Manitoba Moose

Four seasons into the experiment that has turned out to be low risk and high reward, Mike Keane is knocking at the door of his fourth pro hockey championship.

With three Stanley Cups already in the trophy case, the captain of the Manitoba Moose is looking to add a Calder Cup to his impressive resume.

He has a chance to do that when his team takes on the Hershey Bears in the best-of-seven AHL final, which starts tonight at MTS Centre, 7:30 p.m.

"At this stage of my career, this is why I'm playing," Keane said after the Moose dispatched the Houston Aeros in the Western Conference final. "We have a real special group. We battled hard to get here, so let's put in the time and really go for it."

Keane was originally interested in playing for the Moose during the NHL lockout season in 2004-05, but that club was already stocked with veterans from the parent Vancouver Canucks.

So the Winnipeg product spent much of the season watching his hometown Moose and continued to work out and skate on his own, waiting for an opportunity to resume his career after the work stoppage was over.

With no suitable NHL offers on the table, Keane finally joined the Moose early in the 2005-06 campaign and showed quickly he had plenty of gas left in the tank.

He was named captain on Oct. 29 of 2005 and he's been leading by example ever since.

In fact, he's showing no signs of slowing down, despite the fact he turned 42 yesterday.

Keane has never been one to just hang on and he's not just here to be a mentor to young players either.

His unbridled passion for the game and ability to be a force in big games has been evident throughout this glorious playoff run.

Keane has followed up his most productive Moose regular season (eight goals, 28 points in 74 games) with his best playoff output (four goals, 11 points in 16 games), with the most important round yet to come.

"He's been one of our best players -- he really stepped up," said Moose goalie Cory Schneider. "He's blocking shots, killing penalties, scoring goals. You can really tell that this is his favourite time of the year and that he's been here before.

"He knows how to get things done and that's the benefit of having a champion on your team. He never lets us get too high or too low. He always says stick to the plan and do what we do best. To have that calming influence is great. You feel like you're never out of the game. We have a lot of confidence and he just magnifies that."

It would be easy to argue that this is the best Keane has played since joining the Moose early in the 2005-06 season.

With four goals and 11 points in 16 games, Keane sits fourth on the team in scoring and is anchoring the checking line with Mario Bliznak and Guillaume Desbiens that has done a great job of limiting the offence of the opposition's top scoring line.

"We all saw him playing back in the day and he hasn't changed at all, that's the most amazing thing," said Desbiens, a Quebec Nordiques fan when Keane was a member of the Montreal Canadiens. "He's playing the same way, throwing his body around like he's 20-years-old. It's motivation for us. When you see a guy do that, we've got to do it too. He leads the way.

"He's definitely the ultimate leader. We just have to follow him."

Moose general manager Craig Heisinger has often said that his team's best chance to win a championship comes with Keane on the active roster.

Now the Moose are only four wins away from the first title in franchise history and Keane is playing a key role.

"He's a leader in every sense of the word," said Moose head coach Scott Arniel.

"On the ice and off the ice. You know what, you may even see a better player come this final series. If I remember correctly, in the final series of all his Stanley Cup wins he's been a very noticeable and good player."

Keane won three Stanley Cups, but he also came out on the short end in two other final appearances and you can be sure he doesn't want that second number to increase.

"He recognizes this team we have and he knows this is a great opportunity for him to win another championship, said Arniel.

"He's going to do everything he possibly can to make sure we're fighting right down to the end."

HOOF PRINTS: As of late yesterday afternoon, more more than 14,100 tickets had already been for sold Game 1, leaving fewer than 900 available. The Moose also announced that more than 10,100 had already been sold for Game 2 on Tuesday.