Saturday, February 07, 2004

Scoring machine Brookbank sent to Winnipeg for conditioning

With two goals in two games, newly made right winger Wade Brookbank must be feeling pretty good these days. Hot off the Canucks recent Eastern swing and an impressive victory over the defending Stanley Cup champ Devils, Brookbank now packs his bags for a road trip with the Moose.

While the more established Canucks take the all star break off to rest weary bones and nurse bouts of the flu, Brookbank, Martin Grenier and Tyler Bouck were all returned to the Moose. Winnipeg is in the midst of a struggle for playoff positioning and on an all important AHL road trip, they welcomed the return of their grads.

It's not known if all three will return to the Canucks on Wednesday when they resume their NHL schedule, but expect Brookbank to have a ticket waiting for him in his locker room stall. He's been a solid performer in his short time with the Canucks, having spent time on the Sedin line, creating a little bit of room for the twins to start to score again.

His presence has helped take the physical load off the likes of Brad May, Jarrko Ruutu and Ed Jovanovski, he also frees up some time for Todd Bertuzzi to concentrate on scoring. In the meantime, the Moose are glad he's back for the bus trips, it may be the last one he has to take for awhile.

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