Moose Update For The Week Of 03/21/10 – 03/27/10

As the 2009-10 regular season heads into the homestretch, the rush is on to nab one of the four North Division playoff spots available. Find out how close the Manitoba Moose are to clinching a playoff spot in this Moose update for the week of March 21, 2010 to March 27, 2010. For those looking for a more statistical look at how the Moose did during the past week, please visit that version of this report at Hockey’s Future Vancouver Canucks message board.
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The Week That Was

Manitoba started the week with a rematch against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday afternoon. The Moose started off their only afternoon regular season home game with a goal scored by a player making his debut. Forward Jordan Schroeder, the 1st round draft pick of the Canucks in 2009, deflected a Lawrence Nycholat shot past Daniel Larsson to give Manitoba a 1-0 lead just 1:52 into the first. Almost five minutes later, forward Kevin Clark–also making his debut with the Moose–put home a rebound to put the Moose ahead 2-0. The score stayed that way until just past the midway mark of the third period, when Nycholat fired home a slapshot to make the score 3-0 Manitoba. Schroeder added his second of the afternoon in the final minute of regulation, one-timing a Matt Pettinger pass to give Manitoba the win. Cory Schneider stopped all 38 shots he faced to pick up his four shutout of the season. The win, Schneider’s 29th, also set the record for most wins by a Moose goaltender, beating his own record of 28 set last season.

The Moose didn’t get off to a fast start against the Hamilton Bulldogs on Tuesday night, as they ended up falling behind in the early stages of the second period. Alex Henry fired a shot off the post, and just as quickly, Mike Glumac snapped up the rebound and fired the puck past Cory Schneider to make the score 1-0 Hamilton. Not even a minute later, Marco Rosa went top-shelf on Curtis Sanford while his team was on the power play to tie the game up at one. Just 46 seconds later, Glumac put in his second of the game, deking out Schneider to give Hamilton its second lead of the night. It stayed that way until the late stages of the third, when Guillaume Desbiens squeezed the puck past Sanford to knot the game up at two heading into the third. Just past the halfway mark of the third, Evan Oberg scored his first goal in 32 games to put Manitoba ahead for the first time all game. The Moose were able to hang on to pick up their second win in a row.

Manitoba took on the North Division-leading Bulldogs in the rematch on Wednesday night. The Moose had yet to win three games in a row in regulation. They had won three in a row on two separate occasions, but each time had at least one shootout win. Any thoughts the Moose had of picking up their third win in succession seemed to fall flat within the first minute of this game, as Brandon, Manitoba native Brock Trotter fired a shot over a screened Cory Schneider to give Hamilton an early 1-0 lead. Lawrence Nycholat was able to tie the game up at one a few minutes later, converting on a Jordan Schroeder rebound. That’s when the wheels came off of Manitoba’s wagon. Trotter put home his second of the game a few minutes after Nycholat’s goal to start a string of six straight goals by Hamilton. By the end of the game, the Moose had dropped their first game in three with a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the division-leading Bulldogs. The Moose also lost a couple of players in the loss, as Peter Olvecky and Geoff Waugh left the game due to separate injuries. Details for those injuries may be found below in the “Who’s Hurt” section of this update.

In much brighter news, forward Guillaume Desbiens was named Manitoba’s American Specialty/AHL Man of the Year Award for the 2009-10 season. Desbiens received the award for his work with charities and other community events in Winnipeg and the surrounding region. Among the other players who won the American Specialty/AHL Man of the Year Award for their respective AHL teams were former Vancouver Canuck Rory Fitzpatrick and former Canuck/Moose Bryan Helmer. All 29 players are finalists for the 2009-10 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award, named after the late Yanick Dupré, a player with the Hershey Bears who died of leukemia in 1997 at the age of 24.

With two weeks to go in the regular season, the Manitoba Moose sit four points ahead of the Lake Erie Monsters for fifth place in the North Division. They’re also six points behind the second place Rochester Americans and three points behind the third place Abbotsford Heat. In all three cases, the Moose have one game in hand (Manitoba has played 72 games, the other three have played 73).

The Lines

With a couple of new players coming in via amateur tryout (ATO) contracts, the Moose made a few changes to its lineup for Sunday’s game against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Jordan Schroeder slipped into Matt Pope’s place on the second line, while Kevin Clark took Nikita Kashirsky’s spot on the fourth line, with Dusty Collins moving back to play centre on that line. Geoff Waugh entered the Moose lineup to replace Nathan McIver and play alongside Lawrence Nycholat.

