Manitoba Moose

Game 3 blog

Ahoy Moose fans,

I’m getting all cued up for Game 3 between the Moose and Marlies. It’s cool to see the Marlies are like the Moose and have a minor hockey player skate out on the ice for the anthem. But does it give fans the right message when they send the kid out with a white flag (with the Marlies logo)? The Marlies’ website is full of all sorts of crazy colours, so they surely have a lime green or hot pink flag kicking around the bowels of Ricoh Coliseum, no?

FIRST PERIOD

Someone’s waving a 1989 Winnipeg Jets jersey, sweet!

A few minutes into the game, and the AHL Live feed is pretty solid. I don’t have the greatest computer, but it’s pretty smooth, and worth watching if you want to follow the Moose on the road.

Marlies garbage-picker Jeff Hamilton gets another rebound goal 6:17 into the game. I’m starting to think this isn’t a guy you want alone in front of the net.

The benefits of being associated with the Maple Leafs, Marlies fans can meet Wendel Clark and Darryl Sittler.

Section 116 of the Ricoh Coliseum is Duke’s Dog Pound (Duke being the Marlies mascot). Looking at Duke, I don’t think “dog pound” is the right term. Maybe a kennel. Duke wouldn’t survive in a dog pound. He’s too pretty.

I’m a little worried as the Moose seem to be pinned in their own zone for much of the first period, but they haven’t felt any extra damage yet.

Wow! Cory Schneider gets the pad down on a Darryl Boyce rebound while the Moose are on the powerplay. The Moose really have to tighten up in front of the net going forward.

SECOND PERIOD

The Marlies play a Top 10 Fans in the AHL list. Naturally, Marlies fans are number 1 (a little homerism), but at least they have the good sense to put the Moose at number 2. I’m a little shocked that AHL attendance leaders in Hershey didn’t make the list. It also seems to be a little patriotism that Hamilton was number three. Really? I guess Syracuse wasn’t there because a lot of their fans seem to go only for the fights, which the Crunch seem happy to oblige.

The Marlies bring out a replica of Mick E. Moose, and Duke proceeds to lay a beating on him. Class move, guys. I don’t think we’d do that here, partly because I don’t think we could find an imitation Duke that looked goofier than the real one does.

As for the game, the Moose came out stronger in the second, and are able to draw a penalty after Andre Deveaux takes a late run at Ray Sawada. No dice on the power play.

Marlies colour commentator Bob McGill calls the puck skipping over Fistric’s stick “home ice advantage”. McGill is the same guy who messed around with Jason Krog’s sticks before Game 1. He did apologize, but still, coincidence?

The “Manitoba’s Greatest Athletes” bit on the scoreboard with a bunch of random bloopers was actually pretty funny, but I don’t think they needed to show an adult tossing a huge chunk of snow at a little kid. It was probably about half the size of this kid. That’s child abuse. And that’s not funny, just trash. Slander is verbal, libel is written, so what’s a malicious attack that’s purely visual?

The Moose get better attendance than the Marlies without a cheerleading squad. That said, quite a few of the fans seem to be getting into it, so it’s good to see some true hockey fans in Toronto, not just the Blackberry-tapping suits you see in the front row of Leafs games.

After making some amazing saves early in the game, Alexandre Bolduc ties the game at one as he slides one in that Pogge would pay handsomely to have back. If we win by more than one, bribes can be forwarded to the post office box I’ll take out immediately following the game.

Oh boy! The Duke vs. Mick E. Moose Shootout Challenge! Oh, it’s just Duke hitting Mick from behind into the glass. Sounds like Marlies hockey. Actually, turns out they just had the graphic up earlier. They ARE doing it for real in the second intermission. The fake Mick E. scores on his third and fourth tries, so it’s not rigged.  Still, I’d be stoked to see the real Mick E. take on the Duke. Maybe we could get a sheet of ice at a neutral site – Thunder Bay, anyone?

THIRD PERIOD

Tim Stapleton fakes out Cory Schneider early in the third. Great play. The scoreboard graphic shows a crying Moose logo. I understand trying to stoke a rivalry with the opposing team, but the Marlies just scored. Isn’t that an occasion to stoke your team, not demean the visitors?

The Moose get a powerplay right after the goal, so hopefully they can strike right back. Grabner has been getting loose several times, but the Marlies D just always seems to wrangle him in.

The Marlies think they’ve scored as the puck bounces towards the net, but Schneider makes sure it doesn’t go in. It’d be tough slogging to come back from two goals down with eight minutes left, especially the way Pogge’s been playing, so that’s an important play by the Moose tender.

Bolduc is taken out by Jaime Sifers in the neutral zone, and he goes down hard. Sifers fell on his own, so it looks inadvertent, but could be bad news for the Moose if Bolduc doesn’t come back soon.

Four seconds to go, Sifers takes a penalty. Faceoff in the Marlies zone. Moose win it but the shot misses the net. Moose go down 2-1 in another hard-fought game. We played well enough to win, but so did Toronto. It’s been a great series for Marlies fans and hockey fans, just not for us Moose fans. Ah well, love the game, hate the result, I always say.

Back at ya Tuesday night. Game time is 6 p.m. from Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto.