Sports stats

Moose Split Opening Weekend with St. John's

October 14, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose split a pair of games at home to open the 2003-04 regular seasons on Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. Saturday night, they dropped a 5-4 decision to the St. John's Maple Leafs but rebounded to win the re-match on Monday afternoon 6-2. As a result, both the Leafs and Moose are tied for second in the North Division of the Western Conference with two points, a point behind the Rochester Americans.

The Moose now head out for their first road trip of the season. They begin the four-game venture Wednesday night in Milwaukee, before heading to Chicago. They finish the trip with two more games against the Maple Leafs, this time in St. John's.

Last Week

Saturday, October 11/03 – St. John's 5 @ Manitoba 4: The Moose began the night in search of their second consecutive season opening victory, and things seemed promising when Fedor Fedorov one-timed a Kirill Koltsov drop-pass over Leafs' goaltender Sebastien Centomo only 4:10 into the game. However, the Leafs responded with three straight goals before the period was out. Manitoba continued to make a game of it thanks to four-point efforts from defenceman Koltsov (2G, 2A) and Fedorov (1G,3A), but fell short 5-4 in front of 7,865 at the Winnipeg Arena. Former Moose Mike Brown had a goal and an assist to lead the Leafs while Centomo made 22 saves. Alex Auld stopped 27 shots for Manitoba. The four points by Koltsov was the most by a Moose rookie in his first game and tied the team record for points in a game by a first-year player (Sean Tallaire,1G,3A 03/18/1997 vs. San Antonio). 3 Stars: 1.Kirill Koltsov; 2.Marc Moro; 3.Fedor Fedorov

Monday, October 13/03 – St. John's 2 @ Manitoba 6: The Moose rebounded from a disappointing performance opening night to even their record at 1-1-0-0 with a 6-2 win over the Maple Leafs in front of 4,376 at the Arena. The team was once again led by Fedor Fedorov who recorded three points (2G,1A), and rookie Ryan Kesler, who tied the Moose rookie record of Kirill Koltsov and Sean Tallaire with four points himself (2G,2A). The Moose built up a 3-0 lead before St. John's could beat Tyler Moss who made 22 saves for the victory while Jamie Hodson still stopped 27 shots in the loss for the Leafs. Tyler Bouck and Ryan Ready also scored for Manitoba, while Jeff Daw and former Moose Josh Holden scored for the Leafs. 3 Stars: 1. Ryan Kesler; 2. Fedor Fedorov; 3. Tyler Moss

This Week

Wednesday, October 15/03 – Manitoba (1-1-0-0) @ Milwaukee (1-0-0-0) – The Admirals have only played one game so far this season. Last Friday, they picked up a 4-3 win over the Toronto Roadrunners and are fourth in the West Division. Scottie Upshall scored the winner three minutes into the third period as Greg Classen recorded three assists. Brian Finley made 35 saves for the win. Milwaukee is 8-2-2-0 in their last 12 October clashes. The Moose were 3-1-0-0 against the Admirals in 2002-03 and 2-0-0-0 at the Bradley Centre. Overall, the Moose are riding a three game-winning streak against Milwaukee. In their history, Manitoba's record against Milwaukee is 20-27-10-0.

Thursday, October 16/03 – Manitoba @ Chicago (0-0-0-1) – The Wolves, another one of Manitoba's old International Hockey League rivals, has also only played one game – that being a 3-2 overtime loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday. Steve Maltais and Eric Healey scored the goals for the Wolves while Frederic Cassivi made 24 saves in defeat. The 10,944 fans in attendance at the All-State Arena on Saturday was largest home-opener crowd of the weekend in the AHL. Last year, the Moose and Wolves split the season-series with Chicago winning the last meeting of the year in overtime (2-1-0-1). Maltais won the AHL scoring title last season with 86 points in 79 games. Simon Gimache was second in the league last season with 35 goals and fifth in scoring with 77 points. Overall, including their meetings in the IHL, Manitoba's record against the Wolves is 28-30-7-1.

Saturday, Oct. 18/03 & Sun. Oct. 19/03 – Manitoba @ St. John's (1-1-0-0) – The Moose will play the Maple Leafs for the third and fourth times already this week. In total, they will meet eight times this season. The two have already split the first two games with St. John's winning the first game 5-4 then losing the second 6-2 to the Moose. Former Moose Mike Brown is the team's leading scorer after two games with a goal and an assist and Sebastien Centomo is the leading goalie with a 4.06 GAA. Moose forward Fedor Fedorov had a big opening weekend against the Leafs as he scored seven points (3G,4A) in two games. Defenceman Kirill Koltsov finished the weekend with five points (2G,3A), while fellow rookie Ryan Kesler has four points (2G,2A). The Moose were 4-4-0-0 against the Leafs in 2002-03, but were only 1-3-0-0 at Mile High Stadium in St. John's. Overall, the Moose lead the series between the two teams with a 8-7-0-1 mark.

Moose Notes

- Entering the week, forward Fedor Fedorov was the league's leading scorer with seven points (3G,4A). His two-game goal-scoring streak is the longest of his career.

- Both Ryan Kesler and Kirill Koltsov tied the franchise record for points in a game by a rookie with four. Each scored two goals and two assists. Koltsov set the team mark for the most points by a rookie in his first game (10/11/2003 vs. STJ). He was the league's leading scorer amongst defencemen entering the week with five points (2G,3A) and was tied for third amongst the overall scoring leaders in the AHL.

- The Moose have scored the second most goals in the league with 10 through two games. The five-goal/game average is the highest in the league.

- The Moose have the fourth best overall power play in the AHL. They boast a 33.3 power play percentage with four goals in 12 opportunities with the man-advantage.

- The Moose are averaging the fifth most minutes in penalties per game. After two games, the Moose have taken 58 PIM for an average of 29 PIM/game.



American Hockey League Stories from October 14, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Manitoba Moose Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central