Split right down the middle

November 21, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Moose returned home after a seven-game road trip to finish up their four-game season series with the Houston Aeros. The two teams split the first two games between the club in Houston in a pair of one-goal games. The clubs followed the same trend this week as Manitoba took the first game 5-4 Thursday night at the MTS Centre while Houston returned the favor with a 3-2 victory the next night. Manitoba now sits in second place in the North Division with a 10-6-1-1 record.

The Moose will finish up their four game homestand early this week against Grand Rapids before heading back on the road to play Toronto once and Cleveland twice on the weekend.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Grand Rapids Griffins

November 22nd & 23rd, 7:30pm

MTS Centre

The Moose will take on Grand Rapids at home in the second and third meetings between the clubs this year. The Griffins come to town having won four straight and sit five points ahead of Manitoba for top spot in the North Division, with a 13-3-0-1 record for 27 points. Grand Rapids is solid on the powerplay scoring just under a quarter of the time at 23.1%, leaving them in fifth in the AHL. They aren't quite as successful on the penalty kill, sitting in 17th place in the league and sporting a 82.5% record. Jiri Hudler continues to shine for the Griffins sitting first on the team and third in the league in scoring with 14 goals and 14 assists for 18 points in only 16 games played. Drew MacIntyre has the team's busiest goalkeeper playing in eight games this season with an impressive 6-1-0 record. MacIntyre has recorded a 1.99 GAA and a .930 save percentage so far this season.

Toronto Marlies

Friday, November 25th, 6:30pm

Ricoh Coliseum

The Moose will take on the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, in one game this week. It will be the first of eight meetings between the clubs this season and first-time the Moose have ever faced the Marlies - the relocated affiliate of the Leafs. The Marlies sit fifth place in the North Division, with a 8-9-0 record for 16 points. Toronto sits 17th in the league on the powerplay with a 14.2% scoring rate. Their penalty kill has also struggled sitting second last in the AHL with a 77.0% kill rate. The Marlies are led by leading scorer John Poel, who has recorded seven goals and ten assists in 16 games played this season. The two Marlie have split time this season as Jean-Francois Racine has played in ten games for Toronto, sporting a 4-5-0 record, a 3.39 GAA and a 90.0 save percentage. Jean-Sebastian Aubin has also appeared in ten games this year recording a 4-4-0 record, a 3.89 GAA and a 87.5 save percentage. Toronto is 6-4-0 in their last ten games.

Cleveland Barons

Saturday, November 12th, 6:05pm

Sunday, November 13th, 4:05 p.m.

Gund Arena

The Moose will take on the Cleveland Barons this week as they head back to Cleveland for the fourth and fifth meeting between the clubs this season. Already this year, the Moose are 2-1-1-0 with the two wins coming at home in late October and a 3-2 loss at Cleveland on November 12th. The Barons have dropped three straight since then and enter the week sixth place in the North Division. Cleveland has struggled on special teams this season, sitting 25th on the powerplay with a 12.7% average and 25th on the penalty kill at 77.8%. Grant Stevenson is the teams leading scorer, recording eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 17 games played this season. The Barons have already had four goalkeepers play in a game this season with Jamie Holden logging the majority of the minutes. Holden has played in eight games for the club with a 5-3-0 record, a 2.95 GAA and a .910 save percentage.

MOOSE NOTES

Boomin' Butenschon: With a goal and two assists in Thursday night's action Moose defencemen Sven Butenschon tied his career-high total for points in a game with three, which he has set on six seperate occasions. He also added a helper is Friday night's game to sit at six goals and six assists in 17 games with the Moose this season. The towering defencemen had his best AHL season in the 1999-00 season with Wilkes-Barre where he recorded 19 goals and 21 assist in 75 games with the team.

Two Penalty Shots in Young Season: When Bryan Lundbohm was awarded a penalty shot against the Moose in the first period of Thursday's game, it marked the second penalty shot the Moose have faced already this season and the 13th in their history. Again, the attempt was unsuccessful, leaving Moose opponents 0-2 in penalty shots this season. This first penalty shot of the season came in a 6-5 OT loss in Rochester on November 11th, when Wade Flaherty stopped Yuri Novotny. The two penalty shots in the last four Moose games is the most they have faced in such a small span in club history. The previous mark came in the 1998-99 season when they faced two shots in a span of eight games.

DeMone Takes PIM Reigns: After taking a first period roughing minor on Friday night against Houston, Moose defencemen James DeMone now leads the team with 61 penalty minutes in 16 games played this year. DeMone who spent the majority of last season with Texas of the ECHL, but also with the University of Lethbridge and Laredo of the CHL, recorded 116 PIM in 74 total games played. DeMone's career penalty minute record came back in 2001-02 with the Price Albert Raiders of the WHL, where he recorded 187 PIM in 65 games played.

Burrows Leading the Way: With his team-leading 11th assist coming on Friday night, Moose forward Alexandre Burrows leads the team, adding four goals, for 15 total points through 18 games played. The Pincourt, Quebec native played in 72 games with the Moose last season recording nine goals and 17 assist for 26 points. Burrows has recorded points in half of his appearences with the Moose this season with back to back three-point outings coming in home wins against Cleveland on Oct 27th and 29th.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Sven Butenschon

3 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 PTS, 5 SHOTS, +1

Sven Butenschon played in all three games with the Moose this week...He finished the week with a goal and four assists for five points...He also collected five shots and ended the week at +1...Butenschon now has six goals and six assists for 12 points to sit fifth in team-scoring...He has five powerplay goals which is tops on the team and is also a team-leading +5.



American Hockey League Stories from November 21, 2005


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