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Moose clinch playoff spot in week 26

April 2, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Moose embarked on their last road trip of the season with four games against West Division opponents in week 26. The team collected three-out-of-eight points, and with their lone win of the week on Saturday in Omaha, the Moose officially clinched a playoff spot. Manitoba are still first in the Western Conference with 96 points, three more than the Chicago Wolves who are second and five more than the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights who are third. The team's lead in the North Division is currently eight points over the Hamilton Bulldogs and nine over the Rochester Americans, however both teams hold two games-in-hand on the Moose. Manitoba improved their overall record to 42-21-7-5, but will need to win their remaining five games in order to tie the franchise record for most wins in a season set in 1998-99 with 47.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007: Moose 1 Admirals 2 SOL

The Moose started their seven-game road trip with their final game versus the Milwaukee Admirals this season. Dov Grumet-Morris, the newly annointed backup to Drew MacIntyre, got the start in this game and played very well once again for the Moose. Milwaukee jumped out to an early lead on a lucky goal that deflected off a Moose defenceman and into the back of the net, giving the Admirals a 1-0 lead at 2:17. The Moose battled back to tie the game late in the first period when Brandon Reid one-timed a shot home for his 15th goal of the season with just 1:17 left in the period. Those first period goals held up as the only scoring in the game, as both goalies made several great saves throughout the game to send this one to a shootout, something that shouldn't have come as too big a surprise as more than 25% of Milwaukee's games this season have gone to extra time. Ville Koistenen scored on the first attempt for the Admirals and that would be the only goal either team would score in the shootout as the Admirals came away with the extra point in the standings. Dov Grumet-Morris was the first star of the game as he made 44 saves on the night in a losing effort.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007: Moose 2 Wolves 5 L

Manitoba's second game of the road trip took them to Chicago in a battle of the top two teams in the Western Conference. This game boiled down to special teams as the #1 ranked penalty-kill of the Moose gave up two powerplay goals to Chicago's highest scoring powerplay. The game was very close for the first two periods, but as the game wore on in the third the Wolves had more life and they would pull away with a 5-2 win, cutting the Moose lead in the Western Conference to just two points. Six Wolves players had multi-point games in the victory.

Saturday, March 31, 2007: Moose 3 Knights 2 W

The Moose faced the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights for the third time this season but for the first time on the road Saturday night. The Moose fell behind early as Dustin Boyd scored on the powerplay for the Knights just 3:13 into the game. Manitoba battled back later in the first period with two quick goals 0:41 apart, one by Lee Goren on the powerplay and the other on a fantastic individual effort by Jesse Schultz, who's goal snapped a 16-game goal-less drought for the winger. Rookie Jannik Hansen would add his 12th goal of the season just 0:20 into the third period and the Moose would hang on for a 3-2 victory. With the win the Moose officially clinched a playoff spot.

Sunday, April 1, 2007: Moose 0 Stars 1 L

For the final game of the week the Moose travelled to the Wells Fargo Arena to take on the Iowa Stars. Former Portage Terrier Junior Lessard scored at 15:04 of the first period to give the Stars the early lead, and Iowa held on from there for the 1-0 victory. The Moose fired 27 shots at Stars goaltender Dan Ellis but could not beat the Iowa netminder suffering their first loss of the season to the Stars. The shutout loss set a Moose franchise record as it was the eighth time they have been shutout this season.

The Moose finish off their final road trip of the season with their final games versus Omaha on Wednesday, Iowa on Friday and Peoria on Saturday.

MOOSE NOTES

Moose clinch a post-season spot: Thanks to their 42nd win of the season Saturday night versus the Knights, the Moose officially clinched a playoff spot with 96 points. Now with just five games left to play this season, Manitoba can shift their focus towards their first North Division title and their first Western Conference regular season title. Their magic number to clinch their first-ever division crown is six over Rochester and seven over the Hamilton Bulldogs, while the Moose hold a slim lead of three points over the Chicago Wolves for the Conference lead.

D-Mac continues to climb Moose goalie standings: After earning his 22nd win of the season Saturday night Drew MacIntyre is now tied for seventh all-time in Moose franchise history for most wins in a season. MacIntyre is currently tied with Fred Brathwaite (1996-97) and sits behind six others including Wade Flaherty who is tops on the list with 26 set last season for the Moose. MacIntyre's current goals against average of 2.22 would set a new Moose franchise high while his current save percentage of .922 would tie for the best ever by a Moose goaltender. Wade Flaherty is tops in goals against average setting the bar at 2.33 in 2004-05, while Johan Hedberg currently holds the mark for the best save percentage in a season at 0.922 set in 1997-98.

Three in the top 20: With just five games left to play, all three members of Manitoba's top line are in the top 20 of league scoring this season. Jason Jaffray, currently sixth in league scoring, has 77 points, leading the team in goals with 34 and second in assists with 41. Jaffray's previous best season in the AHL was last year when he had 12 goals and 35 assists for 47 points in 73 games played. Lee Goren is having one of his best seasons as a pro currently 19th overall in the AHL scoring. Goren has 24 goals, his fifth time scoring more than 20 goals; has set a career high with 41 assists so far this season and is just four points shy of his career best total of 69 set with Providence in 2002-03. Brad Moran is also having a great year as he is on the verge of setting career highs in goals, assists, and points. Moran's currently 18th in the AHL with 22 goals and is seventh in the league with 44 assists. Moran is only six points away from matching his best point total of 72 set with the Syracuse Crunch in 2004-05. Last season the Moose did not have a single player in the top 20 of scoring. Jessie Schultz finished 28th with 37 goals and 30 assists for 67 points. The Moose are one of only three teams with more than one player in the top 20 scoring, Chicago (4) and Norfolk (5) are the others.

PK slumping: Manitoba's #1 penalty-killing unit faltered a little in the past week, allowing two powerplay goals in consecutive games for the first time all season versus Chicago and Omaha. Heading into this past Wednesday's game versus the Wolves, the Moose were at a season high 90.2% but have since slipped to 89.4%. Manitoba has now given up 41 powerplay goals this season, still 21 less then the franchise record of 62 set in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Peoria is now the only team who has failed to collect a powerplay tally versus Manitoba this season (Peoria is 0-of-16 in three games). The Moose slipped in their pursuit of the best penalty-kill percentage in a season which is 90.66% set in 2003-04 by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Manitoba will play Omaha for the final time this season at the Omaha Civic Auditorium on Wednesday evening. The Moose have won all three games versus the Knights this season including a 3-2 come-from-behind victory to clinch a playoff spot Mar. 31/07 in Omaha. Manitoba is now 4-2-1-0 all time versus Omaha and are 2-0-1-0 at the Civic Auditorium.

Manitoba plays their fourth and final game of the season versus the Iowa Stars this Friday, April 6th at the Wells Fargo Arena. The Moose are 2-1-0-0 versus the Stars this season, suffering their eighth shutout loss of the season in their only visit to Iowa Apr. 1/07. The Moose are 5-2-0-0 all time versus the Stars, with both losses coming at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Manitoba finishes their last road trip of the season with their final matchup versus the Peoria Rivermen on Saturday night. The last time the Moose visited Peoria Mar. 18/07 Moose goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris earned a shutout in his first start as a member of the Moose. Manitoba's record versus Peoria this season is 3-0-0-0 as the team has only surrendered one goal against in the three games played versus the Rivermen.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

#30 Dov Grumet-Morris - Goalie

Goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris appeared in only one game this week for the Moose, but was spectacular in his one appearance in Milwaukee on March 28th...He stopped 44 of 45 shots in his second start with the Moose, and the one goal he allowed was directed in by his own defenceman off a rebound...He also stopped three of four shots on the shootout. However, since the Moose failed to beat Pekka Rinne themselves, Grumet-Morris suffered a shootout loss...His goals against average for the week was 0.92 while his save percentage was .978. Overall in two starts with the Moose, he is 1-1 but has only allowed one goal in two starts for a goals against average of 0.48 and a save percentage of .986...Overall, Grumet-Morris is now 3-6-5 this season with Portland, Hamilton and the Moose, with a goals against average of 2.35 and a save percentage of .926...



American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2007


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