Manitoba Moose

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Moose reduce pickerel populace

By: Paul Wiecek

7/10/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

WHO says Moose don't fish?The Manitoba Moose piled into a bus early Monday morning and drove out to the Whiteshell, where they spent the entire day fishing as part of the kind of team-building exercise that has become increasingly popular among pro sports teams in recent years.

Many laughs were had, hundreds of fish were caught and bragging rights went to defenceman Chris St. Croix, who reeled in a master angler 32-inch pickerel.

"I bet every boat had over 40 fish," said Moose head coach Scott Arniel. "You were nailing one right after the other.

"We just tried to make it a good, fun day to do a little bonding."

"ö "ö "ö

THE Moose returned to the ice for practice at MTS Centre Tuesday morning after a two-day hiatus that followed their ugly 4-2 loss to the Houston Aeros Saturday night.

If the players thought all was forgiven, they were mistaken as Arniel put his troops through a decidedly up-tempo 90-minute practice.

That included about 45 minutes of stickhandling drills supervised by former NHL forward Dave Gagner, who flew in from Vancouver, where he is the Canucks director of player development.

Arniel said the Moose are expecting a number of skill sessions this winter with Vancouver's player development people.

"They've mapped out a bit of a plan on skills -- puck-handling, stickhandling, shooting -- different things that they can come in to do whenever the schedule fits."

"ö "ö "ö

ONE area Gagner couldn't help the Moose with was special teams.

Arniel has made no secret of his disappointment with the performance of the Moose power play and penalty kill in the club's split with Houston last weekend.

The Moose penalty kill wasn't terrible -- they gave up two goals in nine chances, but also scored a short-handed marker -- but the power play couldn't have been worse as the Moose went 0-10 through two games.

"That will certainly be front and centre" during practices today and tomorrow, Arniel said.

"ö "ö "ö

THE news is mixed from the Moose infirmary.

Arniel said defenceman Lawrence Nycholat appears to be fit for duty for the club's two games against the Chicago Wolves this weekend and centreman Alexandre Bolduc is now taking part in contact drills and getting closer.

But forward Michael Grabner hurt himself Saturday night, Arniel reports, and is now listed as day-to-day.

"We'll get those guys all looked at one more time and hopefully get a clearer picture for Friday night," Arniel said.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 7, 2009 C6

Rate this
This article has not yet been rated.

We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high. If you thought it was well written, do the same. If it doesn’t meet your standards, mark it accordingly.

You can also register and/or login to the site and join the conversation by leaving a comment.

Rate it yourself by rolling over the stars and clicking when you reach your desired rating. We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high.