Moose move on to AHL final four

May 18, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Similar to the previous round, the Manitoba Moose swept all three games at home to win the North Division Final four games to one over the league's top team, the Rochester Americans. The Moose overcame a 4-2 deficit with ten minutes remaining to tie the game and ended up winning 5-4 thanks to Jeff Heerema's overtime goal Monday. On Wednesday, Jimmy Roy scored with just over three minutes to play as the Moose ground out a 2-1 victory. Friday, Josh Green's natural hat trick in the second period was the difference as the Moose defeated the Amerks 5-2. The Moose now move on to the Western Conference Final where they will meet long-time rivals the Chicago Wolves. The first two games are set for the Allstate Arena this Thursday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

MOOSE NOTES

We Meet Again: This week marks the beginning of the fourth playoff match-up in the history between the Chicago Wolves and Manitoba Moose with the Wolves having captured all three previous series during their days together in the International Hockey League. The two have never met during the American Hockey League playoffs.

Overall, the Moose are 2-10 against the Wolves and 1-6 at the Allstate Arena. The Wolves have outscored the Moose 42-25 over those 12 games which occured in 1998 (3-0 sweep), 1999 (3-game sweep), and 2001 (4-games-to-2). The only two players who saw action in previous playoff games between the Wolves and Moose are Chicago captain Steve Maltais and Moose forward Jimmy Roy.

Getting it All Started: Thursday's Game 1 between the Manitoba Moose and Chicago Wolves at the Allstate Arena will mark the third consecutive time this playoff season the Moose have opened a playoff series on the road. So far, the Moose are 1- 1 after beating the St. John's Maple Leafs 5-3 in Game 1 of the North Division Semi-Final, but losing 4-2 to the Rochester Americans in Game 1 of the North Division Final. In fact, the Moose have opened a playoff series on home ice only once in their history. They are 6-7 in Game 1's played in the opposition building in their history and are 1-2 in Game 1's played in the Allstate Arena. The lone Moose victory was a 4-1 triumph back in the 2001 IHL Western Conference Final.

Turning the Trick: Josh Green's hat trick in Game 5 of the North Division Final against the Rochester Americans was only the third playoff hat trick in Manitoba Moose playoff history. Ryan Ready (04/18/02 – 6-3W vs. BRI) & Bill Bowler (04/23/99 – 4-3W vs. MIL) are the two other players to score three goals in one Moose playoff game in the team's history. It was Green's first professional hat trick.

Other Moose Playoff Milestones: This year's playoff run by the Manitoba Moose has had a significant impact upon the Manitoba Moose playoff record book. Entering this week, Jimmy Roy and Lee Goren are now tied for the all-time lead in Moose playoff goals scored with nine. However, while Roy has scored his nine goals over 52 playoff games, Goren has scored nine goals in just 10 games... Roy is, however, now tied for the all-time lead in Moose playoff scoring with three other players at 16 points. Bill Bowler, Justin Kurtz, and Brett Hauer also have 16 points for the Moose in their playoff history... Roy is still tied with John Craighead for the most penalty minutes in a playoff season at 32. Craighead accumulated 32 penalty minutes in 14 games in the 2003 playoff season... Manitoba Moose goalie Wade Flaherty has already surpassed Tyler Moss for the most wins all-time by a Moose goalie in the playoffs. Wade Flaherty now has eight wins entering this week. Moss had six wins in 10 playoff appearances.

Uncharted Territory: Thursday's Game 1 of the Western Conference Final between the Chicago Wolves and Manitoba Moose will mark the latest the Moose have ever begun a playoff series. The Moose have won two series in a playoff season only once before, however, back in 2003, neither one of those series was a best-of-seven. The Moose defeated the Portland Pirates in 2-1 in the best-ofthree qualifying series before downing the Providence Bruins 3-1 in a best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarter-Final. The Moose then lost out that season to the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-3 in their only best-of-seven series – the Eastern Conference Semi-Final.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Chicago Wolves

Thursday, May 19, 7:00 p.m. TV: TBA

Saturday, May 21, 7:00 p.m. Radio: CJOB 68

Venue: Allstate Arena

The Moose will open the Western Conference Final with two games this week, Thursday and Saturday at the Allstate Arena versus the Chicago Wolves... The Wolves have never lost a playoff series in their 11-year history when opening at the Allstate Arena (14-0)... During the regular season, Chicago defeated Manitoba three times while the lone Moose victory was a 6-0 win on January 1 at the MTS Centre... Notre Dame de Lourdes, Manitoba native J.P. Vigier led the way for Chicago during the regular season against Manitoba with five points in four games. Lonny Bohonos (four games), Greg Hawgood (three games) and Jay Bouwmeester (two games) had two goals each... Vigier was Chicago's leading point-getter in the regular season with 70 points (29g, 41a) but is tied for seventh on the team in the postseason with two goals and three assists in ten games... Cory Larose leads the way in the playoffs for the Wolves with ten points (6g, 4a) in 10 games... Bouwmeester has no points in the playoffs so far over 10 games, while the other late-season acquisition Stephen Weiss has one goal and four assists in 10 games... Bouwmeester is tied for second on the team with a +7 rating. The team leader is Travis Roche with a +9... Enforcer Kip Brennan has 70 PIM in 10 games... Chicago's powerplay during the regular season was 16.1% (10th in the AHL) and their penalty killing was 84.5% (16th in the AHL)... In the playoffs, their powerplay is 13th in the league at 10.3% and their penalty kill is 89.8% for second in the league... In goal, Kari Lehtonen has put up stellar numbers so far, with a 1.62 goals-against average and .944 save percentage along with a 6-2 record. Michael Garnett has also filled in admirably in the two games Lehtonen missed due to injury. Garnett is 2-0 with a 1.51 GAA and .957 spct... Among other Wolves playoff notables, Bohonos has eight points (1g, 7a) in 10 games and Steve Maltais has five points (2g, 3a) in 10 games.

CALDER CUP MOOSE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Josh Green

3 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 PTS, 10 SHOTS

The Calder Cup Player of the Week for the Manitoba Moose for the period of May 9 through May 16 is forward Josh Green. In three games, Green registered six points including four goals and ten shots on goal. Monday, Green had a pair of assists and scored the game-tying goal en route to Manitoba's 5-4 overtime victory over the Americans. Friday, Green had a natural hat trick in the second period including the series-winning goal to lift the Moose to a 5-2 win against the Amerks and a 4-1 win in the best-of-seven North Division Final.



American Hockey League Stories from May 18, 2005


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