CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for February 21, 2014

February 21, 2014 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Need to Know

1.) Mavs and Fish Set for Showdown- The Missouri Mavericks (32-13-2, 66 points) and Denver Cutthroats (25-13-10, 60 points) go head-to-head as the first and second place teams in the CHL. Both games are in Denver (Friday/Saturday) and it will mark the fourth and fifth meetings of the season between the two teams with the Cutthroats holding two wins in the previous three games. Denver enters play on a five-game win streak and six points behind the Mavs. Missouri has won four straight games and seven of their last eight. The Fish are the best home team in the CHL sitting at 16-5-5 and the Mavericks have the most road wins of any team in the league (17). Denver boasts the league's top two scorers in Garett Bembridge (77 points) and Troy Schwab (70 points), while Missouri has the league's winningest goaltender in Shane Owen (26-10-1, 2.57 GAA).

2.) Tulsa Streaks into Weekend- The Tulsa Oilers (26-23-3) may have went 0-5-1 to finish the month of January but things are looking up in February as the team has won seven of eight games so far including back-to-back wins in Arizona earlier this week. The Oilers have been fueled by huge offensive production from Ben Gordon (6-5=11 in last five games) and Ryan Menei (4-5=9) in last five games). Gordon is the reigning Oakley Player of the Week and he is currently riding a four-game goal scoring streak (6G). Goaltender Shane Madolora has won six straight decisions and is coming off his third shutout of the season, a 34-save effort in Arizona. Madolora is 23-18-1 on the season ranking second in the league in wins and tied for second in shutouts. The Oilers host Quad City on Friday in their only game of the weekend.

3.) Early Lead- Getting ahead of the opposition leads to victories more times than not. In the CHL this season, teams scoring first win the game 63% of the time. Brampton (17-9-3 when scoring first) and Tulsa (17-11-1 when scoring first) have jumped in front more than any other team, 29 times. The St. Charles Chill are at the bottom getting an early lead only a dozen times (4-7-1). Compared to past seasons, teams have comeback more during the 2013-14 campaign. Last year, teams that scored first won 70% of the games and two seasons ago it was the early start that led to victories 68% of the time. The most dangerous team this season with the early lead is Denver who have failed to earn a point just three times in 28 games when scoring first (18-3-7).

By the Numbers

9: The number of consecutive road games the Arizona Sundogs (24-22-3) will play on their final road trip of the season that begins on Friday in Rapid City. The trip will see the Sundogs play two versus the Rush, two in Wichita, two in Allen, two in Quad City and one in St. Charles. Arizona is coming off back-to-back losses to Tulsa getting outscoring by a 10-3 margin in those games. After this journey, the Sundogs will play eight straight games at Tim's Toyota Center to close out the regular season.

One-Timers

-The Quad City Mallards will look to end a two-game slide with a tough road ahead of them. The Flock hit three cities in three nights on their road trip that once completed will see them play seven straight games on home ice. This weekend, Quad City will play in Tulsa, Wichita and Allen.

-Despite scoring four goals, the St. Charles Chill dropped their seventh straight game and fourth straight on their current six-game road trip on Thursday night in Brampton. The four goals scored by the Chill was one more than they had scored in the first three games of their journey combined. The Chill wraps up their road trip with games Friday and Sunday in Brampton.

-The Allen Americans will look to put an end to their franchise record five-game losing streak on Friday in Wichita. The Thunder are 3-1-1 this season versus Allen winning the last two meetings. Matt Summers has a goal and six assists in the meetings against Allen.

-Quad City forward Jeff Lee is currently on a seven-game point streak scoring four goals with seven assists over his streak. On the season, Lee has scored 17 goals with 22 assists.

-Forward Kyle Fletcher has been a nice pick-up for the Denver Cutthroats recording five assists over the five games he has played with the Cutthroats.

-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 February 21, 2014


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