CHL Kansas City Mavericks

Mavericks Set To Begin Inaugural Season

Published on October 15, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Kansas City Mavericks News Release


INDEPENDENCE, Missouri - The Missouri Mavericks are set to begin their inaugural season of play in the Central Hockey League (CHL) Friday, October 16 at 8:05 p.m. CDT against the Rapid City Rush at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena.

Head Coach Scott Hillman and 19 players will begin the quest for the Ray Miron President's Cup playing their first of 64 regular-season games against the Rush on Friday's opening night. The Mavericks will play nine road games before playing at Independence Events Center on November 13 against the Wichita Thunder.

MAVERICKS NOTES

Inaugural Season - The Mavericks and the Allen Americans join the 15-team Central Hockey League for the 2009-10 season. Rapid City joins the teams as the youngest three teams in the CHL. There was no expansion draft for the newest teams this season. Mavericks' Head Coach Scott Hillman and player/assistant coach Jeff Christian recruited from scratch to assemble the inaugural roster.

Rookies to experience - The Mavericks have a blend of first and second year players all the way to a 20-year veteran in Jeff Christian. The Mavericks have three rookies who will be playing in their first professional game (Jared Lavender, Kyle Bochek and Karey Pieper). In total, Missouri has nine skaters - Bochek, Lavender, Pieper, Ted Vandermeer, Derek Pallardy, Sam Bowles, Mark Van Vliet, Sean Perkins, Shaun Arvai - and one goaltender - Doug Groenestege - who are "developmental" players meaning they have 128 pro games played or fewer.

Vandermeer Bros - Missouri has a pair of forwards on the roster that are part of a family of six brothers that all play hockey. Bill and Ted Vandermeer are entering their second season together on the same team. The two are from Caroline, Alberta and played together last season for the Oklahoma City Blazers. Bill led the Blazers in scoring last season on 30 goals and 32 assists for 62 points and played in all 64 games. Ted finished with 40 points (21-19=40) in 50 games played and led the Blazers with eight game-winning goals.

First-Year Teams - Since the 2003-04 season, there have been seven expansion teams in the CHL, nine including Missouri and Allen this season. Of the seven expansion teams, three of those teams made the playoffs in their first season of existence. Two of the teams (Colorado and Arizona) won the Ray Miron President's Cup in their second year. The Rush begin their second season tonight and failed to make the playoffs last season.

Leaders - Scott Hillman coached the SPHL's Knoxville Ice Bears to consecutive league championships over the past two seasons, and has recruited this first-year Mavericks team with plenty of leadership on the ice. Player/assistant coach Jeff Christian has scored more points than any other player in the CHL over the last four seasons with 382 points (144-238=382) in 245 games played. He was also named the CHL's MVP for the 2006-07 season with Youngstown. Forward Bill Vandermeer led the Oklahoma City Blazers in scoring with 62 points last season and has had 30+ goal seasons in each of the last three years in the CHL. Goaltender Doug Groenestege led the CHL with a 2.10 goals-against average in 2008-09.

On the Air

KCWJ 1030-AM will broadcast every game, home and away, for the Mavericks' 2009-10 inaugural season. Friday's game against the Rush and October 23 and 30 will be joined in progress or delayed, however all 64 games will be available live online through the Mavericks' website (www.MissouriMavericks.com). Mavericks' broadcaster Bob Rennison will serve as the play-by-play announcer for every game. His extensive background in broadcasting includes five prior seasons in the CHL having broadcast for the Wichita Thunder, Topeka ScareCrows and Topeka Tarantulas.

CHL-TV to Debut on Friday with Free Night

In addition to live broadcasts on KCWJ, the Central Hockey League and INSINC will give fans the opportunity to watch every CHL game live online through CHL-TV. All seven games on the CHL's Opening Night will be available for FREE to fans. To take advantage of this FREE offer, fans need to enter access code chltv on the CHL-TV launch page accessible at http://chltv.insinc.com .

Fans can purchase a CHL-TV Season Pass for only $299.95 which gives access to all CHL games (live and archived) from all teams throughout the regular season. Other packages available include the Monthly Complete Pass for $57.95 and the Monthly Live Pass for $34.95.

As a special reward for CHL team's season ticket holders, a Season Ticket Holder's Pass is available for $89.95 that will give fans access to all 32 of their team's road contests. This special pass is available to team's season ticket holders only.

Individual games can be purchased on a pay-per-view basis for $5.95 and all archived games are available for $3.95 per game.

Single-game tickets are now on sale and can be purchased in one of three ways: Via phone by calling 1-866-4-GETTIX (866-443-8849), via internet by going to www.gettix.net, or through www.MissouriMavericks.com, and in person at the Global Entertainment temporary offices at 19045 E. Valley View Parkway, Suite K. Upon completion of the Independence Events Center (IEC), the Box Office at the IEC will replace the temporary offices in order to purchase tickets in person. Please note that additional charges apply to phone and internet purchases. Season tickets, group tickets and mini-plans are available by calling the Mavericks front office at (816) 252-7825. For more information, please visit www.MissouriMavericks.com.

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