Korczyk
wowman92
The Manitoba Moose started off the past week fighting for the final playoff spot in the North Division. Find out if they were able to clinch it in this Moose update for the week of March 28, 2010 to April 3, 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
The Moose opened up their week on Sunday with the first of two games against the Abbotsford Heat. Heat defenceman Stefan Kronwall opened up the scoring 4:35 into the initial frame, scoring on a five-on-three power play to give Abbotsford a 1-0 lead. Manitoba answered back just over a minute into the second period, as Taylor Ellington scored his first goal of the season to knot the game up at one. That goal sparked a run of five unanswered goal by Manitoba, with Mario Bliznak, Jordan Schroeder, Guillaume Desbiens, and Aaron Volpatti (scoring his first AHL goal) adding their names to the goals column. Andy Delmore added a goal late for the Heat, but Manitoba was able to hang on for a 5-2 win.
Their rematch wasn’t quite as thrilling offensively. Jon Rheault scored late in the first while his team was on the power play to give Abbotsford its second lead of the two-game set. Marco Rosa tied it up at 1-1 just past the seven-minute mark of the second, capitalizing on Manitoba’s own power play opportunity. Rosa’s goal unfortunately didn’t lead to another onslaught of goals by his teammates. Instead, with just over six minutes left in the third, David Van der Gulik scored what turned out to be the game-winner, giving the Heat a split of their most recent series against the Moose.
The Moose moved on to Toronto on Friday, facing off against a Toronto Marlies franchise that is battling with Manitoba for the final playoff spot in the North Division. Moose rookie Kevin Clark opened up the scoring late in the first period, putting his second goal of the season past James Reimer to give Manitoba a 1-0 lead. Mario Bliznak followed that up with a pair of goals of his own to put the Moose ahead 3-0 in the early stages of the third period. With five minutes left in regulation, and the Marlies desperately fighting for the win and two more points to add to their total, Toronto head coach Dallas Eakins pulled Reimer in favour of the extra attacker. This strategy initially worked out, with Ben Ondrus cutting the Moose lead to 3-1. The Marlies couldn’t get any closer though, and the Moose were that much closer to getting the final playoff spot in the North.
Manitoba needed to take at least one point in the rematch between them and the Marlies to go to the playoffs for the sixth season in a row. Things looked good at the start, as Guillaume Desbiens scored on the power play just past the midway mark of the first period to give the Moose a 1-0 lead. Toronto was able to get back into the game at 11:23 of the third. Tim Brent went on a shorthanded break and scored on Cory Schneider to tie the game at one. The Marlies went with the extra attacker late in the third, but to no avail. With the game headed to overtime, the Manitoba Moose punched their ticket for the post-season. Neither team was able to score in overtime, so the game went to the shootout. Tim Brent and Josh Engel each scored on Schneider before Mike Keane responded for the Moose on James Reimer. Ryan Hamilton clinched the game for Toronto with his own goal, while Guillaume Desbiens failed on his attempt.
Going into the final week of the season, the Manitoba Moose are four points back of and have one game in hand on the third place Abbotsford Heat. In the event both teams tie each other in the standings, the tiebreakers go as follows:
Wins
Manitoba (37 wins in 76 games), Abbotsford (37 wins in 77 games)
Points in season series between teams
Manitoba (12 points), Abbotsford (7 points)
Goal differential
Abbotsford (-17 through 77 games), Manitoba (-27 through 76 games)
Goals scored in season series between teams
Manitoba (26 goals), Abbotsford (17 goals)
Intra-conference points percentage
Manitoba (0.592 through 60 of 64 games), Abbotsford (0.531 through 65 of 68 games)
With four of five tiebreakers in favour of Manitoba, the Moose need to win at least two of their last four games, and hope that Abbotsford doesn’t gain any ground on them in the next seven days. If Manitoba gets third place, they’ll play against the Rochester Americans in the first round. If they get fourth place, they’ll face off against the Hamilton Bulldogs, who are the second-best team in the entire AHL.
