Season Sweep: After Friday night's 2-1 overtime win in Philadelphia, the Moose closed out
their third season series and collected their first series sweep of the season. The Moose finished a
four-game season series with Peoria on Oct 21st with a 1-3-0 record against the Rivermen. They then closed
out their four-game season series with a win over San Antonio on Dec. 17th giving the Moose a 3-1-0 record
against the Rampage on the year. Manitoba still has the potential to sweep Omaha and Milwaukee, who they
have beat once already this season, as well as Iowa who they have yet to face this year.
Heading into the Classic: With Sunday's 5-4 shootout loss to Hamilton being their last before
the AHL All-Star break, the Moose added to their disapointing 1-3-1 record in the final game prior to the
AHL All-Star Classic. In those five games, all road games, the Moose were outscored 26-10 by opponents.
Their only win came in a 3-2 overtime win in Hamilton on Feb 1/03. Last season the Moose were downed 6-1 in
St.John’s prior to the 2005 AHL All-Star Classic in Manchester.
Penalties a killer: With Syracuse scoring three powerplay goals on Saturday night and
Hamilton adding another three powerplay markers on Sunday, the Moose have now given up a total of six
powerplay goals in their last two games. Prior to these two games the Moose had killed 32 of their last 33
penalties vaulting them 10 places from 18th in the AHL to eighth. After Sunday's 5-4 shootout loss to
Hamilton, the Moose now sit 15th in the league with an 83.2% rating.
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The Moose had a busy week away from the MTS Centre this week, prior to the 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star
Classic, playing four games in five nights starting on Wednesday night. Manitoba extended their winning
streak to six games with a 3-1 win over Rochester on Wednesday night and a 2-1 overtime win in Philadelphia
on Friday night. The string of wins came to an end though on Saturday night as the Moose couldn't rally
after giving up two first-period goals in a 5-3 loss to the Syracuse Crunch. Manitoba concluded the week
with a back-and-forth game in Hamilton with three seperate lead changes, resulting in a 5-4 Bulldogs win.
The Moose now have a four-day rest for the All-Star break before returning to the MTS Centre for
back-to-back games with Iowa on Friday and Saturday night.
Iowa Stars
Friday, February 3rd
Saturday, February 4th
MTS Centre
 Following the All-Star break the Moose will have back-to-back weekend games with the Iowa Stars.
This will be the first and second of four meetings between the teams this season. Iowa currently sits
fourth in the West Division with a 23-19-1-2 record for 49 points in 45 games played. The Stars have
struggled on the powerplay this season, scoring only 13.6% of the time, good enough for 25th in the AHL.
They have been slightly better at killing penalties sitting 18th in the league with an 82.1 kill
percentage.
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 Prestin Ryan appeared in all four Moose games this
week, recording at least a point in each. He started the week with the game-winning goal and an assist in a
3-1 win over Rochester and collected assists in Manitoba's 2-1 overtime win over Philadelphia and their 5-3
loss to Syracuse. Then, Sunday in Hamilton, Ryan fired a team season-high nine shots on net and collected
two assists. He finished the week with a goal and five helpers for six points. He took 18 shots on net in
only four games and ended the week +2. Overall, he is now 11th in team scoring with seven goals and seven
assists for 14 points in 34 games. He is fourth amongst defenceman on the Moose in scoring. |
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