By Jen Sharpe
www.moosehockey.com
After last night's 8-1 trouncing at the hands of the Manitoba Moose, the Lakehead University Thunderwolves were looking for some redemption tonight at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, ON. No dice for the T-Wolves, however, as Manitoba overpowered L.U. for the second night in a row and held on for a 3-0 shutout in the last exhibition game before the Moose season opener October 4th in Wilkes-Barre.
After Nathan Smith won the opening face-off for the Moose, the T-Wolves balanced the Moose in the first few minutes until Manitoba's Bernier led a charge to Lakehead's net and hit goalie Chris Whitley's crossbar.
From that point, the Moose kicked up the offense spending the first minutes of the game predominantly in the home team's zone. Four minutes in, Nick Kuiper snapped a shot from the point dead centre on Whitley, bringing Manitoba's shot total to four.
Snapping up Milan Gajic's wrist shot with his glovehand near the 13:00 mark, Whitley's save preceded a similar move by MacIntyre at Manitoba's end mere seconds later. By this point, the Thunderwolves had challanged MacIntyre with four shots compared to Manitoba's five.
After wrestling Mark Robinson away from the puck in the Moose zone, Nathan Smith received the first penalty of the game for holding at the midway point of the first. Despite being unable to register a shot on the powerplay, L.U. kept the pressure on, spending the majority of the following minutes in the Moose zone.
With three minutes left in the first, Lakehead had assumed the shot lead with eight compared to Manitoba's seven. The lead didn't last, however, as Manitoba pressed the puck on Whitley in the period's dying minutes to close the first nine shots to seven.
In the second, the Moose quickly got reacquainted with Whitley, firing off six quick shots in the period's first 90 seconds. The pressure paid off for David Masse as his shot found the back of Lakehead's net exactly two minutes in, putting the Moose ahead 1-0.
After killing off Dustin Mapletoft's holding penalty, the Moose reached the halfway point of the game relying on MacIntyre's quick reflexes to keep the Thunderwolves off the scoreboard.
Manitoba benefited from their first powerplay thanks to a hooking penalty awarded to Lakehead's Robinson at 10:04 but were unable to increase their lead. At the same point, Sebastien Centomo replaced Drew MacIntyre between the Moose pipes.
Although the team went scoreless through their man advantage, Nathan Smith eventually completed what the power play couldn't, capitalizing on a beautiful feed from Masse to put the Moose up 2-0 at 13:50. Manitoba held onto their lead through the period, finishing the second up 29 shots to Lakehead's 16.
In the last 20 minutes of the game, L.U. came out strong and went on the powerplay three minutes in due to a tripping penalty awarded to Manitoba's Mapletoft. The Moose PK proved too powerful for Lakehead's powerplay, however, as Manitoba killed the two minutes effortlessly.
Almost as soon as he was released, Mapletoft headed back to the box on a high sticking major 5:46 into the third. Despite an significant offensive rush by the T-Wolves, Manitoba's penalty kill excelled again, stalling Lakehead's powerplay.
A handful of big saves by Centomo pushed the Moose to the 13-minute mark before the team was sent back on the penalty kill due to Bolduc's slashing penalty. Lakehead countered with a penalty of their own at 13:56 as Shandor Alphonso received an interference penalty.
With both penalties completed, Smith and Gajic fed David Masse in front of the Lakehead net to give the Moose a three-goal lead with only three minutes left in the game. Masse's second goal of the night proved to be the last of the game, as the Moose held on for a 3-0 shutout to wrap their pre-season showdown in Thunder Bay.
|
| |
1 | 2 |
3 |
TOTAL |
| Manitoba |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| Lakehead University |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
FIRST PERIOD
No Scoring
Penalties:
MTB - N. Smith 2.00 Holding 10:00
SECOND PERIOD
MTB - 2:00 D. Masse (1), J. DeMone
MTB - 13:50 N. Smith (1), D. Masse, J. DeMone
Penalties:
MTB - D. Mapletoft 2.00 Holding 3:03
LU - M. Robinson 2.00 Hooking 10:04
THIRD PERIOD
MTB - 16:57 D. Masse (2), N. Smith, M. Gajic
Penalties:
MTB - D. Mapletoft 2.00 Tripping 2:59
MTB - D. Mapletoft 5.00 High Sticking 5:46
MTB - A. Bolduc 2.00 Slashing 12:35
LU - S. Alphonso 2.00 Interference 13:54
LU - D. Kivell 2.00 Interference 17:08
Attendance:
2,839
SHOTS ON GOAL
| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
TOTAL |
| Manitoba |
9 |
20 |
21 |
50 |
| Lakehead University |
8 |
8 |
11 |
27 |
GOALIES
| Manitoba |
S |
SV |
PCT (%) |
| MacIntyre |
12 |
12 |
100% |
| Centomo |
15 |
15 |
100% |
| Lakehead University |
S |
SV |
PCT (%) |
| Whitley |
50 |
47 |
94.0% |
1. MTB - D. Masse
2. LU - C. Whitley
3. MTB - J. DeMone
- The Manitoba Moose kick off the 2006-07 regular season Wednesday, October 4th in Pennsylvania against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Watch the game live on B2 Networks or follow along with Moosehockey.com.
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