Moose Clinch Their First Ever North Divison Crown

April 9, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Moose finished off their last road trip of the season with three more games against West Division opponents in week 27. The team collected four-out-of-six points, with a loss to Omaha on Wednesday and then back-to-back shutout victories of Iowa on Friday and Peoria on Saturday. The Moose clinched their first ever North Division title with their win over the Rivermen combined with Rochester's loss to Syracuse on Saturday night. Manitoba reached the 100 point plateau for the second straight season and for the third time in franchise history as they matched last season's win total of 44. Manitoba are still first in the Western Conference with 100 points, two more than the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights who are second and three more than the Chicago Wolves who are third. The Moose still do not know who they will face in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, but they will have home-ice advantage for that series. Manitoba improved their overall record to 44-22-7-5 and finished the season with a road record of 20-13-4-3. If Manitoba can win one of their upcoming home games versus Toronto this weekend, they will set a new franchise record for home wins in a season with 25.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007: Moose 2 Knights 3 L

The Moose started week 27 with their final game versus the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights this season in what turned out to be a battle of Division leaders as the Knights had passed Chicago to take over first in the West Division. David Van der Gulik scored a hat-trick in the game for Omaha and though the Moose made a last ditch effort for the comeback, they fell just short falling 3-2. Manitoba finished the season 3-1-0-0 versus the Knights but saw their lead in the Western Conference trimmed to a precarious single point over the Knights with the loss.

Friday, April 6, 2007: Moose 3 Stars 0 W

Manitoba's second game of the week took them to Iowa where they were looking to avenge a 2-0 shutout loss to the Stars the previous Sunday. The Moose jumped on the Stars early in this one and wouldn't look back. Mason Raymond scored his second goal of the season for the Moose just 0:28 after the puck dropped to put the Moose up 1-0 then Marc Chouinard would add his second in a Moose uniform before the first period was over to stake Manitoba to a 2-0 lead. Brad Moran scored his 24th of the season early in the second and Drew Macintyre would take care of the rest as he stopped 23 shots enroute to his third shutout of the season. Manitoba finished their season series with the Stars 3-1-0-0 while only allowing three goals against in the four-game season series.

Saturday, April 7, 2007: Moose 2 Rivermen 0 W

The Moose finished their final road trip of the season by closing out their season series with the Peoria Rivermen at Carver Arena on Saturday. The teams played to a scoreless stale-mate through two periods until Lee Goren scored on the powerplay just 0:32 into period three. Jason Jaffray would add his team-leading 35th goal of the season later in the third also with the man-advantage. That goal tied Jaffray with Scott Thomas and Lee Goren for most powerplay goals by a Moose player in a season with 16. Dov Grumet-Morris making his second start of the season versus the Rivermen after shutting them out in his first try, duplicated the feat in this one stopping all 34 shots in the 2-0 victory. The win improved Manitoba's record to 44-22-7-5 matching their win total and point total from last season. When Rochester fell 5-0 to the Syracuse Crunch later that night the Moose officially clinched their first North Division title.

The Moose finish off the regular season with their final two home games versus the Toronto Marlies on Friday, April 13th and Saturday, April 14th. The game on Friday is Toyota Vehicle Giveaway Night at the MTS Centre where one lucky fan will win a brand new 2007 Toyota Tundra or Tacoma. Saturday's game is Fan Appreciation night at the MTS Centre it's the final game of the regular season and the Moose want to thank all the fans for their fantastic support. There will be fantastic prizes all night long and fans will have the opportunity to win the "Shirt off a Moose player's back" as all of the player's jerseys from the game will be given away to fans after the game. There will also be a free post-game concert featuring Fresh I.E., Drew Brown, Malynda, Amanda Falke, Kerri Woelke, and the Muddy River Quartet.

MOOSE NOTES

Moose clinch the North: Manitoba's win over Peoria combined with Rochester's loss to Syracuse on Saturday night saw the Moose officially clinch their first North Division crown. Now with just two games left to play this season, Manitoba can shift their focus towards their first Western Conference regular season title and home ice-advantage through to the Calder Cup Final. The Moose currently hold a slim two point lead over the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (four games left to play) who are second in the Conference and just three points ahead of the Chicago Wolves (three games left) who are third.

