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Moose fed their first shootout loss in Hershey's hyped return

January 8, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


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

For the two hottest teams in the American Hockey League, both offences appeared ice cold through twenty minutes. It took six minutes and 42 seconds to register the first shot of the game off the stick of Hershey's Chris Bourque. The Bears would finish the period with shot advantage over the Moose, 8-6.

The first penalty of the game came at 13:16 of the first period care of the Moose's emergency call-up from the ECHL's Victoria Salmon Kings, defenceman Taylor Ellington. Ellington was one of only five defenceman dressed for the Moose tonight.

His high-sticking minor actually yielded the Moose's best scoring opportunity of the period as Guillaume Desbiens was stopped shorthanded from point-blank range off a Hershey giveaway. Hershey recorded a stick infraction of their own when Zach Miskovic was called for hooking at 17:27. Michael Grabner recorded the Moose's only shot on that fruitless powerplay.

In the early going, the most audible reactions from the crowd came whenever Hershey defenceman John Carlson touched the puck. The recent World Junior Championship hero (or villain, as recognized at MTS Centre tonight) played in Friday's game just three nights after clinching a gold medal for the U.S.

The second period started off to a much different tune. 13 seconds in and Hershey's vaunted offence struck as Andrew Gordon shelved a perfect feed from Alexandre Giroux. The Moose failed to even up the score on a powerplay shortly after when the Bears' captain Brian Helmer went away for hooking one minute into the frame.

Matt Pettinger finally sparked the home crowd at 16:52 of the second when he blew by the Bears' Helmer and slid the puck to the left when the goaltender Holtby was sliding right. The goal was Pettinger's seventh, but more importantly the lone assist was Matt Pope's first point of the season.

Then with 1:36 left, the Moose's Cory Schneider was forced to make not one, but two glorious breakaway saves on the Bears' Mathieu Perreault. Once with Moose defenceman Travis Ramsey chasing Perreault, and once more on the ensuing penalty shot called because of the interfering stick of Ramsey.

Moose defenceman Mathieu Schneider playing in his first AHL game in 20 professional seasons (keep in mind he's 40-years-old) made his presence known to Hershey's goalie Braden Holtby. Schneider unloaded bombs from the point all night, with several blocked by Bears' defenders. The shots after two periods were 22 for the Bears, 20 for the Moose, and 4 for Mathieu Schneider.

The intensity predicted in this bout finally began to surface midway through the third. After the play was blown down in the Hershey end, all players present gathered behind the net with Moose captain Mike Keane and Guillaume Desbiens predictably in the middle of the scrum. A minute later that scene would repeat itself, this time resulting in a pair of roughing penalties to Desbiens and the Bears' Keith Aucoin.

The game headed to overtime, thanks in large part to the efforts of Cory Schneider who robbed the Bears' Gordon of his second goal with about four seconds to play in the third. Gordon tried to stuff a rebound upstairs from in tight only to find the palm of Schneider's catcher.

Four-on-four hockey against the league's top offence should have spelt doom for the Manitoba Moose. But Schneider stopped four Hershey shots and the Moose survived the extra frame and made it to the shootout where they've been flawless this season (six wins, no losses). That record would be put to the absolute limit as it took 14 shooters to decide the contest. Ultimately, Hershey handed the Moose their first shootout loss of the season as the Bears' Andrew Gordon put home the eventual winner.



American Hockey League Stories from January 8, 2010


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