By Tim Campbell

LITTLE things often do make a difference but the attention afforded some of the minutest details often gives Manitoba Moose No. 1 goalie Drew MacIntyre cause to chuckle.

This week presented a great example.

It was the occasion of his second NHL appearance, again in relief, as he went in during Tuesday's second period for the Vancouver Canucks. The 24-year-old netminder had an unorthodox trip to the West Coast from Monday night's AHL All-Star game, in which he was the winning goalie, that involved a through-the-night highway ride to Hamilton, Ont., for an early-morning flight.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," MacIntyre laughed Thursday as he and his teammates prepared for tonight's contest against the Hamilton Bulldogs at MTS Centre. "I got off the ice after the game in Vancouver and somehow all those people knew about my travel day. It was very publicized but I just don't see it as that big a deal."

What MacIntyre was far more eager to discuss was just how different his second NHL game was from his first.

He did take Tuesday's loss because he allowed Dallas's fourth goal in a 4-3 defeat (the only goal he allowed in replacing Curtis Sanford) but his performance was well regarded.

"The thing that excites me most was just how comfortable I felt," MacIntyre said. "I knew after that San Jose game (his first NHL minutes, in December), it felt great to be able to get in, but in the first game, anybody's nervous and it felt good after a while.

"I was excited about the next time, hoping I'd be comfortable and confident and I really was. Usually when you get thrown into a game, you don't feel the greatest but I felt great right away and that's what excites me.

"Obviously it sucks to get the loss and I felt the team did their job in third to get the two goals, and I'm not saying it was a bad goal I gave up, but wish I had made that save."

En route to this discovery, MacIntyre found out just a minute or two after the all-star game that his flight arrangements Tuesday morning in Syracuse, N.Y., had been inexplicably canceled. He grabbed a cell phone and called his father and his in-laws to turn their car around on the highway to come back to pick up him and his wife.

"They were only gone 20 minutes but it cost them two hours," MacIntyre said. "They were glad to take us along to Hamilton."

Tonight's game marks the fifth meeting of the season between the teams, plenty of time to move on from the sting of last spring's six-game playoff series loss to the Bulldogs, a series that MacIntyre started but didn't finish.

"I don't need them to motivate me and the team doesn't need it either, but it definitely does," MacIntyre said. "We weren't happy about it. They've beaten me a few times, and pretty good in the playoffs, and it's something I thought about all summer."

To fill in some of their roster holes -- as many as nine regulars are on NHL recall or hurt -- the Moose have brought in three players this week. They signed forward Lou Dickenson on Wednesday, then added defenceman Matt Kelly via a recall from Victoria (ECHL) and forward Brandon Benedict from Texas (ECHL) on a pro tryout.

Tonight's game has a special bonus for the first 2,000 fans at MTS Centre. It's tuque giveaway night.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca