MacKinnon has number retired by QMJHL team, gets congrats from Crosby

Nathan MacKinnon may have won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche wearing No. 29, but to Halifax Mooseheads fans he will now, officially, be No. 22 forever.

The Mooseheads, of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, retired their former player's number Friday in a ceremony held before their game against the Charlottetown Islanders.

For MacKinnon, the No. 1 pick of the 2013 NHL Draft who won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year the following season before blossoming into a six-time All Star and Stanley Cup champion, it was extra special playing for the Mooseheads having grown up in Halifax. He received a huge ovation from the capacity crowd Friday.

MacKinnon's former Moosehead teammates and coaches, friends and family and even Pittsburgh Penguins captain and fellow Halifax native Sidney Crosby appeared in a special congratulatory video.

"This team has meant a lot to me my whole life," MacKinnon said in an interview before the game. "It's coming full circle. I never thought that my jersey would be retired here, growing up as a Moosehead fan... Those two years kind of stick out in my life more than anything I think."