The Moose are coming off a disappointing weekend series that saw them get swept by the IceHogs. They will look to put that behind them with a few days of practice before they welcome the Laval Rocket to town this weekend with a matinee on Sunday and then a school day game on Monday morning.
Practice notes:
Jets prospect Chaz Lucius appears to have graduated from the non-contact uniform to a light contact one for today’s Moose practice.
Photo Credit: Dave Minuk (Illegal Curve)
Missing from today’s Moose practice are Jimmy Oligny and C.J. Suess. Dawson Barteaux, who was recalled from Idaho of the ECHL, was skating with the club this morning at hockey for all centre. Oligny left the game on Sunday against the IceHogs after he sustained an injury on this play.
Health update:
As per head coach Mark Morrison the news doesn’t sound great as it concerns Jimmy Oligny who he indicates is dealing with an “ACL and an MCL issue” and they are waiting for more reports from the doctors. He didn’t have a timeline but it doesn’t sound short term. The captain has another appointment today.
On the positive front Chaz Lucius light blue jersey was simply because they wanted him to be able to play with multiple lines today at practice as he gets his conditioning back after missing the last few weeks. The Manitoba bench boss said “Chaz is full on in. The only reason he was in that jersey is so he can fit in on every line. He’s good to go.”.
I did ask if he would be good for Laval and he said “We’re going to get his conditioning up and hopefully his conditioning will be good enough to play but yah that’s the plan.”.
Loss of the captain:
Knowing how hard Jimmy Oligny worked previously to get back from a leg injury suffered in the summer of 2022 and limited him to just 17 games during the 2022-23 season there is understandable sympathy for him suffering something like this which doesn’t appear to be short term.
Second year pro Wyatt Bongiovanni spoke about the loss of the captain “My heart goes out to Jimmy. He battled hard through previous injuries and to see him go down with this one, I think everyone in the locker room felt that. It’s devastating for the team but we saw him this morning and same old Jimmy, just high spirits, doing his best to keep a smile on his face even though I know it’s hard times. His character is, it’s unmatched.”
Player/Coach media:
Interviews:
Head coach Mark Morrisson which runs until 1:57
Chaz Lucius from 1:58 to 3:11
Wyatt Bongiovanni from 3:12 to the end.
Up next:
The Moose will trade in their skates for work gloves on Wednesday as they head to Siloam Mission to volunteer in the morning.
