Halifax Mooseheads fire coaches after first-round playoff upset

The Halifax Mooseheads have fired head coach Jim Midgley and assistant coach Liam Heelis after being swept by the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the first round of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League playoffs.

“After lengthy discussions with ownership, we have decided to move in another direction behind the bench,” Mooseheads general manager Cam Russell said in a news release Tuesday.

The Mooseheads won their division in the QMJHL this year, and were ranked fourth in the league’s overall standings with a record of 42-18-7-1, before falling to the seventh-seeded Titan.

Midgley rejoined the team this past season after serving as an assistant coach for the NHL’s New York Rangers. He also served as the head coach for the Mooseheads during the 2017-18 season, and as an assistant coach from 2011 to 2017, winning a Memorial Cup with the team in 2013.

Heelis’s departure comes after three seasons on the coaching team.

Assistant coach Brad MacKenzie will remain with the Mooseheads. Efforts will begin immediately to find replacements for Midgley and Heelis. 

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