The Lines
The Manitoba Moose made minor modifications (try saying that three times fast) to their forward lines to start off their week. Matt Pope made his way back into the lineup with the injury to Peter Olvecky. Aaron Volpatti, who recently signed an amateur-tryout (ATO) contract with the Moose, took Kevin Clark’s place on the fourth line.
The defensive pairing were switched around with the injuries to Lawrence Nycholat and Geoff Waugh. Ryan McGinnis, who signed a pro-tryout (PTO) contract with the Moose, was paired up with Travis Ramsey. Tom Galvin, who was playing with Nycholat before he got hurt, played alongside Evan Oberg. The final pairing featured Taylor Ellington and Brian Salcido.
Sergei Shirokov - Marco Rosa - Matt Pope
Matt Pettinger - Yan Stastny - Jordan Schroeder
Guillaume Desbiens - Mario Bliznak - Mike Keane
Aaron Volpatti - Dusty Collins - Tommy Maxwell
Ryan McGinnis - Travis Ramsey
Evan Oberg - Tom Galvin
Taylor Ellington - Brian Salcido
Cory Schneider
Daren Machesney
The Moose went with the exact same lineup in their rematch against the Abbotsford Heat on Tuesday.
Sergei Shirokov - Marco Rosa - Matt Pope
Matt Pettinger - Yan Stastny - Jordan Schroeder
Guillaume Desbiens - Mario Bliznak - Mike Keane
Aaron Volpatti - Dusty Collins - Tommy Maxwell
Ryan McGinnis - Travis Ramsey
Evan Oberg - Tom Galvin
Taylor Ellington - Brian Salcido
Cory Schneider
Daren Machesney
Manitoba went with the same defensive pairings on Friday, but switched around the forward lines. After sitting out the past two games, Kevin Clark was put on the first line in place of Matt Pope. Guillaume Desbiens moved up to the second line in place of Yan Stastny, who shifted down to centre the third line. Also moving to the third line was Aaron Volpatti, who had been playing on the fourth line the past two games. Mario Bliznak moved down to the fourth line with Tommy Maxwell and Dusty Collins to complete the changes.
Sergei Shirokov - Marco Rosa - Kevin Clark
Guillaume Desbiens - Matt Pettinger - Jordan Schroeder
Aaron Volpatti - Yan Stastny - Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell - Mario Bliznak - Dusty Collins
Ryan McGinnis - Travis Ramsey
Evan Oberg - Tom Galvin
Taylor Ellington - Brian Salcido
Cory Schneider
Daren Machesney
After another win, the Moose kept the same lineup as they played on Friday for Saturday afternoon’s rematch against the Toronto Marlies.
Sergei Shirokov - Marco Rosa - Kevin Clark
Guillaume Desbiens - Matt Pettinger - Jordan Schroeder
Aaron Volpatti - Yan Stastny - Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell - Mario Bliznak - Dusty Collins
Ryan McGinnis - Travis Ramsey
Evan Oberg - Tom Galvin
Taylor Ellington - Brian Salcido
Cory Schneider
Daren Machesney
Who’s Hot
Manitoba’s power play has gone 12-for-50 (24%) in its last ten games.
Goaltender Cory Schneider has gone 4-2-0-1 in his last seven starts, with a 1.93 goals-against average, a 0.938 save percentage, and one shutout.
Forward Jordan Schroeder has picked up seven points (3-4-7) in the seven games since joining the Moose, but only one point (an assist) in his last three.
Forward Mario Bliznak has picked up four points (3-1-4) in his last four games.
Who’s Not
Forward Marco Rosa has picked up four points (2-2-4) in his last nine games.
Foward Sergei Shirokov has picked up two points (both assists) in his last seven games, and four points (2-2-4) in his last 12 games.
Forward Matt Pettinger has one point (an assists) in his last six games.
Forward Yan Stastny has one point (an assist) in his last five 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 had a week to remember this past week. Grabner picked up five points (3-2-5) in the three games he played for the Canucks over the past seven days. This included a three-game point streak, as well as Grabner scoring his first career NHL hat-trick on Friday against the Anaheim Ducks.
