Moose split homestand against Peoria

October 24, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


After starting the season on a five game road trip, The Moose finally returned home to play a game of home games against the Peoria Rivermen. In Thursday night's home-opener, the Moose treated their fans to a solid performance, scoring six goals in a 6-1 victory. However, the goal-scoring went dry the next night, as the Moose went 0-6 on the powerplay and managed only 16 shots on Peoria goalie Curtis Sanford, who stopped them all in the shut-out in a 4-0 victory for the Rivermen.

This week, the Moose take on the Cleveland Barons in back to back home games at the MTS Centre.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Cleveland Barons

Thursday, October 27th 7:30pm

Saturday, October 29th 7:30pm

MTS Centre

In the upcoming week, the Moose will face the Cleveland Barons, the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, in back-to-back games on Oct, 27th and 29th at the MTS Centre. These two games will be the first of eight matchups between the clubs this season. Cleveland enters the week in seventh in the North Division with a 2-4-0 record to start the season. The Moose faired well against the Barons in the 2004-05 season, with a 6-0-1- 1, outscoring Cleveland 30-16 in the process. The Barons sit 26th in the league on the powerplay with a 6.5% scoring average. Their struggles are just as strong on the penalty kill, recording a 69.2% average - good enough for 27th in the AHL. Steve Bernier is Cleveland's leading scorer with four goals and four assists for eight points in only six games. Cleveland's goaltending duo is made up of Nolan Schaefer and Dimitri Patzold, with Schaefer taking the brunt of the load, (three games) this season. Schaefer has a 4.67 GAA and a 84.4 save percentage.

San Antonio Rampage

Wednesday, November 2nd 7:00pm

Saturday, November 5th, 7:35 p.m.

SBC Center

The Moose begin November back on the road facing the San Antonio Rampage, the AHL affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes, on Wednesday November 2nd, in San Antonio. This will be the first of four matchups between the teams in the 2005-06 season. In the 2004-05 the Moose won three of four games against the Rampage with their only loss coming in a shootout. This season, San Antonio sits third in the West Division with a 4-4-0-0 record. The Rampage have done well on the powerplay scoring 25.4% of the time for third place in the AHL. They are 15th in the league on the penalty kill with a 83.3% average. Steve Gainey is the leading scorer on the team with five goals and five assists in eight games played. Rampage goalie Steve Passmore has played in seven of the team's eight games this season, recording a 2.99 GAA and a 90.5 save percentage.

Houston Aeros

Friday, November 4th, 7:35pm

Sunday, November 6th, 5:05 p.m.

Toyota Center

The Moose will continue their November road trip in Houston, to take on the Aeros on November 4th. This will be the first of four matchups between the teams this season. Houston boasts an impressive 6-1-1 record this season, good enough for first in the west division. Houston is led by centre Erik Westrum who leads the team with four goals and 11 assists in eight games. This also ties him for first in the AHL with 15 points. The Aeros have done well on the powerplay this year, scoring almost a quarter of the time, for a fifth place, 24.2% average. On the penalty kill they record an 82.7% average which leaves them 18th in the league. Josh Harding has played seven out of eight games between then pipes for Houston this year with a 6-1-1 record. He boasts a 92.2 save percentage and sports a 2.95 GAA.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Josh Green

2 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 PTS, +1, 5 SHOTS

This past week Green scored a goal and an assist in the Moose home opener versus Peoria. He finished the week with two games played, one goal and an assist for two points, with five shots and was +!. He is currently tied for team lead in points with five points and is +2 through seven games this season.

MOOSE NOTES

Early Season Series: With Friday's 4-0 shutout loss to Peoria, the Moose finished their four-game season series, against the Rivermen. This marks the earliest the Moose have ever finished a season series in their ten-year history. Previously, the earliest the Moose had finished a four-game season series was in the 2002-03 season, when they took on the Worcester Icecats in their season opener, and then played their final away game against the IceCats (also the St. Louis Blues affiliate) on Dec 8th. The earliest the the Moose had finished a two-game season series was back in 1995- 96, when they played Indianapolis at home on Oct 11th, and finished up away on Nov 15th.

Rare Win in Home Opener: Manitoba's 6-1 victory over Peoria on Thursday was only the third time in team history the Moose had been victorious in a homeopening matchup. In the 1999-00 season the Moose opened the season at home with a 5-1 win over Chicago. The last victory for the Moose in a home-opener came in the 2002-03 season when they beat the Worchester Icecats 4-1. Last season, the Moose lost their home-opener to the Edmonton Road Runners 3-0.

Low Shot Total: In Friday night's 4-0 shutout loss to Peoria, the Moose recorded only 16 shots throughout the game. This shot total marked the lowest total the Moose have recorded in just under two years. The last two previous low shot totals came between the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. On Nov. 2/02 the Moose managed only 14 shots in a 2-1 loss, on the road, against the Houston Aeros. More recently, the Moose again recorded only 14 shots, but this time were victorious, in a 2-1 win at home versus Sant John on Jan. 21/04

Dipping a Donut: Friday's 4-0 defeat to Peoria was the first shutout loss for the Moose this season. Last year, the Moose were only shutout twice all year. However, much like this year, one of those shutouts last season came in Manitoba's homeopening series against the Edmonton Road Runners. The Moose lost 3-0 to the Road Runners in the home-opener on Oct. 22/04. The record for the most shutouts against the Moose in one season is eight back in 2001-02.



American Hockey League Stories from October 24, 2005


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