December record: With the 4-3 victory over the Syracuse Crunch on New Year's Eve the Moose matched their best point total ever in the month of December with 20. The Moose played 17 games in 26 days during the month of December, the most games ever played in any month by the team in their history. The Moose finished the month with a record of 8-5-2-2, and currently sit third in the North Division standings with an overall record of 17-13-5-4 in 39 games played. The previous record for the most games played in a month was 16, which was done three times in Jan/03, Jan/05 and Nov/05. Since joining the AHL, the best December record the Moose have posted was back in 2001-02 when the team went 8-7-0-1 for 17 of a possible 36 points. The worst December in Moose franchise history was in 1997-98 when the team only managed 11 of a possible 22 points, with a 4-4-0-3 record. Last season the Moose went 7-4-0-0, collecting 14 of a possible 22 points. The best December for the team, dating back to the IHL, was set in 1999-2000 when the Moose earned 20 points in the standings with a 9-4-0-2 record.

Jaffray setting new standards: Moose forward Jason Jaffray is off to the best start of his professional hockey career this season, as he has scored 20 goals and 20 assists in just 38 games. Jaffray is on pace to score 40 goals this season something only two other Moose players have managed to do in team history, Scott Thomas (45) in 1998-99 and Greg Pankewicz (42) in 1997-98. Jaffray is improving on his best season in the AHL last year when he scored 12 goals and 35 assists for 47 points in 73 games played. He is the current team-leader in goals-scored (20), powerplay goals (8), and game-winning goals (5).

New Year's Eve record: The New Year’s Eve contest has been an annual event for Winnipeg hockey fans for several seasons. With the 4-3 win over the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday, the Moose improved their record to 7-5-0-0 on the last night of the year dating back to their IHL days. Last season, the Moose hosted the Toronto Marlies, earning a 1-0 shutout over their North Division rivals thanks to 16 saves by Wade Flaherty. The Moose have played one road game on New Year’s Eve in their history when they dropped a 6-2 decision to the Blades in Kansas City on Dec. 31/98.

Scott Brown
Director of Communications
(204) 926-5570
sbrown@moosehockey.com

Travis Kondratuk
Communications Assistant
(204) 926-5571
tkondratuk@moosehockey.com

The Moose earned six of a possible eight points in week 13, earning at least a point in all four contests versus their North Division rivals along the way. The Moose started their post Christmas schedule with another match-up versus the Hamilton Bulldogs. For the second game in a row between these clubs they needed a shootout to decide a winner, as the Moose fell 3-2 to the Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum. The following night the Moose travelled to Toronto to take on the Marlies and earned their 16th win of the season. The team then returned home to host the Syracuse Crunch in the final two games of 2006. The Moose lost the first game on Saturday Dec. 30/06 in overtime, and then rebounded in front of the largest crowd of the season at the MTS Centre on New Year's Eve with a 4-3 victory.

Wednesday night the Moose played their third straight game versus the Hamilton Bulldogs this time at Copps Coliseum where the Moose have not had a lot of success in their history. Manitoba jumped out to an early 2-0 first period lead, but then saw the Bulldogs come-back with two goals of their own to tie it in the sescond period. Neither team could score after that and for the second straight game the Moose and Bulldogs would need a shootout to decide a winner. The Bulldogs would come out on top again as they won 3-2. The game was the fourth straight time that the Moose needed more than 60:00 of hockey to decide a winner dating back to San Antonio on Dec. 17/06, the longest such streak in team history. (see the recap)

Thursday night the Moose travelled to Toronto to take on the Marlies, a team the Moose have had a great deal of success against in the past. Toronto was up 3-1 midway through the second, before the Moose battled back to score four unanswered goals to earn a 5-3 victory. Manitoba improved their overall record versus the Marlies to 8-0-1-1 with the win. (see the recap)

The team then returned home to host the Syracuse Crunch in back-to-back contests at the MTS Centre, their final two games of the 2006 calendar year. Saturday's game saw the Moose make an incredible come-back with less than 2:00 to go in the game, only to lose in the overime frame to the Crunch. With the Moose on a powerplay and trailing by two goals, Scott Arniel pulled Wade Flaherty with over 2:30 left to give the Moose a 6-on-4 advantage. The move paid off as Lee Goren scored his tenth goal of the season to cut the Crunch lead to one goal. Then with Flats still on the bench, Goren scored his second goal in :23 to tie the game for the home team and send it to overtime. Unfortunately Mark Hartigan spoiled the Moose come-back effort by roofing his second goal of the game at the 1:50 mark of OT. The Moose did manage to get a point which meant that they had earned points in six straight contests.(see the recap)

In the rematch on New Year's Eve the Moose were looking to finish the year on a winning note. The teams went into the second period tied at one goal apiece, when the teams went a goal-scoring flurry with two goals each in the span of 3:24. The Moose finished the second period with one more goal than the Crunch and held on for a scoreless third period to earn the 4-3 victory. The win gave the Moose their highest December point total in their history with 20 points. The Moose finished the 2006 calendar year third in the North Division standings with an overall record of 17-13-5-4, one point out of second and just four points behind first place Rochester.(see the recap)

The Moose are in the midst of their longest home-stand of the season of eight games. This week the Moose will host the first place Rochester Americans in back-to-back contests Thursday January 4th and Friday January 5th. With victories in both games the Moose could potentially move into a tie with the Americans in the standings.