Gorillas finish preseason 2-1

Published on October 16, 2006 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Amarillo Gorillas News Release


AMARILLO, TX - Just as quickly as it seemed the preseason arrived, it is gone just as abruptly. And in its place now is the anticipation of the start of the 2006-2007 regular season for the Amarillo Gorillas and the Central Hockey League. The Gorillas wrapped up preseason play yesterday with a 7-3 loss at the hands of the Lubbock Cotton Kings at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. The loss tarnished an otherwise encouraging start for the Gorillas who opened exhibition play with a 3-2 win over Lubbock Friday and followed that up with a 5-2 come-from-behind victory over New Mexico the following evening. And even though training camp just opened a week ago, some players have already started to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

One of the big questions heading into this season was the void left between the pipes with the departure of Shawn Degagne, the Gorillas #1 goaltender for each of the past 3 seasons. Jamie Vandespyker, Degagne's backup last season, was re-signed during the off-season and was expected to assume the role of the Gorillas everyday starting goaltender this year. But without everyday experience in Amarillo questions abounded as to whether Vandespyker could step to the forefront and be that #1 goaltender. Well the early returns are in and Vandespyker appears to be just fine in his new capacity. Vandespyker started the preseason off in fine fashion stopping all 15 shots he saw in 29:51 of action as the Gorillas opened the preseason with a 3-2 win over Lubbock. Vandespyker followed that with a dazzling 38 save performance in a 5-2 win over New Mexico the following evening. Vandespyker played the entire 60 minutes and the only two goals he allowed came while the Gorillas were short-handed. For the weekend, Vandespyker saw 89:51 of ice time allowing only 2 power play goals during that time while turning away 53 of the opposition's 55 shots.

Another big question heading into the 2006-07 season was an offensive one. Specifically everyone was wondering where the offense would come from after losing a combined 289 points off last year's roster with the departure of the Gorillas 4 top scorers on last year's team in Derek Hahn, Scott Wray, Joe Guenther and Mark DeSantis. And while it's still very early, the Gorillas may have found some answers during this past preseason weekend. Matt Miller lead all scorers during preseason play as the Ontario native notched 4 goals and 2 assists while playing in all three preseason games. The Gorillas then saw 3 different players record 3 points each as David Silverstone, Brent Hughes and Trevor Read were all tied for 2nd on the team in scoring during the preseason. Silverstone tallied 3 goals in his 2 preseason games while Brent Hughes notched a goal and 2 assists. Trevor Read accumulated 3 assists and lead the team with a +4 rating logging big minutes in all 3 preseason contests.

The Gorillas roster currently stands at 24 but head coach Jim Wiley will be required to cut the roster down to 18 as mandated by the Central Hockey League by Thursday afternoon. All CHL teams will be allowed to carry a 3-man taxi squad of players until October 25th to allow teams a little extra time to evaluate players before making final cuts.

The Gorillas regular season gets underway Saturday October 21st when the New Mexico Scorpions come to the Cal Farley Coliseum for a 7 P.M. start time.

Season ticket packages and corporate partnerships for the 2006-2007 season are available now! Individual game tickets, once they go on sale, can be purchased at the Gorillas Hockey Office, located at 1934 Civic Circle off of I-40 and Georgia, the Civic Center Box Office and all Panhandle Ticket Outlets. These include Randy's Music Mart, the West Texas Event Center in Canyon and United Supermarkets. Tickets can also be charged by phone at (806) 378-3096 or (806) 242-PUCK (7825).

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Central Hockey League Stories from October 16, 2006


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