Odessa @ Lubbock Preview

Published on December 26, 2002 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Lubbock Cotton Kings News Release


LUBBOCK COTTON KINGS

GAME NIGHT PREVIEW

Odessa Jackalopes (18-5-4) @ Lubbock Cotton Kings (12-9-4)

DATE: 12/26/02 TIME: 7:05 pm LOCATION: Lubbock Municipal Coliseum

FROM CHRISTMAS TO BOXING DAY

The short Christmas break comes to a close for the Lubbock Cotton Kings and the Odessa Jackalopes, as the two teams battle tonight for the third time this season. Today is "Boxing Day" in Canada, and the Cotton Kings are looking for some voluntary services to lead them out of a three-game winless streak, which is the longest of the season. The Jackalopes are coming in off of a 5-3 victory over Bossier-Shreveport Saturday and have won five of their last six games. Lubbock is 12 points behind Odessa in the Southwest standings with two games in hand. Odessa is looking for a win themselves, as a win tonight with an Austin loss in Corpus Christi would give both Austin and Odessa a 75.0% winning percentage to co-lead the Southern Division.

THE SERIES

The Odessa Jackalopes lead the all-time series 21-10-1. This season, the Jacks' have a 2-1-0 series lead, with several players leading the series scoring with four points. Jack's forward John Bossio is the all-time leader in opponent scoring against the ‘Kings with 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points in 31 games played. Lubbock is 11-16-5 all-time against Odessa (1-1-1 this season), with former ‘Kings forward Kyle Reeves as the all-time scoring leader for the ‘Kings against Odessa with 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points. The ‘Kings active leader against Odessa is Jan Melichercik with 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points in 22 games. THE LAST MEETING

Jan Melichercik's third period goal was the game winning goal the Lubbock Cotton Kings needed to help end a 13-game regular season series winless streak against the Odessa Jackalopes, as Lubbock defeated Odessa 3-2 at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum on November 27th. The Jackalopes responded off each ‘Kings goal as defenseman Scott Hillman's power play goal answered Jeff Dewar's power play goal and Mike Rutter answered Blaz Emersic's goal in the second period to keep the game tied at 2-2 heading into the third period. Melichercik received the eventual game winning goal 3:02 into the third period after digging out a rebound out from under Mike Gorman and sliding it past him into the net. Lubbock's Blaz Emersic (1g,1a) and Barry McKinlay (2a) recorded 2-point performances for Lubbock and Odessa's Greg Willers (2a) were the game's top performers offensively. Mike Brusseau manned the pipes for the ‘Kings, stopping 28 of 30 shots for the victory

ROSTER CHANGES

Lubbock is without goaltender Neil Savary (knee) and defensemen Craig Binns (knee) and Derek Holland (knee), who each remain on the injured reserve list. The Jackalopes placed defenseman Ryan Edwards (femur) on the season ending IR, suspended Travis Kennedy, and are without defenseman Adam Doyle (shoulder), who is on the IR.

STANDINGS

‘Kings - 28 points, 2nd place, 12 points back, Southwest Division. Jackalopes – 40 points, 1st place, Southwest Division.

TEAM LEADERS

‘Kings – Blaz Emersic 30 points; Derek Gauthier / Blaz Emersic 10 goals; Blaz Emersic 20 assists; Dave Ambler 94 penalty minutes. Jackalopes – Mike Rutter 29 points; Sebastien Thinel 13 goals; Mike Rutter 20 assists; Rob Frid 133 penalty minutes.

SPECIAL TEAMS

‘Kings – Power play: 11.8% (18/152), 14th, Penalty killing: 82.6% (114/138) 12th. Jackalopes – 19.5% (32/164), 4th, Penalty killing: 88.7% (134/151) 2nd.

GOALTENDERS ‘Kings – Mike Brusseau (11-9-3, 3 SO, 2.71), Jure Penko (1-0-1, 0 SO, 3.67). Jackalopes – Mike Gorman (12-4-4, 1 SO, 2.02), Matt Carney (6-1-0, 0 SO, 1.95)

WHAT'S NEXT Lubbock – Friday, December 27 8:11 PM @ El Paso Buzzards El Paso County Coliseum

Odessa – Friday, December 27 7:00 PM vs New Mexico Scorpions Ector County Coliseum

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 26, 2002


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