CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for December 28, 2012

December 28, 2012 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Need to Know

1.) Winding Down 2012- Heading into the final weekend of 2012, it is no surprise that the Wichita Thunder are the top team of the year. The Thunder leads the CHL this season with an 18-8-3 record and 39 points and were the Bud Poile Governors' Cup winners last season. In 2012, the Thunder are 42-19-5 and their 89 points are four more than Allen who is 40-17-5 (played four fewer games than Wichita to date in 2012). Missouri sits in third place with 84 points (39-20-6), Rapid City is in fourth place with 80 points (35-21-10) and Fort Worth is in fifth place with 72 points (33-24-6). The bottom half consists of Quad City (32-29-4, 68 points), Bloomington (30-28-6, 66 points), Arizona (21-36-8, 50 points) and Tulsa (21-37-8, 50 points).

2.) Dallas/Fort Worth Area Prepares for Battle- The rivals from the Metroplex square off in a home-and-home series this weekend with Allen (18-5-2) visiting Fort Worth (13-10-4) on Friday and then the Brahmas heading to the Allen Event Center to meet the Americans on Saturday. So far this season, the Americans have won two of the three meetings including the last outing on December 2nd. Anthony Maiani leads all skaters in the season series with two goals and two assists. Allen has thrived on the power play in the series connecting six times in 17 chances (.353). They are second in the league at 23.1% on the season. The Brahmas penalty kill is seventh in the league at 81.9%.

3.) Smyth Continues to Streak- With a goal and an assist in Wednesday's 5-4 win at Rapid City, Denver veteran Brad Smyth extended his point streak to 16 games where he has scored 10 goals with 13 assists. The streak is the longest in the CHL this season and is one shy of the longest streak of the 2011-12 season (Todd Robinson, 17 games). Smyth, along with teammate A.J. Gale, is tied for second in the league with 38 points on the season. Smyth has 16 goals and 22 assist to go along with a +11 plus/minus rating. His five game winning goals are tied for the most in the league (Fort Worth's Phil Fox and Wichita's Matt Summers). The Fish have gone 11-3-2 during Smyth's 16-game streak.

By the Numbers

502: The number of assists that Missouri forward Sebastien Thinel has in his CHL career. The veteran became the sixth CHL player to reach the 500 assist plateau last Friday in Missouri's win over Allen. Thinel leads the league with 42 points (11-31=42) and has already won the Joe Burton Award (league's top scorer) on two other occasions (2009 and 2011). Thinel is five games away from becoming the ninth player in CHL history to reach 600 games played.

One-Timers

-On Wednesday versus Denver, Rapid City forward Scott Wray became the sixth player to play in 650 career CHL games. Wray is 14th on the league's all-time points list with 582 points.

-The Quad City Mallards have the longest active win streak in the CHL at three games. They came through with a 5-4 shootout win on Wednesday against the Missouri Mavericks. Defenseman Bob Preece scored the game winner in the shootout on Wednesday and has two goals and three helpers in his last five games. QDC will look for their fourth straight win on Friday night in Tulsa.

-The Bloomington Blaze travel to Arizona for the first time this weekend to play the Arizona Sundogs in three straight games (Friday, Saturday and Monday). The Blaze average more than four goals per game leading the league and the Sundogs are ninth averaging just over 2.5 goals per game.

-Arizona's Chad Nehring has caught fire recently scoring four goals with two assists in his last five games. The forward leads the Sundogs with 24 points (13-11$) on the season.

-Playing with just 12 skaters and falling down to 11 with an early injury to Phil Fox, the Fort Worth Brahmas used a goal and two assists from John Snowden to beat the Tulsa Oilers in a shootout on Thursday night. The loss is the ninth straight for the Oilers (0-8-1) and it marked the first time this season the Oilers were in a shootout.

-Denver won its fifth straight game against the Rapid City Rush on Wednesday night, 5-4. The Cutthroats are 6-2-1 this season against the Rush and the two rivals are slated to meet on Friday, Saturday and Monday (New Year's Eve).

-Be sure to catch all of the action on CHL-TV all season long.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 28, 2012


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