Halifax Mooseheads to retire Nathan Mackinnon's number
Colorado Avalanche star player Nathan Mackinnon, is back home. MacKinnon’s number 22 will be retired Friday night by his former junior team, the Halifax Mooseheads.
“It’s awesome for the community, the franchise and the city,” said Rob Goudey, who has been an Avalanche fan all of his life.
Goudey is also a Mooseheads season-ticket holder, and he will be at Friday’s game when MacKinnon’s number is lifted to the rafters at Scotiabank Centre.
“It’s fitting because he’s a big game player,” said Goudey. “And he has ‘it’.”
The last time Maritimers saw MacKinnon in-person in Halifax was the summer of 2022 when he brought the Stanley Cup home for an exciting downtown celebration.
Jon Greenwood coached MacKinnon back in peewee and bantam AAA.
“It’s a great and unique experience that he was able to play here, win here and be remembered here forever,” said Greenwood, who added, this accolade may not equal a Stanley Cup championship, but it is still special.
“When you have jerseys retired, and numbers retired and statues built, that’s as high as it gets.”
Inside Scotiabank Centre, the number 22 is already splashed everywhere.
Team president Brian Urquhart also wants this ceremony to be a memorable occasion for the team’s loyal fans.
“What a great opportunity,” said Urquhart. “They watched so many highlights of Nathan’s in those two years. Tonight, will put a bow on everything from that standpoint.”
Urquhart also called this a circle of life moment.
MacKinnon grew up cheering for the Mooseheads, later playing for the team and leading them to a Memorial Cup Championship. Now, he has returned home to further cement his historic Halifax Mooseheads legacy.
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

'Shadows of children': For the youngest hostages, life moves forward in whispers
After seven weeks held hostage in the tunnels of Gaza, they are finally free to laugh and chat and play. But some of the children who have come back from captivity are still reluctant to raise their voices above a whisper.
Extremely rare white alligator is born at a Florida reptile park
An extremely rare white leucistic alligator has been born at a Florida reptile park. The 19.2-inch (49 cm) female slithered out of its shell and into the history books as one of a few known leucistic alligators, Gatorland Orlando said Thursday.
Minnesota grocery store clerk dies after customer impales him with a golf club, police say
A Minneapolis store clerk died after a customer beat him and impaled him with a golf club, police said. The 66-year-old clerk was attacked Friday at the Oak Grove Grocery, a small neighborhood store in a residential area near downtown Minneapolis. A 44-year-old suspect is jailed on suspicion of murder.
A Soviet-era statue of a Red Army commander taken down in Kyiv
City workers in Kyiv on Saturday dismantled an equestrian statue of a Red Army commander, the latest Soviet monument to be removed in the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year.
Ibrahim Ali found guilty of killing 13-year-old girl in B.C.
A jury has found Ibrahim Ali guilty of killing a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in a Burnaby, B.C., park in 2017.
Protests at UN climate talks, from ceasefire calls to detainees, see 'shocking level of censorship'
Activists designated Saturday a day of protest at the COP28 summit in Dubai. But the rules of the game in the tightly controlled United Arab Emirates meant sharp restrictions on what demonstrators could say, where they could walk and what their signs could portray.
Bill 15: Quebec health reform passes after gov't invokes closure
After sitting through the night, early Saturday morning, members of the Quebec legislature finally passed Bill 15 to reform the health-care network, voting 75 to 27.
Marathon Conservative carbon tax filibuster ends after nearly 30 consecutive hours of House votes
The Conservative-prompted filibuster in the House of Commons ended Friday night, after MPs spent nearly 30 hours voting non-stop on the government's spending plans.
New U.S. aid for Ukraine by year-end seems increasingly out of reach as GOP ties it to border security
A deal to provide further U.S. assistance to Ukraine by year-end appears to be increasingly out of reach for President Joe Biden. The impasse is deepening in Congress despite dire warnings from the White House about the consequences of inaction as Republicans insist on pairing the aid with changes to America's immigration and border policies.