Practice Notes:
No line rushes today at a fully attended practice. All players were accounted for including all three goalies. Only guys missing were JC Lipon and Cameron Schilling.
Jack’s back:
While playing three games in three days is something that happens in the American Hockey League it never happens in the National Hockey League. On Sunday Jack Roslovic found himself playing in an unusual three in three with the first couple of games being with the Jets and then the final one with the Moose. I asked him about that tough stretch of games “It was really tough. I’ve only done a couple three on threes as you don’t play too many games in college. So the three on three was good. You’ve gotta battle every day, even if you’re not feeling it in a day, you gotta find it.”
Previous to his reassignment to the Moose he player in four games with the Jets and his thoughts on his second recall with the big club was that “It was really good.” He recognized that the team is in a much different position this time he got recalled as opposed to his first NHL game he played last season when the Jets were already out of the playoff race. “It’s in the middle of the season, it’s grind time, and it is fun to be around the team when they are battling for points.” On coach Maurice having confidence in his game “I think that is the versatile role that I can play as centre and wing there, so I think he just wanted me to move into a hole and he thought I could take it.”.
Beauvillier strikes for his first of the year:
Francis Beauvillier has a lot of speed and that has translated into a number of chances but prior to Sunday’s game against Iowa, he hadn’t been able to light the lamp this season. Last year when he joined the team for nine games he scored four goals and added one assist in his first pro experience. Early in the 2nd period of the contest against the Wild he scored to give the Moose a two-goal lead and it proved to be the game winning goal.
Photo Credit: Dave Mahussier
Following today’s skate I asked him what it meant to finally get that goal “It was nice. I’ve been working all summer and since the beginning of the season to score that goal, it was a nice pass from Spacek, and I was fortunate to put it in.” The Beauvillier family had a lot to celebrate as their other son Anthony who plays for the New York Islanders, scored a similar looking goal (his eighth of the season) on Monday back in their home province of Quebec, to the one his older brother Francis scored on Sunday for the Moose. Their parents are keeping busy getting a chance to keep up with both their boys as they make their way in professional hockey.
Buddy hits career highs:
Everything seems to be going right this season for sixth year pro Buddy Robinson as he has now his career highs for goals (18) and points (35) in just 39 games for Manitoba. Last season was his highest goal total with 17 in 66 games (split between Binghamton and San Jose) and in 2014-15 with the Senators farm club he had 34 points in 75 games. His thoughts on what is going right “Just confidence. A lot of credit to my teammates and the coaching staff. Coaches are putting me out there in every situation and giving me a little leash. I’m also playing with a lot of good players and I’m just getting to the front of the net”.
It is pretty clear that Coach Vincent has been happy with the addition of the 6’6 forward to his forward group this season adding this about the NJ native “I like his stick, I like his size, I like his reads. He’s a very positive guy on the bench. He’s a student of the game, he understands the momentum switches of the game, he has tremendous experience, he is pretty much mistake free”.
Sgarbossa suspended for two:
Mike Sgarbossa got a five-minute major and game-misconduct at the end of the 1st period on Saturday when the Moose played the Wild. Manitoba had one goal scored against during the major penalty and ultimately lost the game 5-4 in regulation. Coach Vincent said “it is a league decision. I was expecting maybe a game, they decided two, we will roll with the hit.”
Health news:
I asked coach Vincent following skate about his two injured players in JC Lipon and Cameron Schilling. With respect to his All-Star defenceman coach Vincent indicated that Schilling is “maybe for the next road trip. Right now he is still the same. He is going to be back soon but probably not for the next two games at home.” With respect to Lipon the Moose bench boss indicated “same thing (as Schilling) I would say. We’re going day by day and it’s just a matter to see how they are going to react to different workouts but probably not this weekend but next week.”
Backyard rink:
Five Moose players will be heading to the backyard rink of a local family today at 5 pm. Last year it was a wee bit colder although today it won’t exactly be warm at a “balmy” -14.
What’s Next:
Moose have a morning skate at 10 AM on Wednesday.
As always stay tuned for the latest Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose news by keeping it locked to illegalcurve.com and on social media including Twitter | Facebook | Instagram. And you can follow me on twitter as well (@icdave).
