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CHL 2010-11 Regular Season Schedule Released

July 23, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


The 2010-11 Central Hockey League (CHL) schedule has been officially announced, with the 594-game season beginning on Friday, October 15 in six locations, and concluding on Sunday, March 27 with four contests. Each of the CHL's 18 member clubs will play a 66-game schedule. Weekends make up the most contests in the schedule with 77% of the games taking place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In all, 455 of the 594 games will occur over the weekends.

The season opening weekend features a championship battle of heavyweights with the defending CHL Champion Rapid City Rush playing the defending IHL Champion Fort Wayne Komets in Indiana. This will mark the first of two meetings between the two champs (the Komets will play in Rapid City on Saturday, March 12). Other opening weekend showdowns feature the defending CHL regular season champion Odessa Jackalopes playing at the Quad City Mallards on Saturday, October 16, the 2009 CHL Champion Texas Brahmas playing a pair of games at the defending Southern Conference Champion Allen Americans on October 15 and 16 and rivalry match-ups with the Wichita Thunder squaring off with the Tulsa Oilers, the Laredo Bucks and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees doing battle and the Mississippi RiverKings facing the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in a pair of games.

The CHL features a new look this season with five new teams, the Bloomington PrairieThunder, Dayton Gems, Evansville IceMen (played in Muskegon last season), Fort Wayne Komets and Quad City Mallards who join the league for the 2010-11 season after playing last season as the International Hockey League (IHL). The new teams will get a taste of CHL competition early on as the Komets will travel to Prescott Valley, Arizona for a pair of games versus the Sundogs on October 22 and 23, the most mileage between any CHL opponents that face-off this season (1,819 miles).

In three of the 11 match-ups between the Evansville IceMen and their in-state rivals, the Fort Wayne Komets, the IceMen will play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne. Those dates are November 6, January 7 and March 6.

Hockey fans will not be disappointed on the Holidays as Thanksgiving features three contests including the Evansville IceMen at the Dayton Gems, the Mississippi RiverKings at the Tulsa Oilers and for the 49th straight season, the Fort Wayne Komets will play on Turkey Day hosting the Quad City Mallards. Christmas Day houses one game with the Tulsa Oilers hosting the Wichita Thunder, while New Year's Eve and New Year's Day feature a total of 17 games highlighted by a Saturday night showdown with the Colorado Eagles visiting the Allen Americans on January 1. Teams hosting games on New Year's Eve are Allen, Arizona, Dayton, Fort Wayne, Missouri, Odessa, Texas and Rapid City.

2010-11 Central Hockey League Home Openers

Allen Americans - Friday, October 15 vs. Texas

Arizona Sundogs - Friday, October 22 vs. Fort Wayne

Bloomington PrairieThunder - Friday, October 22 vs. Odessa

Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - Friday, October 15 vs. Mississippi

Colorado Eagles - Friday, October 15 vs. Arizona

Dayton Gems - Saturday, October 16 vs. Evansville

Evansville IceMen - Saturday, October 23 vs. Quad City

Fort Wayne Komets - Saturday, October 16 vs. Rapid City

Laredo Bucks - Saturday, October 23 vs. Rio Grande Valley

Missouri Mavericks - Friday, October 15 vs. Odessa

Mississippi RiverKings - Saturday, October 16 vs. Bossier-Shreveport

Odessa Jackalopes - Thursday, October 28 vs. Laredo

Quad City Mallards - Saturday, October 16 vs. Odessa

Rapid City Rush - Saturday, October 23 vs. Colorado

Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees - Friday, October 15 vs. Laredo

Texas Brahmas - Friday, October 22 vs. Rio Grande Valley

Tulsa Oilers - Friday, October 15 vs. Wichita

Wichita Thunder - Saturday, October 16 vs. Tulsa

2010-11 Central Hockey League Schedule Highlights

October 15

-The Arizona Sundogs and Colorado Eagles meet in the first of back-to-back games featuring a re-match of the 2008 CHL Finals where the Sundogs swept the Eagles winning the Ray Miron Presidents' Cup

October 16

-Odessa Head Coach Paul Gillis takes the Jacks into Quad City for the Mallards opener, a place Gillis coached five seasons and won a United Hockey League Championship (1998)

October 22

-The Evansville IceMen and Mississippi RiverKings, separated by just 300 miles, meet in the first of eight match-ups on the season

-The Wichita Thunder look for revenge in their first of 11 meetings with the Missouri Mavericks, a team that went 10-0 versus the Thunder last season

November 6

-Bitter rivals Bloomington and Quad City meet in the first of 11 match-ups. The PrairieThunder will be looking to avenge 10 losses in 17 games last season between the two foes.

November 9

-The Laredo Bucks and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs meet in a rematch of the 2004 and 2006 CHL Finals. The two teams play seven times in the 2010-11 season

November 11

-Fort Wayne visits Dayton for the 176th all-time meeting between the two longtime rivals and the Gems will look to end the Komets eight-game win streak over them. The Gems have won 96 of the all-time meetings so far

November 26

-Wichita Thunder Head Coach Kevin McClelland makes his first appearance of the season at the Budweiser Events Center where he coached the Colorado Eagles during each of the past two seasons accumulating an 87-30-11 mark

November 30

-The CHL's leading scorers and Most Valuable Players from the past two seasons square off when Colorado's Kevin Ulanski (2010 MVP) and Odessa's Sebastien Thinel (2009 MVP) meet in the first of seven meetings between the two powers

March 4

-The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees travel to Colorado to face the Eagles for the first time in more than three years and look for better success as they have won just one of the previous 10 match-ups against their expansion sibling from 2003

March 11 and 12

-The Fort Wayne Komets journey west for back-to-back games versus the two top teams from the Northern Conference last year, Rapid City and Colorado. The Komets play the Eagles on Friday night and then head to Rapid City on Saturday night

The entire schedule is available on www.centralhockeyleague.com.

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Central Hockey League Stories from July 23, 2010


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