Doug Sauter's 500th Win Voted Performance of the Week
March 4, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release
The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today that Oklahoma City Head Coach Doug Sauter has been voted the CHL Performance of the Week for the week of February 18th after winning his 500th game with the Blazers on February 23rd. Sauter is the first coach in CHL history to win 500 games and subsequently is the league's all-time leader in coaching wins. In his 13th year with Oklahoma City, Sauter becomes just the second minor-pro coach to win 500 games with the same team joining the AHL's Frank Mathers who won more than 600 games with the Hershey Bears. In all of North American hockey, only five coaches have reached such heights with one team with Sauter, Mathers and NHL coaches Toe Blake (Montreal), Al Arbour (NY Islanders) and Billy Reay (Chicago) making up the list.
Sauter's victory received the most votes of any winner this season notching 11,149 votes (61%). The second place finisher was Arizona's three-goal third period in a 6-5 win versus New Mexico which received 5,962 votes. In all, a Performance of the Week poll record 18,318 fans voted making Sauter's historical feat one of the finalists for the 2007-08 CHL Performance of the Year which will be announced in April, 2008.
Earlier this season, Sauter won his 1200th game as a coach (juniors/pros). In his career with the Blazers, he has guided the team to 10 playoff appearances, won seven division titles, four regular season championships, made three CHL Finals appearances and has won two CHL Championships.
The nominees for the CHL Performance of the Week (week 20) are as follows:
* Greg Pankewicz (COL) scoring a hat trick in Colorado's 5-2 win at NMX, Feb. 26 * David Cacciola (TEX) making 37 saves in a shutout win versus YNG, Feb. 26 * Jeff Bes' (LAR) fourth hat trick of the season in a 5-3 Laredo win at CRP, Feb. 27 * Chris Richards (YNG) scoring his 200th CHL goal in 4-3 win versus WIC, Feb. 29 * Nathan Ward's (ODE) first career hat trick in 5-2 win versus COL, Feb. 29
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