Moose Season Ends in Game 6

June 12, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose saw their 102-game season come to close on Friday night when the Hershey Bears were named the 2009 Calder Cup Champions with a 4-1 victory in Game 6. This is the 10th Calder Cup in the Bears history and the longest season the Moose have ever played. Mario Bliznak scored Manitoba's lone goal while Cory Schneider stopped 27 shots in his 22nd consecutive postseason appearance.

At 3:56 and on their second shot of the night, the Bears opened the scoring. With a crowd in front of Schneider's crease, Andrew Gordon caught the tender on his side and snapped the puck over him and into the net, 1-0.

The Bears didn't waste any time and earned some cushion room a mere 2:14 later. Chris Bourque teed the puck up at the point and drove it straight into the mesh for a 2-0 tally.

In the latter half of the first, Alexandre Giroux stole the puck at centre ice and escaped on a breakaway. Flying towards the net, the league's leading scorer backhanded the puck between Schneider's left skate and the left goal-post to give the visitors their third unanswered goal.

In the opening five-minutes of the second period, the Moose were caught with too-many men on the ice and Hershey was handed their third powerplay. Manitoba's penalty killers were sharp and stifled all the Bears attempts during the two-minutes.

The Moose broke their goose-egg at 11:03. Positioned directly in front of Neuvirth's crease, Mario Bliznak wired the puck past the left side of the rookie-tender for a 3-1 score.

With 43.6 seconds left in the second period, Manitoba earned their first powerplay when Darren Reid was penalized for slashing. Despite racking up three shots on the man-advantage, the Moose were unable to capitalize.

With 4:03 left in the game, Jay Beagle was forced to sit out with a delay of game penalty putting the Moose on a late advantage. Hershey was able to ice the puck on numerous occasions to kill the time and play returned to even-strength.

With 1:30 left to play, the Moose pulled Schneider from his crease in favor of an extra-attacker. With 20 seconds left, Keith Aucoin carried the puck over centre ice and confirmed the win with an empty netter. Hershey won their 10th Calder Cup in franchise history, beating Manitoba 4-1.



American Hockey League Stories from June 12, 2009


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