By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com
The Manitoba Moose earned their eighth straight victory at the MTS Centre, setting a new franchise record for consecutive home wins in their 4-1 triumph over the visiting Iowa Stars. The victory propelled the Moose into a tie for first in the Western Conference with the Chicago Wolves with 81 points. J.J. Hunter had his first two-goal game of the season in the win, while Jaffray, and Smith both had singles for the Moose. Manitoba will take on the Stars again tomorrow night at the MTS Centre as the Manitoba Moose pay tribute to our Canadian Forces for Military Night. Special Ceremonies and tributes are planned to honour our troops. The Moose will also be wearing a special camouflage jersey for the occassion. Game time is 7:30PM CDT.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
Wade Flaherty will start between the pipes for the Moose tonight while Tobias Stephan will start in goal for the Iowa Stars.
Manitoba is sporting their teal coloured third jersey for tonight's game for the first time this season. It's the third time this season that the Moose haven't worn their home whites at the MTS Centre. The Moose wore special jersey's earlier in the year for Old Time Hockey Night Feb. 10/07 versus the Syracuse Crunch and Team Canada Tribute Night Jan. 5/07 against the Rochester Americans. Tomorrow the Moose will also wear a special jersey for Military Tribute night at the MTS Centre.
A hard hitting start to the first period as both teams came out throwing the body to try and set the physical tone for the game.
Manitoba earned the first powerplay of the game when Stars defenceman Matt DeMarchi was called for high-sticking behind the Iowa goal.
Manitoba had control of the puck in the Stars end for the bulk of the powerplay but they couldn't get a shot on net with the man-advantage.
Mike Brown was a little wrecking ball on the ice as he finished every opportunity for a hit in the period, dishing out at least a half-dozen hard hits.
Just as time was running out in the first period J.J. Hunter lifted a pass out front from behind the Stars net. Mike Keane back-handed the puck out of mid-air where J.J. came out from behind the goal and banged home the rebound just as time expired on the period.
Despite failing to register a shot on goal in the first 15:00, Manitoba battled back with five shots and the opening goal in the final 4:21 of the frame. Iowa leads 6-5 in shots through 20:00.
Second Period
Jason Jaffray had a glorious chance to extend the Moose lead when he was sprung on a partial breakaway by Yannick Tremblay. Stars goalie Tobius Stephan stood tall as he stoned Manitoba's leading scorer on the play.
Stars forward Yared Hagos took an early roughing penalty for the Stars giving the Moose their second powerplay of the game.
Manitoba would make them pay as the trusted threesome of Goren, Moran and Jaffray combined to put the home-side up 2-0. Lee Goren carried the puck in a cross the Stars blueline and dished a pass off to Brad Moran. Moran then flipped a soft backhand pass to Jaffray who fired home his 30th goal of the season. The powerplay marker came at 4:10 of the second period.
Nathan Smith was given a questionable goaltender interference call at 10:53 of the period when he fired a shot on net but then ran into the Stars goalie. It appeared Smith tried to stop but referee Steve Koharski saw it otherwise.
The Moose were able to kill off the penalty without incedent, holding onto their two-goal advantage.
The Stars were called for two-many men on the ice at the 16:00 mark of the period. Stephan came up big for the Stars in net as he made a couple of good saves to keep the visitors within striking distance. Stephan's best save came as he came out to challenge an then laid out to rob Yannick Tremblay with his glove.
On the subsequent face-off Marc Chouinard was assessed a 5:00 high-sticking major to end the Moose powerplay.
The Stars came ever-so-close to getting on the board as Iowa winger Janos Vos was stopped with the left pad by Wade Flaherty but Vos then fired the rebound off the post not once but twice as the Stars couldn't buy a goal. Marius Holtet misfired on a one-time shot during the same possession at the right side of the net to leave the visitors snake-bitten.
The period came to a close with 1:51 left on Chouinard's penalty. The Moose picked up the intensity in the second as they now lead 16-12 in the shots department.
