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Updated: Mar. 18, 2007 at 6:28 PM CDT

Moose shutout Peoria 4-0 for eighth straight

By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com

Dov Grumet-Morris earned the shutout in his first ever start for the Manitoba Moose, stopping 28 shots along the way. Manitoba has now won eight in-a-row and 17 of their last 18 games overall. The Moose stretched their lead in the North to eight points over the Hamilton Bulldogs and moved into first place overall in the Western Conference in the process with 89 points and a 39-17-7-4 record. The Moose won all three games of their "3-in-3" road trip and will now head home to play four-games-in-five nights at the MTS Centre starting Tuesday versus the Houston Aeros.

>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet

First Period

Dov Grumet-Morris gets his first start in net for the Moose after being called up from Cincinnati of the ECHL. Marek Schwarz gets the start in goal for the Rivermen.

Mike Brown and Hans Benson got the festivities started as they dropped the gloves just 2:33 into the opening period. Both players were sent to the box for 5:00.

Nathan McIver took a cross-checking penalty at 4:27 to give the Rivermen the first powerplay of the game. The Moose penalty kill stepped up once again as they killed off the man-advantage.

The Moose would get their own chance on the powerplay as Steven Birnstill was called for hooking at 8:09 of the first.

Nathan Smith would capitalize as he scored his 6th powerplay goal of the season and his 17th overall on the year to stake the Moose to an early 1-0 lead. Smith won a face-off back to Colby Genoway at the point who moved the puck across to Yannick Tremblay. Tremblay let a blast go that Marek Schwarz could not handle, and Smith stormed in at the left post, whacking in the loose puck for the goal.

Ryan MacMurchy came close to tying it for the Rivermen as he fired a shot on goal from the left-wing boards. Grumet-Morris just got a small piece of it to deflect the puck off of the crossbar. The puck bounced off the bar and fell into the crease where Grumet-Morris dove on it for a whistle.

The Rivermen pressed to tie it at the end of the period. Grumet-Morris made a nice pad save and then watched as the rebound went off the post but stayed out as the horn sounded to end the first frame.

Grumet-Morris looked strong in the opening 20:00, making 14 saves, a good start to his first start for the Moose. Manitoba could only mustre two shots on goal in the opening frame but they still lead 1-0.

Second Period

Jason Jaffray fed a pass outfront from behind the Peoria goalto Lee Goren who just missed putting the Moose up by two as he one-timed the puck on goal. Marek Schwarz stood tall to make the save on the big Moose winger and keep the score 1-0.

Tomas Mojzis took a hooking penalty at the 3:17 mark to give the Moose their second powerplay of the game. The Rivermen got the best chance shorthanded however as Michal Birner and Yan Stastny broke in on a 2-on-1 shorthanded break. Birner fed the puck across to Stastny who fired his one-timer just wide of the left post. The Moose couldn't get much else going on their man-advantage.

Riveremen defenceman Zack Fitzgerald ran into Jason Jaffray just inside the Peoria blueline sending Jaffray's glove and stick flying and the Moose winger spinning to the ice. Referee Nygel Pelletier called Fitzgerald for kneeing on the play as Jaffray was caught awkwardly. Jaffray was able to skate off on his own power as he appeared OK after the hit.

The Moose could not get their powerplay on track and the Rivermen killed off Manitoba's third advantage of the game.

Rocky Thompson was called for hooking just a few minutes later giving the Moose their fourth consecutive powerplay in the game. Manitoba could not take advantage however, leaving them 1-for-4 on the game.

Patrick Coulombe was called for holding at 13:09 to give the Rivermen their second powerplay chance of the game. Trent Whitfield and Mike Glumac missed on glorious chances to tie the game for Peoria, as Whitfield missed an open net and Glumac fanned on a bouncing puck with the Moose goal wide open, the Grumet-Morris made the saves he needed to to keep the Rivermen off the board.

Nathan McIver and Zack Fitzgerald squared off at centre ice as McIver decided to settle the score for Fitzgerald's hit on Jaffray earlier in the period. The two players latched on and went round-and-round throwing haymakers. Fitzgerald landed one good punch that cut McIver around the eye as the fight came to an end.

Yan Stastny took a high-sticking penalty to give the Moose their sixth man-advantage of the game. Manitoba had some good possession in the Peoria zone where Marek Schwarz made a few nice saves on scrambles around the Rivermen goal to keep the Moose from scoring.

Manitoba struck for another goal with just over a minute to play in the period as J.J. Hunter cleaned up the garbage in the Peoria crease for his 10th of the season. Jannik Hansen fired the initial shot on net where Mike Keane took the first whack at the loose puck, then Hunter tapped it in as the puck had trickled past Marek Schwarz.

