The Moose get an early start in Chicago
By: Manitoba Moose Staff | Published: October 25th 2017
After securing their third straight weekend split with a 4-2 win over the Wild on Saturday, the Moose are in Chicago today. They’ll play the Wolves for the first time this season in a School Day Game, with the puck drop at 11:00 a.m. (CST). Make sure to tune in on TSN 1290.
EARLY STARTS
The Moose aren't strangers to early call times. The team has participated in three morning games since returning to Winnipeg, posting a record of 2-1-0-0 in those contests. Manitoba's previous early starts include a 7-5 loss to Grand Rapids, a 4-1 win over Bakersfield and 5-2 victory in Rockford.
SAMI ON THE SCORESHEET
After being held pointless in Manitoba's first game of the season, Sami Niku rides a five-game point streak into today's game with six assists during that span. Playing his first season in North America, Niku sits tied for second on the team in scoring and first amongst defencemen. Going beyond his teammates, Niku is tied for third among AHL defencemen in points and tied for fourth among all rookie point-getters. Niku was the Jets' seventh-round draft choice in 2015.
CHECK OFF THE NEXT ONE
After picking up his first AHL point on Friday night, Mason Appleton potted his first career AHL goal on Saturday in Iowa. Appleton now has two points (1G, 1A) in six games played. A sixth-round pick of the Jets in 2015, Appleton joined the Moose after spending the previous two seasons at Michigan State University where he totaled 53 points (17G, 36A) in 72 games.
BACK ON TOP
Moose Captain Patrice Cormier is projected to play his 350th career AHL game today. Now in his eighth season, and seventh with the franchise, the Moncton, NB native has amassed 158 points (77G, 81A), and 514 penalty minutes. Having played 338 of his games with the Moose franchise, Cormier sits sixth on the team's all-time games played list.
BIG MINUTES
Eric Comrie is just six-minutes shy of playing 6,000 minutes in his AHL career. The third-year pro appeared in 51 games last season, playing a career-high 2920 minutes, and 46 games (2600 minutes) the previous campaign. Comrie has a career 35-56-13 record with a 3.07 goals against average and 0.905 save percentage.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Things get spooky this weekend at Bell MTS Place. The Moose host the Belleville Senators on back-to-back nights on the 27th and 28th, with Saturday’s match-up being a Halloween themed game. Put on your costume, grab your tickets at: moosehockey.com/tickets/, and head downtown for an action packed weekend on the ice.
