CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for December 26, 2011

Published on December 26, 2011 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Top Three

1.) All-Star Roster- The roster for the 2012 CHL All-Star Game in Prescott Valley, Arizona on Wednesday, January 11 will be announced this week. The starters were voted on through balloting of all 14 CHL head coaches, communications departments and selected media members across the CHL landscape. The reserves will be selected through collaboration between the All-Star coach (Dwight Mullins) and the CHL Hockey Operations Department. The format of this year's game will feature the host Arizona Sundogs taking on a team of CHL All-Stars.

2.) Mullins Earns the Gig- Allen Head Coach Dwight Mullins has earned the spot as the coach of the CHL All-Stars for the second straight season. Mullins gets the nod thanks to his team's league-best win percentage as of December 23 (.712). The Americans defeated the RGV Killer Bees in convincing fashion, 7-3, on Friday night getting Mullins the appointment. In his third season as the coach of the Americans, Mullins has a career 105-38-13 record and a .715 career CHL win percentage, the highest in the history of the league. He has also guided the Americans to the 2010 CHL Finals (lost to Rapid City in six games) and led his team to the Bud Poile Governors' Cup (CHL regular season title) last season.

3.) Kalemba Heating Blaze Up- The Bloomington Blaze's 12-game losing streak in the early part of the season is almost forgotten thanks in large part to goaltender Zane Kalemba who has had flashes of brilliance in his time as the starter for the Blaze who are 7-5-0 since their streak ended. A big improvement for the Blaze has been their play on home ice where they are 6-1-0 in their last seven chances. Kalemba is 7-7-1 on the season with five wins in his last eight decisions. Kalemba has allowed just nine goals during those five wins. The Blaze are back in action Tuesday night when they visit the Fort Wayne Komets.

Inside the Numbers

8: The current point streak of Wichita's Alex Bourret who has seven goals and nine assists over his streak (averaging two points per game). Bourret has goals in each of his last three games and currently ranks second in the league with 36 points (12-24=36). In his last 16 games, the Drummondville, Quebec native has scored 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) and on the season he has accumulated 10 multi-point efforts in 24 games played.

On the Fly

-The Tulsa Oilers evened-up their season series with the Wichita Thunder with a 5-2 win on Christmas Day in Tulsa. Each team has now won four times against the other and the Oilers four-goal third period helped put an end to the Thunder's three-game win streak against the Oilers. Ryan Raven scored a pair of goals for the Oilers and Mike Ullrich tied Dayton's Damian Surma for the most goals in the league (16).

-Allen's Bruce Graham is coming off a four-point week in his team's two games scoring two goals with two assists. His play has earned him the Oakley CHL Player of the Week award. The two-time CHL All-Star is currently riding the longest active point streak in the league at nine games (13 points over that stretch).

-On Friday night in Dayton, Fort Wayne's Nick Boucher earned his league-leading third shutout of the season stopping all 28 Gems shots he faced. Boucher leads the league with his 14 wins, his 2.26 goals against average and is tied for the league lead with his .922 save percentage (20 games played). Last season, Boucher finished with 18 wins and two shutouts in 42 games played.

-The Rapid City Rush (14-11-1) and the Quad City Mallards (14-10-1) will battle in a Turner Conference clash on Tuesday night in Moline, Illinois. The two teams are tied for third place in the conference at 29 points apiece. The winner could leapfrog Evansville (14-7-2) who is just one point ahead of both the Rush and Mallards. The IceMen host Dayton (11-11-4) on Tuesday night.

-Rivals Wichita (17-8-1) and Missouri (12-10-3) get together on Tuesday night for the fifth time this season with the Thunder owning three wins in the previous four games (three straight wins). Alex Bourret leads the Thunder with two goals and five assists in the series and Sebastien Thinel is the top Mav with two goals and seven assists.

-Only Fort Wayne and Rapid City remain perfect when leading after two periods of play. The Komets are 15-0 while the Rush are 11-0, every other CHL team has dropped leads after 40 minutes of play. Wichita, Tulsa, Texas, Missouri and Arizona have all lost three leads this season leading the way in that category.

-Laredo forward Rusty Masters has been hot recently with a seven-game point streak (two goals, seven assists). It is no coincidence that Bucks have started to play better as well winning five of those seven games averaging nearly 3.5 goals per game (24 goals). The Bucks are back in action at Texas on Wednesday.

-Rapid City goalie Tim Boron is catching stride winning three of his last four starts allowing just two goals in each of those games. Boron is 7-4-0 on the season with a 2.85 GAA and a .908 save percentage.

-The Tulsa Oilers added some toughness on Monday acquiring forward Tyler Sheldrake from the Quad City Mallards in exchange for future considerations. In 16 games with the Flock, Sheldrake has 57 PIMS, a goal and an assist.

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 26, 2011


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