Jannik Hansen took a late tripping penalty to give the home side an opportunity to get back in the game. The Moose killed off the start of the advantage as the second period came to an end. Thanks to four straight penalties committed by the Rivermen the Moose were able to outshoot Peoria 12-2 in the middle stanza.

Third Period

The Moose were able to kill off the remainder of the penalty to Hansen that carried over from the second period, leaving the Rivermen 0-for-3 on the game.

J.J. Hunter was called for hooking at 5:19 of the period, to give the Rivermen another chance to get back into the game with the man-advantage. Manitoba was able to kill off the penalty without incident and maintain their two-goal lead.

Yan Statsny had a terrific chance to get the Rivermen on the board as he was sent in on a breakaway from the face-off circles but he fired his shot wide of the net, a common theme for the Rivermen on the day.

J.J. Hunter put the Moose up 3-0 moments later as he whacked in a rebound in front of Schwarz. Yannick Tremblay fired an angled dump-in to the corner of the Peoria zone, where the puck came off the boards to Lee Goren. Goren let a hard one-timer go on Schwarz who could not handle it and Hunter came in and backhanded the bouncing puck out of the air past the Peoria netminder for his 11th of the season.

Maxime Fortunus took the third straight penalty for the Moose as he was called for tripping at 12:36. Manitoba's first ranked penalty-kill had the number of Peoria's fifth ranked powerplay this night as they killed off Peoria's fifth powerplay of the game. Manitoba has yet to concede a powerplay marker to the Rivermen this season.

Fortunus had a glorious chance to put the game away for the Moose as he was sprung on a breakaway leaving the penalty box. Fortunus let a wrister go on Schwarz, but the Peoria goalie was able to make the save to keep his team in it.

Peoria pulled Schwarz with about 2:00 to go in the game to try and get back in it, but the Moose would put the game away as Reid would score into the empty net. Jannik Hansen picked up the puck at the Moose blueline and broke in on a 2-on-1 with Reid. The defender went to Hansen and the rookie from Denmark fed the pass across to a wide open Reid who tapped in the empty-netter for his 14th of the season.

Dov Grumet-Morris held on for the shutout in his first start for the Moose, making 28 saves along the way. The Moose have now won eight straight and 17 of their last 18 overall to move into sole possession of first in the Western Conference with 89 points.

Manitoba improved their record to 3-0-0-0 versus Peoria this season and have only allowed one goal to the Rivermen in those three games.

The Moose won all three games of their "3-in-3" road trip and will now head home to play four-games-in-five nights at the MTS Centre starting Tuesday versus the Houston Aeros.

Game Summary

SCORING	1	2	3	T
Manitoba	1	1	2	4
Peoria	0	0	0	0

Mar 18, 2007 - Carver Arena

FIRST PERIOD:

1. Manitoba, N. Smith (17) (Y. Tremblay, C. Genoway) 9:07 PP

Penalties - M. Brown Mtb (fighting) 2:33, H. Benson Peo (fighting) 2:33, N. McIver Mtb (cross-checking) 4:27, S. Birnstill Peo (hooking) 8:09

SECOND PERIOD:

2. Manitoba, J. Hunter (10) (J. Hansen, M. Keane) 18:54

Penalties - T. Mojzis Peo (hooking) 3:17, Z. FitzGerald Peo (kneeing) 6:34, R. Thompson Peo (hooking) 9:04, P. Coulombe Mtb (holding) 13:09, N. McIver Mtb (fighting) 16:19, Z. FitzGerald Peo (fighting) 16:19, Y. Stastny Peo (high-sticking) 16:29, J. Hansen Mtb (tripping) 19:09

THIRD PERIOD:

3. Manitoba, J. Hunter (11) (L. Goren, Y. Tremblay) 7:33
4. Manitoba, B. Reid (14) (J. Hansen, D. Wood) 18:15 EN

Penalties - J. Hunter Mtb (hooking) 5:19, M. Fortunus Mtb (tripping) 12:36

SHOTS	1	2	3	T
Manitoba	2	12	10	24
Peoria	14	2	12	28

POWER PLAYS:

Manitoba Moose 1-5. Peoria Rivermen 0-5.

GOALTENDERS:

Manitoba Moose
Grumet-Morris 4-7-5
Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 28 GA: 0 [W]

Peoria Rivermen
Schwarz 19-13-0
Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:23 SV: 20 GA: 3 [L]

Attendance:

Three Stars

Three Stars

MTB - #18 J.J. Hunter
MTB - #30 Dov Grumet-Morris
PEO - #39 Hans Benson

What's Next

Manitoba won't have long to rest as they return to Winnipeg to host the Houston Aeros on Tuesday, March 20th and Wednesday, March 21st at the MTS Centre

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