The Moose are coming off a weekend (Saturday/Monday) sweep at the hands of the undefeated in 2024 Milwaukee Admirals who are now 17-0-0 in January and February which matches the second longest streak in AHL history. And to the credit of Manitoba they could have won the game on Monday which saw them lose 4-3 on a 3rd period goal by the visitors.
Skate news:
It turned out to be a highly optional practice with six guys skating this morning with skills coach Dave Cameron. Those six included David Gustafsson, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Daniel Torgersson, Henri Nikkanen, Tyrel Bauer and Nicholas Jones.
Effort against the Admirals:
Following skate I asked Moose head coach Mark Morrison for his reflections on the two-game set with the Admirals.
“I thought our effort was good in both games. The second game obviously I thought we deserved a little bit better result than we got but we’re playing against a team that seems to have a lot of confidence and they seem to be very patient. They capitalized on the mistakes that we made and they were very patient with it. We were right there and unfortunate bounce at the end and we get behind. One thing they do really well is close things down so we didn’t really get a whole lot of opportunities to come back in the game after they took the 4-3 lead. I thought we played well, played hard on the forecheck but didn’t really create any great scoring chances.
Reichel/Viel/Ford line being the identity of this team:
Last week when we spoke with Kyle Capobianco he was asked about the confidence of this hockey club. He said “A lot of it comes from that Reichel, Viel, Ford line. They’re kind of the identity of our team. I think when they lead the charge playing the right way I think everyone else follows suit.”
The Moose bench boss agreed with that assessment this morning.
“Yeah 100%. They are the line that drives the team. They do everything. They bring some offence, they’re good on the forecheck, they’re physical. I think Viel and Reichel are 1/2 penalty killers, they’re both on the power play. There’s not much more they can do so they’ve been excellent for us and they are driving the team and they are the leaders.”
Latest on Jets prospect Chaz Lucius:
It’s been about three weeks since Jets 2021 first rounder Chaz Lucius had his season ending ankle surgery which news we broke about a month ago today. I asked Mark Morrison for a progress update this morning on the Minnesotan.
“He’s still at the point where he’s not putting weight on that foot so I think he’s got another month to go before he can start putting weight on it and then he’ll start into his therapy and start some exercises and so on. So right now it’s just some upper body stuff that he can do.”
We still see Lucius around the Moose facility and I inquired about the benefit to the young prospect about remaining around the guys:
“I think it’s huge. Just to be able to interact with your teammates still. Some guys give him a boost, some guys work out with him, some guys are in the trainers room with him, so for sure that helps because it can be a long process and sometimes guys can have issues with that and get down but he seems to be happy to be around and on the right path to get that thing fixed.”
Up next:
The Moose are back on the ice tomorrow for another day of practice as they prepare for a weekend set against the Calgary Wranglers.
