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Moose Finish as Ninth Seed

April 8, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Moose finished the regular season with five games, four on the road. The team went 2-2-1-0 over the week. They ended their seven game road trip with a win in Quebec, an overtime win in Chicago, a tie and loss in Hamilton. The last regular season game was at home – in front of a franchise record crowd of 13,985 – versus Grand Rapids and Manitoba was defeated 5-2. The squad finished with 86 points and a ninth seed in the Eastern Conference. They will now travel on the road and face the Worcester IceCats starting Tuesday.

Last week: Monday, Apr. 1 - Manitoba 5 vs. Quebec 3: Starting the game, the visitors stormed the Quebec net and were rewarded with an early marker from Ryan Ready. The Moose continued to pressure the home side and found the back of the net two more times before the first ended. After one, Manitoba led 3-0. In the second frame, Quebec mounted a comeback with two unanswered goals. The hosts closed the gap to one again when Mike Ribeiro was awarded and scored successfully on a penalty shot. The Moose ended the five goal second period with a goal from Jimmy Roy. In the final period, Manitoba withstood 12 shots directed at Alfie Michaud. Michaud was solid in the nets and stopped all shots in the third and registered his 16th AHL victory of the season. Overall, Quebec outshot Manitoba 33-21.

Wednesday, Apr. 3 - Manitoba 5 vs. Chicago 4 (OT): At the start of the game, Kamil Piros scored his 19th of the season. Moose defenceman Darrell Hay tied the score for the first time. Chicago took the lead back with a goal with one second remaining in the period from Derek MacKenzie. Andre Savage notched his team leading 35th goal for the Moose in the second and the contest was deadlocked at two after two periods. In the final frame, there was another two lead changes. In the overtime session, Chicago blasted six shots at Moose goalie Alex Auld while the Moose capitalized when rookie Brandon Reid counted his 17th for the game winner. Jimmy Roy accounted for a three point (1G, 2A) night. Auld won his fifth straight game against the Wolves this season.

Friday, Apr. 5 - Manitoba 2 vs. Hamilton 2 (OT): The first period had no scoring with good chances at both ends but the goalies were equal to the task. Moose forward Jimmy Roy started the scoring in the second period. It was his team-leading fourth shorthanded marker of the season. Manitoba took a 1-0 lead into the third. Hamilton broke the shutout bid of Moose netminder Alfie Michaud at the 4:43 mark when Peter Sarno notched his 12th of the season. Pat Kavanagh tipped in a point shot from Zenith Komarniski for a 2-1 lead. This was Kavanagh's 13th marker. With under one minute left in the frame, Brad Leeb pocketed his 13th goal to take the game into overtime. Both team battled for the extra point but to no avail. The final score was 2-2.

Saturday, Apr. 6 - Manitoba 3 vs. Hamilton 4: The hosts started the scoring with a tally from Jason Chimera at the one minute mark. Manitoba rebounded with two unanswered markers for a 2-1 Moose lead. Hamilton scored a late first period goal and after one, the score was tied at two. In the second, Moose forward Jimmy Roy pocketed his 16th of the season. The visitors held a 3-2 margin going into the final frame. In the third, Hamilton fired the tying goal from Greg Leeb. Both teams had good chances to register the go-ahead goal and it wasn't until the 19:21 mark when Chimera capped his night with a hat trick tally for the 4-3 Bulldog victory. This was only the second time the Moose had lost in regulation after leading after two periods. The Moose had still taken 10 out of a possible 14 points on their seven game road trip.

Sunday, Apr. 7 - Grand Rapids 5 vs. Manitoba 2: Before a franchise record crowd of 13,985 the Moose played their final regular season game. In the first period, Manitoba jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Alexei Tezikov blasted a point shot for his fifth. Grand Rapids tied the score when Tim Skarperud fired the first of his two goals in the game. Griffins' Jeff Ulmer notched another shorthanded marker later in the period before the Moose tied the score. Moose defenceman Darrell Hay fired his fifth of the season. After one, it was deadlocked at two. In the middle frame, Skarperud scored the eventual game winner and Colin Chaulk added his third for a 4-2 lead going into the third. Manitoba tried to rally by rifling 20 shots on Griffins' goalie Simon Lajeunesse but to no avail. The visitors added one late marker and won 5-2. Manitoba was denied their 40th victory of the season and a chance to advance to a higher seed. Manitoba finished the regular season with an average attendance of over 7,000 per game (7,043/game).

