CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for January 23, 2012

Published on January 23, 2012 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Top Three

1.) The Climb- The Missouri Mavericks climb has hit some rough terrain this season but lately, it has been much smoother as the team has won eight of their last 10 games and are now sitting alone in the third spot in the Turner Conference playoff standings (four points behind second place Evansville and five points behind conference leading Fort Wayne). After a 6-0 start to the season, all on the road, the Mavs appeared to be primed for a long run atop the Turner Conference, but a 3-5-2 month of November and a 6-7-1 month of December had them on the outside of the playoff picture. Numerous changes with the roster seems to have given the Mavericks the lift they needed as January has witnessed seven wins in nine games. Currently on a seven-game home stand, the Mavs will have the opportunity to make up more ground but this week's three games will provide quite the test with second place Evansville in for a showdown on Tuesday and fourth place Quad City coming to Independence for games on Friday and Saturday.

2.) Rush Hit the Road- After playing eight straight games at home and 10 of 11 in the friendly confines, the Rapid City Rush will not see their own rink again until Feb. 9 as they embark on a seven-game road trip. The Rush begin their journey Friday night in Dayton and will see the Gems once more on the trip, Bloomington twice, Evansville twice and Missouri once. The Rush finished their home stand with a 6-1-1 record and are currently in fifth place in the Turner Conference, just one point behind the Quad City Mallards in the battle for the final playoff spot in the conference. Rapid City's defense allowed just 16 goals during their home stand and Jesse Schultz scored three of the team's six game winning goals. Schultz had six goals and two assists during the stand and is second in the CHL with 51 points (20-31=51) on the season.

3.) Still Streaking- The Evansville IceMen saw their win streak reach six games as they topped the Tulsa Oilers on Sunday in dramatic fashion scoring the game winning goal as the horn sounded in the OT (Jake Obermeyer). The IceMen have been getting it done with defense boasting two shutouts over their streak and allowing just five goals over the six-game stretch, all wins by rookie Bryan Gillis. The IceMen have moved up to second place in the Turner Conference standings sitting just one point behind Fort Wayne. This week, Evansville will be tested as they travel to Missouri to face the Mavericks, the second hottest team in the league. Evansville is 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and Missouri is 8-2-0.

Inside the Numbers

5: The number of wins the Laredo Bucks have this season versus their South Texas rivals, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. The Bucks won both games this past weekend pushing their home win streak over the Bees to four games. Rusty Masters scored the game winning goal in both contests this past weekend earning him the Oakley CHL Player of the Week honors (has nine points in nine games versus RGV this season). The Bucks leads the season series 5-4 and the two clubs meet for the 10th time on Friday night in Hidalgo.

On the Fly

-Saturday's 2-1 win for the Tulsa Oilers in Fort Wayne against the Komets marked the first time this season the Oilers have won a game when they scored two goals or fewer. Tulsa is 1-12-1 when they score just twice or less in a game.

-What a lift Patrick Schafer has provided the Missouri Mavericks since being acquired from the Arizona Sundogs on Jan. 1. Schafer has scored six goals with five assists in his nine games with the Mavs helping them to a 7-2-0 record over that stretch. Schafer, who has just two goals in 19 games with Arizona this season, has scored five times in his team's last three games.

-On Tuesday night, the Arizona Sundogs will play their first road game since before Christmas (Dec. 22) when they travel to Allen to play the Americans. The Sundogs concluded their 10-game home stand on Saturday night with a 2-1 loss to Allen and finished their home stretch with a 3-4-3 record. Five of their seven losses came by just one goal. Arizona has played in 22 one-goal games this season, second in the league to Texas, and are 8-7-7 in those games.

-Evansville's Brian Bicek saw his five-game goal scoring streak come to an end in Sunday's OT win over Tulsa. Bicek's six goals in his five games moved him to second in the league with 22 goals on the season and his five-game streak matched the longest in the CHL this season. Skating to a torrid pace, Bicek has 16 goals over his last 16 games.

-RGV's Tomas Klempa continued his point streak over the weekend seeing it stretch to 13 games (11 goals and eight assists over his streak). The 13-game point streak is the second longest in the CHL this season just one behind Allen's Bruce Graham who had a 14-game streak from Dec. 6 to Jan. 7.

-Dayton's shutout of Rapid City in South Dakota on Friday night marked the first time the Rush had been shutout this season and the first time on home ice since Feb. 26, 2011 (Missouri, 4-0). Gems net minder Bryan Hogan made 24 saves earning the shutout Friday night ending Dayton's five-game losing streak (0-4-1). Rapid City bounced back the next night shutting out the Gems 6-0 behind Tim Boron's 28 saves.

-After scoring 32 goals over a seven-game stretch (Dec. 16-30) in which they went 6-0-1, the Fort Wayne Komets have found goals tougher to come by. In their last 11 games, the Komets have scored 27 times (2.45 per game), nearly a goal per game below their season average. Fort Wayne is 5-5-1 over that stretch of games. The Komets are still in first place in the Turner Conference with a one point lead over the Evansville IceMen.

-Missouri forward Sebastien Thinel is currently tied for eighth on the league's all-time assist list (Brett Seguin) with 447 career CHL helpers. Thinel ranks seventh on the all-time points list with 694 career CHL points.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Central Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central