Kozuback Award Wwinner Tseplis Joins 'Kings
October 1, 2002 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Lubbock Cotton Kings News Release
LUBBOCK, TX: October 1, 2002 â The Lubbock Cotton Kings of the Central Hockey League are excited to announce the signing of veteran defenseman Gatis Tspelis for the 2002/2003 season.
"It will be interesting to see Gatis and I am excited to have the opportunity to coach him again," said Cotton Kings head coach/director of hockey operations, Bill McDonald. "He is a consistent scorer from the blueline and certainly adds some pop in our back-end. This signing also means we only have one veteran position remaining to fill, but I do intend to bring more than five veterans to camp to have them battle it out for the five spots."
Tseplis (sep-lis), a 31 year-old native of Riga, Latvia, joins the âKings after spending the past season-and-a-half with the New Mexico Scorpions. Last season, he netted 13 goals and contributed with 29 assists for 42 points in 63 games. His 42 points from the blueline ranked him 13th among CHL defensemen, leading the Scorpions squad (4th overall on the team). Tseplis also led the squad in shots (219) while ranking 2nd in +/- (16) and 3rd in assists (29).
The rugged 6'1", 195-pound defenseman was last season's "Rick Kozuback Award" recipient because of his dedication of the game. Tseplis was able to compete on the ice and maintain his ice hockey duties while also fighting to stand by his wife's (Angela) side as she was undergoing cancer treatment. Angela Tseplis was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer, and faced several surgical operations, including an operation in Washington D.C. that required the removal of several organs, including her appendix, spleen, gall bladder, stomach lining and portions of her large intestine. Because the severity of her treatment, the Scorpions and the Central Hockey League set up the Tseplis Medical Fund, through Wells Fargo Banks, to allow donations. CHL teams took part last season building donations to the fund, and the Cotton Kings are happy to announce that the Lubbock Cotton Kings Booster Club was one of the major contributors to the fund.
The twelfth year pro played five seasons of professional hockey in Russia and in the Czech. Republic before arriving in North America, where he has played the past six seasons. Tseplis has played in either the CHL or the WPHL in each of the six seasons he has played in North America. His first season in North America was the 96/97 season, which he split between Huntsville, Nashville and San Antonio. The following season (97/98), Tseplis joined head coach Bill McDonald and the Fort Worth Brahmas and collected 19 goals and 45 assists for 64 points to rank him 3rd in the league amongst defenseman in scoring. The season resulted in a two-game call-up to the International Hockey League's Detroit Vipers. Tseplis collected his finest season in the 98/99 campaign, splitting the season with the Fort Worth Fire and the San Antonio Iguanas of the CHL to combine for 21 goals and 51 assists for 72 points and rank 5th in the CHL in defenseman scoring.
In his North American professional career, Tseplis has 97 goals and 221 assists for 318 points in 361 games. He currently sits with 359 games played in the merged record books of the CHL and the WPHL to rank 25th on the all-time league list for games played. In his career against the Cotton Kings, Tseplis has played in 18 games recording a total of 9 points off of 4 goals and 5 assists. Tseplis is the 20th player under contract for the 02/03 season, joining Dave Ambler, Lincoln Beaudry, Mike Brusseau, Chet Camrud, Anthony Donskov, Paul Fioroni, Derek Gauthier, Julius Halfkenny, Toby Harris, Mike Hiebert, Derek Holland, Dave MacIntyre, Jan Melichercik, Jay Niemiec, Ryan Olson, Chad Peck, Jure Penko, Neil Savary, and Luke Volk. He will qualify as a veteran player (teams can not carry more than five veteran players to meet CHL guidelines), and he joins Paul Fioroni, Derek Gauthier, and Dave MacIntyre as signed veterans.
Central Hockey League Stories from October 1, 2002
- Kozuback Award Wwinner Tseplis Joins 'Kings - Lubbock Cotton Kings
- Ice Inks Gifted Rookie in Gagnon - Indianapolis Ice
- Ice and 'Kings Set to Gear up in Preseason Clash - Indianapolis Ice
- Add two more to the Brahmas goaltending competition - Fort Worth Brahmas
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