Up Next: Manitoba (39-33-4-4) vs. Worcester (39-33-7-1) - Tues., Apr. 9, Wed., Apr. 10 and Thurs., Apr. 11 (if necessary) - 6:00 p.m.

T.V.: none Radio: CJOB - 5:35 p.m.

IceCats Watch: Worcester started the week with a 8-2 drubbing of Hartford on Wednesday, then lost 2-1 to Manchester on Friday, lost and won a home-and-home series with Portland to end their regular season. They finished with 86 points and the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The team is lead by AHL MVP Eric Boguniecki who had 38 goals and 46 assists for 84 points and the third best shooting percentage at 21.0%. The centreman had the team high for +/- at +22. He finished second in league scoring just behind Donald MacLean at 87 points. Justin Papineau and Boguniecki tied for the league lead in goals with 38. Jame Pollock had a hat trick against Hartford last week. The team scored 245 goals for the seventh best in the league. The team had the seventh best goals average per game at 3.06 (80GP/245G). They averaged 35.36 (80GP/2829S) shots per game during the regular season, good for second in the league. The Ice Cats scored 12 shorthanded tallies for a tie for ninth best in the AHL. Worcester had the second best power play at 20.1%.

Notes:

- Forward Steve Kariya and Andre Savage were the two Moose players to reach 60 points this season. Kariya had 62 points and Savage finished with 61. Kariya led the team in assists at 37 and Savage had the team lead in goals at 35 and power play tallies at 12. Kariya totals for goals, assists and points are all new personal pro career highs while Savage has established new personal pro highs for goals.

- Left winger Jimmy Roy established a new franchise plus/minus rating record. Roy was a +1 during the 5-2 loss to Grand Rapids on Sunday. The Sioux Lookout, ON native finished the regular season with a +22 rating bettering the previous mark of +17 set by four different players (most recently Brian Chapman last year). Defenceman Rene Vydareny and former Moose Bryan Helmer notched the second best mark at +18.

- Manitoba finished in first place in the AHL for goals average per game at 3.38 (80GP/270G). The team was first in the league for overall goals scored at 270. The 270 goals was the second most by the team in franchise history (271, 1994-95) and most by a Manitoba Moose team. The Moose created those goal opportunities by shooting a league fifth best average for shots per game at 31.96 (80GP/2557S).

- Forward Jason Cipolla contributed three assists over the week. During the seven game road trip, Cipolla notched two goals (one game winner) and four assists. He finished in a seventh place tie with 33 points (12 goals and 17 assists).

- Justin Kurtz play in his 223rd career game as a Moose. This will move him into fourth place, past assistant coach Scott Arniel ('96-99) and Michael Stewart ('97-00), in franchise history. The Winnipeg, MB native led Moose defenceman in scoring with 39 points (10G, 29A). Kurtz has already established pro highs for assists and points during this season with the Moose.

- Alfie Michaud led the goalies with a 2.68 Avg., a .907 Save Pct. and a 16-10-1 record. He had four shutouts over the regular season and established a new scoreless streak record for the franchise.

- Ryan Ready was selected as the team's Most Valuable Player. He accumulated 55 points (23 goals, 32 assists) and had nine power play tallies. Jimmy Roy won for the second time the Community Service Award and was selected, in the inaugural year, as Most Popular Player voted by the fans. Defenceman Brian Chapman was honoured for the second consecutive year as Best Defenceman. Goaltender Alfie Michaud was presented with the Three Star Champion Award. Steve Kariya earned the Leading Scorer Award with his 62 points and defenceman Rene Vydareny was selected as the Unsung Hero Award.

- The team had 11 active players with 30 points in the regular season. There were seven active Moose players with 15 or more goals and eight players with 20 or more assists in the 2001-02 regular season.

- Brad Leeb and Pat Kavanagh blasted five GWG for the team lead. Jimmy Roy had a team-leading four SHG.

- Regan Darby led Moose players with 196 PIM total.

- At 82.2% (323 for 393), the Moose penalty killing ranked 20th in the AHL regular season.

- At 16.4% (67 for 409), Manitoba's power play ranked 14th in the AHL regular season.



American Hockey League Stories from April 8, 2002


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