Buzzards to Excommunicate Saints
December 20, 2002 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
El Paso Buzzards News Release
EL PASO, Texas â The El Paso Buzzards prepare to give a secular beating when they conclude their weekend home stand against the San Angelo Saints at 7 p.m., in the El Paso County Coliseum, Friday. Catch all of the action on KHEY 1380 AM, El Paso's Sports Ticket with play-by-play announcer Michael LaPlaca and Michael Hissam doing color commentary.
The Buzzards will feature a Toys for Tots toy drive for disadvantaged kids. For each new, unwrapped toy brought to the Coliseum box office, fans will receive buy one get one free on game tickets. As well, during the games there will be a Teddy Bear Toss. Fans are encouraged to toss stuffed toys onto the ice after the Buzzards' first goal of each night. The toys and bears will be collected and distributed in a joint effort by Buzzards' players and Marines on Christmas Eve to needy children at Thomason Hospital.
"This will be our second home game in as many nights, so our team should be focused," said Buzzards' head coach Craig Coxe. "We've had good success against San Angelo this year and there is some bad blood, so I anticipate a lot of goals, fighting and hitting in this one."
This will be the fourth time this season San Angelo visits the Nest. The Buzzards have split the season series with the Saints 2-2-0. In the previous game at the Nest, the Buzzards crushed the San Angelo Saints 7-4. Buzzards' center Jeff Scharf added two goals and two assists and defenseman Rhett Dudley recorded four assists in the victory. Other Buzzards contributing in the scoring column included a goal for right winger Josh Tymchak, assists for right wingers Derrell Upton, Jeremy Vokes and defenseman Jeff Potter.
DID YOU KNOW
The Buzzards have two players who were NHL entry draft selections. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks selected Buzzards' goaltender Blaine Russell in the sixth round in 1996. The other is Buzzards' center Russ Guzior, selected in the 11th round by the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
WHERE THEY STAND
BUZZARDS - The Buzzards lead the all-time series 29-22-2. Coming into Saturday's action, the Buzzards, prior to Friday's game against New Mexico, earned 14 points and are in fourth place in the Southwest Division. The Buzzards will play without defenseman Jeff Potter who is out with a thumb injury. Coach Coxe said he would use right winger Jeremy Vokes as a defenseman on power play situations. Defenseman Rhett Dudley is 15th on the all-time Central Hockey League games played list with 416 coming into tonight's action. The Buzzards play three more home games in 2002 before traveling to Amarillo on Dec. 31.
SAN ANGELO â Before their game Friday against the Austin Ice Bats, the Saints (23 points) come into the game 11-18-1 overall and 2-8-0 on the road for third place in the Southeast Division. The Saints have allowed the most goals in the CHL, but have played the most regular season games as well. On the power play, the Saints come in with a 20.1 percent success rate, third in the league. However, San Angelo is eleventh in the league on penalty kill situations with an 83.2 percent success rate. San Angelo is led in scoring by Troy Mann, who has 15 goals and 22 assists in 30 games and is fourth in the league in scoring.
Central Hockey League Stories from December 20, 2002
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- Buzzards to Excommunicate Saints - El Paso Buzzards
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