Killer Bees Weekly Notes

Published on February 28, 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 28th - Mar 6th

1,000 MILES TO GRACELAND

The Killer Bees played their first week of games since being eliminated from playoff contention last week and had a good week under their new role as the spoiler. The Bees went 2-1-0 over the week, picking up a pair of road wins before losing Sunday 2-1 to Amarillo. Rio Grande Valley registered a 4-3 overtime win in Odessa on Wednesday to end a franchise high 13-game road winless streak and then tallied a franchise single-game high 7 goals Friday in a 7-2 win over the Austin Ice Bats. The 11 goals in the combined two games was a franchise high for the number of goals scored in two consecutive games. The Bees will look to extend their road winning streak to three games this Friday night as they open up a two game set with the Memphis Riverkings to begin a three-in-three weekend and a span of four games in five nights. The Bees will be in Bossier-Shreveport on Sunday before returning home to host Odessa on Sunday.

BEES MARCH INTO THEIR FINAL MONTH

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees head into the month of March with 9 games remaining on the schedule. Five of the nine games are at home and four of the remaining contests are against Southeast Division opponents. The Bees will close out the season with three-in-three weekend sets in two of the final three weekends. Last season, the Bees went 4-4-0 over the month of March. Bill Newson and Matic Kralj each led the team in scoring during the month with 6 points.

THIS WEEK'S "INSIDE THE NUMBERS"

3- - Goals- The number of goals tallied by Matic Kralj to complete the hat trick last Friday Austin for his first of his career, the Bees second ever hat trick and the Bees first ever on the road.

5 - Titles - The number of combined league championship titles held by this weekend's opponents...Memphis (2) and Bossier-Shreveport (3).

23/23 - Penalty Kill- In the all-time series against Amarillo, the Killer Bees are a perfect 23 for 23 in killing off Amarillo power plays.

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 Joe Guenther. The "G-UENiT" tallied five goals in the Bees three games and comes into this week's action on a three game winning streak. Guenther started the week with back-to-back two-goal performances and registered the game winning goals in the consecutive Bees wins. On Sunday, he tallied the lone Bees goal. The Buffalo, New York native now co-leads the Bees in goals with 18 after the five goals produced during the week.

FEBRUARY CLOSEOUT

The Bees completed the month of February with a 4-8-0 record. Bill Newson led the Bees offensively through the month with 13 points off 6 goals and 7 assists in 12 games. Joe Guenther led the Bees in goals during the month with 8, and Jason Tessier led the Bees defensemen in scoring for the month with 10 points (1g,9a) in 11 games. The Bees had a good month in the special teams department. Despite a CHL low penalty kill percentage, the Bees killed off 50 of 55 power play opportunities for a monthly penalty kill percentage of 90.9%. It has overall, boosted the Bees penalty kill percentage from 74.2% to 78.1%, which is the highest the Bees penalty kill percentage has been since November 12th. On Sunday, the Bees were 0 for 7 on the power play, which ended a streak of five consecutive games with a power play goal. The Bees registered power play goals in 8 of the 12 games during the month.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Wed. Feb. 23 4-3 W (ot) @ Odessa Jackalopes Top Star: RGV-Joe Guenther (2 goals)

Fri. Feb. 25 7-2 W @ Austin Ice Bats Top Star: RGV-Matic Kralj (Hat trick...2UG)

Sun. Feb. 27 1-2 L vs. Amarillo Gorillas Top Star: AMA-Brent Hughes (1g,1a)

PRACTICE SCHEDULE

TEAM IS ON ROAD THE WHOLE WEEK DUE TO BORDERFEST AT THE DODGE ARENA

WEEK AHEAD

Fri. Mar. 4 7:05 pm @ Memphis RiverKings Radio: Real Country 840 AM TV: CHLTV.COM

Notes: The Killer Bees look to extend a road game winning streak to three games, as they make their first ever trip to Southaven, Mississippi to face the Memphis RiverKings. Memphis (3-0-0) has never lost to the Bees (0-1-2) in three prior contests, which were all held at the Dodge Arena. The only previous meeting this season was a 5-1 Memphis win on November 19th. Ryan Shmyr received his first ever suspension (6 games) as a Bee resulting from the contest after running down Scott English. Don Parson also registered a four-point night (1-3-4) for Memphis to place himself as the all-time series leader against the Bees in scoring for Memphis with 7 points (3g,4a). The Bees are led by several players in the all-time series, who all have three points in the series.

Sat. Mar. 5 7:05 pm @ Memphis RiverKings Radio: 1240 AM / 840 AM * TV: None

Notes: Rio Grande Valley will remain for an overnight stay in Memphis to battle the RiverKings for a second consecutive night. It will be the just the third time ever that the Bees have remained overnight to play an opponent in two consecutive nights. The Bees are 3-3-0 in sets which the Bees play the same opponent on the road in consecutive nights and are 2-1-0 in the second game of the sets.

* - Broadcast station will depend on status of UTPA Lady Broncs basketball. If their tournament game is scheduled for 3 PM, then Bees will be on ESPN Radio 1240 AM... If not, then the game will be carried live on Real Country 840 AM

Sun. Feb. 6 5:05 pm @ Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Radio: ESPN Radio 1240 AM TV: CHLTV.COM

Notes: The Bees will close out the three-in-three road weekend in a 46-hour period with a Sunday match-up against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, who have shutout the Bees in three consecutive games with two different goaltenders. The previous contest was a shutout registered by Ken Carroll, who stopped all 27 shots on goal, in a 1-0 game that was decided in the shootout. Levy was on pace for the shutout and statistically did not allow a goal as both teams were scoreless heading into overtime. The other ‘Bugs goaltender that has two consecutive shutouts against the Bees is Jeff Blair, who currently holds the all-time shutout sequence against the Bees at 154:30 (still active). The Bees are 0-2-2 all-time against the Mudbugs (4-0-0) and 0-1-1 this season.

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