Team White Wins Second Annual Moose Super Skills Competition

Published on November 16, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The last time the Manitoba Moose hit the ice at MTS Centre was on Saturday, November 13th when they beat the Rochester Americans 6-2. Some would say that was a serious display of talent, but it still didn't compare to the second annual Moose Super Skills competition on Tuesday night. Even though Team Green took two of three events before the breakaway relay, Team White scored the victory after Jeff Tambellini buried his sudden death shootout attempt to win the competition by a final tally of 13-12.

The winning squad in last year's first ever Moose Super Skills competition was Team Black. With Manitoba's new away jerseys this season, Team Green would take the place of the defending Super Skills winning colours. The Moose were split into White and Green with teams of 11 skaters and one goalie.

Before the pucks hit the ice fans were able to find out who the team's fastest skater was. The bench mark in the event set last year was 13.46 seconds set by Eric Walsky. This year's competitors included burners Bill Sweatt and Jordan Schroeder. Unfortunately for Team White, both those Moose rookies were skating in Green.

Shawn Weller was the first skater for Team White and posted his team's best time at 14.53. He was followed by Jordan Schroeder (Green), Chris Tanev (White), Bill Sweatt (Green), Yann Sauve (White), and Kevin Clark (Green). Sweatt's lap of 14.16 blew away the competition and gave Green a convincing win and five points in the first event. Schroeder's 14.48 was the second fastest lap.

The second event was a little slower moving but no less skilled as six of Manitoba's most accurate shooters tried to wear out the four corners of the net. Each shooter was given 20 seconds to take out all four Styrofoam targets. The winner of the event would have to hit all four int he least amount of time.

The first shooter, Joel Perrault (Green) could have used a couple more seconds to take out the fourth target. Every other shooter managed to hit all four and two shooters, Sergei Shirokov (Green) and Cody Hodgson (White) went four-for-five taking down the targets. Not surprisingly, with a team leading nine goals this season Cody Hodgson took the least time to pick all corners. After hitting the crossbar on his first shot, it took him 10.8 seconds all together to clean up the rest. The win for Team White tied the event at five points each.

Last year's hardest shooter was the only returning event winner as Travis Ramsey was back to defend his 97-mile per hour title. Each shooter had three pucks to try and blast through the net. Ramsey was Team Green's first shooter and after firing a disappointing (by his standards) 90 mph, he then set a new Moose record firing his second 98 mph. Fellow Team Green contestant Kevin Connauton put a scare into the slapshot champ by firing shots of 96 mph and 97 mph, but in the end Ramsey retained his title for another season.

Holding a 10-5 lead in points heading into the breakaway competition, Team Green's Eddie Lack would need to shut the door on Team White snipers like Jeff Tambellini and Cody Hodgson. Each team had eleven breakaways each to make up or defend the point lead. The goalies would play a big role as well as the tender with more saves would be awarded five points for his team.

If there was a previous Moose record for style points, Joel Perrault may have broken it on the first goal of the breakaway event. Bearing down on Team White goalie Tyler Weiman, Perrault found the top shelf with a perfectly executed between-the-legs shot. The only Winnipegger on the Moose, Team Green's Kevin Clark, tried to steal the show in front of the hometown fans. After crossing the blueline Clark picked up the puck with the backhand side of his stick blade with only one hand, then threw the puck lacrosse-style over the net.

Both teams went 2-for-11 in the breakaway event resulting in a sudden death format. After missing on his first attempt in round one, Jeff Tambellini turned out to be the difference maker in sudden death as he cleanly picked the glove hand corner. The winning goaltender Tyler Weiman was awarded five points for Team White and in the end they scored the 13-12 victory in the second annual Moose Super Skills competition.

The next Manitoba Moose game action comes two nights from the Super Skills competition as the Rockford IceHogs visit the MTS Centre on Thurdsay, April 18 and Friday, April 19. Game time for both is at 7:30 p.m. CST.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 16, 2010


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