<p>The Moose finished their pre-Christmas schedule with a pair of wins against the San Antonio Rampage, the top affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.  With the two wins, the Moose extended their franchise record point streak to 16 games.</p>
<h2><strong>Thursday December 21<sup>st</sup> / Manitoba 7 – San Antonio 2</strong></h2>
<p>On Thursday, the Moose returned home to begin a four game homestand with their first game of the season against the Rampage.  It would be the Rampage getting off to a quick start, with Trent Vogelhuber scoring 3:22 into the game to put the Rampage ahead 1-0.  After that goal, the Moose would take over the game.  Rookie sensation Mason Appleton would score his 10<sup>th</sup> of the year just over 4 minutes later to tie the game at 1 after the 1<sup>st</sup> period.  In the 2<sup>nd</sup> period, the Moose would outshoot the Rampage 16-5, and extend the lead to 5-1.  Sami Niku scored his 4<sup>th</sup> of the season on the powerplay, Jack Roslovic scored his team leading 15<sup>th</sup>, Nic Petan scored his 6<sup>th </sup>on the powerplay, and Patrice Cormier scored his 14<sup>th</sup> of the season shorthanded to make it 5-1 after 2.  The Rampage would score early in the 3<sup>rd</sup> off the stick of Rocco Grimaldi on the powerplay just under 2 minutes in to get the Rampage back in the game.  However, the Moose would score twice in 12 seconds just over 2 minutes later to put the game away.  Michael Spacek scored his 4<sup>th</sup> to make it 6-2, and Mike Sgarbossa reached double digits with his 10<sup>th</sup> to make the final 7-2.  Michael Hutchinson gave up 2 goals on 35 shots in the victory.</p>
<h2><strong>Friday December 22<sup>nd</sup> / Manitoba 3 – San Antonio 1</strong></h2>
<p>On Friday, the Moose played their final game before the Christmas break against the Rampage.  Unlike Thursday, the Moose got off to a better start, and would open the scoring halfway through the 1<sup>st</sup> period.  Brendan Lemieux scored his 9<sup>th</sup> of the season on a powerplay, jamming home a bouncing puck past goalie Spencer Martin to give the Moose the lead.  They would extend the lead just over 4 minutes later.  Nic Petan would make a beautiful deke inside the Rampage zone.  His shot was stopped, but the rebound fell to Mason Appleton, and he hammered it home to give the Moose a 2-0 with his 11<sup>th</sup> goal of the season.  After the Rampage scored late in the second period on the powerplay to make it 2-1, the Moose were able to lock the game down in the third.  Appleton would add an empty netter, his 12<sup>th</sup> of the season to make the final score 3-1 Moose.  Michael Hutchinson, making his 4<sup>th</sup> consecutive start, stopped 36 of 37 shots for his 13<sup>th</sup> win of the season, improving his record to 13-1-2 on the season.</p>
<h2>Top Performer</h2>
<figure id="attachment_40430" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-40430" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-40430 size-large" src="https://i0.wp.com/jetsnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/12/24367789277_85056b22df_k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="1024" height="683" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-40430" class="wp-caption-text">Photo Credit: Jonathan Kozub | Moose Hockey</figcaption></figure>
<p>F <strong>Jack Roslovic</strong>, a 2015 1<sup>st</sup> round pick, had 5 points in the 2 games (1 goal and 4 assists).  In his second professional season with the Moose, the Columbus, OH native is 2<sup>nd</sup> in league scoring with 15 goals and 20 assists in 31 games.  Roslovic has already set a new career high in goals with 15, and is closing in on his rookie scoring total of 48 points.</p>
<h2>News and Notes</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>F Patrice Cormier</strong> had a 5 game goal scoring streak snapped in Friday’s game. Cormier had 7 goals in the 5 game streak, and has 14 goals on the season, 4 off his career high set in 2011-12 with St John’s.  He also leads the league with a 34.1% shooting percentage.</li>
