Moose Take Six Points From Top Clubs In Week 26

April 7, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Although the Manitoba Moose started their week with a loss to the West Division-leading Chicago Wolves, the Moose responded with a win the following night and then swept the North Division's top team, the Toronto Marlies, in two weekend games.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008: Chicago 5 - Manitoba 4 L

Despite scoring the game's first goal and taking a 1-0 lead to the first intermission, the Moose surrendered a season-high four goals in the second period vs. the Wolves Tuesday night. A late two-goal comeback attempt wasn't enough to force extra time, and the Moose ultimately fell 5-4.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008: Chicago 1 - Manitoba 4 W

Manitoba was seeking vengeance for Tuesday night's loss, and the club found what they were looking for by winning Wednesday's rematch 4-1. Defenceman Danny Groulx earned a goal and an assist in the game, while rookie goalie Cory Schneider stopped 15 shots for his 10th win in 11 starts.

Friday, April 4, 2008: Toronto 1 - Manitoba 2 W

As part of Fan Appreciation Night at the MTS Centre, the Moose showed their appreciation by edging the Marlies 2-1 in an exciting divisional showdown. Mike Brown scored the shorthanded game-winner with only 1:40 left to play, while Schneider stopped 29 shots for his 19th win of the season and second-star honours.

Saturday, April 5, 2008: Toronto 0 - Manitoba 6 W

It was Manitoba's final home game of the regular season, and the club couldn't have asked for a better playoff send-off, trouncing the Toronto Marlies 6-0 in front of 13,520 fans. Colby Genoway led all skaters with four points, while Schneider stopped 29 shots for his third shutout of the season.

This week, the Moose close out their regular season with a three-in-three, starting Friday and Saturday nights in Grand Rapids and concluding Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Friday, Apr. 11 & Saturday, Apr. 12: The Moose and Griffins (29-41-2-6, 5th North) have three wins each heading into this final two-game set of the season. In two games at Grand Rapids in late February, Manitoba earned a win and a loss, bringing their all-time record to 6-7-2-4 at Van Andel Arena. The club has an overall 16-16-4-5 record vs. Grand Rapids, and has met the Griffins in their past two Calder Cup playoff runs. Last season, the Moose earned 13 of 16 possible points vs. the Griffins, including winning all four games played at the MTS Centre and going 2-1-0-1 at Grand Rapids. Carl Corazzini is Grand Rapids' top scorer with 24 goals and 60 points, while Jimmy Howard is the club's top netminder with a 20-28-2 record, 2.85 GAA, and 0.907 SV%.

Sunday, Apr. 13: By earning two victories over the Marlies (47-20-3-6, 1st North) this past week, the Moose improved to 4-3-0-0 vs. Toronto this season. It's been back and forth all season, with the Moose losing the first two games, winning the next two, losing one, and now winning two. Manitoba is 16-4-1-1 all-time vs. Toronto and 8-2-1-0 when playing at Ricoh Coliseum. Last season, the Moose had a near-perfect 7-1-0-0 record vs. the Marlies. David Ling is Toronto's top scorer with 14 goals and 54 points, while Justin Pogge has the club's best goaltending numbers, with a 25-10-4 record, 2.34 GAA, and 0.908 SV%.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

#29 Colby Genoway - Centre

Morden, MB native Colby Genoway is nominated for the third time this season as Moose player of the week and the first time since mid-December. This past week, he scored his 14th goal of the season and added five assists for six points in four games, including three victories. After failing to record a point in Tuesday's 5-4 loss to Chicago, he collected a pair of assists on Wednesday in a 4-1 win. Then Genoway finished off the week in style by opening the scoring and then adding three assists for four points and a +5 rating, along with five shots. Genoway ended the week +6 overall and had 11 shots on net in four games. As a result, Genoway is now third in team scoring with 14 goals and 32 assists for 46 points and is still tied for the team lead in powerplay goals with eight.

MOOSE NOTES

ANOTHER PERFECT GAME: By shutting out Toronto 6-0 Saturday night, rookie goalie Cory Schneider registered his third pro shutout and Manitoba's fifth of the season. The last time the Moose kept an opponent scoreless was Mar. 15/08 at Hershey (5-0 W), also credited to Schneider. Saturday night's victory was Manitoba's most-decisive shutout win in four seasons since Wade Flaherty backstopped the Moose to a 6-0 victory over Chicago Jan. 1/05. That score is only one goal shy of the franchise record, a 7-0 victory for Fred Brathwaite on Mar. 28/98. The Moose have now earned 63 shutouts over the past 12 seasons, suffering only 49 (including five this season). Wade Flaherty holds the Moose record for career shutouts with 12 in three seasons. Behind Flaherty, Tyler Moss, and Alex Auld (both with six), Drew MacIntyre sits fourth with five Manitoba shutouts. Schneider is now tied with Rich Parent for sixth place.

POTENT POWERPLAY: By scoring on the man-advantage in all four games this past week, Manitoba stretched their powerplay goal streak to 13 games, two games more than last season's 11-game streak. The last time the Moose were unable to score on the man-advantage was Mar. 8/08 vs. Toronto, when the team went 0-for-4 in a 3-0 shutout victory. Since that game, the Moose have climbed from 15th (16.8%) to 10th (18.2%) in the league's powerplay rankings. Last season, Manitoba finished 18th with a 16.1 PP%, while the club's best powerplay performance was 19.1% (third among 16 IHL teams) in 1998-99.

WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON: Thanks to last week's wins over Chicago and Toronto, the Moose carry a three-game win streak into their final three games of the regular season. If Manitoba sweeps their final three games, the club will break the franchise records for most wins (47, 1998-99) and road wins (23, 1998-99) in a season, as well as tie their AHL record for most points (102, 2006-07). With a 13-2-0-2 record so far this quarter, the current Moose squad has already matched their previous best season-closing performance (28 of 40 possible points, originally set in the final 20 games of 1997-98). Only one more point is required to set the new standard.

A FAN-TASTIC 40 GAMES: 13,520 fans packed the MTS Centre for Manitoba's final regular-season game Saturday night, helping the club climb to second on the AHL's attendance rankings. By attracting a total of 312,288 fans this season, the Moose averaged 7,807 fans per game, second only to the Hershey Bears' 8,765 average attendance (333,076 overall). The Bears, third-place Wilkes-Barre, and fourth-place Chicago all have two home games remaining, meaning Manitoba could still be nudged out of second place. Last season, Manitoba finished fourth by filling 310,761 seats for an average of 7,769 per game. Attendance increased by 1,527 fans this season, marking the first time attendance has grown since the MTS Centre made its debut in 2004-05.



American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2008


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