Third Period
The Stars got themselves back in the game early in the third as they capitalized on the remainder of Chouinard's high-sticking penalty. Junior Lessard fired a shot from the point that beat Flaherty over the right shoulder. Flaherty had little chance on the play as he was screened and the puck looked to be deflected on it's way in. Marty Wilford and Mario Scalzo drew the ssists on the goal at 1:13 of the period.
Marc Chouinard made up for his costly penalty as he made a beautiful rush up the left-wing completely undressing Matt DeMarchi by putting the puck through his legs and then carrying on behind the Stars net. Chouinard then fed a nice backhand pass outfront to J.J. Hunter who, while falling down, managaed to lift the puck over Stephan into the far corner for his second goal of the game. Mike Keane drew the second assist on the goal at 8:56 of the period.
Colby Genoway picked off a pass in the Stars zone as they were trying to break out of their end. Genoway then backhanded the puck to Jesse Schultz who fired a wrister that beat Stephan but not the post as his shot clanged off the iron. Nathan Smith was Johnny on the spot for the Moose though, as he corraled the puck with his body and then whacked in the bouncing biscuit for his 16th goal of the season. The goal put the Moose up 4-1 with 3:35 to go in the game.
That goal was the nail in the coffin as the Stars could not get anything going from that point on and the Moose held on for the three-goal victory.
The Moose set a franchise record with their eighth consecutive home win and moved into a tie with the Chicago Wolves for first place in the Western Conference with 81 points.
Moose scratches: Prestin Ryan, Brandon Reid, Brendan Brooks, Tyler Bouck
Stars scratches: Marty Sertich, Scott May, Colin Peters, Mike (A.) Green, Dan Hacker, Kelly Czuy
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Global Highlights - Moose vs. Stars - stream
| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Iowa |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Manitoba |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
Mar 9, 2007 - MTS Centre FIRST PERIOD:1. Manitoba, J. Hunter (8) (M. Keane) 19:59 Penalties - M. DeMarchi Iow (high-sticking) 7:12 SECOND PERIOD:2. Manitoba, J. Jaffray (30) (B. Moran, L. Goren) 4:10 PP Penalties - Y. Hagos Iow (roughing) 2:38, J. Schultz Mtb (holding) 5:55, Y. Hagos Iow (tripping) 6:11, Y. Tremblay Mtb (holding) 9:02, N. Smith Mtb (goaltender interference) 10:53, M. Holtet Iow (tripping) 13:08, Served by V. Polak Iow (bench minor - too many men) 16:00, M. Chouinard Mtb (major - high-sticking) 16:51 THIRD PERIOD:3. Iowa, Y. Hagos (4) (J. Lessard, M. Wilford) 1:13 PP 4. Manitoba, J. Hunter (9) (M. Chouinard, M. Keane) 8:56 5. Manitoba, N. Smith (16) (J. Schultz, C. Genoway) 16:25 Penalties - P. Szczechura Iow (hooking) 18:46
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Iowa |
6 |
6 |
10 |
22 |
| Manitoba |
5 |
11 |
12 |
28 |
POWER PLAYS:Iowa Stars 1-5. Manitoba Moose 1-6. GOALTENDERS:Iowa Stars Stephan 10-15-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 24 GA: 4 [L] Manitoba Moose Flaherty 17-9-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 21 GA: 1 [W]
Attendance:
7577
- MTB - #18 J.J. Hunter
- MTB - #13 Mike Brown
- IOW - #11 Yared Hagos
- The Moose host the Iowa Stars again tomorrow night at the MTS Centre. The game is a special tribute night to our Canadian Forces, with special pre and post game ceremonies planned to honour our troops. The Moose will also wear a special camouflage uniform that evening, while fans are encouraged to wear red and white to show their Canadian pride.
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Updated: Mar. 9, 2007 at 10:14 PM CST
