Manitoba Moose

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- It wasn't much of a pre-season for the Manitoba Moose. In more ways than one.

For one thing, it's hard to call it a pre-season when it consists of nothing more than a two-game weekend jaunt to play the new Calgary Flames AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat.

And then there's what the Moose did in those two games, losing by scores of 5-2 Friday night and 6-4 Sunday night and getting outshot by a cumulative total of 76-49.

"There were some good things," Moose head coach Scott Arniel said Sunday night, "but there were also lots of loose ends. Lots of loose ends."

True enough. But after a week of training camp and two exhibition games, there are also some things that can now be said definitively about the 2009-10 Manitoba Moose.

Here goes:

• The Moose teams that played the Heat twice here this weekend will look nothing like the Moose club that will take to the ice against Houston Friday evening at MTS Centre for the regular-season opener.
  
  The Moose are expecting an airlift of at least 10 players from Canucks training camp, likely as early as today, and will make their cuts accordingly. And that airlift will now almost certainly include last season's AHL goalie of the year, Cory Schneider.
  
  Schneider got the start for Vancouver in Edmonton Sunday night in what was his last chance to make a bid for the backup job to Roberto Luongo. Andrew Raycroft was believed to have the inside track on that competition heading into Edmonton and Schneider didn't do much to bolster his case, giving up three goals on his first 12 shots before steadying. Schneider let in just two more goals the rest of the game as Edmonton went on to win 5-4 in overtime.
   
• Daren Machesney looks to be a very capable backup to Schneider. Machesney played the whole game Sunday night and while he gave up six goals, they came on 39 shots and it was tough to fault him for five of them. He covers a lot of net, moves well laterally and he plays the puck well -- except for a heart-stopping wander in the first period that forced Moose defenceman Brian Salcido to make a nice save for his absent goaltender.
  
  "That's the first game I've played in a very long time," said Machesney, acquired from Hershey in the off-season. "I let in
  six goals and obviously need to plug up some holes. But it's the first game and it can only get better from here."
   
• Derek LeBlanc looks very comfortable in the AHL for a guy from the Central Hockey League.
  
  LeBlanc scored his second goal in two games Sunday night against the Heat, tipping in a Travis Ramsey shot from the point.
  
  The betting here is that Leblanc played himself onto the Moose roster this weekend.
   
• Matt McCue is a fighter, not a wrestler.
  
  Moose GM Craig Heisinger doesn't traditionally carry a pure enforcer, which is basically what McCue is at this point.
  
  But if McCue does stick with the Moose -- and it looks like he will, at least to start the season -- the fans at MTS Centre are going to love watching him scrap. He fought twice here over the weekend and displayed a pugilistic style that appears to be this: Stand toe-to-toe with your opponent and throw punches until your arm gets tired. Not much clutching, not much defence, just straight-ahead tossing.
   
• Marco Rosa looks very comfortable in a Moose uniform.
  
  Acquired from Houston in the off-season, the Moose are hoping for a breakout year from the 27-year-old centreman.
  
  Rosa had 16 goals and 24 assists with Houston last season -- his best production in four seasons in the AHL -- and Moose management thinks the right linemates and a lot of playing time could see Rosa take the next big step to a 20- or even 30-goal man.
  
  Rosa worked both the power play and the penalty kill Sunday night, scoring a short-handed goal. "The coaches and management here have shown a lot of interest in me," Rosa said, "and when you feel wanted, you really want to show them you're worth it."

Highlight  Reel

Moose 4 at Heat 6

FIRST PERIOD
With the Moose killing a Dusty Collins holding penalty, newly acquired Moose centreman Marco Rosa gets loose on a 2-on1 with Mike Keane and fires over the shoulder of Heat goaltender Leland Irving to notch the shorthanded marker.
Moose 1 Heat 0

SECOND PERIOD
Moose centreman Derek Leblanc scores his second of the pre-season, tipping a Travis Ramsey point shot early in the period to make it 2-0 Moose. The Heat then storm back, scoring three goals in six minutes to take a 3-2 lead. But the final word in the period goes to Manitoba as Scott Howes converts a rebound over Irving with barely a minute left in the period.
Moose 3 Heat 3

THIRD PERIOD
The Heat take over in the third period, scoring three minutes into the period on a shot from the point, adding an insurance marker 10 minutes later and then putting the exclamation point on the game at 15:09 when Heat centreman Hugo Carpentier is awarded a penalty shot and goes five-hole on Manitoba goalie Daren Machesney. Moose winger Pierre-Cedric Labrie rounds out the scoring, sliding a rebound under Irving with less than a minute left.
Heat 6 Moose 4

Ice Chips

Priorities

The Heat were playing their first-ever games as an AHL franchise this weekend and showed an interesting sense of priorities. The team has a huge video scoreboard at centre ice, which they used judiciously this weekend to show replays of all the fights — but only some of the goals.

Split loyalties

While Heat management insists fans here don’t care that their club is an affiliate of the hated Calgary Flames, the surprisingly loud cheers that accompanied every Manitoba goal here this weekend suggests at least some locals chose to cheer for the Vancouver Canucks affiliate over their own home team. Crowds averaged about 4,500 per game in a 7,000-seat arena this weekend.