Manitoba's Dynamic Duo: The goaltending tandem of Drew MacIntyre and Dov Grumet-Morris combined for back-to-back shutouts this week setting a new season high for consecutive shutout minutes in the process. The Moose have not surrendered a goal in 134:15 since David Van der Gulik scored at the 6:15 mark of the third period in Wednesday night's 3-2 loss to the Knights. Thanks to the shutout victory over Iowa on Friday, Moose goaltender Drew MacIntyre is now tied for sixth all-time in franchise history for most wins in a season with 23. MacIntyre is currently tied with Fred Brathwaite (1997-98) and Johan Hedberg (2000-01) and sits behind five others including Wade Flaherty who is tops on the list with 26 which he accomplished last season. If MacIntyre can maintain his current goals against average of 2.18, he would set a new Moose franchise standard (Wade Flaherty '04-05 - 2.33), as would his current save percentage of .922 (Wade Flaherty '05-06 - .919) for a goalie with a minimum of 20 appearances in a season. Dov Grumet-Morris has put up ridiculous numbers since joining the Moose on Mar. 18/07. The young goaltender has captured the backup goaltending duties thanks to his sparkling 0.32 GAA and a SV% of 0.991, while posting two shutouts in his three starts for the Moose this season. Grumet-Morris is now 2-0-1 for the Moose and is a combined 4-6-5 with a 2.19 GAA and 0.931 SV% in his 16 appearances this season with Portland, Hamilton and Manitoba.

As the season ends...: Jason Jaffray is now just one point shy of tying the second best season in Manitoba Moose history of 82 points (16G + 66A) set by Peter Sarno in 2004-05, Jaffray has set career highs with goals (35), assists (46), and points (81) this season... Brad Moran needs just two goals, and two points to match his career highs of 26G, 46A, and 72pts set with Syracuse in 2004-05, Moran has already tied his season high of 46 assists this season ... Lee Goren needs two points to match his season high of 69 set with Providence in 2002-03, Goren has set a new career high with 42 assists this season... Nathan Smith is just one goal shy of 20 for the season, it would mark the first time Smith has broken the 20-goal plateau in his pro career. Smith is having his best season in the AHL, setting career highs in goals (19), assists (21) and points (40)... Jesse Schultz is just two goals shy of 20 for the season. It would mark the second time Schultz tops 20 in his pro career after leading the Moose with 37 goals last season... The Moose reached the 100-point plateau for just the third time in franchise history with their 44th victory Saturday night in Peoria, Manitoba clinched their first ever North Division title in the process... The Moose are one win shy of setting a new record for home wins in a season at 25...

UPCOMING OPPONENT

Manitoba finishes their regular season by hosting the Toronto Marlies for a two-game series this Friday and Saturday at the MTS Centre. The Moose have dominated the Marlies so far this year, earning a perfect 6-0-0-0 record while outscoring them 26-9. The last time the Moose hosted the Marlies at the MTS Centre on Mar. 18/07 Manitoba jumped out to a 6-0 lead before surrendering two late third period goals and hanging on for the 6-2 victory. The Moose will be looking for their first ever series sweep of the Marlies with victories in both contests this weekend.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

#20 Brad Moran - Centre

Forward Brad Moran appeared in all three games for the Moose this week as the team went 2-1-0-0 to clinch first place in the North Division for the first time in their franchise history...Moran entered Wednesday's game versus Omaha on a nine-game pointless streak before collecting his 23rd goal of the season and adding an assist in a 3-2 losing effort...He followed that up with his 24th goal of the season Friday at Iowa and completed the week with an assist Saturday at Peoria...He completed the week with two goals and two assists for four points and fired six shots on net and finished the week at +2...As a result, Moran is 17th in scoring in the AHL with 24 goals and 46 assists for 70 points...His 46 assists leave him in seventh overall and ties his personal-high for assists in a season ('04-05)...He is two goals and two points shy of his personal highs in those categories also set in 2004-05 while with Syracuse...Thanks to Moran's efforts this past week, the Moose are still first in the Western Conference and ended their seven-game, 14-day road trip 3-3-0-1...



American Hockey League Stories from April 9, 2007


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