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The Halifax Mooseheads are going to be pretty sick of the inside of their bus by this time next month.

The QMJHL team opens the 2018-19 regular season with 15 straight away games because of ongoing work being done at the Scotiabank Centre. By the time they play their home opener against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Oct. 27, the Mooseheads will have been on the road for five straight weeks.

“We’re trying to look at the positive side of it,” said goalie Cole McLaren. “It’s going to be great having all those road trips, staying in hotels and getting to bond with the guys. That’ll be huge down the stretch, especially in a Memorial Cup year.”

The long journey starts on Friday in Saint John against the Sea Dogs in one of nine early road games against Maritimes Division opponents. But the other six games of the road odyssey will be played on two extended trips to Quebec. The Mooseheads play three games in four days in an early October swing and then three straight nights on the weekend of Oct. 19.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team play 15 games on the road to start the season but I think we can use that to our advantage,” said defenceman Patty Kyte.

“Coming (down the stretch) at the end of the season, we’ll be able to get more rest and that’ll help us too, especially since we can get two of the Quebec road trips out of the way early in the year. And playing back-to-back home games is always fun, especially when you’re playing tough teams. It’ll be an advantage to be able to stay at home and sleep in our own beds late in the season like that.”

In the long view, there are certainly benefits to having 34 of their final 53 regular season games at the Scotiabank Centre. The heavy travel in the QMJHL is physically taxing on the players and longer stretches at home allow the coaches to run more full practices.

“I don’t think it bothers us that much,” said defenceman Denis Toner. “It’s obviously different to have 15 games on the road like that but you’re still playing hockey so who cares where it is. If you’re at home or on the road, all you want to do is get the two points and get out of there. We just want to have a good start to the season.”

Aside from that early narrative, the Mooseheads are also entering a landmark year because they are the hosts of the Memorial Cup. That privilege comes with a sharp degree of stress for everyone in the organization but head coach Eric Veilleux has taken a distinct approach to handling that pressure.

“The first day we met we talked about it once and that was it,” Kyte said. “We’re just focusing on the regular season right now and then getting to playoffs and trying to win the President’s Cup. From there we’ll worry about the Memorial Cup but for now we’re just focusing on ourselves and making sure not to get ahead of ourselves.”

It is virtually certain the Mooseheads will be shorthanded for Friday’s game. Defenceman Jared McIsaac and forwards Kyle Petten and Ben Higgins are all coping with injuries and, as of Wednesday evening, six other players were still at NHL camps.

Goalie Alexis Gravel and defenceman Jake Ryczek were both returned to Halifax by the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday but Antoine Morand (Anaheim Ducks), Bo Groulx (Anaheim), Walter Flower (Tampa Bay Lightning), Arnaud Durandeau (New York Islanders) and Jocktan Chainey (New Jersey Devils) haven’t been sent back yet.

The Mooseheads only had about half of their lineup available for Saturday’s pre-season finale against the Moncton Wildcats.

“We played fairly well considering we had (nine) call-ups, which is a ridiculous number for this time of year,” McLaren said. “But all the guys that got called up did well and it went a lot better than expected.”