By Tim Campbell

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The very public announcement of Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo's upcoming one-week holiday includes a so-far-unspoken Manitoba Moose element.

Luongo, you will have heard, has been granted leave from the Canucks between Jan. 24-31 -- including surprisingly taking a pass on the NHL all-star game in Atlanta on Jan. 27 -- to be with his pregnant wife in Florida.

The arrangement, however, includes being excused from Vancouver's first game after the all-star break, a home contest Jan. 29 against Dallas before a road trip begins Jan. 31 in Tampa, where Luongo will re-appear.

The Canucks will need another goalie for their Jan. 29 game, and there were worries they were going to ask Moose starter Drew MacIntyre to forego his own AHL all-star appearance Jan. 28 in Binghamton, N.Y., to be Curtis Sanford's back-up against Dallas.

There was also the possibility that Vancouver could have just asked Moose rookie Cory Schneider or Victoria's Julian Ellis to sit on the bench that night, though MacIntyre is clearly most deserving of the call-up.

Fear not, travel arrangements have been worked out to get MacIntyre to Vancouver right after his AHL all-star appearance, and everyone should wind up happy.

"I thought of it when I first heard of the Luongo story," MacIntyre said Monday. "I wouldn't want to miss the all-star game for an off-day so it's nice they'll let me fly in there the day of the game."

This particular three-act play that includes his next trip to Vancouver is just another shot of confidence he's feeling because the Moose and Canucks have expressed their faith in him.

"This is why I want to win so bad here, because of the faith they've shown in me," MacIntyre said. "(Moose GM Craig Heisinger) has saved my career. I want to do some special things."

The goalie went on to express his gratitude to his coaches Scott Arniel, Brad Berry and Rick St. Croix, Heisinger and even Moose governor Mark Chipman. "When guys like that show that kind of faith in you, you want to win for them. Nothing would make me happier."

What to do, what to do?

AFTER his team's third straight regulation loss on Sunday -- a first this season -- Moose coach Scott Arniel waffled about what to do Monday.

"We were all over the map," Arniel confessed. "Should we have a bag skate or work on our systems or just have a skate-pass-shoot practice? We decided we needed team building with the group."

And so Arniel canceled the team's practice and took his troops to a long lunch at a local eatery and arcade.

Arniel even paid, which was rather magnanimous considering how the Moose gagged on their 2-0 third-period lead here Sunday night to lose 4-3 to the Rampage.

The teams play again tonight at AT&T Center.

Arniel hopping mad

ARNIEL was to the point of hopping up and down with anger behind the bench on Sunday night while his team made far too many rookie mistakes.

"Too much coffee," he laughed Monday, offering an explanation. "We had been doing a lot of good things, but then we had a lot of mistakes and things for me, I guess, were just boiling over from the last two games as well."

Will Zack be back?

THE Moose expect to hear from the AHL today on the eligibility of defenceman Zack FitzGerald, who sat out Sunday's contest. He was suspended after his match penalty Saturday night for punching Houston defenceman Erik Reitz.

Referees that night banished FitzGerald for what they called a sucker punch, but it was nothing of the sort, since Reitz was charging straight for FitzGerald, apparently thinking that Houston teammate Joel Ward couldn't fight his own battle. Ward had just finished high-sticking FitzGerald along the boards and when the Moose player appeared to be spoiling for some revenge, Reitz and then Houston thug John Scott injected themselves into the skirmish. Both should have been ejected as third men into an altercation that was already in progress.

Sign of the times

A hospital sponsor's sign seen outside the NBA's Houston Rockets dressing room: The Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine and Human Performance.

Yep, the words medicine and performance were there in big letters. Roger that.