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Moose trap Rats, sunk by Admirals

March 1, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Last week, the Moose went 1-1-1 against the Milwaukee Admirals and Albany River Rats. On Tuesday, the Moose tied the River Rats 2-2 and on Wednesday, the team won 3-2 in overtime thanks to Jason King's gametying goal with a minute remaining and Pat Kavanagh's shorthanded overtime winner. On Sunday, the Moose had a four-game unbeaten streak and five-game home unbeaten streak snapped with a 6-3 loss to the Admirals.

The Moose continue a season-high ten-game homestand this week. Tuesday, the team completes a two-game set with the Admirals and on Friday and Saturday the Syracuse Crunch and former Moose Zenith Komarniski come to town for a pair of games. Saturday's feature is "The White Out Years" as the Moose honour the Winnipeg Jets NHL era.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Milwaukee Admirals

Tuesday, March 2nd 7:30 p.m. Winnipeg Arena

The Admirals enter the week in second in the AHL's West Division at 33-16-6-3...They are 15-7-3-3 away from home...The Admirals are unbeaten in five (4-0-1-0) going into Tuesday's game...The Admirals power play is ranked 14th in the league with a 14.63% success rate...They are 15th in the AHL in penalty-killing with a 86.02% success rate...Milwaukee features an explosive offence, with a league-leading 197 goals scored this season...Milwaukee's leading scorer is Tony Hrkac who has 15 goals and 32 assists for 47 points in 49 games...Hrkac is tied for tenth in the league in assists...Mathieu Darche and Timofei Shishkanov are tied for the team's goal-scoring lead with 22 goals and rank 11th in the league...Defenceman Curtis Murphy and Shishkanov are first and second respectively in the league in plus/minus at +25 and +23...Goaltender Wade Flaherty ranks 11th in the league with a 2.03 goals-against average and ranks 14th with a .926 save percentage...The Moose and Admirals have met three times this season with the Admirals winning 5-1 back on February 11 and the two teams tying 1-1 on October 15 in addition to Sunday's 6-3 Milwaukee win. The Moose have a 20-29-11 record all-time against the Admirals, including 10-9-2-0 at Winnipeg Arena.

Syracuse Crunch

Friday, March 5th 7:30 p.m. Winnipeg Arena

Saturday, March 6th 7:30 p.m.

The Crunch enter the week in third in the AHL's North Division at 27-19-9-4...They are 12-12-3-1 away from home...The Crunch have one win in their last eight games (1-5-1-1) but previous to that had won six straight...The Crunch power play is the best in the league at 18.12%...They are 19th in the AHL in penalty killing with a 84.92% success rate...Syracuse has scored 169 goals this season, good enough for sixth in the league...Defensively, they are middle of the pack with 165 goals allowed...Syracuse's leading scorer is Donald MacLean who has 21 goals and 30 assists for 51 points in 59 games...Brandon Sugden is fourth in the league with 233 penalty minutes... Right winger Tim Jackman is currently on recall to Columbus but leads the team with a +15 rating...Former Moose Zenith Komarniski has one goal and 13 assists and a +9 rating in 44 games this season...Goaltender Karl Goehring (12-9-5) leads the team with a 2.31 goals-against average and .925 save percentage...Pascal Leclaire leads the team in wins with his 15- 12-3 record...The Moose and Crunch have met once ever, with the Moose prevailing 5-4 in overtime back on December 11.

MOOSE NOTES

Despite Sunday's 6-3 defeat to the Milwaukee Admirals, the Moose are still 3-1-1 in their last five games. However, they are only 3-6-1 in their last 10 thanks to a five-game losing streak which preceded Manitoba's current home-stand.

Pat Kavanagh has enjoyed great success at the Winnipeg Arena this season. He is the team's leading scorer at home with 14 goals and 23 points. He is +5 in 28 games. But away from home, Kavanagh has two goals and nine points and is -4 in 32 games. On the other side, Ryan Ready has scored five goals and 16 points on the road, while notching only two goals and six points at the Winnipeg Arena.

After allowing a power play goal in each of their previous six games, Manitoba has gone five games without allowing a power play goal. Over the last five games, they are 17-for- 17 and have two shorthanded gamewinning goals (Ryan Kesler vs. SA Feb. 21/04 & Pat Kavanagh vs. ALB Feb. 25/04).

Manitoba's leading scorer in the month of February was forward Jason King. King played 12 games with Manitoba last month, scoring six goals and five assists for 11 points.

Entering the week, the Manitoba Moose have 18 games left on their regular season schedule, with 11 of them coming at the Winnipeg Arena. 10 of those 11 games will be played against teams in the North Division, while five of the remaining seven road games will also be against teams in the North Division. In total, the Moose will play 15 of their remaining 18 games against North Division rivals. The Moose enter the week with a division record of 11-16-2.

Manitoba enters the week 20th in the AHL in power play percentage at 13.2%. They finished the week 1-for- 14 to fall from 19th. The Moose enter the week 24th in penalty killing thanks to a perfect 9-for-9 week. As a result, they rose two spots from 26th overall.

UPCOMING EVENTS

"The White Out Years"

March 6th

Winnipeg Arena

The Manitoba Moose Hockey Club are encouraging Manitoba hockey fans to once again "wear white" on Saturday, March 6th, 2004. That night, when the Manitoba Moose face-off against the Syracuse Crunch at 7:30 p.m., the organization will honour the years the Winnipeg Arena was home to the National Hockey League and the Winnipeg Jets with an evening billed as "The White Out Years". The Moose are honouring those days when the Winnipeg Arena was home to NHL by turning back the clock for a fourth time this season:

White-Out T-Shirts:
* While fans are encouraged to "wear white", 1,000 white t-shirts will be handed out to lucky fans commemorating the "White-Out Years" - the night of the final "White-Out at the Winnipeg Arena.

Special Guests:
* Bob Murdoch, Morris Lukowich, Kris King, Dave Manson and others.

Hockey Hall of Fame:
* The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, among others, will present
* Winnipeg Jet jerseys from their years in the NHL

Other Special Details:
* Nostalgic pricing with regular hotdogs and boxed popcorn priced at only $1.00 each!
* 2,000 Premium Posters will be given out to fans that celebrate many of the WHA Jets hockey memories that occurred at the Winnipeg Arena.

Please note: while the game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., the special pre-game ceremony will commence at 7:20 p.m.



American Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2004


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.

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