Capping off a busy stretch

Published on December 6, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose had four home games this week, capping off a stretch of nine games in 12 days against five different teams. The Moose went 3-1 this week sweeping Hamilton with a 7-2 win on Tuesday night and a 4-3 shootout win on Wednesday night. They then had one night off before splitting two games, a 6-5 loss and a 3-1 win, with Rochester on Friday and Saturday.

Manitoba will now head back on the road for three games against Eastern Conference opponents. The Moose will play in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning and then head into Wilkes-Barre to take on the first place Penguins on Friday and Saturday night.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Philadelphia Phantoms

Wednesday December 7th, 10:00AM

First Union Spectrum

The Moose will head into Philadelphia for their first of four matchups with the Phantoms this season. Philadelphia currently sits in 3rd place in the East Division, after losing their last two games, with a 11-13-0-2 record for 24 points. They are far better at home, boasting a 7-3-0- 1 record, compared with a 4-10-0-1 road record. The Phantoms sit at the bottom of the league on the powerplay scoring only 10.9% of the time. They are better on the penalty kill sitting in the 12th spot with a 84.3% kill rate. Pat Kavanagh has 11 goals and has added eight helpers to lead the team with 19 points in 26 games played this season. Jamie Storr has received the majority of the goaltending duties for Philadelphia this season, sporting a 5-7-1 record with a 3.16 GAA and a 0.898 save percentage.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

December 9th & 10th, 6:05pm

First Union Arena at Casey Plaza

The Moose will play their second and third games against Eastern Conference opponents when they head into Wilkes-Barre to take on the first place Penguins on Friday and Saturday night. The Penguins have had a remarkable season thus far recording a point in all 23 games played this season. Wilkes-Barre sits first in the East Division with a 20-0-2-1 record for 43 points. They are outstanding on special teams sitting in fourth on the powerplay with a 21.4% scoring rate, and first on the penalty kill with a 89.6% average. Michel Ouellet has led the way in scoring for Wilkes-Barre recording ten goals and 19 assists for 29 points in 17 games played. Marc-Andre Fleury and Dany Sabourin have shared the majority of the goaltender duties this season, playing in 12 games and ten games respectively. In 12 games Fleury has posted a solid 10-2-0 record with a 1.57 GAA and a 0.939 save percentage. Sabourin has held his own with a 9-0-1 record, a 2.23 GAA and a 0.931 save percentage.

MOOSE NOTES

Sharing the Load: With a 2-1 victory in his first career start in goal for the Manitoba Moose, netminder Maxime Ouellet became the fifth different Moose goaltender to post a win this season. Wade Flaherty, Rob McVicar, Sebastien Centomo, Robert Gherson and Maxime Ouellet have each recorded at least one victory between the pipes, setting a new franchise record. Previously, the Moose had four different goalies post wins in five different seasons (2003-04, 2001-02, 2000-01, 1998-99, & 1997-98). The Moose had six different goalies appear in at least one game during the 2000-01 season.

Unknown Opponent: Wednesday's game in Philadelphia against the Phantoms marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Coming into this season, the Moose had never played the defending Calder Cup Champs, as well as Omaha, Hershey, and Norfolk in their team history. With a 2-1 win in Omaha earlier this season and Wednesday's game with Philadelphia, the Moose will only have Norfolk and Hershey left to play.

20 Minutes for the Record Books: With three goals in the second period of Friday night's 6-5 loss to Rochester, Moose forward Jozef Balej recorded the first Moose hat-trick of the season and marked only the fifth time in Moose history that a player has recorded three goals in a period. The last Moose player to do this was Rusty Fitzgerald against Kansas City, who recorded a first period hat-trick on March 4th, 2000. Balej's first and second goals of the period came within 48 seconds of each other, coming close to Josh Green's record of two goals in 18 seconds in the second period of a game on May 13th, 2005.

November to Remember: With a 4-3 shootout win over Hamilton to end the month of November the Moose wrap up the month with the second-most succesful November in the team's 10-year history. The 16 games played by the Moose were the most-ever played during the month of November, and the nine wins tied for the most-ever in a particular month. Back in 1998-99, the Moose finished 9-1-0-2 in November, This season, they ended the month 9-4-1-2.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Kevin Bieksa

4 GP, 0 G, 7 A, 7 PTS, 7 SHOTS, -2

Kevin Bieksa finished the week with four games played, and recorded seven assists in those four games...He also fired seven shots on net and ended the week -2...Since returning from injury on Nov. 11/05, Bieksa has recorded points in seven of 13 games...He is currently riding a five-game assists streak which is tops on the team this season...In 13 games overall, Bieksa has scored two goals and 12 assists for 14 points - good for second amongst defenceman on the Moose. He is +1 in the +/- category.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 6, 2005


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