Sports stats



From All-Stars to Iowa Stars

February 6, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


After hosting the highly successful 2006 RBK Hockey AHL All-Star Classic, the Moose played two weekend games as the Iowa Stars made their first ever trip to the MTS Centre. Manitoba fought back from a two-goal deficit and Jimmy Roy scored on a shorthanded penalty shot to give the Moose a 3-2 win on Friday night. The herd maintained the momentum Saturday night, as they got up two goals early and never looked back. The 5-2 victory over the Stars gave the Moose their seventh series sweep of the season.

Manitoba will now have another five days of rest before suiting up for back-to-back weekend games with the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights on Friday and Saturday night.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights Friday, February 10th Saturday, February 11th MTS Centre

Following five days rest, the Moose will continue their WestDivision homestand with Friday and Saturday games against the visiting Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights. Omaha currently sits fifth in the West Division with a 19-23-2-7 record, good for 47 points in 51 games. Despite their sub-.500 record, the Knights have been decent in the special teams department. They are currently 15th in the league on the powerplay, scoring 16.4% of the time. The Knights have done well killing penalties this year, sitting seventh in the league with a 84.3% kill rate. This will be the second and third meetings between the teams this season, with the Moose recording a 2-1 win in Omaha on Oct. 12/05, their first win of the season.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Maxime Fortunus

Maxime Fortunus appeared in both games the Moose played following the 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic. In that span, he scored his second goal of the season and added two assists for his most productive week of the season. Fortunus' contributions were made even more significant following the recall of Tomas Mojzis to the Vancouver Canucks leaving the Moose with only five defencemen for Saturday's match-up with the Stars.

MOOSE NOTES

Following the Classic: With Friday's 3-2 win over Iowa, Manitoba upped their record to 7-1-1-4 in games following an All-Star break. In their five games following the AHL All-Star Classic, Manitoba is now 3-1-1. In games following the IHL All-Star Game from 1995-2001, the Moose did not lose a game in regulation, boasting a 4-0-3 record, while outscoring opponents 22-18.

Drought ends for Keane and Fortunus: After Mike Keane and Maxime Fortunus recorded assists in the first period of Friday night's 5-3 win over the Iowa Stars, both Moose players ended scoring droughts that lasted 23 and 21 games respectively. Mike Keane's last point came as an assist in a 7-2 win over Hamilton on Nov. 29/05. Fortunus had an assist in a 6-5 loss to Rochester on Dec. 02/05 but has been scoreless since then. Fortunus also scored his first goal since Nov. 5th and an assist in Saturday night's 5-2 win over Iowa, leaving the Moose defenceman on a two-game scoring streak heading into Friday night's game with Omaha.

Penalty Shot Prevails: Jimmy Roy's shorthanded penalty shot goal was the game-winning marker in Manitoba's 3-2 victory over Iowa on Friday night. It marked the second winning goal on a shorthanded penalty shot this season for the Moose. Mike Brown scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over San Antonio on Dec. 17/05 after he made good on a first period, shorthanded penalty shot. Roy's goal was also only the seventh successful penalty shot in Moose history.

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from February 6, 2006


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.

OurSports Central