Manitoba Moose

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Helm rings up dream week

Game-winner just part of it

By: Gary Lawless

13/12/2008 1:10 AM | Comments: 0

DARREN HELM has had one of those weeks Canadians dream about, whether they’re young, old, boys, girls, men or women. We’re talking a win-the-lottery, kiss-themovie- star, catch-the-biggest-fish-inthe- pond kind of week.

And last night’s winning goal for his Grand Rapids Griffins in a 6-5 victory over the Manitoba Moose at MTS Centre might have been just the secondbest moment in Helm’s memorable week.

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The 21-year-old native of St. Andrews broke a 5-5 tie with under five minutes remaining in the third period to allow his Griffins to pull within two points of the first-place Moose in the AHL’s North Division. Helm’s winner brought a section of fans to their feet at the downtown rink.

"I don’t know how many were here. A bunch of guys I played junior B with in Selkirk were here, and then lots of family and friends," said Helm, over the din of a triumphant Griffins dressing room.

But back to the other big moment.

"Last Sunday, me and Aaron Downey were invited down to Detroit. We were invited by the the Ilitches (Detroit Red Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch). They own the Motor City Casino and there’s a theatre in there that was closed off and they had a dinner for the Red Wings. Ken Holland (Wings GM) stood up and they played clips of all of us from last year’s Stanley Cup. He said a little about each of us and then they played a video of our whole run to the Cup and a whole bunch of really goodlooking waitresses came out and gave us all our Stanley Cup rings."

So that takes the cake on the week of weeks, right Darren?

"I’m not saying I’ll forget that moment, because I won’t, but that’s my past and I have to live in the now," said Helm, who has seven goals and 13 assists through 22 games with the Griffins this season. "It felt great to get that ring and it’s a time in my life that I’ll never forget, but I have work to do."

Helm likely would manage to crack most NHL lineups, but with the Wings deep at centre, there’s only been room for him on three occasions this season in Motown.

"I can’t come down here and sulk. I have to come and play my best and try to get better and make the best of the situation," he said. "If I come down here with the wrong attitude, it will just hurt me as a hockey player. I’m here to get better, and hopefully my time will come."

Over in Mooseland, there was little talk of dinners and rings and the spoils of victory.

"That was very uncharacteristic of us," Moose defenceman Nolan Baumgartner said. "Usually, when you score five goals, you win. We had lots of chances, but we gave them lots of chances. That’s not the way we play. We can’t play like that. These games are huge. They’re right behind us in the standings, and in our meeting, we talked about this possibly being an eight-point weekend for us if we could sweep. They were four back of us before this game and now it’s just two points. If we could have won both this weekend, we could have got them to eight back. Now we have to just come out and win on Saturday. We have to tighten up and just win. That’s about all there is to it."

Moose goalie Karl Goehring struggled, allowing six goals on 31 shots.

"It was a tough night, but those are going to happen," said Goehring, who is 7-5-0 on the season. "It’s frustrating, but all you can do is look at the tape and learn lessons from it. Hopefully, you see something you were doing wrong and then make the adjustments. You have to move on from it."

The Moose have now lost three straight.

"You can’t afford to lose any more. Three in a row is too much. There are too many good teams in the league this year," Baumgartner said. "When you lose points, you lose ground in the standings. We need to get a win."

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

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