Life is good, even in Des Moines

Sometimes it's easy to forget the carrot -- a call-up to the NHL and its chartered jets and ridiculous paycheques -- is just a broken pinkie away, but then again, when you're young, healthy and playing a game for a living there really shouldn't be much to complain about.

The pros should outweigh the cons from any seat on the bus, whether it be lowly reporter or grizzled veteran. It's a life in hockey and for a Canadian kid, there's little better.

On a night when the Manitoba Moose were carving out a 2-1 shootout win over the Iowa Chops we came up with this list of likes, dislikes and head scratchers from the heart of the Heartland.

MIGHTY AGAIN: Saturday's win was the third in a row for the Moose. They're now 25-12-0-2 and just two points back of the Grand Rapids Griffins in the North Division.

The Moose picked up just one win in eight starts prior to this little run and have now won every game Cory Schneider has started since his return from the Vancouver Canucks earlier this week.

TAKE A CHECK: In the last couple of years it's become verboten for hockey players to throw a clean check. Smoke a member of the opposition and be ready to fight. Tommy Maxwell drilled Iowa's Eric Regan with a legal check on Saturday night and immediately Chops thug Brennan Evans moved in to start a fight with Maxwell. We don't get it. It happens all the time in the NHL now and it's begun to creep into the AHL. Not a good trend.

SUPERIOR SCHNEIDER: Manitoba's Cory Schneider is having the best run by a Moose goalie in our time covering the team.

Tyler Moss, Johan Hedberg and Wade Flaherty all had fine stretches but with last night's win Schneider is 13-1-0-1 and has been absolutely dominant. He's big and uses his body and good positioning to make the expected saves. Schneider then goes one step further, using a high level of athleticism to make the tough saves.

The Moose have lots of things going for them at this stage of the season but none bigger than Schneider. He's the MVP and it's not even close. How long he can continue his run will tell us a lot about the long-term fortunes of this team. Saint Schneider? Not yet. But if he can hang a banner in the MTS Centre this summer the discussions can begin.

MEAT METAPHORS: Everywhere you look in the Wells-Fargo Arena there's some sort of marketing angle dealing with meat of one kind or another.

The team is called the Chops, the cheerleaders are referred to as the Babybacks, the golf cart used to cart around the in-game entertainment is called the Pork Wagon and along the boards they have signs regaling pork as 'the other white meat.' They hand out mini-cowbells to the customers here and play clips of Christopher Walken begging for 'more cowbell.' It's all a little much. Now, somebody get us a burger.

BEAUTIFUL BOLDUC: Alex Bolduc returned to the Moose on Friday after a short stint with the Vancouver Canucks and has scored goals in both games since his return.

The Montreal native has come a long way since the Moose plucked him out of the ECHL and gave him a second life as an NHL prospect. Bolduc was originally drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 2003 NHL entry draft, but was cut loose and banished to the Bakersfield Condors before the Moose took notice. He was slowly brought along until he became an AHL regular and was finally signed to an NHL contract by the Vancouver Canucks this past off-season.

He continues to progress and with his size and speed, is on the verge of becoming an NHL regular.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 11, 2009 C3