CHL Central Hockey League

Opening Weekend Draws 68,466 Fans

Published on October 22, 2007 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


The CHL's 16th season began this past weekend and featured 16 outstanding games that 68,466 fans watched in the various venues around the league. The total number of fans was up 12% over opening weekend during the 2006-07 season and featured two sellouts along with individual crowds of 9,458 in Wichita on Saturday night, 8,655 in Oklahoma City on Friday night, 6,244 in Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday night and 5,401 in Rio Grande Valley on Friday night.

The play on the ice featured close contests with 12 of the 16 games being decided by one goal. Six teams managed to get through opening weekend with unbeaten records including the Rocky Mountain Rage (2-0), the Arizona Sundogs (2-0), the Youngstown SteelHounds (2-0), the Texas Brahmas (2-0), the Laredo Bucks (2-0) and the Tulsa Oilers (1-0). The road teams went 10-4-2 over the weekend outscoring the home clubs 65-54.

A Look Ahead

10/23 - Laredo (2-0-0) @ Amarillo (0-1-1), 11:00 AM

10/23 - Arizona (2-0-0) @ Odessa (1-1-0), 7:05 PM

10/24 - Tulsa (1-0-0) @ Colorado (0-1-1), 7:05 PM

10/25 - New Mexico (0-1-1) @ Austin (0-2-0), 7:38 PM

Home Openers on Tap This Week

There are four home openers this week in the CHL including Colorado on Wednesday night, Laredo and Rocky Mountain on Friday night and Texas on Saturday night. Following this week, the lone two teams that will have not played on home ice will be the Tulsa Oilers who open at home on Friday, November 2nd and the Youngstown SteelHounds who do not play at home until Friday, November 23rd.

Hiebert and Franck Honored

James Hiebert of Laredo and Andy Franck of Youngstown were named the Oakley CHL Player and Goaltender of the Week respectively. Hiebert scored four goals (tops in the league) and had an assist and Franck went 2-0 with a 2.51 goals against average and a .929 save percentage.

CHL Network

The new CHL Network launched successfully on Friday night with 3,104 viewers watching the 13 available games over the weekend (an average of close to 240 viewers per game). The opening night for viewers was Friday night and 1,949 viewers tuned in to see the CHL's six available games on opening night.

Other Notes

Colorado's Ryan Tobler registered his 500th point and 200th goal as a professional over the weekend in Arizona. For his Eagle's career, the four-time winner of the Best Power Forward in the CHL (via the CHL's Best-of-the-Best Poll) has 108 goals, 162 assists and 270 points...The home team has won all 10 meetings between the Eagles and the Sundogs over the past season plus...Rio Grande Valley's Rob Voltera has points in 20 of his last 21 games (including both games versus Corpus Christian this weekend) dating back to last season (10-13=23)...The Youngstown SteelHounds are 2-0 on their season-opening 14-game road trip...Saturday's game with New Mexico at Odessa will be the 70th all-time meeting between the two franchises, the Scorpions have won 40 of the 69 meetings thus far...The SteelHounds and Brahmas play for the first time during the 2007-08 season on Sunday in Texas, the Hounds are 8-0 all-time versus the Brahmas...The Laredo Bucks will look to go 3-0 on Tuesday morning in a special early start game in Amarillo, face-off is scheduled for 11:00 AM (CST)...The Corpus Christi line of Justin Quenneville, Jason Baird and Joe Blaznek combined for eight points (3-5=8) in the Rayz two games...The defending Governors' Cup Champion Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs are 0-2 to start the season for the second consecutive year...The Texas Brahmas are 2-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season...Laredo's eight goals on opening night is the most they have scored on an opening night in their franchises' history.

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Central Hockey League Stories from October 22, 2007


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