Moose take one of three on road trip

April 4, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose completed a three-game road trip this past week, defeating Syracuse 3-2 in overtime Saturday sandwiched in between a 2-1 loss to Hamilton Wednesday and a 4-3 setback against Binghamton on Saturday. In all three games, the Moose scored within the first five minutes but Wednesday in Hamilton and Saturday in Binghamton saw their early leads slip away. On Friday, the Moose managed to hold off Syracuse despite Joakim Lindstrom scoring with 9.7 seconds left to tie the game. It didn't take long for the Moose to regroup as Justin Morrison scored the game winner 24 seconds into overtime. Next up for the Moose is a four-game homestand that opens Tuesday and Wednesday versus Syracuse and concludes Saturday and Sunday against Hamilton.

MOOSE NOTES

Four Ironmen Left: Captain Nolan Baumgartner missed Friday and Saturday's game, leaving four players on the team who haven't missed a game yet this season. Peter Sarno, Jeff Heerema, Kevin Bieksa and Tomas Mojzis have each suited up for all 21 Moose games.

Moose Reach Milestones: Friday's win was the 40th of the season for the Moose and 90th point. It marked only the second time in franchise history the team reached 40 wins (47, 1998-99) and only the third time they hit the 90-point plateau (108 in 1998-99; 90 in 2000-01).

Auld Nears Record Win Total: Moose netminder Alex Auld, the all-time winningest goaltender in Moose franchise history with 67 wins, has another target in sight. Friday's victory was his 23rd of the season, moving him within two wins of the Moose season mark. Richard Shulmistra had 25 wins in 1998-99 and Tom Draper had 25 in 1994-95. His next win will move him into sole possession of third. Johan Hedberg (2000-01) and Fred Brathwaite (1997-98) also had 23.

Tale of Two Seasons: Since the Moose hit the midway point of the season, their fortunes on the road have taken a downturn. After the first 20 games on the road, the team had a record of 16-2-1-1. Since then, the team has only won five of its last 18 road games for a record of 5-9-1-3.

Due North: Saturday's game marked the final game of the season that the Moose played outside of their division. The Moose had a lot of success against non-North Division opponents this season with a record of 21-8-1-6. All eight of the team's remaining games are two-game sets against North Division rivals Syracuse, Hamilton, Edmonton and Cleveland. The team's record within its own division is 19-14-2-1.

Who's Hot: Peter Sarno has not scored a goal in 13 games but has 10 assists in his last 10 games to lead all Manitoba point-getters... Before his injury, Nolan Baumgartner was on a six-game scoring streak and had nine points (3g, 6a) in eight games for one of his hottest stretches of the season... Jesse Schultz has scored five of his seven goals in the past eight games... Justin Morrison has five goals and seven points in his last nine games. Prior to that, he had four goals and 11 points over 54 games.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Syracuse Crunch

Tuesday, April 5, 7:30 p.m. Radio: CJOB 68

Wednesday, April 6, 7:30 p.m. Venue: MTS Centre

The Moose meet the Syracuse Crunch for the third and fourth times this season on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Crunch previously defeated Manitoba 5-3 on February 24 and the Moose won 4-3 in overtime this past Friday... Syracuse sits five points behind Hamilton for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division... The Crunch are slumping at a bad time, with only two wins in their last seven games as they fade out of the playoff race... Brad Moran leads Syracuse in scoring this season with 65 points (25g, 40a)... Joe Motzko is second on the team with 57 points (23g, 34a). Mark Hartigan leads the team with 28 goals... Joakim Lindstrom, Hartigan and Tim Jackman each have two points against the Moose this season while Moran has three points... Other notables on the team include former Moose Zenith Komarniski, who has 13 points (3g, 13a) in 53 games and 87 penalty minutes... Goaltender Karl Goehring has become the number one netminder due to a season-ending injury suffered by Pascal Leclaire back in November. Goehring has done well, sporting a 20-20-0 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and .906 save percentage with three shutouts in 43 appearances... His counterpart, Andrew Penner, has put up good numbers in limited action. In 19 games, he has a 7-9-1 record with one shutout. He also has a 2.62 GAA and .917 save percentage... The Moose are 3-2-0-1 alltime versus the Crunch, but have never defeated them in Winnipeg (0-1-0-1).

Hamilton Bulldogs

Saturday, April 9, 7:30 p.m. Radio: CJOB 68

Sunday, April 10, 2:00 p.m. Venue: MTS Centre

The Moose meet the Hamilton Bulldogs for the seventh and eighth times this season this weekend. In six previous meetings, Hamilton has won four times with the Moose winning twice... The Bulldogs have played themselves into a playoff position gaining points in eight of their last 10 games and 12 of their last 15. They now sit in fourth place in the North Division, five points ahead of Syracuse... Most recently, Hamilton took three of four this past week, including wins over Manitoba, Syracuse and Grand Rapids... Tomas Plekanec leads the team in scoring with 58 points (25g, 33a) in 74 games... Chris Higgins is the team's leading goal scorer with 27 goals. Higgins has four goals and six points in five games against the Moose this season... Steve Ott has 272 penalty minutes to go along with 38 points (17g, 21a). Ott has three goals in five games against Manitoba... Yann Danis has appeared in 49 of 74 games for Hamilton this season, winning 25 of the team's 34 games (25-17-5) with a 2.33 goals-against average and .924 save percentage... Lee Goren and Ryan Kesler each have six points in six games against Hamilton, with Goren leading the way with four goals... Manitoba has an all-time record of 10-23-1-0 against the Bulldogs, including 6- 8-0-0 in Winnipeg.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Jesse Schultz

3 GP, 3 G, 0 A, 3 PTS, 5 SHOTS

This past week's Player of the Week nominee for the Manitoba Moose is right wing Jesse Schultz. Schultz scored 4:17 into the game March 30 at Hamilton to give Manitoba an early lead. Friday at Syracuse Schultz scored again to give Manitoba a 2-0 lead over the Crunch. Saturday, Schultz's goal extended his career-high goal-scoring streak to three games. In his last eight games, Schultz has five goals while he only had two in his previous 54.



American Hockey League Stories from April 4, 2005


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