Peter Olvecky        -      Marco Rosa      -      Sergei Shirokov
Matt Pettinger       -     Yan Stastny      -     Jordan Schroeder
Guillaume Desbiens   -    Mario Bliznak     -           Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell        -    Dusty Collins     -          Kevin Clark

           Lawrence Nycholat    -          Geoff Waugh
           Brian Salcido        -           Tom Galvin
           Evan Oberg           -        Travis Ramsey

                          Cory Schneider
                         Daren Machesney

The Moose went with almost the same lineup on Tuesday night. The only exceptions were on defence, where Tom Galvin and Geoff Waugh switched defensive partners. Galvin playing beside Lawrence Nycholat, and Waugh skated alongside Brian Salcido.

Peter Olvecky        -      Marco Rosa      -      Sergei Shirokov
Matt Pettinger       -     Yan Stastny      -     Jordan Schroeder
Guillaume Desbiens   -    Mario Bliznak     -           Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell        -    Dusty Collins     -          Kevin Clark

           Lawrence Nycholat    -           Tom Galvin
           Brian Salcido        -          Geoff Waugh
           Evan Oberg           -        Travis Ramsey

                          Cory Schneider
                         Daren Machesney

The Moose then ended the week with exactly the same lineup that they had against Hamilton on Tuesday. Unfortunately, they met with different results on Wednesday.

Peter Olvecky        -      Marco Rosa      -      Sergei Shirokov
Matt Pettinger       -     Yan Stastny      -     Jordan Schroeder
Guillaume Desbiens   -    Mario Bliznak     -           Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell        -    Dusty Collins     -          Kevin Clark

           Lawrence Nycholat    -           Tom Galvin
           Brian Salcido        -          Geoff Waugh
           Evan Oberg           -        Travis Ramsey

                          Cory Schneider
                         Daren Machesney

Who’s Hot

Defenceman Lawrence Nycholat has picked up eight points (3-5-8) in his last eight games.

Defenceman Evan Oberg has picked up four points (2-2-4) in his last four games.

Forward Jordan Schroeder has picked up four points (2-2-4) since joining the Manitoba Moose.

Who’s Not

While forward Marco Rosa has picked up five points (2-3-5) in his last six games, he got those points in two of those games, and only has seven points (2-5-7) in his last 14 games.

Forward Sergei Shirokov only has two points (both goals) in his last eight games, and seven points (5-2-7) in his last 20 games.

Who’s Up

Three players who started the season with the Manitoba Moose are currently up with the parent Vancouver Canucks.

Forward Michael Grabner has been up with the Canucks for the past 1 1/2 weeks. In three games with the team this past week, Grabner had one assist and 12 shots on net. So far this season, the Villach, Austria native has picked up six points (2-4-6) in 14 games with the Canucks.

Defenceman Nolan Baumgartner stayed up with the Canucks for yet another week, but has not played in an NHL game since March 3rd against Detroit. In ten games with Vancouver this season, Baumgartner has picked up two points (1-1-2) and a +4 rating.

Forward Alexandre Bolduc continues to sit out with a shoulder injury he suffered in a fight against John Scott of the Minnesota Wild on January 13, 2010. In 15 games for the Canucks this season, Bolduc has picked up no points, 13 penalty minutes, and taken 14 shots on net.

So far this season, eight Moose players have missed a total of 128 games while on recall to the parent Vancouver Canucks. This does not include games by Jannik Hansen (66 games), Aaron Rome (64 games), Mathieu Schneider (39 games), Brad Lukowich (25 games), or Sergei Shirokov (3 games), who all started the season with the Canucks.

Alexandre Bolduc	55 games
Michael Grabner		33 games
Nolan Baumgartner       20 games
Matt Pettinger		 8 games
Cory Schneider		 7 games
Mario Bliznak		 3 games
Guillaume Desbiens	 1 game
Evan Oberg               1 game

Who’s Down

One player who started his season with the Vancouver Canucks currently suits up for the Manitoba Moose.

