CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for December 30, 2013

December 30, 2013 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Need to Know

1.) Best of 2013- The Rapid City Rush have secured their spot as the CHL's top team for the year 2013. The Rush head into a NYE showdown in St. Charles with a 41-17-2 record since the start of 2013 going 20-12-2 in the second half of last season and 21-5-0 this year. There is a logjam for the number two team of 2013 with three teams separated by just two points. The Missouri Mavericks are sitting with a 38-21-3 (79 points) record, the Quad City Mallards are 35-18-8 (78 points) and the Allen Americans are 34-23-9 (77 points). On NYE, Missouri hosts Tulsa and Allen hosts Wichita while the Flock play their final game of 2013 on Monday in Brampton.

2013 Records

Rush: 41-17-2, 84 pts

Mavs: 38-21-3, 79 pts

Mallards: 35-18-8, 78 pts

Americans: 34-23-9, 77 pts

Thunder: 31-23-9, 71 pts

Cutthroats: 25-24-13, 63 pts

Sundogs: 29-29-4, 62 pts

Oilers: 29-33-4, 62 pts

2.) Mallards Go for Sweep- The Quad City Mallards (14-6-5) and Brampton Beast (14-13-2) go head-to-head for the third time in the last four days as the Flock look to sweep the Beast on the road Monday at the Powerade Centre. The Mallards have won a pair of one-goal games in their weekend in Ontario with Saturday's triumph coming off the stick of a Darren McMillan overtime goal. The Mallards have won four straight games and despite sitting in fifth place in the standings, have the third highest win percentage (.660) in the CHL. The Beast are in seventh place in the conference sitting three points behind the Flock in the standings. Both teams will be playing shorthanded tonight as the Beast have lost Mike MacIsaac (slew-foot) and the Mallards have lost Jordan Lane (sucker punch) for two games each.

3.) Thunder Building Momentum- Don't look now, but the Wichita Thunder (11-14-4) are starting to figure things out. The team that has been the league's playoff runner-up in each of the past two seasons has won four straight games outscoring the opposition by a gaudy 21-7 count. Over their last five games, Jon Booras has 11 points (4-7=11) and Matt Robinson has 10 points (4-6=10) and the Thunder are now firmly in the eighth spot in the conference with a three point lead over ninth place Arizona. Wichita started the season 2-10-4 but have gone 9-4-0 since. The Thunder play at Allen (16-10-2) on New Year's Eve and then host Arizona (10-17-1) on Friday and Saturday.

By the Numbers

9: The current point streak for Denver's Garett Bembridge who continues to lead the league in scoring with 45 points (24-21=45), tied with Tulsa's Todd Robinson (10-35=45). During his streak, the veteran has eight goals and seven assists and on the season he leads the league with 24 goals and 10 power play goals.

One-Timers

-Denver will not play at their official home, the Denver Coliseum, until February 4 to make way for the annual National Western Stock Show. The Cutthroats will play four games around the state of Colorado with games this weekend (Friday and Saturday) in Aspen against the Tulsa Oilers at the Lewis Ice Arena and then two games (January 24 and 25) against the Arizona Sundogs in Vail at the Dobson Ice Rink.

-Missouri forward Mike Ramsay has goals in four straight games totaling five goals over that span. The veteran had just three goals in his first 21 games of the season.

-Allen goaltender Mark Guggenberger ended a personal four-game losing streak (0-3-1) by winning back-to-back games this past weekend. The former CHL Rookie of the Year stopped 49 of 54 shots in wins over St. Charles and Tulsa.

-The St. Charles Chill (7-19-4) have dropped six straight games scoring just seven goals over their losing streak. The Chill are last in the league averaging 2.41 goals per game this season. On Saturday, the Chill tried to add to the offense by acquiring veteran John Snowden from Allen. The forward had 23 goals in 41 games last season with the Fort Worth Brahmas.

-Arizona's Brandon Coccimiglio has back-to-back two goal games and has scored six points (5-1=6) in the four games he has played with the Sundogs since being acquired in a trade from Tulsa.

-The Allen Americans (16-10-2) were held to just four total goals in their two games sandwiched around Christmas but in their last two contests, both wins, the Americans erupted for 12 combined goals beating St. Charles 5-1 and Tulsa 7-4. Allen is now tied with Tulsa for third place in the conference with 34 points.

-Rapid City's Konrad Reeder is second in the league with 21 goals on the season and in his last eight games, the veteran has scored nine goals (two game winners) and is a +8.

-CHL-TV, powered by America ONE Sports, is back for a second season with monthly and season packages available as well as all games on a given night available for $8.00. Visit www.americaonesports.com for ordering information.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 30, 2013


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