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Moose snag five of eight in Texas

December 19, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Moose earned five of a possible eight points in week 11, as they did the "Texas two-step"on their four-game tour of "The Lonestar State". The Moose started the week on Wednesday in Houston with a 4-1 victory before heading to San Antonio on Friday and earning a 6-1 win versus the Rampage. On Saturday the team travelled back to Houston where the Aeros rebounded to defeat the Moose 3-1 and then Manitoba headed back to San Antonio to conclude their four-game tour of Texas with a 4-3 overtime loss. The trip leaves the Moose third in the North Division standings at 14-13-4-2 for a total of 34 points, just one point behind the second place Hamilton Bulldogs who the Moose will host for two games this week.

Wednesday night the Moose started their four-game tour of Texas with their first of four scheduled meetings versus the Houston Aeros this season. The Moose played a strong road game against the Aeros, getting offensive contributions from unexpected sources as Maxime Fortunus and Adam Keefe both scored their first goals of the season. Drew MacIntyre continued his strong play, as he stopped 35 of 36 saves earning his third straight victory.

Friday night the Moose blew open a 2-1 game with 10:00 left in the third period to rout the Rampage 6-1. Wade Flaherty improved his record versus his former team to a perfect 8-0, making 18 saves along the way. While Brad Moran scored two goals and added an assist to move his points streak to seven games in the victory.

Saturday the Moose returned to Houston, where the Aeros were out for revenge for the 4-1 defeat suffered earlier in the week to Manitoba. Josh Harding was the big difference in this game for the Aeros, as he stopped 38 of 39 shots enroute to the 3-1 victory. The Aeros scored the first three goals of the game and then watched as Harding turned away all but one opportunity, snapping the Moose's season-long four-game winning streak in the process.

The Moose then finished off their four-game road trip Sunday with an afternoon contest in San Antonio. The Moose got down two goals early before battling back with three straight goals of their own to take the lead. The Rampage were resilient however, as they pulled goalie David LeNeveu with under 2:00 left. Yanick Lehoux scored his second goal of the game with the extra attacker to tie it and send the game into overtime, where Donald MacLean scored just :47 seconds into OT to give San Antonio the extra point in the standings. The Moose finished their third "3-in-3" stretch of the season with a 1-1-1 record.

The Moose now return home where they will host the Hamilton Bulldogs in a battle for second place in the North Division standings. The Moose trail the Bulldogs by just a single point in the standings and will play on Wednesday, December 20th and Thursday, December 21st before taking a few days for the Christmas break.

MOOSE NOTES

Moose special teams streaks end on the road: Manitoba's streak of scoring at least one powerplay goal in consecutive games came to an end at ten games, as they failed to score in four powerplay chances versus the Houston Aeros on Saturday night. The team had managed to score on the powerplay in 17 of their previous 19 contests heading into that game, climbing eight spots in the AHL powerplay rankings from 20th to 12th thanks to that stretch. The Moose currently hold a powerplay percentage of 17.2%. The Moose's streak of games not allowing a powerplay goal against also came to an end on their Texas road trip, giving up the game-winning goal in overtime to San Antonio on the powerplay. It was the first goal that the Moose had surrendered in seven games on the penalty-kill. Manitoba's penalty-killing has climbed to second in the AHL with an 88.6% success rate along the way.

Record in 3-in-3's: The Manitoba Moose went 1-1-1-0 on their most recent "three-games-in-three-nights" stretch this past weekend in Texas. The Moose won their first game of the stretch on Friday in San Antonio 6-1 (12/15), before losing on Saturday in regulation at Houston 3-1 (12/16), and then losing in overtime at San Antonio on Sunday 4-3 (12/17). Having now played three of their five scheduled 3-in-3 stretches this season, the Moose are now 3-5-1-0 on the year and have moved their overall record to 33-33-6-6 in games played during such stretches. The Moose have two 3-in-3 stretches left to play this season: Feb. 23-25/07 (vs. Rochester, Syracuse, and Toronto) and Mar. 16-18/07 (two games in Grand Rapids followed by a trip to Peoria). In 3-in-3 match-ups last season, the Moose were 10-6-4-1.

Moran assists streak snapped: Brad Moran failed to register a point in the 4-3 overtime loss to the San Antonio Rampage on Sunday, which ended his season-long assists streak at seven games. Moran collected 11 points in that seven-game stretch scoring two goals and nine assists, taking over the team scoring lead in the process. Moran currently has 36 points in 28 games this season and sits sixth in league scoring.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

The Moose host Hamilton in back-to-back games on Wednesday, December 20th and Thursday, December 21st this week in a battle for second place in the North Division standings. The Moose and Bulldogs have split their first two meetings of the season, with Hamilton winning the first matchup 5-3 on Oct. 6/06, and the Moose winning at Copps Coliseum for the first time in over two years with a 5-4 victory on Nov. 21/06. This will mark the first meeting between the clubs at the MTS Centre this season. The last time these two teams played at the MTS Centre was on Jan. 21/06 where the Moose scored the first four goals of the game before coasting to a 4-1 victory.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

#20 Brad Moran - Center

Brad Moran appeared in all four games for the Moose this week, collecting two goals and three assists for five points for the second time in three weeks...As a result, Moran now the team leader in scoring with 13 goals and 23 assists for 36 points which leaves him in sixth in the entire AHL in scoring...Moran had his season- and team-high seven-game assists streak dating back to Dec. 6/06 ended in Sunday's 4-3 overtime loss to San Antonio...His 13 goals is tied for 20th in the AHL in goal-scoring while he is tied for fourth overall in assists...He scored a pair of goals in the third period to extend Manitoba's lead in a 6-1 victory over San Antonio as well as adding an assist...He also fired 16 shots on net and finished the week -1 overall...He is sixth in the league with eight powerplay goals and ninth in the AHL with 12 powerplay assists...



American Hockey League Stories from December 19, 2006


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