<li><strong>G Michael Hutchinson </strong>continues to have a strong season. He leads the AHL in goals against average at 1.68 and save percentage at .951.  He is also tied for 3<sup>rd</sup> in wins in the AHL with 13, one behind Anders Lindback of Milwaukee and Linus Ullmark of Rochester.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Standings</h2>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="144">Team</td>
<td width="57">GP</td>
<td width="57">W</td>
<td width="57">L</td>
<td width="57">OTL</td>
<td width="57">SOL</td>
<td width="57">PTS</td>
<td width="57">PT%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144"><strong>Manitoba</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>31</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>23</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>5</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>1</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>2</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>49</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>.790</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Rockford</td>
<td width="57">31</td>
<td width="57">18</td>
<td width="57">11</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">38</td>
<td width="57">.613</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Iowa</td>
<td width="57">32</td>
<td width="57">14</td>
<td width="57">10</td>
<td width="57">6</td>
<td width="57">2</td>
<td width="57">36</td>
<td width="57">.563</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Milwaukee</td>
<td width="57">30</td>
<td width="57">15</td>
<td width="57">12</td>
<td width="57">3</td>
<td width="57">0</td>
<td width="57">33</td>
<td width="57">.550</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Chicago</td>
<td width="57">31</td>
<td width="57">13</td>
<td width="57">12</td>
<td width="57">5</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">32</td>
<td width="57">.516</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Grand Rapids</td>
<td width="57">31</td>
<td width="57">11</td>
<td width="57">15</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">4</td>
<td width="57">27</td>
<td width="57">.435</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Cleveland</td>
<td width="57">27</td>
<td width="57">9</td>
<td width="57">13</td>
<td width="57">3</td>
<td width="57">2</td>
<td width="57">23</td>
<td width="57">.426</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>As of December 28<sup>th</sup>, 2017</p>
<h2>Up Next</h2>
<p>The Moose play their final two games of 2017 on Saturday and Sunday against the San Jose Barracuda, the top affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.  Both games are 2:00 PM starts at Bell MTS Place.  Both games can be heard on moosehockey.com, and Saturday’s game can also be heard on TSN 1290.</p>

The Moose finished their pre-Christmas schedule with a pair of wins against the San Antonio Rampage, the top affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.  With the two wins, the Moose extended their franchise record point streak to 16 games.
<h2><strong>Thursday December 21<sup>st</sup> / Manitoba 7 – San Antonio 2</strong></h2>
On Thursday, the Moose returned home to begin a four game homestand with their first game of the season against the Rampage.  It would be the Rampage getting off to a quick start, with Trent Vogelhuber scoring 3:22 into the game to put the Rampage ahead 1-0.  After that goal, the Moose would take over the game.  Rookie sensation Mason Appleton would score his 10<sup>th</sup> of the year just over 4 minutes later to tie the game at 1 after the 1<sup>st</sup> period.  In the 2<sup>nd</sup> period, the Moose would outshoot the Rampage 16-5, and extend the lead to 5-1.  Sami Niku scored his 4<sup>th</sup> of the season on the powerplay, Jack Roslovic scored his team leading 15<sup>th</sup>, Nic Petan scored his 6<sup>th </sup>on the powerplay, and Patrice Cormier scored his 14<sup>th</sup> of the season shorthanded to make it 5-1 after 2.  The Rampage would score early in the 3<sup>rd</sup> off the stick of Rocco Grimaldi on the powerplay just under 2 minutes in to get the Rampage back in the game.  However, the Moose would score twice in 12 seconds just over 2 minutes later to put the game away.  Michael Spacek scored his 4<sup>th</sup> to make it 6-2, and Mike Sgarbossa reached double digits with his 10<sup>th</sup> to make the final 7-2.  Michael Hutchinson gave up 2 goals on 35 shots in the victory.
