By Tim Campbell

ANY Manitoba Moose defenceman that shows up at the rink without crutches, casts, slings or braces is a sight for sore eyes.

So you can imagine that the AHL team was more than a little happy to see 22-year-old blueliner Zack FitzGerald return to good health in the last week, certainly well enough to play two of the three games on the just-completed road trip.

"I think the first game (Friday) was pretty fast," FitzGerald said after the 7-4-1 Moose grabbed two out of three wins away from home last week. "And (Saturday's) game was pretty quick as well, plus physical. Those guys like to hit. It does take time to get the timing back, obviously, but I felt good about this. My passing was a little iffy (Saturday) but that will come."

Moose coach Scott Arniel can live with those flaws, pleased with the basics of skating, passing and shooting through 12 games.

In that time, because of injuries and call-ups by the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, he has used 10 defencemen. In five of the team's games, he has dressed only five defencemen and in at least two other contests, he's been forced to use just five due to early-game injuries.

FitzGerald himself came into one of those five-man-unit outings on Friday in Milwaukee when injured veteran Danny Groulx was not able to go at game time.

"Getting thrown in with five D is a big challenge," said FitzGerald, who missed five games and two weeks with an upper-body injury. "But I felt good, and staying in shape while you're hurt is a big thing.

"Playing five, I'm going to take advantage of it. I want to play as much as I can. I'm not complaining about that. I just want to go out there and do the job."

FitzGerald was added to the Moose mix in the off-season in part because of his toughness but he's had little chance so far in that department.

More of a priority has been simply staying in the lineup and trying to mesh with the ever-changing collection that Arniel can dress on any given night.

"It gives guys a chance," said the 22-year-old native of Two Harbors, Minn., who has played just 53 AHL games so far. "I think guys look to take advantage of it. I think we've done a good job in the last few games with guys stepping in there.

"If we can't all get together, when it's different every night, the flow will change a little but we've all been practising together and I think we've played well the last few games."

The group could change again this week, as the Moose are hoping for at least Groulx and possibly Max Fortunus to be available on Friday when the Milwaukee Admirals visit MTS Centre.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

Ten and counting

An expanding list of Moose defencemen in '07-08

Alex Edler

Luc Bourdon

Max Fortunus

Danny Groulx

Shaun Heshka*

Nathan McIver

Zack FitzGerald

Jimmy Sharrow

Daniel Rahimi

Patrick Coulombe

(*only Moose defenceman to appear in all 12 games)