The news went from bad to worse for the Manitoba Moose.
Already reeling from a winless road trip and a five-game losing streak overall, the Moose confirmed yesterday that defenceman Mike Funk suffered a concussion in Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Texas Stars and will be lost for a minimum of seven days and quite possibly longer.
Since Funk had two concussions last season, the Moose plan to proceed with caution.
"It's a major concern, that's three in just a little over a year," Moose head coach Scott Arniel. "We'll see where we're at after seven days and make a professional and personal decision on him at that time."
As for the on-ice situation, after dropping a pair of home games to the Norfolk Admirals, the Moose wrapped up a busy stretch of five games in six days (plus travel) by losing to the Houston Aeros and twice to the Stars.
The biggest issue is a familiar one.
"Our lack of scoring production is the biggest concern right now," said Arniel, whose team returns to the ice this morning to begin preparations for a weekend set against the Toronto Marlies. "All you can do is continue to work at the good habits -- hitting the net, getting to the net and battling."
'Banged up'
Trying to find ways to create more offence will be a focal point of practice this week for the Moose, who will play four home games over the span of the next two weeks.
"We're going to have an opportunity to get back to some structure in our team game," said Arniel. "Like I've said before, you want to play a lot of games when you're team is playing well, but when you're banged up and you're losing hockey games, that's when you want to have a lot of practice time."
There is no real good news on the injury front, other than the fact forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie is making progress from a shoulder injury and might be available to face the Hamilton Bulldogs Nov. 20.
Defenceman Lawrence Nycholat, out since Oct. 10 after taking a hit-from-behind by Chicago Wolves forward Brett Sterling, is progressing slowly.
Arniel is hopeful Nycholat will get on the ice later this week, but won't likely be ready to play before a road trip that begins Nov. 25 against the Rockford IceHogs.
The Moose could get a boost later this week with the return of goalie Cory Schneider from the Vancouver Canucks.
Reports out of Vancouver suggest Roberto Luongo could get the start in goal on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings and if that occurs, Schneider should be back with the Moose in time for this weekend's double-header against the Marlies.
ken.wiebe@sunmedia.ca
