Winnipeg Sun
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
By Ken Wiebe -- Winnipeg Sun

The glass is definitely more than half full, but the Manitoba Moose realize they may have missed an opportunity for their cup to be running over.

Manitoba completed its seven-game in 10 night odyssey with a 4-2-1 record, but the players on the squad weren't happy about losing the final contest to the Houston Aeros on Sunday.

Though they gave another gritty effort and ran into a hot goalie to fall 4-2, the Moose weren't wasting much time patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

"Sunday night was the difference between a good road trip and a great road trip," said Moose left-winger Jimmy Roy. "In a way it was good, but it could have been great (if we had won Sunday). That's what we have to do to step up to that next level, whether it's playing three-in-three on the road or wherever we are."

SEVEN-GAME HOMESTAND

The Moose will enjoy an off day today before opening a seven-game homestand beginning with the Chicago Wolves tomorrow at the Arena.

Right-winger Brad Leeb knows the Moose can't afford to let up one bit, which can happen with the first game back from the road.

"We still have to continue to build on things, this week is a pretty big week for us," said Leeb, who showed tremendous hustle and led the team with five goals and seven points on the trip.

"It's nice, some guys get a little bit more charged up to play at home but we can't go back and think it's going to be easy."

"It was a good trip, a really good trip," added Moose head coach Stan Smyl. "It doesn't surprise me the way that they came out and battled."

Neither was Moose captain Brian Chapman.

"We're happy with the way things went, obviously," said Chapman. "We showed up under some trying circumstances and put out a good effort.

"Everybody realizes that we have a hard-working club, that's one of the trademarks of our team and we've established that over the first 27 games, with the exception of a couple of (poor efforts) early on."

Although they found a way to earn nine out of a possible 14 points on the swing, the Moose are back in third spot in the Canadian Division.



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