Defenceman Nolan Baumgartner 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 140 games while on recall to the parent Vancouver Canucks. This does not include games by Jannik Hansen (70 games), Aaron Rome (68 games), Mathieu Schneider (39 games), Brad Lukowich (29 games), or Sergei Shirokov (3 games), who all started the season with the Canucks.
Alexandre Bolduc 59 games Michael Grabner 37 games Nolan Baumgartner 24 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 had another so-so week for the Moose the past seven days. Shirokov had two points (both assists) in the four games he suited up for the Moose. So far this season, Shirokov has 43 points (21-22-43) in 72 games.
Who’s Hurt
The injured list grew yet again this week, with a forward adding his name to the list.
Forward Peter Olvecky suffered an upper body injury two Wednesdays ago against the Abbotsford Heat. He missed all four games this past week.
Defenceman Geoff Waugh (head; missed four games) suffered an injury in the same game as Olvecky. Baseline tests conducted by the team suggested he didn’t get a concussion, but he did sit out all four games this past week as a precaution.
Defenceman Lawrence Nycholat (back; missed four games) also missed all of the games the Moose played this past week, and it’s unknown how long he’ll be out of the lineup for.
Defenceman Nathan McIver (hand; missed seven games) will miss the rest of the regular season and at least part of Manitoba’s playoff run with his third broken hand, which he suffered against the Grand Rapids Griffins on March 19th.
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, 20 Moose players have missed a total of 302 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 57 games Lawrence Nycholat 39 games Nathan McIver 31 games Matt Pope 22 games Geoff Waugh 26 games Matt McCue 19 games Pierre-Cedric Labrie 16 games Mathieu Schneider 16 games Nolan Baumgartner 15 games Guillaume Desbiens 12 games Brad Lukowich 10 games Tommy Maxwell 7 games Brian Salcido 7 games Marty Murray 5 games Matt Pettinger 5 games Daren Machesney 4 games Peter Olvecky 4 games Alexandre Bolduc 3 games Eric Walsky 2 games Mario Bliznak 1 game
Hey, I Remember You!
The Manitoba Moose didn’t get a chance to play against an old friend to start this past week. Abbotsford Heat forward Jason Jaffray sat out both games against the Moose with a groin injury. Another former Moose, forward Olivier Latendresse, did get to suit up against Manitoba. He had an assist in Manitoba’s 5-2 win over the Heat, then went pointless in Abbotsford’s 2-1 victory over the Moose.
There were no players on the Toronto Marlies that used to play on the Moose, but their head coach did. Dallas Eakins, who played for the Moose during the 2003-04 season, coached his team to a 3-1 loss and 2-1 shootout win on Friday and Saturday respectively.
The Week Ahead
The Manitoba Moose will close out the regular season this week with a pair of games against a division rival, and then two games against a team that plays in the same conference. On Sunday and Tuesday, the Moose will take on the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum. Sunday’s game starts at 3:00 p.m. CT, while Tuesday’s rematch will commence at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Moose will then head home to play their final two games of the regular season against the Peoria Rivermen. The puck drops for Friday’s and Saturday’s games at 7:30 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.
Filed under: General, Prospects Tagged: | Aaron Volpatti, Abbotsford Heat, Alexandre Bolduc, Brad Lukowich, Brian Salcido, Cory Schneider, Dallas Eakins, Daren Machesney, Dusty Collins, Evan Oberg, Geoff Waugh, Guillaume Desbiens, Hamilton Bulldogs, Jason Jaffray, Jordan Schroeder, Kevin Clark, Lawrence Nycholat, Manitoba Moose, Marco Rosa, Mario Bliznak, Matt Pettinger, Matt Pope, Michael Funk, Michael Grabner, Mike Keane, Nathan McIver, Nolan Baumgartner, Olivier Latendresse, Peoria Rivermen, Peter Olvecky, Rochester Americans, Ryan McGinnis, Sergei Shirokov, Taylor Ellington, Tom Galvin, Tommy Maxwell, Toronto Marlies, Travis Ramsey, Yan Stastny
