CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

Mike Gillis went to bed with a smile on his face.

Manitoba lived to play another game, and his three top prospects were named game 5’s three stars.

Cory Schneider hadn’t stolen a game all series and came up large, Michael Grabner had 7 shots on goal and one tally, and Cody Hodgson returned to the lineup had 3 shots, and one goal.

courtesy of ahl.com

“[Cory Schneider's] the best goalie in the league. He won that award for a reason. We had a lot of shots at him the first two periods and he did what he did all year. It was their night,” Hershey forward Alexandre Giroux said.

Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth has been outstanding all series, and is ranked as high as Schneider as a potential NHL goalie.

So, Hodgson’s shot on goal was very impressive: ”Hodgson…sped down the right side across the Hershey blue-line before snapping a top-circle shot that worked its way under the crossbar.”

One concern has been Michael Grabner’s lack of physical play. The Moose have been manhandled, and Chris Bourque absolutely nailed Grabner in game four.

“We’ve been pretty physical with them, especially their top players,” said Tyler Sloan. “Being physical has probably been the biggest thing. It’s been very tight.”

Grabner finally got involved to help keep Manitoba’s hopes alive.

“Grabner had been trouble getting anything going in Game 5,” wrote Ken Wiebe, “and had been spending most of his time on the perimeter before going to the slot and getting rewarded when Desbiens’ shot came out front.”

Mike Gillis knows that his young prospect will have to continue going to the slot, if he wants to make it to the ‘nucks.