Hockey in June addresses some doubts about Moose

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/05/2009 (6282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You wanted answers, well, you got them. And if you’re a fan of the Manitoba Moose, the responses were pleasing from last night’s late spring playoff quiz.

First, the most important nugget gleaned from the night: The Moose are off to the Calder Cup. Nothing else really matters but there are a few other topics to clear up.

With a teeth-grinding 3-1 win over the Houston Aeros on Monday night, Manitoba has advanced to the first-ever championship round in franchise history.

The newly crowned Western Conference champion Moose will now try to secure the title in the Calder Cup final beginning Saturday night.

Were the Moose talented enough?

Yes.

Was Scott Arniel up to the coaching task?

Yes.

Could Captain Mike Keane will his hometown heroes to a league final?

Yes.

Did sophomore goalie Cory Schneider have the stuff to bounce back from his first playoff yanking?

Yes.

Was rookie Cody Hodgson worth all the press clippings and a spot in the lineup?

Yes.

Most of all, were these Moose a team destined for a chance at glory and not the infamy of a choker’s mask?

Yes.

It’s taken 80 regular-season games and now 16 playoff matches for the Moose to get this far and for awhile on Monday it looked like it would take a Game 7 ulcer-inducer to find out the truth about the Moose.

It took awhile but Manitoba finally broke the Aeros in a Game 6 dandy that was tied at 1-1 into the second half of the third period before Michael Grabner drilled home a slapper that broke 13 years of finals futility for the franchise that moved north from Minnesota in 1996.

The Moose took a 3-0 series lead before losing two overtime games in Houston to bring the set back north with a 3-2 lead for the regular-season champ club from Manitoba.

Outmatched in skill but not in heart, the Aeros had found a way to hang in and make this a series while raising a number of questions about the Moose.

There are still some answers to be found and those will come in the next round as Manitoba faces the Eastern Conference-winning Hershey Bears, who dispatched of the Providence Bruins earlier on Monday.

Now the real fun begins. It’s been 30 years since a Winnipeg pro hockey club has played for a championship when the WHA’s Jets collected the final Avco Cup and now the Moose will attempt to horn in on a little of that gravy.

Calder Cup

The farthest a Moose team had been prior to Monday’s win and the ensuing ticket to the Calder Cup was a conference final in the old IHL and a conference final in the AHL. Close to 10,000 fans took in Monday’s game and they hung on every shot for the first 55 minutes until a two-goal lead was established and then they really let loose shaking the MTS Centre like it’s rarely been shaken.

For awhile it was the thunder sticks that made the noise but in the final minutes the little contraptions were thrown aside as the faithful stood on their feet and roared and clapped and stomped and began to dream about the delicious June nights of hockey that lay ahead.

Yes, the Moose will play hockey into June. Maybe that sounds odd. But for the folks that have built this franchise from an orphan that nobody wanted into a team closing in on a championship chalice, it sounds just about right.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca