After starting the pre-season portion of their schedule
in Philadelphia, the Metro Moose Junior B team moved on to Brewster
for the Brewster Bulldogs’ Labor Day Showcase. This would prove
to be another valuable weekend for the inexperienced Moose team. The
team would do battle with three very well respected Empire League Franchises,
the New Jersey Wildcats, the Brewster Bulldogs and local rival the New
York Applecore. The team ended up going an even 1-1-1 for the weekend.
They were defeated by Applecore by the score of 4-1 before getting a
5-2 win against the Wildcats and then closing out the weekend with a
well fought 2-2 tie with the Bulldogs. All in all it was a good weekend
for the Moose as the team battled hard each game and was able to prove
that they could play with some of the top teams in the Empire League.
After the Labor Day showcase the Moose started their defense of the
regular season championship. The Moose welcomed the much improved New
Hampshire Monarchs to Coney Island. This would prove to be a great early
test for the Metro Moose. The Moose reopened the renovated rink with
2 big league wins by the scores of 5-2 on Saturday and 6-3 on Sunday.
The following weekend the Moose welcomed the always tough Frederick
Freeze to Brooklyn. Frederick and the Moose have had many great battles
to past few seasons and this weekend would prove no different. On Saturday
the Freeze would squeeze by with a 4-3 victory before the Moose bounced
back with a convincing 5-1 victory on Sunday.
Next up for the Junior B squad was a non league game vs. The Red Foxes
of Marist College. Marist and the Moose have a great relationship with
many Moose alumni now competing for Marist and this was a coming home
game for a number of players. Marist proved to be too much for the Moose
on this night and won the game 4-1. The Moose struggled with the physicality
and speed of the older Marist squad. It was a good game for the Moose
to realize some areas they need to work on. The next day the Buffalo
Stars came to town for the first of a two game stand. Saturday’s
game was an ugly 7-3 victory for the Moose as Buffalo ran around the
ice all game long and took unnecessary penalties. Sunday’s game
would prove to be much different, an inspired and more disciplined Buffalo
squad took it to the Moose early and often. The Moose eventually got
their legs under them but they fell 3-2 on a late third period goal.
The month of October started with the Moose welcoming the New York Applecore
CHA team to Abe Stark. The Moose and Applecore have become quite the
rivalry as of late and most of the games are very intense. The Moose
came out ready after a good week of practice and took it to Applecore
from the drop of the puck until the final buzzer. The final score read
Moose 7 and Applecore 0. The boys from Brooklyn battled extremely hard
and worked their way to a much earned victory. After a day off the Moose
would have their first road league game of the year against the Jersey
Wildcats in Union, NJ. The Moose played their game and executed their
game plan early and often. The Moose were simply too much for the Wildcats
on this day and the final score was 10-0 Moose. Both Steve Laris and
Sam Mignoli picked up a shut out each this past weekend.
Next up for the Metro Moose B squad was a trip to New Hampshire for
the Monarchs Columbus Day Showcase. The Moose would get to do battle
with two more well respected Empire League teams, The Springfield Pics
and the Baystate Breakers. Unfortunately for the Moose the holiday weekend
didn’t go as planned and they came up short in both games by the
scores of 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.
The Moose now prepare for a long stretch of very important league games.
Next weekend they travel to Long Beach, NY to take on Applecore before
hosting the Philadelphia Revolution and Mass Maple Leafs. The team currently
sits in third place in the CHA with a record of 6-2 in league play and
8-7-2 overall. The Moose rank #1 in the league in goals against with
both Steve Laris and Sam Mignoli leading in both major goaltending categories.
Team Captain Steve Kelly has paced the team offensively while getting
major support from players such as Joe Gilhooly, Greg Kubrak, Keegan
Travers and AJ Carazo. The defense has been solid for most of the year
with all defensemen having their strong and weak points thus far. Forward
Billy Faulkner is day to day with a lower body injury while defenseman
Dan Honovic hopes to make a return this weekend after battling a nagging
injury.
Stay tuned to MetroMoose.com all year for updates.