<h2><strong>Friday December 22<sup>nd</sup> / Manitoba 3 – San Antonio 1</strong></h2>
On Friday, the Moose played their final game before the Christmas break against the Rampage.  Unlike Thursday, the Moose got off to a better start, and would open the scoring halfway through the 1<sup>st</sup> period.  Brendan Lemieux scored his 9<sup>th</sup> of the season on a powerplay, jamming home a bouncing puck past goalie Spencer Martin to give the Moose the lead.  They would extend the lead just over 4 minutes later.  Nic Petan would make a beautiful deke inside the Rampage zone.  His shot was stopped, but the rebound fell to Mason Appleton, and he hammered it home to give the Moose a 2-0 with his 11<sup>th</sup> goal of the season.  After the Rampage scored late in the second period on the powerplay to make it 2-1, the Moose were able to lock the game down in the third.  Appleton would add an empty netter, his 12<sup>th</sup> of the season to make the final score 3-1 Moose.  Michael Hutchinson, making his 4<sup>th</sup> consecutive start, stopped 36 of 37 shots for his 13<sup>th</sup> win of the season, improving his record to 13-1-2 on the season.
<h2>Top Performer</h2>
[caption id="attachment_40430" align="alignnone" width="1024"]<img class="wp-image-40430 size-large" src="https://jetsnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/12/24367789277_85056b22df_k.jpg?w=1024" alt="" width="1024" height="683" /> Photo Credit: Jonathan Kozub | Moose Hockey[/caption]

F <strong>Jack Roslovic</strong>, a 2015 1<sup>st</sup> round pick, had 5 points in the 2 games (1 goal and 4 assists).  In his second professional season with the Moose, the Columbus, OH native is 2<sup>nd</sup> in league scoring with 15 goals and 20 assists in 31 games.  Roslovic has already set a new career high in goals with 15, and is closing in on his rookie scoring total of 48 points.
<h2>News and Notes</h2>
<ul>
 	<li><strong>F Patrice Cormier</strong> had a 5 game goal scoring streak snapped in Friday’s game. Cormier had 7 goals in the 5 game streak, and has 14 goals on the season, 4 off his career high set in 2011-12 with St John’s.  He also leads the league with a 34.1% shooting percentage.</li>
 	<li><strong>G Michael Hutchinson </strong>continues to have a strong season. He leads the AHL in goals against average at 1.68 and save percentage at .951.  He is also tied for 3<sup>rd</sup> in wins in the AHL with 13, one behind Anders Lindback of Milwaukee and Linus Ullmark of Rochester.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Standings</h2>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="144">Team</td>
<td width="57">GP</td>
<td width="57">W</td>
<td width="57">L</td>
<td width="57">OTL</td>
<td width="57">SOL</td>
<td width="57">PTS</td>
<td width="57">PT%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144"><strong>Manitoba</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>31</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>23</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>5</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>1</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>2</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>49</strong></td>
<td width="57"><strong>.790</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Rockford</td>
<td width="57">31</td>
<td width="57">18</td>
<td width="57">11</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">38</td>
<td width="57">.613</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Iowa</td>
<td width="57">32</td>
<td width="57">14</td>
<td width="57">10</td>
<td width="57">6</td>
<td width="57">2</td>
<td width="57">36</td>
<td width="57">.563</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Milwaukee</td>
<td width="57">30</td>
<td width="57">15</td>
<td width="57">12</td>
<td width="57">3</td>
<td width="57">0</td>
<td width="57">33</td>
<td width="57">.550</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Chicago</td>
<td width="57">31</td>
<td width="57">13</td>
<td width="57">12</td>
<td width="57">5</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">32</td>
<td width="57">.516</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Grand Rapids</td>
<td width="57">31</td>
<td width="57">11</td>
<td width="57">15</td>
<td width="57">1</td>
<td width="57">4</td>
<td width="57">27</td>
<td width="57">.435</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="144">Cleveland</td>
<td width="57">27</td>
<td width="57">9</td>
<td width="57">13</td>
<td width="57">3</td>
<td width="57">2</td>
<td width="57">23</td>
<td width="57">.426</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
As of December 28<sup>th</sup>, 2017
<h2>Up Next</h2>
The Moose play their final two games of 2017 on Saturday and Sunday against the San Jose Barracuda, the top affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.  Both games are 2:00 PM starts at Bell MTS Place.  Both games can be heard on moosehockey.com, and Saturday’s game can also be heard on TSN 1290.

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