You got the sense Scott Arniel would have liked to have cancelled the American Hockey League all-star break.
Asked if the break is coming at a good time after two tough losses to the Milwaukee Admirals, the head coach of the Moose conceded he could do without the four days between practices.
"Whenever you lose games, do you want a break? I'd rather have two or three days of practice," said Arniel. "I don't have a choice in the matter, I'm not allowed to do anything for four days with the guys."
The Moose open a six-game road trip Friday against the defending champion Hershey Bears -- who are clearly the class of the league at this stage -- and won't be back on the ice together before Thursday after they arrive in Pennsylvania.
"I don't care about them, I just care about us," said defenceman Nolan Baumgartner.
The one bonus to having some time off is Arniel's belief there are about nine or 10 guys on the roster that could use the time to heal.
"It's really just to refresh your minds and your body and get back after it, kind of with a new intensity," said defenceman Travis Ramsey.
One player who could use the rest is veteran Mathieu Schneider, who went down with a "lower-body" injury during the second period on Saturday.
Schneider, who has two goals and three points in six games since joining the Moose, took four shifts in the second period, but none in the third, finishing the contest with 12:14 of ice time.
The Moose hope to have Schneider available, as well as forwards Marty Murray (groin) and Tommy Maxwell (wrist), when they return to action on Friday.
With 35 games remaining in the regular season, the Moose have come to a fork in the road.
Some nights they lead you to believe they can hang with the elite teams and on others it appears the Moose will find themselves in a battle just to qualify for the playoffs.
"Everyone has to go home and think about what they can bring to the table," Ramsey said. "It's one thing to have a letdown one night, but two games is not acceptable at all and everyone realizes that. We'll have this time to let that sink in our brain's and give us that motivation when we come back.
"There's no better time than now to show what we can do as a team."
CONTENDER
When they returned home from British Columbia on Thursday after sweeping a pair of games against the Abbotsford Heat, the Moose were riding high and again looked like a team that was turning the corner and perhaps on the verge of becoming a bona fide contender.
They were on the fringe of the elite, having won six of eight and picking up another point during that stretch in a shootout loss to Hershey.
But instead of building on that momentum and going into the break on a high note, the Moose were outclassed in back-to-back games against Milwaukee.
To still be battling consistency issues at this stage must be disconcerting for Arniel and the Moose brass.
"We do have to put this behind us," added Arniel. "We have to clear our heads here. It's not going to get any easier and if we dwell on what just happened here, we're going to be in trouble.
"We have to get back up to feeling good about how we play and get back to where our work ethic is our strong suit. Hopefully, the results are a lot better."
STREAK SNAPPED: When Winnipegger Colin Wilson scored a power play goal late in the first period on Saturday, it snapped a string of 23 consecutive penalty kills by the Moose -- a span of seven-plus games.
The Moose penalty kill is ranked 13th in the AHL and is operating at 83.9% after giving up 30 goals through 186 chances through 45 games.
The Moose power play has been better of late and struck again on Saturday (1-for-2), but is ranked 25th in the 29 team league at 13.3% (26 goals in 195 opportunities).
THE MOVES: The Moose reassigned forward Derek LeBlanc to the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League and released goalie Rejean Beauchemin from his pro tryout offer so he could return to the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL.
ken.wiebe@sunmedia.ca
