CHL Kansas City Mavericks

Mavericks Weekly: Battle of Undefeateds this Weekend

Published on October 31, 2011 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Kansas City Mavericks News Release


WEEK AHEAD

Friday, November 4 - Mavericks at Wichita Thunder, 7:05 p.m. CST

Saturday, November 5 - Mavericks vs. Wichita Thunder, 7:05 p.m. CST - Home Opener

Audio: www.MissouriMavericks.com or through Missouri Mavericks mobile application Video: CHL-TV (www.chltv.neulion.com )

Watch Party: The Brewtop Pub and Patio - 700 N.E. Woods Chapel Drive, Lee's Summit

The top two teams in the Central Hockey League (CHL) collide this weekend for a home-and-home series. The Missouri Mavericks and Wichita Thunder are the only undefeated teams remaining in the CHL. Missouri will travel to INTRUST Bank Arena on Friday night for the first of four meetings in Wichita, and the teams will head to Independence for the Mavericks' home opener on Saturday at Independence Events Center. Missouri leads the CHL with a 5-0-0 record and all five wins have been on the road while the Thunder are 4-0-0 and lead the Berry Conference. Wichita has won three of their four games in a shootout while the Mavericks have won four of their five games in regulation. After going 10-0-0 against the Thunder in their inaugural season, the Mavericks finished 4-5-2 against Wichita last season as the rivalry heated up. Missouri defeated Wichita in the opening round of the playoffs 3-2 in a best-of-five series.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Weekly Record: 3-0-0 Overall: 5-0-0

Wednesday, October 26 - Missouri 7 at Arizona 2 - Win

Recap - Boxscore

Friday, October 28 - Missouri 2 at Arizona 1 - Win, Shootout

Recap - Boxscore

Saturday, October 29 - Missouri 4 at Arizona 2 - Win

Recap - Boxscore

Notes

Home Opener - Missouri's long-awaited home opener is this Saturday, Nov. 5 at Independence Events Center. Fans are encouraged to come early for pre-game festivities including live entertainment outside the south entrance. Bransen Ireland will perform live starting at 5 p.m. The Mavericks will introduce the entire team before the game and there will be special entertainment prior to the puck dropping.

Franchise record - The Mavericks tied a franchise record with their fifth straight win Saturday night in Arizona. The last time Missouri won five straight games was last season from Dec. 11 to Dec. 23, but three of those games were at Independence Events Center. This five-game win streak has all been on the road and it is the longest road winning streak in Mavericks' history.

Road Warriors - The Mavericks close out their season-long six-game road trip on Friday night in Wichita. After this six-game trip, the Mavericks have no other road trip longer than two games except one three-game trip in December. Missouri is 5-0-0 on the road right now and have outscored their opponent 20-7.

Goaltending - The goaltending tandem of Charlie Effinger and Gerry Festa has started well for the Mavericks this season. Effinger has received the bulk of the work playing in four of the five games and he is 4-0-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and .961 save percentage. His four wins is tops in the CHL, and he has only allowed two goals in the second and third periods combined. Festa won his only start of the season in the Mavericks' only shootout win. In 65 minutes of regulation and overtime, he allowed just one goal and he stopped five of eight shooters in a wild shootout against Arizona on Friday, Oct. 28. He has a 0.92 goals-against average and .971 save percentage.

Leaders - Missouri has three players tied for the league-lead in points. Dale Mahovsky (4-48), John-Scott Dickson (3-58) and Sebastien Thinel (2-68) all have eight points leading the CHL. Mahovsky's four goals lead the CHL through the first two weekends of the season, and Thinel's six assists are tied for the lead. Dickson and Brandon Coccimiglio each have three goals through the Mavericks' first five games which is tied for second in the CHL.

Special teams - The Mavericks are 5-for-22 on the power play through five games for a 22.7% success rate which is tied for fourth in the league. The penalty kill unit has allowed just three goals on 24 chances for an 87.5% kill rate which ranks third in the CHL.

Injury Update - The Mavericks have placed Ryan Jardine and Ed McGrane on the injured reserve (IR). Jardine was placed on the 10-day IR retroactive to October 26. McGrane was placed on the 10-day IR on October 28.

Wolves News - The Mavericks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Chicago Wolves are 3-4-0-2 and in fifth place in the Midwest Division of the AHL. Chicago finished 1-1-0 last week. The Wolves lost a 2-1 game to Milwaukee on Friday but bounced back and beat the Texas Stars 2-1 on Saturday. Forward Darren Haydar leads the Wolves in scoring with eight points (4-48) in nine games played. Defenseman Dustin Friesen (on a two-way contract with Missouri) has one goal and a +1 rating in seven games played.

The Mavericks home opener is this Saturday, November 5 against the Wichita Thunder at the state-of-the-art Independence Events Center where parking is always free. Tickets for all regular season games are on sale now via Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or www.Ticketmaster.com. Call the Mavericks' office at (816) 252-7825 for more information or visit www.MissouriMavericks.com.

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