Moose Earn A Single Point In Week 15

January 11, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose hosted the Hershey Bears for their first meeting since last year's Calder Cup Finals. The Moose were hoping for revenge but could only earn a single point, out of four, over the visiting Bears. The club sacrificed their first shootout loss of the season on Friday night in a 2-1 decision and lost the rematch in regulation by a 3-2 score.

Friday, January 8, 2010: Manitoba 1, Hershey 2 (SO) Manitoba Moose fans finally got one more game against the Hershey Bears. Unfortunately they were wishing for it seven months ago during game six of last year's Calder Cup finals. Chances are a game seven would have been more intense than this, but the 7,779 in attendance must have been entertained by the Hershey Bears's 2-1 shootout win over the hometown Moose.

Saturday, January 9, 2010: Manitoba 2, Hershey 3 The Manitoba Moose failed to get revenge on the reigning Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears on Saturday night dropping a 3-2 decision in front of 7,784 on home turf. Marco Rosa and Sergei Shirokov both notched goals for Manitoba while Cory Schneider made 23 of 26 saves.

Moose Notes

BLUELINE SHUFFLE: Due to injuries to Lawrence Nycholat, Geoff Waugh, and Nathan McIver, along with Evan Oberg's first NHL call-up this past weekend, Manitoba's blueline has been in constant flux. Even with the arrivals of Mathieu Schneider and ECHL call-up Taylor Ellington, the team was strapped for healthy bodies in last Friday's game against Hershey and only dressed five defencemen. Jimmy Sharrow was recalled from the ECHL's Victoria Salmon Kings and joined the team on Saturday for his first appearance with the Moose since December 7, 2008.

OBERG IN THE SHOW: Twenty-one year-old rookie defenceman Evan Oberg was called up by the Vancouver Canucks last week for a game against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 9. It was Oberg's first NHL game and he played eights shifts for 5:24 of ice time. The Flames won the game 3-2 in a shootout. Oberg leads all Moose defencemen in points this season with 13 (1g & 12a) in 33 games.

LET'S HERE IT FOR THE POPE: It took 15 games and half of a season but Matt Pope recorded his first point of the season Friday night against Hershey in the 2-1 SOL. Pope assisted on Manitoba's lone goal scored by Matt Pettinger in the second period of Friday's game. Pope now joins the Manitoba's one-point club alongside teammates Geoff Waugh (21gp, 1a) and Dusty Collins (36gp, 1g).

Upcoming Opponents

The Manitoba Moose are playing the Abbotsford Heat for the fifth time this season but are visiting Abbotsford for the first time on Tuesday, January 12. The previous four meetings have taken place at MTS Centre where the Moose have beaten the Heat in three of four games, twice in a shootout. The Moose will close-out their double header on Wednesday, January 13th.

Player of the Week Nominee

Cory Schneider

For the third time this season, Moose goaltender Cory Schneider is the nominee for AHL Player of the Week... This week, the Marblehead, Massachusetts native stopped 56 of 60 total shots in a doubleheader against the reigning Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears... On Friday, January 8, 2010 the Moose sacrificed their first shootout loss to the Bears depite Schneider making 33 of 34 saves... He also set aside three of seven shootout attempts for second-star honours... He then stopped 23 of 26 shots in the rematch -- but his club fell 3-2 to the Bears from Hershey... So far this season, Schneider holds a 17-9-1 record, 2.22 GAA and 0.924 save percentage... He is tied for second place in the league with 17 wins and is first overall in shootouts...



American Hockey League Stories from January 11, 2010


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