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This article was published 08/03/2021 (823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the latest edition of Things You Never Thought You’d See in Sports Before COVID-19, the Bell MTS Iceplex was the home of a professional hockey game Monday night. 

The Manitoba Moose are expected to play the remainder of this season’s home games at their practice facility and they had their first taste as they hosted the Stockton Heat with no fans in attendance.

As unusual as it may have been, the Moose will have a lot of time to get used to it as the 6-5 overtime loss to the Heat kicked off a 17-game homestand that spans an unprecedented 52 days. 

That’s a lot of home cookin.’

“It’s going to bring some consistency for sure, but we play in blocks. We’re going to play Stockton quite a few games in a row so it looks like mini playoff series. But we don’t worry too much about what’s going to happen next week. We worry about today and we take care of today,” said Moose head coach Pascal Vincent postgame. 

“I’m not even sure our players are aware we play 17 games in a row in our building… We’ll see after the 17 games. Maybe it’s going to be an advantage. After this block of games against Stockton, we’re going to have two weeks of practices that’s going to help us reset and work on some details of our game, give the players some rest, because it’s been a heavy start to the season.”

The Moose, who were coming off an 8-game road trip, fall to 6-6-1-0 on the season while Stockton improves to 6-2-0-0. Owing to the pandemic, Manitoba and Stockton (who are playing out of Calgary for the season) are two of five teams playing in the AHL’s newly configured Canadian Division, which also features the Toronto Marlies, Belleville Senators and Laval Rocket. The Moose play their next three games against the Heat. 

“It’s different, for sure. It takes a little bit to get used to,” said Moose forward C.J. Suess on playing a game at the Iceplex.

“The ice feels a little compressed out there and a little tighter, but once the game went on, it kind of just felt like a normal game and I got into the flow of things pretty easily.”

Stockton led 2-0 before Moose forward Haralds Egle got the home team on the scoreboard minutes into the second period. The game was tied 3-3 heading into the third after Moose forward Nathan Todd scored his sixth and seventh goals on the year late in the second frame. Todd, a 25-year-old in his second season with the Moose, leads the AHL in scoring with 16 points in 13 games.

“He keeps getting better,” said Vincent.

“It’s not only the fact he’s producing offensively, but it’s also that he’s reliable defensively… He has a good shot but it’s more than that. He’s going to the net and he’s going to the hard areas and pushing himself to be the best player he can be. But at the end of the day, he’s taking advantage of an opportunity.”

The Heat would reclaim the lead in the third after Mark Simpson capitalized on a juicy rebound surrendered by Moose goalie Mikhail Berdin. Ten minutes into the third, the game would return to being a stalemate when Moose forward Jeff Malott beat Stockton netminder Artyom Zagidulin with a backhander make it 4-4. Malott, a 24-year-old out of Cornell University, was coming off a career-best game on Saturday where he had two goals and an assist in Manitoba’s 6-2 win over Belleville.

The teams continued to trade blows down the stretch with Stockton regaining the advantage once again with a power-play goal from Matthew Phillips with three minutes left. With 90 seconds on the clock, Suess blasted a shot past Zagidulin to force overtime. But only 34 seconds of three-on-three hockey was needed before Stockton’s Glenn Gawdin buried the OT winner. 

The Moose outshot the Heat 39-31 and allowed three power-play goals in the loss. Jets prospect Ville Heinola had a pair of assists.

“I think that was probably one of our best games,” said Todd.

“We were getting a lot of pucks on net and traffic at the net, too. It was one of our better all-around games for 60 minutes.”

There was a familiar face wearing black and white pinstripes on Monday as Winnipeg native and former Moose captain Peter Stoykewych made his AHL debut as a linesman. The 28-year-old defenceman retired in June after a six-year stint in the Winnipeg Jets organization.

“I didn’t get to have too many conversations with him but it was pretty cool to see him on the other side of the game,” Suess said.

“I think it just shows his love for the game and his passion for it. It’s pretty cool to see him follow his dreams on the other side of it.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31