Manitoba Moose

Matt McCue had a rather rude awakening to life in the Western Hockey League that involved dropping the gloves with regularity.Sometimes, it even meant going toe-to-toe with a teammate.

"When I was with the Spokane Chiefs and I was 16, we had a lot of fighters there and it seemed like that was the only way I could stay in the lineup," said McCue. "We'd always fight in practice and stuff like that."

When a reporter wondered if he meant going through the dancing/wrestling ritual without actually throwing punches that landed, McCue grinned and answered before the question could be asked.

"No, real fights," he said. "Punch each other in the head fighting. And we would work on it all the time after practice."

Talking about being forced to grow up fast.

That ability to drop the gloves and stand up for his teammates helped him play five seasons in the WHL and was also one of the reasons the Anaheim Ducks signed him as an undrafted free agent.

McCue followed that up by fighting eight times in eight pre-season games in September.

"I have no problem sticking up for guys or trying to give the guys a spark or get the momentum changed," said McCue, who is 6-foot-5 and weighs 220 pounds.

Fighting is what is keeping him with the Manitoba Moose right now, but McCue is working at rounding out his game and on Monday, he scored his first professional goal on a point-blank shot from the slot.

"He looked like a goal scorer there, he found that far side," said Moose head coach Scott Arniel.

McCue, 21, confessed it wasn't the way he envisioned scoring his first.

"I kind of figured it would be a greasy one in front of the net and not a shot, but I'll take them however they come right now," said McCue, who had 15 goals, 63 points and 625 penalty minutes in five WHL seasons.

Not only is McCue adjusting to his first taste of the professional game, he's also learning a new position as he's been moved from defence to forward.

"It's been not too bad, I've got to learn the systems from a new perspective," said McCue. "Before I was finding myself thinking on the ice a lot, but now it's becoming more natural."

The Ducks suggested McCue play forward instead and he was open to the idea from the get-go.

"I'll play wherever they need me to," said McCue, who had taken the odd shift up front over the years but has been used almost exclusively on defence since the early stages of minor hockey.

Arniel believes McCue is making progress in his quest to learn the new position.

"It's coming, but there's lots to learn there," said Arniel. "He is sometimes hesitant because he is maybe thinking more about making a mistake. As a winger, he has to realize that as a winger he's got to get his feet moving all the time and use his big size to run people over and when he doesn't have the puck, to get to the front of the net and make himself a big presence in on top of their goaltender."