Calder Cup – Game 6 slideshow

Photographers Joe Bryksa and Trevor Hagan capture highlights from game 6. The Hershey Bears defeated the Moose to win the Calder Cup.

Bears bury Manitoba’s dream year

THEIR longest season ever finished with the same old kind of frustra­tion Friday at the MTS Centre -- the Manitoba Moose lost their last game.

At Game 102, this one was a little dif­ferent but hurt no less, losing 4-1 to the Hershey Bears in Game 6 of the Calder Cup championship series, ending the best-of-seven series with a 4-2 Hershey edge.

It was the Bears' 10th AHL champion­ship, which was not what the partying, soldout crowd of 15,003 came to see.

The Moose, in existence only 13 sea­sons and just eight in the AHL, fell two wins short of their first-ever champion­ship by self-destructing in Friday's first period.

Moose want cup to Calder own

There are hockey games and then there are hockey games. This one, folks, promises to be a doozy.

Everything is in place for a night to remember at the MTS Centre as the Manitoba Moose and Hershey Bears lock up in Game 6 of the Calder Cup Final (7:30 p.m., CJOB, MTS TV, Shaw TV) with elimination a possibility on one side and a chance to celebrate a championship on the other.

Throw in a sellout crowd of Winnipeg hockey fans and a city that, to borrow a phrase from Free Press columnist Randy Turner, is caring about instead of just cheering for these Moose, and the tension is thick.

Let's set the stage. The Moose trail the Bears three games to two in this best-of-seven series and with a win will force a Game 7 here in Winnipeg on Sunday night. For Hershey, a victory would allow them to celebrate their 10th Calder Cup in franchise history. They've chartered a jet to bring along their front office staff as well as the players and their families to make sure their party, should they earn one, is almost as fun on the road as it would be at home.

Nice little wager? Don’t bet on it

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz seems to have received a Hershey's kiss-off from his counterpart in Pennsylvania after attempting to set a wager over the Calder Cup.

While the American Hockey League battle between the Manitoba Moose and Hershey Bears has been intense on the ice, the customary off-ice competition between the political leaders representing the teams has proven to be no contest at all.

The Hershey Bears, one of the oldest teams in professional hockey, play in a political jurisdiction called Derry Township, whose 21,000 citizens are governed by a part-time board of supervisors. Most of the club's fans actually come from neighbouring Harrisburg, a Pennsylvania city of about 50,000 that serves as the seat of broader Dauphin County and is the only actual city within a metropolitan area of about 530,000.

On May 28, before Game One of the Calder Cup series between the Moose and Bears, Katz's director of communications called up his counterpart in Harrisburg -- and never heard back.

Much more to Moose than Schneider

Away from the frothing Giant Center in Hershey and inside his own quiet, sane office, Manitoba Moose coach Scott Arniel gained a better grasp of Game 5 of this Calder Cup final.

His conclusion: Unbeknownst to some who would just settle for a superficial assessment, goalie Cory Schneider was not the only Moose player on the ice in Tuesday's 3-2 Moose win that extended this best-of-seven title series to tonight's sold-out Game 6 at the MTS Centre. Hershey still leads, 3-2.

"I said down in Hershey after the game that we stood around a little and that Cory saved our butt a little but I went back and watched the game today and actually the first five or six minutes we were real good and parts of that second period we were real good," Arniel told reporters on Thursday while his team was having optional ice time.

"That game and this series has gone in those swings where one team goes hard for three or four minutes and gets all the chances, then it goes the opposite way.

White noise a colourful subject

IT'S become a bit of a hot-button subject around these parts, whether to wear white to a Manitoba Moose game. The bottom line, quite simply, is do what you want to do.

You're the fans. Wear prison stripes if you like, so long as you come and cheer like crazy, say the Moose.

"We're not discouraging anyone from wearing white or wearing black or wearing green. We just want our fans to wear Moose colours," said Moose director of communications Scott Brown. "We want people to come out and be as loud as they can because the noise is what makes the difference."

Moose ready for sold-out Game 6

WINNIPEG — An optional practice was the main activity at the MTS Centre this morning as the Manitoba Moose continued preparations for Friday’s Game 6 of the Calder Cup final series against Hershey.

Keeping the faith for Sunday

Banged up, bushed, and yes, beaming, the Manitoba Moose returned home Wednesday with the common refrain of "just get us to Sunday."

The Moose were spouting a similar mantra, "just get us to Winnipeg," prior to Game 5 and with that 3-2 win over the Hershey Bears in the best-of-seven Calder Cup final, have decided to stay simple in their approach and worry only about Game 6.

If Manitoba, which trails the series 3-2 and will face elimination again on Friday night, can manage to push back the powerful Bears one more time they say they'll let Game 7 and all its wondrous possibilities take care of itself.

The Moose bused to Newark, N.J., late Tuesday night and after two or three hours of sleep, flew back to Winnipeg before landing in the city just before 11 a.m. Despite the lack of rest, the mood was light and players were talking about the possibilities of a playing in front of a sold-out arena Friday night.