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Mudbugs Weekly

December 27, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs News Release


LAST WEEK

Tuesday, December 21 at Allen Allen Event Center L 6-2

GAME NOTES: The Allen Americans scored the game ‚¬â„¢s first three goals and never looked back on their way to a 6-2 victory over the Mudbugs Tuesday at the Allen Events Center. The loss dropped Bossier-Shreveport below Allen for first place in the Berry Conference entering a nine-day break for the club. Jeff Kyrzakos and Jamie Milam scored goals for the Mudbugs, who fell to 1-5 against their closest geographical neighbor this season. John DeCaro played the first period but was replaced by Brian Foster as the Americans scored five times on their first 16 shots of the game.

THIS WEEK

Friday, December 31 at Texas NyTex Sports Centre 6:00 pm

GAME NOTES: The Mudbugs will get back to work following a nine-day break with their final game of 2010 Friday at Texas. The season series between the two rivals is tied at two games apiece, but the Brahmas have won the last two meetings in the season series. The ‚¬ËœBugs lead Texas by nine points in the Berry Conference standings, but the Brahmas have four games in hand entering this week.

Saturday, January 1 vs. Mississippi CenturyTel Center 7:05 pm

GAME NOTES: The ‚¬ËœBugs will ring in the New Year with their only home game in a 34-day span Saturday at the CTC, taking on the Mississippi RiverKings for the seventh time this year. The Mudbugs are 5-1 against the ‚¬ËœKings this year and have won three straight against their longtime rivals from Southaven, MS. They will then go to Mississippi on Sunday for the second game of a home-and-home set.

PROMOTIONAL NOTES: Saturday ‚¬â„¢s game will mark the fourth jersey retirement ceremony in franchise history as the Mudbugs honor the career of former player and current General Manager Jason ‚¬Å“Soupy ‚¬Â Campbell by raising his #11 to the CTC rafters.

Sunday, January 2 at Mississippi DeSoto Civic Center 3:05 pm

GAME NOTES: A home-and-home weekend set with the RiverKings continues Sunday afternoon at the DeSoto Civic Center with the eighth of nine head-to-head games between the two rivals this year. The ‚¬ËœBugs are 2-1 in their three trips to Southaven so far this year. The ‚¬ËœKings enter this week ranking sixth in the Berry Conference at 13-14-1.

WEEKLY NOTES

Rutherford to Start in CHL All-Star Game

Mudbugs forward David Rutherford has been voted into the starting lineup for the 2011 CHL All-Star Game, which is set for Wednesday, January 12 in Rapid City, South Dakota. In his first career All-Star appearance, Rutherford will represent the Mudbugs in the game, which pits the host Rapid City Rush against a team of CHL All-Stars comprised of players from the remaining 17 CHL clubs. Rutherford received the most votes (34) of any forward on the ballot and the second-most of any player in the league. The second-year Mudbug leads the league with 19 goals this season and ranks third with five game-winners. Rutherford has added 14 assists to give him 33 points, tying him for 11th in the CHL this season. He also places in the league ‚¬â„¢s top 25 players in plus/minus rating at +10.

‚¬ËœBugs Get Back to Work

Friday in Texas the Mudbugs will play their first game in nine days after a rare mid-season break saw the team get the holiday weekend off after playing Allen last Tuesday. They were originally scheduled to host Tulsa on Sunday, December 26 in a game that was re-scheduled for October, allowing for the extended break. The time off has allowed the rest of the CHL to catch up to what was a league-most 29 games played for the Mudbugs, who played more games than any other team prior to Christmas. After losing six of their last nine games before the break, the ‚¬ËœBugs will now look to get back on track with three games in three days this weekend, the last of which starts a season-high six-game road swing.

