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Moose wrap up homestand this week

March 8, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Last week, the Moose went 1-1-1 against the Milwaukee Admirals and Syracuse Crunch. On Tuesday, the Moose defeated the Admirals 3-0 with Alex Auld stopping 26 shots for his second shutout of the season. The team tied 4-4 on Friday against the Crunch thanks to a goal by Tomas Mojzis with 14 seconds to play in the third period. On Saturday, a night billed as “The White Out Years” honouring the time spent by the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets at the Winnipeg Arena, the Moose dropped a 1- 0 decision despite peppering 50 shots at Syracuse netminder Pascal Leclaire and allowing only nine at their end.

The Moose conclude a season-high ten-game homestand this week. Wednesday, the team opens a two-game set with the Cleveland Barons and on Friday the homestand concludes versus Cleveland. On Saturday the Moose visit Tyler Moss and the Toronto Roadrunners in a game televised nationally on Rogers Sportsnet (2:30 p.m. CST).

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Cleveland Barons

Wednesday, March 10th 7:30 p.m. Winnipeg Arena Friday, March 12th 7:30 p.m.

The Barons (29-22-5-7) enter the week a point back of the Syracuse Crunch for second in the North Division with 70 points…They are currently riding a four-game losing streak which includes a pair of overtime defeats (0-2-0-2)…The Barons are a very impressive 15-8-4-3 on the road…The two teams have split the first six meetings of the season between the two (3-3-0) with the previous two meetings coming at the Gund Arena on Feb. 5 & 7/04…Cleveland's leading scorer - Miroslav Zalesak - is currently with the San Jose Sharks; He is tied with Manchester's Pavel Rosa for the current lead in scoring in the entire AHL with 30 goals and 68 points…Brad Boyes is next for Cleveland with 25 goals and 60 points which leaves him fourth in the AHL in scoring…Zalesak is Cleveland's leading scorer vs. Manitoba with six goals and 11 points in six games including two hat tricks earlier this year (12/13/03 & 12/31/03)…Boyes has four goals and eight points this season vs. the Moose…Dmitri Patzold and Seamus Kotyk have each played in three games vs. Manitoba this year with Patzold suffering two losses, while each has one win…Patzold has a 4.14 GAA against the Moose while Kotyk has a 2.86 GAA…Defenceman Matt Carkner is Cleveland's leading +/- player at +16…Yuri Moscevsky leads the team with 143 PIM…Defenceman Garrett Stafford is second amongst league defenceman in scoring with 10 goals and 39 points which is fourth overall amongst AHL rookies; He leads all rookies in assists with 29…Brandon Reid is Manitoba's leading scorer overall with 15 goals and 43 points and leads the team vs. Cleveland with a goal and eight points…Alex Auld has one lone appearance vs. Cleveland which proved to be a win…Cleveland's power play ranks fourth in the league at 17.5% success rate, while their penalty killing is 26th at 80.7%.

Toronto Roadrunners

Saturday, March 13th 2:30 p.m. Ricoh Coliseum

The Roadrunners (28-26-8-2) enter the week tied for fourth in the North Division with the Rochester Americans - each has 66 points, seven better than the Moose.Toronto is 16-8- 5-0 at the Ricoh Coliseum.Manitoba's record at the Ricoh Coliseum is 0-1-1.They are coming off a split of weekend games in St. John's against the Maple Leafs, including a 3-0 shutout win by former Moose Tyler Moss on Saturday night.The appearances over the weekend were Moss' first with the Roadrunners since his trade to the Edmonton Oilers from Vancouver on Feb. 16/04.The Roadrunners lead the season-series between the two 3-2-1 after having split a pair of games at the Winnipeg Arena on Jan. 23 & 24/04.Jamie Wright is Toronto's leading scorer with 17 goals and 42 points.Tony Salmelainen is the Roadrunners' leading point-getter vs. Manitoba with three goals and seven points in six games.Brandon Reid is Manitoba's leading scorer vs. Toronto with two goals and six points.Alex Auld has suffered a pair of losses to Toronto with a 4.09 GAA and a .852 save percentage.Both Manitoba wins are credited to Tyler Moss.Michael Heinrich is Toronto's leading +/- player at +11, while Rocky Thompson is the Roadrunners' leader in PIM with 165.Toronto's power play is ranked 11th in the AHL at 15.4% success rate, while their penalty killing is 23rd at 83.0%.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Pat Kavanagh

3 GP, 2 G, 2 A, 4 PTS, +3, 15 SHOTS

This week’s Player of the Week nominee for the Manitoba Moose is centre Pat Kavanagh. Over the three games played, he scored a pair of goals and added two assists. He also had a +3 rating and fired 15 shots on goal. On Tuesday, March 2, Kavanagh scored his team-leading fifth game-winning goal of the season, matching a career high. On Friday, March 5 Kavanagh scored a goal and added an assist in Manitoba’s 4-4 tie with the Crunch. The following night, Kavanagh peppered six shots on goal but was unable to score in the 1-0 Moose defeat.

MOOSE NOTES

Sunday’s annual Manitoba Moose Sports Carnival was a great success, raising close to $30,000 for the Manitoba Moose Yearling Foundation.

Friday's 4-4 tie against Syracuse was Brandon, Mb native Robert McVicar's first point at the Winnipeg Arena. His first victory, loss, and tie all occurred on the road. In fact, it was McVicar's first appearance of his career at the Arena.

Manitoba managed to kill off all three power plays on Saturday night. As a result, the Moose have extended their perfect record on the penalty kill during this 10-game homestand. After eight games, the Moose are now 27- for-27 on the penalty kill.

Peter Sarno's seventh goal of the season on Friday night was his first as a Moose since being acquired by the team on Feb. 16 in a trade from Edmonton. Since the trade for goaltender Tyler Moss, Sarno has now scored one goal and four assists.

For the first time this season, the Manitoba Moose earned a point when trailing at any point in the game by three goals or more. The Moose fell behind 3-0 in the first period, before fighting back to tie it at four. Manitoba's record now when trailing by three goals at any point in a game is 0-10-1-0.

With the first goal in Tuesday's 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals, forward Pat Kavanagh matched his career-high with his fifth game-winning goal. He also scored five gamewinners with Manitoba back in 2001- 02.

Tuesday's victory was also Stan Smyl's 100th as a Head Coach with the Manitoba Moose. Smyl's record in his three years as Moose bench-boss is 100-96-21-7.

Saturday’s game broke or came close to a number of different shot records for the Moose. The nine shots against shattered the previous franchise record of 14 set on four separate occasions. The 50 shots for came within two of the franchise record for most shots (12/29/2000 vs. KC; 12/8/2000 vs. UTA).

The total of 24 shots in the third period came within two of the franchise high of 26 (2/24/1996 vs. SF). The Moose also broke the franchise record for largest shot differential for in a game (41).

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