Winnipeg Sun
Monday, November 26, 2001
By Kirk Penton -- Winnipeg Sun

The Manitoba Moose have completed the first quarter of their inaugural AHL season and the consensus is it's been one heck of a roller-coaster ride.

Moose head coach Stan Smyl likely smiles when he thinks about Friday night's 7-1 thrashing of the Utah Grizzlies, but he probably shudders whenever the 8-5 drubbing his squad suffered at the hands of the Milwaukee Admirals on Oct. 24 is brought up.

The Moose are 10-8-0-2, good for fourth place in the Eastern Conference's tight Canadian Division. Despite the so-so start, the Moose are only six points behind the division-leading Quebec Citadelles.

Players and coaches alike seem pleased with the campaign so far as they gear up for a very busy December in which they play 16 games in 31 days.

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Consistency, however, is No. 1 on their Christmas wish list.

"That's one of the main things of being a professional hockey player -- make sure you come to work every single day," Moose captain Brian Chapman said yesterday.

"You can't play one good game and have a bad one, especially if you want to go up to that next level, which most of these guys in here do.

"They're all trying to get to Vancouver and that's the biggest thing they're going to have to learn."

The squad has endured several call-ups to its parent club in Vancouver and just as many assignments to its affiliate in Columbia, S.C., so having a different lineup night in and night out has certainly had an affect.

But Moose defenceman Bryan Allen said that theory can only be used for so long.

"It's hard to get used to some guys sometimes, but that's the way the game goes," said Allen, who has two goals and five assists since being assigned by the Canucks on Oct. 22.

"I think being a professional hockey player, that's the way the game's played and you just gotta get used to it."

Smyl would certainly prefer to be more than two games above .500, but he believes the foundation has been laid for a successful season.

"As a coach, you like to look in the room and see what sort of players you have character-wise and talent-wise and there's plenty of both," Smyl said. "I see the team getting better in the long run."

Another promising sign is the Moose have been getting offensive output from the entire roster. Take Saturday night's 5-3 win over Utah, for instance, when the third line consisting of Mike Brown, Pat Kavanagh and Josh Holden led the way with a combined eight points.

"The first 20 games you really get a good feel for the team and I think the nicest thing is the depth that we have," Smyl said. "Whether we get call-ups or call-downs or injuries, there's still a pretty good lineup that can be put on the score sheet."



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