In tough agains the North

April 3, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose finished up their eight-game homestand this past week, with four games in five nights against two North Division rivals. The Moose began the week with back-to-back mid-week games on Tuesday and Wednesday night against the Toronto Marlies. The teams exchanged extra-time victories with the Marlies winning 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday night and Jesse Schultz scoring the winner in a 4-3 overtime win on Wednesday night. After one day's rest, the Moose began a two-game series with the AHL leading Grand Rapids Griffins, who were riding an 11-game winning streak heading into Friday night's game. For the third straight game the Moose gave up a third period lead and actually had to score in the final minute of regulation to push the game into overtime, resulting in a 5-4 overtime loss. Saturday was a different story however, as Manitoba got up two goals early and didn't look back, as they ended the Griffin's winning streak with a 4-2 win.

The Moose will now begin their final road trip of the season with four games this week all against North Division opponents. Manitoba will play in Syracuse on Tuesday night, Rochester on Friday, Toronto on Saturday and finish up the week with an afternoon game in Hamilton on Sunday.

MOOSE NOTES

Fantastic Flats: After stopping 27 of 29 shots in last Saturday's 4-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins, Moose goaltender Wade Flaherty is now two wins shy of tying Fred Brathwaite for second all-time in career victories by a Moose goaltende. Flaherty's 24 wins this season pushes his total to 43 in 82 career games with the Moose during 2004-06. Brathwaite recorded 45 wins in 109 career games with the Moose during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. Flaherty is also closing in on a couple of single season Moose goaltending records. With a 2.39 GAA so far this season, the Terrace, BC native is .06 points off of his record-setting GAA of 2.33, set in the 2004-05 season. Flaherty is also currently on pace to break his record set last season for highest save percentage in a season, posting a .918 percentage, .01 better than last year's .919.

Bayda Ends Drought: After scoring the third goal in Manitoba's 4-2 win over Grand Rapids last Saturday night, Moose forward Ryan Bayda snapped a 19-game goal-less drought. His last goal came on Feb 14th in Grand Rapids. Although not scoring goals, Bayda has still been putting up points of late, with a goal and five assist in his last five games. He carries a five-game scoring streak into tonight's game with the Crunch, his longest scoring streak of the season. In 53 games with the Moose this season, the Saskatoon, SK product sits sixth on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 22 assists for 34 points and 46 penalty minutes.

Return of Nolan: Friday night's 4-3 shootout loss to Grand Rapids marked Moose forward Brandon Nolan's first game in a Moose jersey since Nov 12th/05. The St. Catherines', Ontario product scored a second period goal and added two assists in his first game back and recorded another assist in Saturday's 4-2 win over the Griffins to now sit with two goals and eight assists in 13 games with the Moose this season. In 43 games with the Columbia Inferno (ECHL) this year, Nolan averaged 1.18 points per game, with 20 goals and 31 assists for 51 points.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Syracuse Crunch
Tuesday, April 4th - 6:00 PM
Onondaga County War Memorial
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

The Moose will begin their final road trip of the season on Tuesday against the Syracuse Crunch. Syracuse sits in third place in the North Division, one point behind the Moose, with two games in hand. This game will finish the season series between the clubs with the Moose trailing two games to one in the series. The Crunch feature the league's ninth best powerplay with an efficiency rate of 18.9%. They have struggled killing penalties however, with a kill rate of 81.1%, good enough for 20th in the league.

Rochester Americans
Friday, April 7th - 6:35 PM
Blue Cross Arena
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

The Moose will continue the North Division road trip with a Friday night game against the Rochester Americans. The Amerks enter the week on a two-game winning streak as they sit 12 points behind fourth placed Toronto for the final playoff spot in the North Division. Rochester's powerplay continues to shine scoring 19.6% of the time, good enough for sixth in the AHL. The Amerk's penalty kill has been average, sitting 16th in the league with an 82.3% efficiency rate. This will be the final meeting with the Amerks this season.

Toronto Marlies
Saturday, April 8th - 4:05 PM
Ricoh Coliseum
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

Manitoba will continue the weekend in an afternoon matchup at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto against the Marlies. Toronto currently sits fourth in the North Division, 10 points back of Manitoba, with a 38-27-6-2 record for 84 points in 61 games. The Marlies' powerplay is decent scoring 18.5% of the time and ranking 11th in the AHL. Their penalty kill sits 21st in the league with an 81.0% kill rating. This will also be the last meeting between the teams this season.

Hamilton Bulldogs
Sunday, April 9th - 3:00 PM
Copps Coliseum
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

Manitoba will play their final road game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton. The Bulldogs currently sit fifth in the North Division with a 31-39-0-4 record for 66 points in 74 games played. Hamilton's special teams have struggled this year with neither their powerplay nor penalty killing sitting in the league's top 15. The Bulldogs powerplay has been slightly better than their penalty kill, ranking 20th in the AHL with a 15.8% scoring rate. Their penalty kill is 23rd best in the league with an 80.4% efficiency rate. The Moose will look to break a continuing trend that sees them with just one win in their last 13 games at Copps Coliseum.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Jason Jaffray

Jason Jaffray appeared in all four games for the Moose last week, scoring a goal and three assists for four points. He also collected the game-tying goal in Friday's 5-4 overtime loss to the league-leading Grand Rapids Griffins. He also ended up with seven shots on net in total last week and was even over four games. Jaffray remains in third in team-scoring with 11 goals and 34 assists for 45 points. He is a +6 in the plus/minus category and has 56 penalty minutes in 68 games this season.



American Hockey League Stories from April 3, 2006


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