Killer Bees Weekly Notes

Published on February 23, 2005 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees News Release


RIO GRANDE VALLEY KILLER BEES

2004-05 WEEKLY RELEASE

FOR THE WEEK OF Feb 21th - Feb 27th

ITS FOR PRIDE HERE ON OUT

Sunday, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees were eliminated from playoff contention and will unfortunately have to refocus their team goals from winning a championship to finishing out the season with pride and serve as the spoiler role. Also on the task sheet for the Bees is to end their current franchise high 13-game road winless streak on Wednesday night in Odessa, which would also end a four game overall winless streak. The Bees have not won a road game since December 5th in Fort Worth. If the Bees are unsuccessful on Wednesday they can seek to complete the task on Friday in Austin. The Bees get their first Saturday off since Christmas this Saturday before hosting the Amarillo Gorillas on Sunday at 6 PM inside the Dodge Arena.

PUGILISTIC GOALIES

Last Tuesday night at the Dodge Arena in the Bees' final contest of the season against the Laredo Bucks, pandemonium broke out on the ice with under a minute of play leading into both goaltenders fighting, which was the second time this season Bees and Bucks goaltenders have tangled, but the first for both Bees goaltender Jacque Vezina and Bucks goaltender David Guerrera. Earlier this season, Jeff Levy and Jeremy Symington tangled with each other, so last Tuesday's tilt with Vezina and Guerrera marks the Bees and Bucks as the only CHL teams to have two different goaltenders receiving major penalties this season. Laredo's tandem has the Bucks goaltenders as the most penalized tandem in the CHL (Symington-27, Guerrera-19) with Bees tandem ranking second (Jeff Levy-23, Vezina-17). The most penalized goaltender in the CHL this season is New Mexico's Miguel Beaudry who has 35 penalty minutes.

THIS WEEK'S "INSIDE THE NUMBERS"

1- - Loss- The Killer Bees have only lost one game this season when posting at least 4 goals. Their only loss came last Friday night in Austin with a 6-4 loss.

27-5 - Advantage -. The Bees out-shot the Austin Ice Bats 27-5 in the combined second periods of play in the two matchups this past weekend.

6 - Days- The number of days the Bees will actually get to spend in the Valley during a stretch of 18 days from February 17th - March 6th due to road games and ice availability at the Dodge Arena.

BEE OF THE WEEK

This week's Killer Bees "Bee of the Week," for their performance in last week's games is issued to forward Jason Hawes. The Perth, Ontario native had three goals and three assists for six points in the Bees three games. Hawes currently has a point in each of the previous five games and has scored a goal in four of the last five games. He co-leads the Bees in scoring for the month of February with four goals and five assists for nine points.

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE

Out of all eight teams in the Southern Conference, only two of them have scored more goals this season than they have allowed (Laredo and Lubbock), and one of them (Laredo) is not even currently sitting in a playoff spot. At the same time, six of the eight teams in the conference have above a .500 winning percentage.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Tue. Feb. 15 2-4 L vs. Laredo Bucks Top Star: LAR-Brent Cullaton (2 goals)

Fri. Feb. 18 4-6 L @ Austin Ice Bats Top Star: AUS-John McNabb (1g,2a, 3pts.)

Sat. Feb. 19 2-4 L vs. New Mexico Scorpions Top Star: NMX -Mike Oliveira (Hat trick)

Sun. Feb. 20 3-5 L vs. Austin Ice Bats Top Star: AUS-Jared Dumba (2 goals)

PRACTICE SCHEDULE

TEAM IS ON ROAD THE WHOLE WEEK

WEEK AHEAD

Wed. Feb. 23 7:00 pm @ Odessa Jackalopes Radio: ESPN Radio 1240 AM TV: CHLTV.COM

Notes: The Killer Bees and the Odessa Jackolopes battle for the second time this season, sixth all-time and the first of the season at the Ector County Coliseum. The Bees lead the all-time series 3-2-0, but are winless (0-2-0) in Odessa and suffered a 5-0 setback in their last visit (March 4, 2004). The first encounter this season between the two teams was won by the Bees 4-1 and Troy Linna led all scorers with 2 points (1g,1a). The Bees are led in the all-time series by Linna (2g,4a) and Bill Newson (6a) who each have 6 points, while Odessa's Sebastien Thinel leads all scorers in the series with 9 points (3g,6a). The Bees will be looking to end a franchise high 13-game road winless streak.

Fri. Feb. 25 7:30 pm @ Austin Ice Bats Radio: ESPN Radio 1240 AM TV: None

Notes: Rio Grande Valley will make a second consecutive Friday night appearance at the "Bat Cave" in Austin for their fifth and final trip of the season to Austin. The contest will be the 20th meeting all-time between the two teams and the eighth this season. Austin holds a 10-8-1 all-time advantage in the series and has won five straight this season to take a 6-1-0 season record in the series. The Bees are led by Bill Newson in the all-time series with 17 points (7g,10a), while Jason Hawes leads the season series for the Bees with 7 points (3g,4a). Austin's all-time leaders against the Bees is John McNabb (7g,5a,12pts), who also leads the season series with those same numbers.

Sun. Feb. 20 6:00 pm vs. Amarillo Gorillas Radio: Real Country 840 AM TV: CHLTV.COM

Notes: Rio Grande Valley wraps up the week returning to the Dodge Arena to host the Amarillo Gorillas for the third and final meeting between the two teams this season. The Bees are 2-0-0 this season against the Gorillas (3-1-0 all-time) and won the last meeting at the Dodge Arena in overtime 3-2 after a late comeback. Bill Newson leads the Bees in the season series against Amarillo with 5 points off of 3 goals and 2 assists and leads the all-time series with 6 points (3g,3a). Amarillo has several players with 2 points in the season series and their all-time leader against the Bees in scoring is Scott Wray, who has a goal and two assists for three points. US Air Force will be sponsoring the game and presenting free thundersticks, lanyards and shirts to early arrivers and its also Church Group Night for area churches.

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Central Hockey League Stories from February 23, 2005


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