Sports stats



CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for March 1, 2013

March 1, 2013 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Need to Know

1.) February's Best- Despite a 6-3 loss at home to Quad City on Tuesday night, the Rapid City Rush (28-22-5) finished the month of February with the most points in the CHL finishing with a 9-4-0 record (18 points). The Rush have moved into sole possession of fourth place in the Berry Conference and should things stay this way, would host at least an Opening Round playoff series. Allen's win over Fort Worth on Tuesday night vaulted the first place Americans to second for the month with a 7-5-3 record (17 points) and the Brahmas finished third with a 7-4-2 record (16 points). Bloomington's eight points (4-8-0) were the fewest in the month of February.

2.) Thunder and Americans Meet Again- The Allen Americans (32-13-9) and the Wichita Thunder (30-16-7) meet for the seventh time this season and for the fourth time in the last two weeks. The first place Americans have a six-point cushion over the Thunder which wasn't the case one week ago when Wichita visited the Allen Event Center just a point in back of Allen. The Americans won the game 3-1 maintaining their top spot in the conference. The two rivals have split six games this season with the home team winning each time so far. Chad Painchaud leads both teams in scoring in the series with five goals and four assists in five games played.

3.) Battle for Final Spot- The Bloomington Blaze (26-25-2) and Quad City Mallards (23-24-5) went into Thursday night's game tied with 52 points apiece but the Blaze now have sole possession of eighth place and the final playoff spot thanks to a 6-2 win over the Flock. Newly signed goaltender Ross MacKinnon stopped 38 of the 40 shots he faced earning his first win of the season. The netminder was 14-4-0 with a 2.06 GAA with Pensacola of the SPHL. Leo Thomas scored a pair of goals and David Gilbert had a goal and an assist. The Blaze now lead the Mallards by two points in the standings and are just one point behind Arizona for the seventh seed.

By the Numbers

21: The number of wins the Rapid City Rush has over the Arizona Sundogs in 27 career meetings. The two teams meet on both Friday and Saturday this weekend in Prescott Valley. This season, the Rush are 5-2-0 against the Sundogs.

One-Timers

-Missouri heads into the weekend with the league's longest active win streak, three games. The Mavs have been idle since Saturday's 5-4 shootout win over Wichita. Missouri will look to match their second longest win streak of the season on Friday night when they host the Quad City Mallards.

-Denver, who has had nine different players called up to the AHL's Erie Monsters this season, received goaltender Kent Patterson, defenseman Joel Chouinard and forward A.J. Gale back from the Monsters. The CHL's leading scorer, Gale, went scoreless in four games with Lake Erie after his call-up in mid-February.

-On Tuesday, Arizona forward Chad Nehring ended his second longest scoreless streak of the season (four games) with a goal and an assist in his team's 3-2 win over Tulsa. Nehring leads the Sundogs with 28 goals and 22 assists on the season.

-Tulsa continues their cross-country road trip as they head to Denver for a pair of games against the Cutthroats (Friday/Saturday). Tulsa is coming off back-to-back losses in Arizona last week that saw them score just three combined goals. The Oilers have lost 20 of 26 road games this season.

-Fort Worth rookie goaltender Kristofer Westblom finished the month of February with a 5-1-1 record and a 2.45 GAA and he is second in the league with 19 wins. The Brahmas hit the road for games in Bloomington on Friday and Quad City on Sunday as Westblom looks to join Missouri's Mike Clemente in the 20-win club.

-Rapid City defenseman Justin Sawyer was tagged with 19 PIMs in Tuesday's loss to Quad City making him the first CHL player this season to reach the 200 penalty minute mark. Sawyer leads the league with 208 PIMs and he is just 39 penalty minutes away from reaching 1,000 in his CHL career. Sawyer also leads the league with 21 fighting major penalties (Denver's Jean-Philipp Chabot is second with 16).

-Bloomington's power play has maintained the number one spot in the league despite struggling recently scoring just three PP goals in their last 19 chances (15.8%). On the season, the Blaze are connecting 23.1% of the time.

-Be sure to catch all of the action on CHL-TV all season long.

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

Central Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2013


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