Hockey in his hometown sounds like happiness to Kevin Clark.

Clark, UAA's erstwhile senior winger who just wrapped his college career with a 23-goal campaign, Tuesday said he has signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

That decision will take Clark, 22, back home to Winnipeg, where the Moose are based. That location and Manitoba's recent pedigree -- the Moose last season advanced to the AHL's Calder Cup Finals before falling to the Hershey Bears -- swayed his decision.

Though he fielded several AHL offers, Clark said he narrowed his decision to Manitoba, an affiliate of NHL Vancouver, or the Norfolk Admirals, who are affiliated with NHL Tampa Bay.

"Why wouldn't I go play back home with a good organization?'' Clark said. "Obviously, Manitoba is one of the best franchises in the league, first-class people, and the building is new. They had 11,000 (fans) the other night.''

Clark said he is scheduled to fly to Winnipeg on Thursday. The Moose, who with an average attendance of nearly 8,000 rank second behind Hersey and are in playoff position with 12 games remaining in the regular season, entertain Grand Rapids on Friday and Sunday. One of Manitoba's assistant coaches is former Alaska Aces bench boss Keith McCambridge.

Clark enjoyed a sensational senior season, banking career highs in goals and points -- he led the Seawolves in both categories -- on the way to 23-14--37 totals in 36 games. Though he's a little man -- generously listed at 5-foot-9 -- and possessed of excellent speed, Clark is not a perimeter player who avoids traffic. He'll go to the net hard and get in some mischief -- witness his team- leading 89 penalty minutes and 325 career minutes at UAA.

Clark proved particularly potent in the second half of the season. Before UAA's elimination at Wisconsin in two first-round games in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, Clark racked 15-9--24 totals in a stretch of 16 second-half games. That streak, combined with his status as an undrafted free agent, put him on the radar of plenty of scouts.

Clark also led UAA with seven power-play goals and tied for the team lead with two short- handed goals.

Offensively, he basically carried a club that finished 11-23-2 and tied for eighth place in the 10-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

"A lot of teams really didn't know me because you're playing in Alaska and they only see you on the road, and you're playing for a second-division team,'' Clark said. "The second half really helped me, and got me to start (as a pro) in the AHL.''