Grabner to join Austria for Olympic Qualifying

Published on January 27, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose, the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, announced today forward Michael Grabner will join the Austrian National Men's Hockey Team at the Olympic Qualifying tournament for the 2010 Winter Olympics following Manitoba's game versus the Rockford Ice Hogs on Thursday, Jan. 29/09.

Grabner, 21, will be playing for Austria in Group F of the third stage of the Olympic Qualifying tournament to be played in Hanover, Germany from Feb. 5-8/09. They will compete in a pool with Germany, Slovenia, and Japan. The winner of this tournament will then advance to the Olympics to be held in Vancouver, BC from Feb. 13-28/10. Belarus, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States have already qualified for the Olympic tournament. Three other teams will qualify for spots to be determined.

Grabner has played in 38 games so far this season for the Moose. The Villach, Austria native currently leads the Moose in goal scoring with 19 goals and is fourth on the team in overall scoring with 28 points (19-9-28) and 12 penalty minutes. He missed nine games earlier this season due to an injury but returned and scored his first professional hat trick in his first-game back Jan. 9/09 @ Iowa.

Grabner appeared in 74 games with the Moose last year in his rookie season where he scored 44 points (22-22-44). As a result, he's played in 112 career games with the Moose and scored 72 points (41-231-72) as well as 12 Calder Cup playoff games where he's recorded three goals.

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