Against the Griffins: With Tuesday night’s game being the fourth
of the season between the clubs, Manitoba will look for their first win
against the Grand Rapids Griffins this season. In three games this year the
Moose boast a 0-1-2 record with two shootout losses. The last time Manitoba
dropped two shootouts to the same team in a season came in back-to-back losses
in Utah on Jan 28th & 29th/05. The Moose will try to give Grand Rapids only
their fourth regulation loss at home as they boast a 23-3-1-2 home record.
North Division Race Heats Up: With Grand Rapids, Manitoba and
Syracuse all with 13 points of each other the race in the North Division has
started to heat up coming into the last quarter of the season. The Griffins
lead the division, 10 points ahead of the Moose, with 78 points. The Moose sit
second in the North with 68 points, three ahead of Syracuse. So far this
season the Moose have gone 15-7-3-3 against North Division opponents .
Man Down: With four players currently out of Manitoba’s starting
lineup due to injury the Moose have now recorded 172 man games lost due to
injury already this season. The Moose have had 12 different players combine
for that injury total with seven players, Rypien, Smith, Green, Balej, Bieksa,
Mojzis and Ryan, missing ten or more games each. This compares with the entire
2004-05 season when the Moose had 11 different players combine for 97 man
games lost to injury and had only four players miss ten games or more.
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The Manitoba Moose couldn’t find the necessary scoring touch this week,
dropping consecutive home games to the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights on Friday and
Saturday. The Moose opened the series by out shooting the Knights 18-2 in the
first period of Friday’s game. Scoring on only one of 11 powerplay
opportunities led to a 4-1 loss as the Knights’ physical play proved too much
for the Moose.
Saturday’s game seemed to pick up where Friday left off. Omaha scored on two
of their first four shots, opening a very physical first period with three
goals. Manitoba’s power play went 0-for-6 as they fell to the Knights 5-1.
The Moose will try to get back on track with a three-game road trip featuring
two games against the league-leading Grand Rapids Griffins and a stop in
Milwaukee against the Admirals.
Grand Rapids Griffins
Tuesday, February 14th
Saturday, February 18th
Van Andel Arena
 The Moose will head into
Grand Rapids on Valentines Day for an evening match-up against the Griffins,
then return to Grand Rapids on Saturday to finish their three-game road trip.
The Moose enter the week trailing the Griffins for first place in the North
Division by 10 points. Grand Rapids currently leads the league with a
37-12-1-3 record, good for 78 points. Their powerplay is ranked first in the
AHL, scoring on 80 of 360 opportunities for 22.2%. Their penalty kill hasn't
been nearly as successful, sitting 20th in the league with a 81.6% kill
rating.
Milwaukee Admirals
Friday, February 17th
Bradley Center
 The second game of Manitoba’s
three-game road trip will be in Milwaukee against the Admirals on Fri, Feb
17th. Milwaukee is currently in second place in the West Division with a
33-14-4-1 record, good for 71 points. The Admirals’ special teams is strong on
both ends with the fourth ranked powerplay scoring 20.3% of the time. Their
penalty kill unit sits ninth in the league with an efficiency rate of 83.7%.
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Deposits for tournament seat packages are now being accepted for both Winnipeg
(17 Game Package, including medal games) and Brandon (3 Game Package). A
deposit of only $20.07 per seat reserves your place in line!
Final pricing and tournament schedule are expected from the International Ice
Hockey Federation (IIHF) in the spring of 2006. Once both are received, all
deposits will be applied, in priority, to individually selected price and seat
locations of your choice.
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