The Manitoba Moose embarked on their third road trip of the season in Week 9 where they earned a 2-0-1-0 record on their three-game West Division tour. The club earned a 2-1 victory over the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday, suffered a 2-1 overtime defeat to the Peoria Rivermen on Friday and then closed-out a four-game regular season series sweep of the Chicago Wolves with a 4-2 win on Saturday.Wednesday, November 25, 2009: Manitoba 2, Rockford 1 Matt Pettinger scored two goals to carry the Moose over the Rockford IceHogs 2-1 on Wednesday night in front of 3,522 fans at the MetroCentre. Pettinger scored two goals in his first game back after being re-assigned by the Canucks and Sexton earned two helpers in his Moose debut. Cory Schneider stopped 39 of 40 shots in his 10th win this season.
Friday, November 27, 2009: Manitoba 1, Peoria 2 (OT) The Manitoba Moose dropped their fourth overtime decision of the season with a 2-1 loss to the Peoria Rivermen last night in front of 3,882 fans at the Carver Arena. Veteran Marty Murray scored Manitoba's lone goal while goaltender Cory Schneider stopped 31 of 33 shots for third star honours.
Saturday, November 21, 2009: Manitoba 4, Chicago 2 The Manitoba Moose swept their four-game regular season series against the Chicago Wolves on Saturday night with a 4-2 victory in front of 6,722 fans at the Allstate Arena. Mario Bliznak potted two goals while Matt Pettinger and Dan Sexton both notched singles. Goaltender Daren Machesney stopped 28 of 30 attempts to extend Manitoba's point streak to seven straight games.
Moose Notes
TAKING THE QUICKEST LEAD: In Saturday night's 4-2 victory over the Chicago Wolves, Moose centre Mario Bliznak opened the scoring a mere 19 seconds into the matchup. This is the fastest opening goal the Moose have notched this season. The Trencin, Slovakia native was four seconds shy of tying the franchise record for fastest opening goal set at 15 seconds by Greg Pankewicz also in Chicago (January 7, 1998).
DECEMBER DETAILS: Tuesday night, the Moose embark on their first of 12 games in the 12th month of the year. Last season, the Moose played 14 games in the month of December and finished with a 7-6-0-1 record with 15 of 28 possible points (.535). Manitoba's best-ever Decemeber was in 2004-05 when the team went 6-3-1-0 for a 0.650 win percentage, while the club's worst year-ending performance was in 2001-02 when the team earned 17 of 32 points to finish 0.531. Again, like in November, the Moose have never finished below 0.500 in the last month of the calendar year. The Moose will close-out the month of December in their annual New Years Eve contest - this year against the Texas Stars.
POWERPLAY IMPROVES: The Manitoba Moose went one-for-four on Saturday night to crawl up the powerplay ladder. They are now 26th in the league, two spots up from last week, at 11.4 per cent. So far this season, the Moose have notched 13 of a possible 114 powerplay markers. Sergei Shirokov leads all Moose skaters with six powerplay points (3g & 3a).
Upcoming Opponents
The Manitoba Moose play host to the Rochester Americans for their first double-header against the club starting tomorrow night at MTS Centre. The Amerks are currently the best in the league with 35 points after 21 games played. They have only lost three times in regulation - all three losses occuring when on the road. The Moose sit five points behind Rochester in the North Division, but the Americans have five games in hand over Manitoba. The last time the teams met was on March 18, 2009 when Manitoba recorded a 4-3 shootout victory in Rochester. After tomorrow's rematch, the clubs will close-out their series in Rochester on February 16 & 19, 2010.
Player of the Week Nominee
Matt Pettinger
For the first time this season, Moose left-winger Matt Pettinger is the nominee for AHL Player of the Week... This week, the Edmonton, AB native recorded two goals, including the game-winner, in Friday's 2-1 victory over the Rockford IceHogs... He finished the night +1 and fired three shots on net... On Friday night, Pettinger added an assist on Manitoba's only goal, but the club dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Peoria Rivermen... On Saturday night, he scored a goal and earned an assist in Manitoba's 4-2 season sweeping game over Chicago... Pettinger has collected a point in every game with the Moose since he was assigned by the Canucks on November 21, 2009... In 10 games with the Moose this season he has earned nine points (5g & 4a) and eight penalty minutes.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
