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Shots from the Point for January 2, 2012

January 2, 2012 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Top Three

1.) December to Remember- What a month to close out 2011 by the Quad City Mallards who won 11 of the 14 games they played going 11-2-1 in December. The Mallards are now 17-10-1 and in second place in the Turner Conference trailing the Fort Wayne Komets by six points. All-Star starter Brandon Marino paced the Flock with 10 goals and 11 assists followed by Eric Giosa's 20 points (7-13=20). Defenseman Darren McMillan had a goal, seven assists and was a team-best +7 in the month. Goaltender David McKee was 6-0-1 with a 1.97 GAA and a .932 save percentage. Quad City has a tough start to the New Year with games at Evansville, at home to Wichita and then a home-and-home series versus Missouri in the first week.

2.) Close Calls- There were numerous close contests over New Year's weekend with nine of the 14 games on Friday and Saturday decided by one goal. Two games were decided in overtime and two games had their outcomes determined in shootouts. Defense was on display in many of those games with a pair of 2-1 games and a trio of 3-2 games. This season, 91 of the league's 202 games have been decided by one goal (45%). Playing in the most one-goal decisions is the Texas Brahmas who have been 22 of them (9-7-6) and the Arizona Sundogs who have been in 17 one-goal games (7-5-5).

3.) Closing Out 2011- Thanks to their five-game win streak to end 2011, the Fort Wayne Komets pulled even with the Allen Americans for the most points during the year. Fort Wayne is 43-19-6 (92 points) and Allen finished with a 42-17-8 record (92 points) - Wichita (85 points), Rapid City (81 points) and Tulsa (80 points) round out the top five for 2011. Arizona and Laredo each dropped New Year's Eve decisions finishing tied for the fewest points in 2011 with 53.

Inside the Numbers

4: The number of times that a CHL goalie has scored a goal after Rapid City's Danny Battochio was credited with a goal in Saturday's 6-2 win over the Tulsa Oilers. It marked the first time since March 16, 2007 that a goaltender had found the back of the net (Arizona's Mike Wall). Joining Wall and Battochio are Bryan McMullen (Austin Ice Bats, 2002) and Phil Groeneveld (Fort Worth Fire, 1995) as the only masked men to score goals in CHL history.

On the Fly

-The Rapid City Rush (16-12-1) have won six straight home games outscoring the opposition 30-10 over that stretch. In fact, the Rush have allowed two goals or fewer in all six games during their streak and have scored six or more goals in three of those games and four goals or more in five of the six contests. Good news for Rush fans is that they still have six games remaining on their season-long eight-game home stand (two games versus each Rio Grande Valley, Wichita and Dayton).

-The Wichita Thunder received a huge road game from the trio of Matt Summers, R.G. Flath and Chris Chappell who combined to score four goals with five helpers and a combined +11 in the Thunder's 7-5 win in Evansville. Summers netted a hat trick and an assist, while Flath had a goal, two assists and was a +6 (best +/- in a single game this season). Chappell finished with a pair of assists. Summers scored six goals with two assists and a +7 plus/minus rating last week earning him Oakley CHL Player of the Week honors.

-Arizona forward Daymen Rycroft netted his fourth goal of the season on Saturday and the 200th of his professional career. The former Ohio State Buckeye scored 48 goals, leading the CHL, during the 2007-08 season with the Rocky Mountain Rage.

-Tomas Klempa is starting to heat up for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees scoring goals in three of his last four games including the shootout game winner in Friday's win at Arizona. The Bees are 3-1 over the last four games and look for the sweep over the Arizona Sundogs on Tuesday when they conclude their three-game series (Arizona has lost six straight games). The Bees are halfway through their continental road trip that concludes with a pair of games in Rapid City this weekend.

-The Evansville IceMen have to be happy to see December end going 6-6-1. The IceMen entered the month in first place in the Turner Conference with a 9-3-1 record but struggled during the year's 12th month. The IceMen will look to rebound this weekend when they play three straight games against the Bloomington Blaze (3-1 so far this season versus the Blaze). Evansville now sits in fourth place in the conference just one point ahead of fifth place Missouri.

-With the offense still struggling, the Missouri Mavericks relied on their defense last weekend winning back-to-back games while scoring just five total goals. On Friday, Charlie Effinger lifted the Mavs to a 3-0 win behind 28 saves against Bloomington. On Saturday, Ed McGrane scored with less than a minute remaining in regulation to give Missouri a 2-1 win over Texas. Effinger again was solid stopping 22 of 23 shots. The Mavs host Tulsa on Friday before a home-and-home versus Quad City.

-Dayton and Arizona will both look to begin 2012 much better than they ended 2011. The Sundogs have lost six straight games (0-5-1) and are just one point ahead of Laredo for sixth place in the Berry Conference. The Gems have lost five straight games (0-3-2) and are also in sixth place in their conference. Arizona hosts RGV on Tuesday and Dayton plays at Fort Wayne on Friday.

-Quad City is 9 for their last 25 with the man advantage moving their percentage up quite a bit in their last four games. The Flock is ranked second in the league with a 23.6 success rate on the power play. Brandon Marino leads the team and is tied for the league lead with eight PP goals.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2012


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