HOUSTON --  When players get moved to a new team, there's always some nervousness about fitting in. But that didn't last long for new Manitoba Moose forwards Doug Doull and Corey Spring.

Assigned to the Moose on Tuesday, the wingers scored the IHL team's first three goals in Wednesday's 5-4 shootout win over the Kansas City Blades.

You could say they were showing their thanks to Moose head coach and general manager Randy Carlyle for airlifting them from the last-place Detroit Vipers to his top-ranked club.

"It's a nice way to go from worst to first," said Doull, who put in the first goal 38 seconds into the game.

"I was hoping for a change to happen this year. I wasn't getting a lot of ice time."

The 6-foot-2, 216-pound Doull was assigned directly from the Vipers, where he had two assists in 17 games.

Spring, a five-year pro with 16 NHL games to his credit, had five goals and nine points in 20 Detroit games and was assigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Vipers' NHL affiliate.

A healthy scratch the last three Detroit games, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Spring notched two goals to give the Moose a 3-0 lead just 8:20 into the first period.

"The attitude was not good (in Detroit)," said the 28-year-old native of Cranbrook, B.C., admitting he'd been struggling on the ice.

"It was no fun losing. They were starting to play a lot of their younger guys."

The 7-17-2 Vipers are last in the league in goals for (63) and have given up the most goals (94).

Doull, who had 227 penalty minutes with the IHL Michigan K-Wings last season in his first pro stint, said he could feel the difference when he joined his 16-10-4 teammates on the bench.

"You could really tell the poise the guys have, the control on the bench" said Doull, 25, who hails from Green Bay, N.S. "That was refreshing for me."

And playing on a line with Lonny Bohonos and Jim Mont-gomery was a treat.

"They're two NHLers, two talented guys," Doull said. "All you've got to do is keep your stick on the ice and finish your checks and something will go in."

It's a debut he won't soon forget.

"It was pretty good we won," Doull said. "A loss probably would have spoiled it."

The Moose take on the 14-7-4 Houston Aeros tonight.

---

Back