Moose get back to .500

Published on December 11, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


After dipping below the .500 mark with two losses to the North Division leading Rochester Americans at the MTS Centre early in the week, the Moose finished week 10 strong, battling back with a two-game sweep of the Peoria Rivermen to get back to the .500 mark on the season. The Moose are now 12-12-3-2 which leaves them third in the North Division standings with 29 points.

Tuesday night the Moose hosted the Rochester Americans in the third of eight scheduled meetings between the teams this season. The Moose played a strong game against the division leaders, taking a 2-1 lead into the third period of play. Unfortunately, for the home squad the visitors scored to tie the game and then with just under two minutes left in the game Marc Mancari scored his second goal of the third period to steal the victory for the Americans.

Wednesday night was like deja vu all over again for the Moose, as for the second night in a row the team took a 2-1 lead into the third period against the Rochester Americans, and for the second night in a row the visitors scored two third period goals including a last minute goal to pull out the victory. The loss was the fourth in a row for the Moose, a season high.

The Moose then hosted the Peoria Rivermen for a two-game weekend series. The first game on Friday was a breakout game for recently called up Milan Gajic. Playing in only his second game for the Moose, Gajic scored two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal in the second period to propel the home-side to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Rivermen. The goals were Gajic's first as a member of the Moose and first in 19 AHL games played.

The Moose then finished off their four-game home-stand Sunday with a strange result. Even though they were outshot 33-12, Drew MacIntyre stood on his head earning his first shutout of the season and his first as a member of the Moose in a 3-0 victory over the Rivermen. Jason Jaffray scored on just the second shot of the game for the Moose at 7:46 of the second period and Drew MacIntyre did the rest as the Moose added two goals in the third, including a last second empty-netter in the win.

The Moose held their second annual Great Manitoba Moose Teddy Bear Toss at the conclusion of the game on Sunday. The event was a tremendous success as 804 stuffed toys were collected, and will be presented to the Christmas Cheer Board to be included in their Christmas hampers.

The Moose now head out on a similar road trip to their Eastern Hershey/Philly trip a few weeks ago, as they go West this time to Houston and San Antonio. The team will start the road trip versus the Houston Aeros on Wednesday, December 13th at the Toyota Center before heading to San Antonio Friday, December 15th to start their third "3-in-3" of the season versus the Rampage at the SBC Center. The Moose will then head back to Houston on Saturday before finishing the Western swing in San Antonio on Sunday, December 17th.

MOOSE NOTES

Moose powerplay rolling along: Jason Jaffray's first period powerplay goal versus Peoria on Sunday extended the Moose's season-high streak of consecutive games with a powerplay marker to eight games. In fact, the team has managed to score on the powerplay in 15 of their last 17 contests with their last game without a powerplay goal coming on Nov. 25/06 in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Admirals at the MTS Centre. The Moose went 0-for-6 on the powerplay that night. Thanks to their current eight-game stretch the Moose have climbed eight places in the AHL powerplay rankings from 20th to 12th, currently holding a powerplay percentage of 16.6%.

Record vs West Division: This season the Manitoba Moose will play 28 games versus teams from the West Division. So far, they have only played six of those games and are 4-1-1-0 in that time. The team is currently in the midst of a six-game stretch against West Division opponents that will now take them to Houston and San Antonio after their two game sweep over Peoria this past weekend. The Moose will play 12 of their last 18 games of the season versus West Division teams, including a seven-game road trip in which they will play in seven different cities in 12 nights.

Moose back to .500: With their two-game sweep of the Peoria Rivermen on the weekend the Moose improved their home record to 6-6-1-1 at the MTS Centre and moved their overall record on the season to 12-12-3-2 getting back to the .500 mark for the second time this year.

Moran back on top: With two assists in the game versus the Peoria Rivermen on Sunday, Brad Moran retook the lead in team scoring for the Moose, passing Jason Jaffray with 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points in 24 games played. Moran is currently tied for sixth in league scoring with Alexandre Giroux of the Hershey Bears and Mathieu Darche of the Worcester Sharks. Moran had held the team lead in points to start the season, but an eye injury forced him to miss five games and Jason Jaffray took advantage as he has found his scoring touch this season. Jaffray still holds the team lead in goals for the Moose with 16 on the season, which leaves him sixth in the league in that category.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

The Moose start their four-game Texas tour with a Wednesday night contest at the Toyota Center with the Houston Aeros. The meeting will be the first of the season between the two clubs. The Moose hold an overall record of 12-11-0-1 in 24 meetings since joining the AHL against the Aeros and a record of 6-5-0-1 at the Toyota Center in Houston. The last time the Moose and Aeros played in Houston was on Nov. 6/05, where the Aeros edged out the Moose for a 3-2 victory.

The Moose will play their first two games of the season versus the San Antonio Rampage at the SBC Center this Friday and Sunday. The last time these two clubs faced each other in San Antonio the Moose scored five goals in the first two periods before coasting to a 5-1 victory on Nov. 5/05. The Moose hold an overall record of 8-4-0-4 in 12 meetings with the Rampage, including a 4-3-0-1 record at the SBC Center.

#1 Drew MacIntyre - Goalie

Drew MacIntyre made two of four starts for the Moose this week...He proved victorious in both his appearances to run his seasonal record now to 5-5-2...He allowed only one goal on 63 shots during the week and earned his first shutout of the season and second in the American Hockey League...He finished the week with a .50 goals against average and a .984 save percentage...As a result, MacIntyre is 13th in the AHL with a 2.50 goals against average in 12 starts and has a seasonal save percentage of .918 which is now 12th in the AHL.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 11, 2006


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