Moose Hit the Road after Weekend Split

Published on December 8, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


After enjoying a leisurely month of November which saw the team play its last six games at home in the span of 21 days, the Manitoba Moose now brace themselves for a demanding December. The team will play their next six games all on the road over 8 days, four of which are against divisional opponents. Considering the Moose are only 3-5-1-1 away from the Winnipeg Arena this season, the task will be a daunting one. The road trip opens up in Binghamton where the Senators are struggling after getting off to a fast start this season. The Moose will then play three games in less than 36 hours when they head to Syracuse to face the Crunch for the first-time ever Friday night, then travel to Cleveland for a date with the Barons early Saturday afternoon, and then finish up the week in Hamilton with a Sunday matinee against one of the league's best - the Bulldogs.

Last week, Manitoba faced the Rochester Americans for the first time in their history and came away with a split in the Winnipeg Arena. As a result, the Moose dropped to seventh in the North Division while the Amerks, who gained three of a possible four points due to an overtime loss Friday night, climbed into second place. Manitoba finished the week still four games under .500 with a record of 8-12-3-1, a point back of the Toronto Roadrunners for sixth.

Last Week (1-1-0)

Friday, December 5/03 – Rochester 3 @ Manitoba 4 (OT): The Moose accomplished a set of firsts with a 4-3 overtime win over the Americans last Friday night. It was the team's first win in the extraframe this season. It was also the first time they came from behind for victory when trailing after two periods. Pat Kavanagh scored the fastest goal for the Moose this season from the start of a game when he beat Ryan Miller :34 in. That extended his points scoring streak to a career-high 5 games. However, only four minutes later, rookie Derek Roy re-directed a Scott Ricci shot for his eighth and a 1-1 tie. In the middle frame, Pete Gardiner and Norm Milley, shorthanded, extended Rochester's lead to 3-1 before the Moose mounted a comeback in the third. First, Sean Pronger converted a Brandon Reid face-off win for his first goal of the season as a member of the Moose. Then, Reid fed Fedor Fedorov who one-timed his team-leading ninth of the season past Miller four minutes into the final frame. The Moose outshot the Americans 15-13 in a wide-open period and then 10-0 in overtime thanks to a Dominic Pittis hooking penalty. But with :20 remaining in the extra-frame, Kavanagh chipped in a Tomas Mojzis shot for the winner. Alex Auld was spectacular at times making 36 saves for the win. Miller was equally impressive making 38 stops. 3 Stars: 1.Alex Auld; 2.Ryan Miller; 3.Brandon Reid.

Saturday, December 6/03 – Rochester 3 @ Manitoba 1: The Amerks rebounded from a disappointing loss the night before to hand the Moose their seventh loss on home-ice this season. Norm Milley and Derek Roy led the way again offensively for Rochester while Ryan Miller was strong once again in the Amerks net. Roy opened the scoring with five minutes left in the first period on a patient play in front of Tyler Moss for his 10th of the season with Milley drawing the only assist. In the middle frame, Tyler Bouck's fourth of the season on the power play evened it up from Jaroslav Obsut and Jimmy Roy as the Moose outshot the Amerks 10-7 in the second. However, in the third period, Roy and Milan Bartovic set up Milley for the winner with almost seven minutes left, and then Pete Gardiner's second of the weekend into an empty net provided some insurance. Miller stopped 21 shots for his eighth win of the season while Moss got in the way of 23 and took the loss. As a result, the Moose dropped to 8-12-3-1 and into seventh in the North Division. 3 Stars: 1.Norm Milley; 2.Ryan Miller; 3.Tyler Bouck.

This Week

Wednesday, December 10/03 6:05 p.m. Manitoba (8-12-3-1) @ Binghamton (11-9-2-2) – The Moose will open a six-game road trip Wednesday when they travel to Binghamton for the first time in franchise history. The Moose and B-Sens have already met twice this season at the Arena with the Senators taking three of four points. On that weekend, Binghamton edged the Moose 2-1 and then the two played to a 2- all tie two nights later. Back then, the Senators were amongst the leaders in the AHL. However, now they have dropped to fourth in the East Division, four points out of third. They have only three wins in their last 10 games. Ray Emery is no longer a statistical leader amongst goalies in the AHL, but he still has eight wins in 18 appearances. However, his goals against average is 2.38 and his save percentage has dipped to .917. Denis Hamel is still the team's scoring leader with 11 goals and 20 points, along with Josh Langfeld, who recently returned from Ottawa. Langfeld has nine goals and 20 points. While the B-Sens have the 13th ranked power play in the AHL, they possess the fourth-worst penalty-killing average in the league at 82.5%.

