Moose Update For The Week Of 04/04/10 – 04/10/10

The Manitoba Moose finished off their regular season schedule this past week. Find out how they did in this Moose update for the week of April 4, 2010 to April 10, 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 finished up their final road trip of the regular season with a pair of games against the Hamilton Bulldogs. Sunday’s game, which was the third game in as many days for the Moose, didn’t start off on the right note, with Andrew Conboy and Brock Trotter scoring to make it 2-0 Bulldogs partway through the second. Tommy Maxwell made it 2-1 almost a minute after Trotter’s goal, but the Bulldogs capped off the middle frame with a trio of goals to put Hamilton ahead 5-1. Guillaume Desbiens made it 5-2 midway through the third, but Yannick Weber sealed the deal for Hamilton with a goal just 22 seconds later, giving the Bulldogs a 6-2 win.

The rematch didn’t start off much better for Manitoba on Tuesday, as Maxime Lacroix opened up the scoring for Hamilton just 5:32 into the game. It stayed that way until the early stages of the third, as Evan Oberg tied the game up on the power play to make the score 1-1. Almost four minutes later, Sergei Shirokov scored his first goal in nine games to eventually give the Moose a 2-1 victory.

The Manitoba Moose came home to the MTS Centre for their final regular season homestand of 2009-10. The Moose still had a chance to steal away third place in the North Division, but needed to win both games against the Peoria Rivermen, then hope that the Abbotsford Heat dropped their last couple of games. The Moose were able to do their part, first winning Friday’s game against the Rivermen 3-2 on the strength of goals by Yan Stastny, Jordan Schroeder, and Mario Bliznak. Cory Schneider stopped 42 of 44 shots for the win. They cut it close in Saturday’s rematch against Peoria, but pulled off their eight shootout victory of the season with a 2-1 win. Mario Bliznak scored Manitoba’s only regulation goal, while Marco Rosa and Mike Keane put a capper on the regular season with shootout goals.

Unfortunately for Manitoba, it was too little, too late. The Abbotsford Heat won both their games over the weekend, beating the Lake Erie Monsters 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday, then defeated the Toronto Marlies 5-2 on Sunday.

Since the Moose finished in fourth, they will take on the Hamilton Bulldogs in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. The schedule for the series is available below.

April 15, 2010     Manitoba at Hamilton     6:30 p.m. CT
April 17, 2010     Manitoba at Hamilton     1:00 p.m. CT
April 19, 2010     Hamilton at Manitoba     7:30 p.m. CT
April 21, 2010     Hamilton at Manitoba     7:30 p.m. CT
April 23, 2010*    Hamilton at Manitoba     7:30 p.m. CT
April 25, 2010*    Manitoba at Hamilton     6:00 p.m. CT
April 27, 2010*    Manitoba at Hamilton     6:30 p.m. CT

The Lines

The Moose opened their week with a few changes to their lineup. Matt Pope came back into the lineup on Manitoba’s third line, in place of veteran Mike Keane, who sat out the third game in three days. Peter Olvecky returned from an upper body injury to play on Manitoba’s fourth line. On defence, Jordan Hill played his first-ever AHL game, playing alongside Brian Salcido in place of fellow rookie Taylor Ellington. The last change came in goal, with Daren Machesney getting the start in place of Cory Schneider.

Sergei Shirokov      -      Marco Rosa      -          Kevin Clark
Guillaume Desbiens   -    Matt Pettinger    -     Jordan Schroeder
Aaron Volpatti       -     Yan Stastny      -            Matt Pope
Peter Olvecky        -    Mario Bliznak     -        Tommy Maxwell

           Ryan McGinnis        -        Travis Ramsey
           Evan Oberg           -           Tom Galvin
           Jordan Hill          -        Brian Salcido

                         Daren Machesney
                          Cory Schneider

I unfortunately wasn’t around to see what lineup the Moose went with for Tuesday’s game against the Hamilton Bulldogs. Dusty Collins did enter the Moose lineup in place of Matt Pettinger, who was called up by the Vancouver Canucks earlier in the day. Also, Mike Keane came back from his one-game sabbatical, while Matt Pope sat in the press box. On defence, Taylor Ellington took Jordan Hill’s shot. Finally, Cory Schneider made his way back between the pipes.

With Peter Olvecky getting hurt again, Matt Pope was inserted back into the Moose lineup on Friday. Otherwise, the Moose went with basically the same lineup they dressed against the Hamilton Bulldogs on Tuesday.

Sergei Shirokov      -      Marco Rosa      -          Kevin Clark
Guillaume Desbiens   -   Jordan Schroeder   -            Matt Pope
Aaron Volpatti       -     Yan Stastny      -           Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell        -    Mario Bliznak     -        Dusty Collins

           Ryan McGinnis        -        Travis Ramsey
           Evan Oberg           -        Brian Salcido
           Tyler Ellington      -           Tom Galvin

                          Cory Schneider
                         Daren Machesney

The Moose finished off their regular season with nearly the same lineup they fielded on Saturday. The only change that came to the lineup happened on defence, as Jordan Hill took the place of Evan Oberg, who went up to Vancouver to play in their final regular season game.

