undisclosed injury.Love is likely to return after the bye week for Stanfords trip to Southern Cal.With 3,864 all-purpose yards last season, McCaffrey shattered the 27-year-old NCAA single-season record of 3,250, set by Oklahoma State legend Barry Sanders. McCaffrey had 2,019 rushing yards, 645 receiving yards, and he picked up the rest of his yardage on kick and punt returns.Hes the best player in the country and well continue to challenge him, Shaw said. We know he can handle it.Stanfords bread-and-butter is its power running game, but the offense has ample speed in McCaffrey and receivers Michael Rector, Trent Irwin and Francis Owusu.Kansas States defense allowed 452.2 yards and 31.5 points per game last season, when young players gained experience as injury fill-ins. A veteran coming back is senior safety Dante Barnett, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the 2015 opener.This is the first meeting between Stanford and Kansas State.After this, the Cardinal plays No. 20 USC, at No. 16 UCLA, at No. 14 Washington, Washington State and at No. 10 Notre Dame. It wont be easy for Stanford to replicate its 12-2 record of a season ago. We have a chance to be good, Shaw said. How good, you never know. ' ' '