Friday, December 12/03 6:30 p.m. Manitoba @ Syracuse (11-9-2-0) – The Moose will meet the Crunch, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, for the first time in their franchise history when the two meet at the Ononganda War Memorial on Friday. The Crunch will be the fifth team the Moose face so far this season for the first time ever. They are tied for third in the North Division, five points ahead of the Moose entering the week and come in having won four of their last 10. The Crunch are Moose forward Sean Pronger's former team as Pronger was acquired in a trade with Syracuse for Zenith Komarniski back on October 30th. Within the North Division, the Crunch are 8-5-3-0. Offensively, they possess the league's most potent power play with a success rate of 18.8%. Brad Moran is one of the Crunch's top scorers with seven goals and 18 points through 23 games. He's tied with Don MacLean who has five goals among his 18 points. Tim Jackman has also potted seven goals this season. In goal, Pascal Leclaire boasts a goals against average of 2.42 with seven wins in 14 appearances and a save percentage of .933. Syracuse has only lost twice on home-ice this season in 10 games.

Saturday, December 13/03 12:00 p.m. Manitoba @ Cleveland (9-7-3-3) – Less than 24 hours their game in Syracuse, the Moose will face-off with another opponent for the first-time ever when they take on the Cleveland Barons. Its will be the first of two meetings between the two in four days. The Barons are four points up Manitoba for fifth in the North, a point back of Syracuse and St. John's for third. Within their own division, the Barons are 5-6-3-2. The Crunch are led by Miroslav Zalesak who has eight goals and 22 points in 22 games. He is 10th in scoring in the AHL. Rookie defenceman Garrett Stafford has also stepped up offensively as he is among the league leaders in rookie scoring and scoring amongst defenceman with five goals and 14 points. In goal, Seamus Kotyk has just been returned to the Barons by the San Jose Sharks while Dmitri Patzold has five wins in 13 appearances with a 2.54 goals against average and a save percentage of .922. The Barons are actually two games below .500 at home with a 4-6- 1-1 record.

Sunday, December 14/03 3:00 p.m. Manitoba @ Hamilton (16-9-1-1) – Manitoba plays its third of four straight games against divisional opponents when they head to Copps Coliseum Sunday afternoon to face the Bulldogs. Hamilton entered the week tied for the most points in the entire AHL with 34. They 10- 4-0-1 at home with the league's leading scorer, Benoit Gratton, leading the way. Gratton has 12 goals and 30 points in 22 games. Jozef Balej and Pierre Dagenais are also in the top 20 scorers. Balej has 11 goals and 24 points while Dagenais has 12 goals and 21 points in 20 games. Tomas Plekanec also has 20 points in total this season. As a team, the ‘Dogs have scored the second-most goals in the league with 78. They are 12-7-0-0 within the North Division including a pair of wins earlier this season over the Moose, 3-1 and 5-0 back in October at the Arena. In goal, former Moose Eric Fichaud has 10 wins with a 2.39 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. Jean-Francois Damphousse has a 2.37 goals against average and a .902 save percentage, but only six wins this season. The Bulldogs are the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. This will be Manitoba's first visit to Hamilton since being eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final last season in seven games.

Moose Notes

- Centre Pat Kavanagh enters the week once again as the hottest Moose. He had a five-game points scoring streak ended on Saturday, but still had eight points over the last six games (5G,3A).

- Sean Pronger's goal Friday night in the 4-3 OT win over Rochester was his first as a Moose since April 7, 2001. He had two goals this season with Syracuse, but had yet to score since being traded to Manitoba until Friday night.

- Pronger currently has an eight-game penalty streak going. Over those eight games, he has accumulated 16 penalty minutes.

- Tyler Moss is the 15th ranked goalie in the AHL with a 2.20 goals against average, but he has only two wins to his credit through nine appearances. He has a save percentage of .917.

- Tyler Bouck has scored eight points over the last eight games (3G,5A). Jimmy Roy has eight points over the last 10 games (5G,3A).

- Defenceman Martin Grenier may return from injury for the Moose during this upcoming road trip. After scoring one goal in the first 12 games of the season, he has missed the last 12 games with post-concussion syndrome.

- Defenceman Jaroslav Obsut has six points in his last six games (2G,4A). He is tied for seventh in scoring amongst the league's defencemen. He has five goals and 13 points in 24 games.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 8, 2003


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