Sports stats



CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for January 9, 2012

January 9, 2012 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Top Three

1.) All-Stars Invade Prescott Valley- The 2012 CHL All-Star Game is set for Wednesday, January 11 at Tim's Toyota Center where the host team, Arizona Sundogs, will welcome a team of CHL All-Stars. The Sundogs will open the All-Star week with the All-Star Banquet on Tuesday night where the two teams will be introduced along with other star-studded events. The Willis of Texas/N. Thomas Berry Commitment Cup winner for 2012 will be revealed as well as the inaugural class of the Central Hockey League Hall of Fame. The doors will open for the Class of 2012 on this historic night.

2.) All-Star Format- The 2012 CHL All-Star game will pit the host team, the Arizona Sundogs, against a team of CHL All-Stars. This marks the fourth consecutive season the CHL game has taken on a unique format with the host team battling all-stars in 2009 (Colorado) and 2011 (Rapid City) and a team of South Texas all-stars taking on a team of CHL All-Stars in 2010 in Laredo. In 2009, the host team (Colorado Eagles) defeated the CHL All-Stars, 8-4. In the 2010 game, the South Texas team trumped the CHL All-Stars, 9-4, and last season, the CHL team gained a measure of revenge beating the Rapid City Rush, 11-6.

3.) Coaching Match-Up- Arizona Sundogs Head Coach Marco Pietroniro and CHL All-Star Head Coach Dwight Mullins both have something in common, they are both unbeaten in All-Star Games. Mullins helped lead the All-Stars to an 11-6 victory last season over the Rapid City Rush and the Pietroniro was the Head Coach of the Southern Conference squad in the 2008 game in Rocky Mountain, a squad that defeated the Northern Conference by the same 11-6 count. Current Sundogs Tyler Butler and Scott Reid were on the Northern team in that game opposing Pietroniro.

Inside the Numbers

26.7 : The average age of this year's All-Star team marking the second youngest All-Star team in the history of the game. Only last year's 26.2 average age was younger. This year's all-stars are made up of players ranging from 21 to 33 years-old with four rookies on the team (Texas' Mark Guggenberger, Tulsa's Jeff Terminesi, Missouri's Andrew Courtney and Allen's Dylan King) and only Rapid City's Riley Weselowski, Laredo's Adam Rivet, Wichita's Matt Robinson and Allen's Bruce Graham have played in a CHL All-Star game before. King is the youngest member of the selected team at 21-years-old but he will be unable to play on Wednesday due to an AHL call-up.

On the Fly

-The 2012 CHL All-Star Game is available on CHL-TV for $7.00 and will feature the All-Star broadcast team of Greg Halbleib of the Bloomington Blaze and Tommy Daniels of the Allen Americans. For more information, visit http://chltv.neulion.com/chltv/.

-Wichita's Matt Robinson was selected as a reserve All-Star replacing teammate Alex Bourret who was re-called by the Worcester Sharks of the American Hockey League on Thursday. Robinson was a member of last year's All-Star team and he recorded quite a feat notching a hat trick in a 3:55 stretch of the opening period. The CHL All-Stars defeated the host Rapid City Rush 11-6. Robinson has been on a tear lately with five goals in his last six games and 14 total on the season.

-Allen American rookie defenseman Dylan King is on re-call with the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League and will be unable to participate in this year's game. He will be replaced in the line-up by teammate Scott Langdon.

-The All-Star goaltending trio for the CHL All-Stars has a bit of everything with veteran Nick Boucher (Fort Wayne) starting the game and a pair of 22-year-olds slated to back him up in Marco Cousineau (Allen) and Mark Guggenberger (Texas). The trio own three of the top five GAA's in the CHL with Boucher leading the way with a 2.31 GAA and Guggenberger ranking second with a 2.38 GAA. It was announced on Monday that Cousineau has been re-called to the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch and that he would not be able to play in the game.

-Arizona Sundogs goaltender Scott Reid leads the way for the 2012 game playing in his fifth All-Star Game. Reid also was in net for the 2004 game in New Mexico, 2005 game in Laredo, 2006 game in Rio Grande Valley and the 2008 game in Rocky Mountain).

-Arizona Sundogs broadcaster Brien Rea will be working his second consecutive All-Star Game as he will call the contest during the All-Star radio broadcast. Rea served as the CHL-TV broadcaster for the 2011 game in Rapid City.

-After back-to-back shootouts in 2005 and 2006, the history of the past five all-stars has shown some lopsided results with a goal differential of close to four and a half. Three of the last five all-star games have been decided by five goals. The largest margin of victory in all-star game history is six (11-5) done in the WPHL back in 1998.

• Discuss this story on the Central Hockey League message board...

Central Hockey League Stories from January 9, 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