Road Sweet Road

The ‚¬ËœBugs still hold the second-best road record in the CHL after last week ‚¬â„¢s defeat at Allen with a mark of 11-4-0 away from the CenturyTel Center this season. Only the Americans ‚¬â„¢ 12-2-0 road mark bests the Mudbugs among the 18 CHL teams. Bossier-Shreveport will have plenty of opportunities to put that mark to the test over the next three weeks as they continue a stretch featuring nine of ten games away from Bossier City. Between December 18 and January 18, the Mudbugs ‚¬â„¢ only home game comes this Saturday (New Year ‚¬â„¢s Day) against Mississippi. After that game the ‚¬ËœBugs will not play another home game until January 20 vs. Dayton.

Special Teams Continue to Excel

The Mudbugs entered last week with the both their powerplay and penalty killing units ranking in first place in the Central Hockey League. Although the PK has slipped just below Texas into second in the CHL, the ‚¬ËœBugs had killed off 27 consecutive shorthanded situations before Allen scored last Tuesday to break the string. Bossier-Shreveport has surrendered only 16 powerplay goals this year on 128 opposing powerplays for a PK percentage of 87.5%. Another powerplay goal Tuesday in Allen kept Bossier-Shreveport in first place on the man-advantage this season, where they have scored 33 times on 146 opportunities this year for a 22.6% success rate. The ‚¬ËœBugs have scored at least one powerplay goal in 19 of 29 games and notched multiple PPG ‚¬â„¢s ten times this year.

American Issues

Since their inception in the CHL last season, the Americans have given the Mudbugs fits in the head-to-head series between the clubs. The ‚¬ËœBugs have been able to muster just two wins in 11 meetings against Allen, holding an all-time record of 2-8-1 against their closest geographical neighbor. Allen has won five of the first six meetings between the teams this year, although all but two of those games have been decided by one goal excluding empty-netters. The road team has had the edge in the series thus far, with Bossier-Shreveport holding a 2-2-1 record here at the AEC and the Americans winning all five of their visits to the CenturyTel Center.

Two Big Mudbug Milestones

Mudbugs Equipment Manager Billy T. Welker and Athletic Trainer George Bullock, Jr. are both celebrating significant career milestones within a five-game span of one another this season. Welker, who has been on the bench for every game in Mudbugs history, worked his 1,500th career game on Saturday, December 18 in Mississippi. Bullock will then follow suit on the Mudbugs ‚¬â„¢ next trip to Mississippi this Sunday, working his 1,000th career game in pro hockey in addition to his games worked in pro baseball and both college and high school athletics.

Loose Pucks

F Jeff Martens leads the CHL with a +19 rating entering this week ‚¬Â¦ D Clay Plume leads all CHL D-men with a +13 rating this year ‚¬Â¦ D Jamie Milam ranks third among defensemen with 17 assists and tied for fourth with 21 points this year ‚¬Â¦

D Simon Mangos played his 400th career game last Saturday ‚¬Â¦ D Michael Couch is approaching 200 career games, entering this week with 190 ‚¬Â¦ G John DeCaro is just three wins away from 100 in his five-year pro career ‚¬Â¦

TICKET INFORMATION: Season tickets, mini-plans and group ticket packages for the 2010-11 season of Mudbugs hockey are available at the team office: 2000 CenturyTel Center Drive, Bossier City, LA 71112. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Individual game tickets can be purchased at the CenturyTel Center box office between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm Monday ‚¬" Friday, by calling Ticketmaster at (318) 741-9700, or online at Ticketmaster.com. For more information, visit www.mudbugshockey.com or call the team office at (318) 752-2847.

MUDBUGS RADIO: Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs games, both home and away, are broadcast live on ‚¬Å“The Home of the Legends ‚¬Â AM 1130 KWKH and News Radio 710 AM KEEL in Shreveport. Both stations provide free online streaming online at www.kwkhonline.com and www.710keel.com.

CHL TV: Back for 2010-11 is the latest version of CHL-TV, powered by NeuLion, Inc. Fans will have the chance to watch nearly 600 games on the CHL ‚¬â„¢s regular season schedule for a small pay-per-view price. Packages are available as well that give fans the chance to order only their team ‚¬â„¢s away games, an all-access league pass or many other options. All game archives are offered to catch up on the games you missed for just $4.00. Visit http://chltv.neulion.com/chltv/ for more information.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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