North Division Final -- Moose vs. Amerks

[fergo]

For those of you who have been following the Manitoba Moose in the playoffs, you know that the Moose defeated the St. John's Maple Leafs four games to one in the North Division Semifinal. For those of you who haven't been following the Moose...feel shame!

Anyways, the Moose moved on to the North Division final, where they will take on the Rochester Americans, who won the regular season division title, and swept the Hamilton Bulldogs in their first round series. The Moose won the early regular season matchups between the two teams by scores of 7-2 and 3-2 (OT), while the Amerks took the final two games by scores of 5-4 and 5-4 (OT).

Leading scorers for the Moose against the Amerks were Peter Sarno (4-5-9), Lee Goren (3-4-7), and Jason King (4-2-6). Leading scorers for Rochester against Manitoba include Jason Pominville (1-6-7), Paul Gaustad (3-2-5), and Derek Roy (0-5-5). The Moose will also have to pay attention to rookie Thomas Vanek, who led the entire AHL with 25 power play goals. He also already has two game-winning goals in the playoffs, just like Moose forward Lee Goren.

The second round series starts on Wednesday night in Rochester. No word on any of the games being on TV in Manitoba or elsewhere. For those who want to listen to the games, you can go to www.cjob.com and find an internet feed of Winnipeg station CJOB 68 just below the banner on the left-hand side.

Below are the scheduled dates and times (Central) of the second round series:

May 4, 2005     Manitoba Moose at Rochester Americans   6:05 p.m. CT
May 6, 2005     Manitoba Moose at Rochester Americans   6:35 p.m. CT
May 9, 2005     Rochester Americans at Manitoba Moose   7:30 p.m. CT
May 11, 2005    Rochester Americans at Manitoba Moose   7:30 p.m. CT
May 13, 2005*   Rochester Americans at Manitoba Moose   7:30 p.m. CT
May 15, 2005*   Manitoba Moose at Rochester Americans   5:05 p.m. CT
May 17, 2005*   Manitoba Moose at Rochester Americans   6:05 p.m. CT

* -- If necessary

The winner of this series faces off against the winner of the Chicago Wolves-Cincinnati Mighty Ducks series in the Western Conference Final.

[Score]

Go Moose! :D

[WPGJETS]

I went to the game tonight. One of the best games I've seen ever. The goaltending was amazing. It was tied 1-1 from the mid point of the first until Jimmy Roy scored with 3 minutes remaining in the game. After that goal, I heard easily the most noise ever from a Moose crowd. He got a standing ovation for a minute and a half. There was constant noise from start to finish in the game and it was deafining for the last 3 minutes. They announced that they are opening the upper deck for Friday and as of right now, the best 3 seats together available are in the upper deck half way up and in a corner section. Not too bad for an hours worth of ticket sales. Friday should be a complete sellout

[Jill]

Even though I haven't seen any playoff games moose have impressed me getting this far I thought they may have been doomed this season b/c of the lock out but there doing pretty damn good!

[fergo]

Originally Posted by WPGJETS

I went to the game tonight. One of the best games I've seen ever. The goaltending was amazing. It was tied 1-1 from the mid point of the first until Jimmy Roy scored with 3 minutes remaining in the game. After that goal, I heard easily the most noise ever from a Moose crowd. He got a standing ovation for a minute and a half.

Not surprised by that. Five of Jimmy Roy's nine career playoff goals are game-winners (including last night's). Talk about Mr. April/May. :D

Originally Posted by WPGJETS

There was constant noise from start to finish in the game and it was deafining for the last 3 minutes.

It's quite refreshing to hear how loud it is at the MTS Centre now (I've been forced to listen to the radio for all the playoff games, so... ). It's great to see the city get playoff fever once again. It hasn't been like this since the Jets left...which is kind of sad, when you consider the Moose have actually had more playoff success than the Jets ever did (not counting the WHA years ).

Originally Posted by WPGJETS

They announced that they are opening the upper deck for Friday and as of right now, the best 3 seats together available are in the upper deck half way up and in a corner section. Not too bad for an hours worth of ticket sales. Friday should be a complete sellout

The last number I heard is that they've already sold 12,000 tickets for tomorrow's game, so if it's not a sellout, it'll definitely be close. :)

[WPGJETS]

total sellout is 15,015, so 3,000 tickets in a day and a half isnt that hard really. The closest seats are now second last row in the corner, so my guess is they're close to 14,000 - 14,500. Any questions about the arena, ask me, I worked there until recently :D

[WPGJETS]

Its officially sold out. If the Moose make it to the next round, they could be close to the all-time total playoff attendance record held by Philidelphia without even making the final. The 15,015 people on hand tonight is the 2nd largest crowd ever at an AHL playoff game.

[DmG]

and what a sell out it was!! Great game too, we pwned the Amerks for 50 out of 60 minutes.

[WPGJETS]

my dad and I have made a pact to get tix to every playoff game now. We saw game 4 of the first two series, and it has been without question, some of the best hockey I've ever seen. The game on Wednesday was the best game I've seen since the world juniors were here