Moose Ring in New Year with Winning Week

January 5, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Last Week (2-1-1)

Monday, December 29/03 Cleveland 2 @ Manitoba 4

Moose Goal Scorers: Jimmy Roy, Pat Kavanagh, Brandon Nolan, Justin Morrison

Moose Assists: Kavanagh, Tyler Bouck, Kirill Koltsov, Roy, Nolan Baumgartner, Sean Pronger, Brandon Reid.

Moose Goalie Saves: Tyler Moss 22 saves on 24 shots

Storyline: Moose comeback for only second win when trailing after one period...score three consecutive in second period to take the lead...Roy, Kavanagh finish with goal, assist each...move within point of Barons for fourth in North Division.

Wedenesday, December 31/03 Cleveland 5 @ Manitoba 2

Moose Goal Scorers: Pat Kavanagh, Martin Grenier

Moose Assists: Jimmy Roy, Nathan Smith, Brandon Nolan

Moose Goalie Saves: Tyler Moss stopped 19 of 23 shots.

Storyline: Moose go 0-9 on the power play on the afternoon...fire a team record 25 shots on net in first period, but fail to score...Barons' Seamus Kotyk makes 48 saves on 50 shots...Miroslav Zalesak scores hat trick – now has nine points in four games against the Moose this season...Brad Boyes adds three assists... Cleveland moves three points up on Manitoba for third in North Division.

Friday, January 2/04 Utah 3 @ Manitoba 3 (OT)

Moose Goal Scorers: Brandon Nolan, Martin Grenier, Justin Morrison

Moose Assists: Kirill Koltsov, Brandon Reid (2), Brandon Nolan, Mikko Jokela, Nathan Smith

Moose Goalie Saves: Tyler Moss made 21 saves on 24 shots.

Storyline: After the Grizzlies jumped out to 3-1 lead after two periods of play, Moose score two goals in :24 to tie the game...second time Moose managed to earn a tie this season when trailing after two periods of play...Brandon Reid collects two assists...Martin Grenier scores his second goal in two games...Moose stay within three points of fourth-place Cleveland in North Division.

Saturday, January 3 /04 Utah 2 @ Manitoba 4

Moose Goal Scorers: Tyler Bouck (3), Brandon Nolan

Moose Assists: Dallas Eakins, Jaroslav Obsut, Chris Nielsen, Brandon Reid, Justin Morrison

Moose Goalie Saves: Tyler Moss made 17 saves on 19 shots.

Storyline: Tyler Bouck scores his first hat-trick of his four-year pro career...Moose took 3-1 lead half way through second period...Moss starts 15th straight game...Obsut records first point since returning from Vancouver...Morrison, Nolan extend point streaks...Eakins records only third assist of season...Manitoba moves within point of Syracuse and St. John's for fourth in North Division; are one point behind Cleveland for third.

This Week's Opponents

St. John's Maple Leafs – Tuesday, Jan. 6 & 7, 2004 5:05 p.m. Mile One Stadium

The Moose open their longest road trip of the season in St. John's against the Maple Leafs....the trip will see them play eight games in 12 days...AHL leading rookie scorer Kyle Wellwood leads the way for St. John's with 29 points (7g, 22a) while former Moose Brad Leeb has 15 goals and 27 points....defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo has 18 points (4g, 14a) in 32 games to lead the St. John's blueliners....after spending the majority of the season in Toronto due to Trevor Kidd's injury, Mikael Tellqvist is back with the Leafs and is putting up strong numbers. In 11 games, he has a 2.37 goals -against average and .921 save percentage to go along with a 6-5-0 record... so far this season, the Moose and Maple Leafs have played four times with each team taking two wins. Manitoba's victories came on October 13 (6-2) and October 19 (4-1) while St. John's came out on top on October 11 (5-4) and October 18 (3-1)...historically, the Moose have a winning record over St. John's since joining the AHL in 2001-02. The team's record versus the Baby Leafs is 10-9-0-1 over 20 meetings.

Rochester Americans – Friday, Jan. 9, 2004 6:35 p.m. & Sunday, Jan. 11, 2004 5:05 p.m. Blue Cross Arena

The Moose continue their road trip with two games in three days in Rochester...play Hamilton in between...Americans are second in the North Division (17-10-5-3 entering week), six points back of Hamilton...are third in the entire western conference...enter the week on a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1-0)...allowed only 82 goals all season, but scored only 79...are fifth in the league in goals against/game (2.26) but are 22nd in the league in goals for/game (2.30)...are 12-4-2-0 at the Blue Cross Arena so far this season...with Ryan Miller in Buffalo, the Amerks will rely on tom Askey in net. Askey has goals against average of 2.39 and a save percentage of .917 in six wins in 12 appearances...Jason Pominville is Rochester's leading scorer (10th in the AHL) with 15 goals and 32 points in 33 games; is second in league with 10 power play goals...Domenic Pittis is next with six goals and 26 points, a league-leading 13 of them coming on the power play...former Moose captain and former all-time leader in terms of games played Brian Chapman is an alternate captain for the Americans...the two teams split their first two meetings ever earlier this season at the Winnipeg Arena (5-4 OTW on Dec. 5/03 & 1-3L on Dec. 6/03).

Hamilton Bulldogs – Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004 2:30 p.m. Copps Coliseum (on Rogers Sportsnet)

The Bulldogs are the second-best team in the entire American Hockey League with a 21-13-5-1 record, six points up on the Americans for first in the North Division...have swept all three meetings with Moose this season (1-2L on Oct. 22/03, 0-5L on Oct. 24/03, & 2-4L on Dec. 14/03)...are 14-6-1-2 at Copps Coliseum this season...are fourth in league in goals for/game (2.85) and eighth in goals against/game (2.33)...led by Jozef Balej who's fourth in AHL scoring with 21 goals and 39 points (second in league in goal-scoring)...forward Benoit Gratton is also among the top 20 scorers (13G,21A), but at beginning of the week, was injured while up with the Montreal Canadiens...top goalie is Jean-Francois Damphousse with 2.18 GAA and a .915 save %; has 10 wins in 19 appearances...historically, the Moose are 7-14-1-1 against the Bulldogs since joining the AHL, including being eliminated by Hamilton in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final in seven games last season.

Moose Notes

- Tyler Moss set a new franchise mark for the most consecutive starts by a Moose goaltender last week when he started his 15th consecutive game on January 3, 2004. the old mark was held by Fred Brathwaite who started 14 straight back in 1997.

- Rookie Brandon Nolan, Manitoba's nominee for AHL Player of the Week, is currently on a team-high six game point streak. He has four goals and three assists in those six games. Since his recall from Columbia back on Dec. 6, he has 13 points (6G,7A).

- Rookie Ryan Kesler, the youngest player to suit up in the AHL this season, was part of the USA World Junior Hockey team that won gold this week. In the tournament, Kesler had three goals, including a goal in the 4-3 Gold Medal final win over Canada.

- Defenceman Jaroslav Obsut returned from his second recall of the season to the Vancouver Canucks and recorded an assist on Jan. 3 /04. Obsut is now tied for fifth in league scoring amongst defenceman with eight goals and 12 assists. His eight goals are the most in the league amongst blueliners.

- During their recently completed four-game homestand, the Moose averaged 43 shots/game while allowing 23 shots/game. The Moose took a season-high 50 shots on Dec. 31/03 and allowed a season-low of 19 on Jan. 3 /04



American Hockey League Stories from January 5, 2004


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