Jackson Hole Moose Hockey

 Moose splits series again, this time with Chicago

Jackson rides high off of win against Smoke Eaters, but can't silence
Chicago club

By Chris Zajchowski

Fresh off a well deserved win against the Smoke Eaters of Trail,
British Columbia, the Jackson Hole Moose delivered a warm welcome to
their opponents from the windy city with an 8-2 win on Friday night.
Though they would go on to drop Saturday's game to the Chicago
Chargers in a hard-fought 7-5 loss, there was no question that on
Friday night the Moose were at the top of their game. Jackson won a
majority of the face-offs and kept the puck in the Chargers end for
most of the game. Jackson's stick-handling and offensive prowess gave
goalie Nick Aulich most of the night off while the focus, and pucks,
stayed in the Chargers net.
"On Friday, we played one of the better games I've seen the Moose
play," defenseman Chris DeMarco said. "We played a skill game,
something we haven't done well in the past. But playing against Trail
was a nice lesson for us."
Keeping Chicago scoreless throughout the first period, the Moose came
out strong with an early lead. Merely four minutes into the game both
Nick Dolentz and Justin Martin scored back-to-back, give-and-go
goals. Not satisfied, Martin would go on to assist Brian Hannafins'
strong drive to the net for a 3-0 Moose lead.
After a scoreless first period for the Chargers, the Chicago club
bounced back, bringing both a physical game and drawing their first
goal off of Aulich. Roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties
throughout the period would mostly fall on the Chargers, but Dolentz
and Jeff Bloomer also picked up a pair two-minute minors in
skirmishes.
Responding to Chicago's increased intensity, halfway through the
second period the Moose answered with Shaun Hannifan's ringer from
the point, catching the glove-side post and making the score at the
end of the second 4-1.
Though the Chargers would go on to double their score in the third,
so would the Moose. Following a Chicago goal, Dan Stastny drilled a
slap shot from the 20 feet out and Luke Smith put away a loose puck
from Chris DeMarco's shot, bringing the score to 6-2.
The Moose slowed down the pace of the game through the remainder of
the period, moving the puck fluidly throughout the Chargers end.
Following a long build-up Brian Hannifan scored his second goal of
the night by putting away a loose puck from Chris DeMarco's shot.
And, Josh Theken put the icing on the cake with a late-game,
glove-side goal. While the Moose walked into the locker room Friday night with a well-played victory under their belts, they were unable to sweep the
series. Wanting to make their West coast trip worthwhile, Chicago
upped the anti Saturday night shutting out Jackson with three
unanswered first-period goals. "One really poor period on the weekend forced to us to dig out of a deficit," DeMarco said. "We played decent in the second and third
periods, but a three goal deficit is hard to come back from."
Brian Hannifan sparked Jackson with four goals throughout the second
and third periods, giving him a team high of six goals in the series.
But, while Hannifan and the Moose refused to be steamrolled, they
couldn't come up with the points to tie the contest.