By Tim Campbell

If the immediate menu for the Manitoba Moose -- nine of the next 11 games away from MTS Centre -- frightens you, there is a comforting thought that emerges from such a challenge.

If the Moose survive it, they'll not only have earned their way into the Calder Cup playoffs, they'll be battle ready.

Of course, if you're a standings worry-wart, or just a hockey masochist, you could look even farther into the future and fret about the prize that awaits the team once it's through to the end of March. After the nine in 11 on the road, it comes home to play two games against the Chicago Wolves, leaders of the Western Conference, then the Toronto Marlies, who rule the North Division.

Bring it on, but just one game at a time, Moose head coach Scott Arniel said Wednesday.

"Everybody knows we've got to win, to gain points, but they also recognize it's one opponent at a time, that they don't have to be scrambling and worrying about where we're going to be in two weeks' time and who we're playing," Arniel said after his troop spent nearly 90 minutes on the ice at Gateway Community Centre in advance of today's departure to Ontario, where it's games in Hamilton on Friday, Toronto on Saturday and back to Hamilton for Sunday afternoon. "This is a tough weekend coming and we have to focus on Friday night."

And focus they should. The Moose, at 71 points through 62 games, are two better than Hamilton and its 61 games, and three ahead of Syracuse in its 63 games.

If it were only as easy as remaining in the top four in the North to secure the post-season, the Moose would already be breathing slightly easier.

But no, the AHL has heaped the pressure of the Western Conference cross-over rule on the North Division. That will allow the fifth team in the West Division to supplant the fourth team in the North if it has more points than the fourth North finisher.

Today, the Moose are fine, but both Nos. 5 and 6 in the West, Houston and Milwaukee, would take out Syracuse.

It's going to be close at the finish, so there's no room for stumbling now.

Manitoba's only home games the rest of the month are against San Antonio March 19 and 20.

The road factor, though, isn't as daunting as it appeared at the mid-season swoon.

The Moose have won six of the last eight road games, taking three of four in each of their last two trips, and that in difficult buildings for visitors.

"(All these road games) makes it a little tougher but I hadn't really thought of it," said an unworried Brad Moran on Wednesday. "We've played well on the road lately and we've had some confidence. We just go in there and play our game and you never know. These are divisional opponents and it's that much bigger and there are going to be some battles.

"If we do what we can do, we have a chance to win every night."

That's music to his coach's ears, especially the "I hadn't thought of it" part.

"It's probably the biggest thing, that we don't get too far ahead of ourselves, that we can zero in during the last couple of practices on what we're going to do against Hamilton, then Toronto," Arniel said. "You've just got to take care of your own business and that's what we're trying to focus in on. If you get looking at the big picture, people start to panic, they start to get worried and all of a sudden you're tight and you're not doing what you need to do."

Arniel said he's by no means suggesting the Moose take their eye off the ball of getting to the playoffs. He pointed out that the divisional and conference standings are posted and updated in the team's locker-room every day. They're impossible to miss near the door.

"That's the past," he said. "It doesn't read into the future."

He forgot to say "on the road." Maybe that's a good sign.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

Manitoba's next 11 games:

Road

at Hamilton, Friday

at Toronto, Saturday

at Hamilton, Sunday

at Hershey, March 15

at Hershey, March 16

at Lake Erie, March 25

at Rochester, March 26

at Rochester, March 28

at Toronto, March 29

Home

San Antonio, March 19

San Antonio, March 20