Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Papa Moose back in the Peg!

An old favourite is returning to the banks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers as Randy Carlyle rejoins the Manitoba Moose as head coach of the Vancouver Canuck farm club. Carlyle who has been an assistant coach in Washington the past two years was re-introduced to the Winnipeg faithful on Tuesday afternoon.

Carlyle has spent a good portion of his hockey life, plying his trade in some capacity at Winnipeg arena. He of course is remembered for his steady play on the blue line of the Jets in their NHL days. Always a crowd favourite Carlyle had a long lasting relationship with the Jets fans as he amassed 647 points, including 148 goals in his 1,055 NHL games, a good portion of which were in the blue red and white of the Jets.

From his blue line days Carlyle went on to be the head coach of the Moose during their IHL days, he also spent time as the teams President and GM when they joined the AHL in the 2001 season.

In what will obviously prove to be a very popular move the Canucks have restored a measure of credibility to their number one farm club as the Moose prepare to move into their new downtown arena, the MTS Centre later this year. Carlyle who brings his strong work ethic to the bench again will help those young Canuck farm hands prepare to make the next step up the NHL.

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