Sergei Shirokov      -      Marco Rosa      -          Kevin Clark
Guillaume Desbiens   -   Jordan Schroeder   -            Matt Pope
Aaron Volpatti       -     Yan Stastny      -           Mike Keane
Tommy Maxwell        -    Mario Bliznak     -        Dusty Collins

           Ryan McGinnis        -        Travis Ramsey
           Matt Clark           -        Brian Salcido
           Jordan Hill          -           Tom Galvin

                          Cory Schneider
                         Daren Machesney

Who’s Hot

Goaltender Cory Schneider has gone 5-1-0-1 in his last seven starts, with a 1.40 goals-against average and a 0.957 save percentage.

Forward Mario Bliznak has picked up seven points (5-2-7) in his last eight games.

Who’s Not

Forward Sergei Shirokov has picked up four points (1-3-4) in his last 11 games.

Forward Jordan Schroeder has picked up three points (1-2-3) in his last seven games.

Forward Guillaume Desbiens has picked up two points (2-0-2) in his last seven games.

Forward Marco Rosa has picked up two points (0-2-2) in his last five games.

Who’s Up

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

Forward Michael Grabner had a quiet week offensively, going pointless on seven shots in three games for the Canucks this past week.

Defenceman Nolan Baumgartner played in Vancouver’s final two regular season games, earning himself a +3 plus/minus rating and two penalty minutes.

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.

Forward Matt Pettinger was called up by the Canucks on April 6th, and suited up for Vancouver’s last two regular season games. He went pointless against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, but did close out the season with an assist against Calgary on Saturday.

Lastly, defenceman Evan Oberg played in his second-ever NHL game on Saturday, going pointless on ten shifts.

So far this season, eight Moose players have missed a total of 156 games while on recall to the parent Vancouver Canucks. This does not include games by Jannik Hansen (74 games), Aaron Rome (72 games), Mathieu Schneider (39 games), Brad Lukowich (29 games), or Sergei Shirokov (3 games), who all started the season with the Canucks.

Alexandre Bolduc	63 games
Michael Grabner		41 games
Nolan Baumgartner       28 games
Matt Pettinger		11 games
Cory Schneider		 7 games
Mario Bliznak		 3 games
Evan Oberg               2 games
Guillaume Desbiens	 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 finished off his first regular season in North America with a two-point performance in one of the four games this week, including the game-winner, in Manitoba’s 2-1 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs. He was silent in the other three games he played in, though.

Who’s Hurt

The injured list keeps having names added to it.

Forward Peter Olvecky came back from injury after sitting out four games with an upper body injury, but found his way back on the list two games later. He missed the final two games of the regular season.

Defenceman Taylor Ellington suffered a leg injury during Manitoba’s 3-2 win over the Peoria Rivermen on Friday. It’s unknown how long he’ll be out of the lineup for.

Defenceman Geoff Waugh (head; missed eight games) has sat out the past couple of weeks with a concussion, and there’s no timetable for his return to the Moose lineup.

Defenceman Lawrence Nycholat (back; missed eight games) also missed all of the games the Moose played this past week, but could come back into the Moose lineup as soon as this week.

Defenceman Nathan McIver (hand; missed eleven games) will miss the early 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 14 games 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, 21 Moose players have missed a total of 324 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		61 games
Lawrence Nycholat	43 games
Nathan McIver           35 games
Geoff Waugh             30 games
Matt Pope		22 games
Matt McCue		19 games
Pierre-Cedric Labrie	16 games
Mathieu Schneider       16 games
Nolan Baumgartner	15 games
Brad Lukowich           14 games
Guillaume Desbiens	12 games
Tommy Maxwell            7 games
Brian Salcido		 7 games
Peter Olvecky            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
Taylor Ellington         1 game

Hey, I Remember You!

Two players and one coach with Canucks and/or Moose ties faced off against Manitoba, but only one of them played.

Hamilton Bulldogs goaltender Curtis Sanford, who played with both the Canucks and Moose last season, did not dress for either of the games his team played against Manitoba. Sanford is currently sitting out with an ankle injury that will keep him out of action through at least the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

Peoria Rivermen forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie made his first trip to the MTS Centre since he was traded at the NHL Trade Deadline for forward Yan Stastny. He had two penalty minutes in Friday’s game, then followed that up with two shots on net in the rematch on Saturday.

The other member of the Rivermen who has ties to the Canucks, former defenceman Drake Berehowsky, served as Peoria’s assistant coach.

The Week Ahead

The Manitoba Moose start their run to the Calder Cup with road games against the Hamilton Bulldogs on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday’s game at Copps Coliseum starts at 6:30 p.m. CT, while the puck drops on Saturday’s matchup at 1:00 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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