It was a rough night for defencemen if you play for the Manitoba Moose. The team came into Friday night’s game against the Wild knowing Sami Niku was being held out of the game and likely both games this weekend as he recovers from a lower-body injury.
To add insult to injury veteran defenceman Cam Schilling was walloped in the 1st period and left the game and did not return. Then in the 2nd period Logan Stanley, who missed practice on Thursday, must have tweaked something as he did not play in the 3rd period.
The Moose were forced to play the 3rd period with four defencemen, two of whom (Johnathan Kovacevic & Luke Green) have a combined 20 games of pro experience.
Following the 6-4 loss to Iowa in the post-game scrum Moose bench boss Pascal Vincent confirmed that Logan Stanley would not play against the Wild on Saturday night. Vincent also confirmed, as was suspected, that Sami Niku would not be a player either. He didn’t have an update on Cam Schilling.
The only available defencemen are veteran Jimmy Oligny and rookie Leon Gawanke, who has played one game as a pro.
Cam Schilling’s status for tomorrow remains unknown.
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