October 2, 2011

THORNHILL, Ont. -- Vasiliy Lokotkov scored twice and newcomer and fellow Russian import Sergey Gridin scored his first goal in his first game as the Moose made it 3 straight wins with a 4-2 victory over the visting Algoma Avalanche Saturday night at the TCC.

Lokotkov opened the scoring with a power play goal at 3:03 with helpers from Roberto De Biasi and Ian Chen.  Algoma responded at the 5 minute mark on a goal from Andrew Cole, and Brad Fantham gave the Av's the lead at 9:05, before Gridin (from Rupert Quiney) and Justin Coles (from Mike Tiberio and Chen) scored 2 more power play goals to give the Moose the 3-2 lead after one period.

The period saw the Moose outshoot the Av's 19-8, in large part because of Avalanche penalties, including 5 minors and a Major for Elbowing to Cole.

There was no scoring the rest of the way, until the Moose sealed the victory with Lokotkov scored his second of the night at 5:31 of the third, bringing the Moose back to .500 for the season after 7 games.

Final shots on goal were 37-31 for the Moose, and both goaltenders had strong nights - Mike Smart for the Moose with his first win, and Peter Veselovsky for the Av's.

The Moose will travel a few miles down the road to York University this Tuesday to meet the expansion Vaughan Stars for the second time this season, in the first of 3 weekday Noon dates against our nearest rival.  The Stars played their inaugural game against the Moose nearly a month ago, coming out of Thornhill with a tight 4-2 victory.  The Moose will be missing Jordan Macdonald and Ian Chen because of school commitments.

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September 27, 2011

ORANGEVILLE, Ont. -- The Moose traveled to Orangeville Monday night for the second half of a home and home series with the Americans and came away with a 4-1 victory for their second straight win.

Playing on the larger Olympic size ice surface, players had plenty of room to skate, with both teams getting their fair share of chances.  However, both goaltenders held the teams at bay through the first period and most of the second before the Moose finally broke through less than 2 minutes from time with a power play goal by Justin Coles, with help from Dustin Cordeiro and Captain Rupert Quiney.

In a tight third period, with the score still 1-0, Coles, with his second of the night, and Russian forward Vasiliy Lokotkov, scored a little over a minute apart for a 3 goal lead at the 13:35 mark.  The Americans, however, responded less than a minute later to break the Moose goose-egg, on a goal from Mike Kurek, giving Orangeville some life with 5 minutes to go.

Despite a power play opportunity, the Americans could not beat Moose goaltenders Alexandrs Smetanins again, and with just over a minute to play, Captain Quiney sealed the result with an empty netter from his own end of the rink for the 4-1 lead.

Smetanins was again outstanding for the Moose, as was Mike Berdine for the Americans, with save percentages of .972 and .925 respectfully, earning 1st and 2nd Star selections in the process.  The Moose held the edge in shots by a count of 40-36.  Captain Quiney had a goal and two assists for Third Star honours.

The Moose will host the Algoma Avalanche this Saturday night in Thornhill in an attempt to make it 3 straight wins, before traveling to York University next Tuesday to the play the Vaughan Stars in the first of 3 weekday Noon encounters throughout the season.

News and Notes:  The Moose are pleased to announce the signing of 16 year old Russian forward Sergey Gridin, who spent 2 weeks in Canada last season training with the Moose at Christmas time.  Sergey will make his debut on Saturday versus the Avalanche;  The Moose are also in discussion with veteran defenseman Steven Rigutto, a key player in our run to the semi finals last season, but who's only now cleared to play again after suffering a concussion in Elliot Lake over 6 months ago.  His schooling will dictate how often he may be able to play, but we're hopeful he'll be joining us shortly, which would be another real boost to the lineup;  We've added some additional staff for our timebox and hope to have live scoring for our games implemented shortly, displayed on the league site, gmhl.net, as our home games are taking place.