Forward Sergei Shirokov went pointless this past week on four shots. So far this season, Shirokov has picked up 41 points (21-20-41) in 68 games with the Moose. His 21 goals ties him for the team lead with forward Marco Rosa, while he sits alone in second place in team points.

Who’s Hurt

The injured list saw three defencemen and one forward add their names to the two that are already there.

Defenceman Nathan McIver makes his fourth appearance on injured reserve, having broken his hand for the third time this season (the same one each time) in the 4-3 loss to Grand Rapids on March 19th. He’ll stay out of action for the next 6-8 weeks, which means at the very least that his regular season is done.

Forward Peter Olvecky also found himself sitting out the end of Wednesday’s game against the Bulldogs, as he suffered an unknown injury. He did not practice with the team on Friday, and is questionable for Monday’s game against Abbotsford.

This past Wednesday, defenceman Geoff Waugh suffered a head injury in a fight against Hamilton Bulldogs forward Andrew Conboy. Conboy threw Waugh down to the ice at the end of their tilt, and Waugh smacked his head on the ice. While the severity of the injury has not yet come out officially, he likely will not play for the Moose on Monday night. If Waugh suffered a concussion, he’ll be out of the lineup for a minimum of one week.

Two days later during practice, defenceman Lawrence Nycholat hurt his back. It’s unknown how bad the injury is, but Manitoba will have to look for another defenceman before Monday, as Manitoba is down to five defencemen.

Defenceman Michael Funk (concussion; missed 50 games) has not played a game since getting hurt on November 7, 2009 in a game against the Texas Stars. He will not return to play for the Moose this season, and may see his career end with his fourth concussion in 1 1/2 years.

The other player who will not play for the Moose this season is defenceman Brad Lukowich (shoulder; missed three games). Instead of joining the Moose after clearing waivers just before the NHL Trade Deadline, Lukowich elected to have season-ending surgery.

So far this season, 19 Moose players have missed a total of 278 games due to injury or illness. These totals do not include any games a player may have missed while they were injured as a member of the Vancouver Canucks or Anaheim Ducks (in the latter case, for those players who are Ducks property), but does include Brad Lukowich’s games, as he’s officially a member of the Manitoba Moose, despite not playing any games for them this season.

Michael Funk		53 games
Lawrence Nycholat	35 games
Nathan McIver           27 games
Matt Pope		22 games
Geoff Waugh             22 games
Matt McCue		19 games
Pierre-Cedric Labrie	16 games
Mathieu Schneider       16 games
Nolan Baumgartner	15 games
Guillaume Desbiens	12 games
Tommy Maxwell            7 games
Brian Salcido		 7 games
Brad Lukowich            6 games
Marty Murray             5 games
Matt Pettinger           5 games
Daren Machesney          4 games
Alexandre Bolduc	 3 games
Eric Walsky		 2 games
Mario Bliznak		 1 game

Hey, I Remember You!

Manitoba took on one former Moose and one former Canuck last Sunday, while another former Moose did not play. Defenceman Jamie Tardif went pointless on two shots, while veteran forward Brad May fought Moose forward Guillaume Desbiens in the second period of Manitoba’s 4-0 win. Defenceman Travis Ehrhardt did not play.

Former Canuck and Moose Curtis Sanford played against his old mates on Tuesday, stopping 22 of 25 shots in Manitoba’s 3-2 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs. Sanford served as Cedric Desjardins’ backup in Hamilton’s 7-1 victory over the Moose on Wednesday.

The Week Ahead

The Manitoba Moose hit the road for six games starting this Monday, with four of those games taking place this week. First, the Moose travel out to Abbotsford, British Columbia, where they will take on the Heat for two games. Monday’s and Tuesday’s games start at 9:30 p.m. CT. They then head over to the Big Smoke, where they will take on the Toronto Marlies on Friday and Saturday. The puck drops on Friday’s game at 6:00 p.m. CT, while the Saturday game is an afternoon affair, taking place at 3:00 p.m. CT.

Anyone who wants to follow the games can listen to them for free on Winnipeg radio station CJOB 68, on Vancouver radio station Team 1410, or you can pay a fee to watch the games through AHL Live.
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That’s it for another edition of the Moose update on The Mattress Line. As always, if you have any suggestions on what I can do to make this better, just let me know in the comments section on this post, or mention it in the relevant thread on The Mattress Line section of The Breakaway Forums.

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