CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for March 14, 2014

March 14, 2014 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Need to Know

1.) Award Finalists Unveiled- The CHL announced the finalists for their four major awards this week including the Most Valuable Player, Most Outstanding Goaltender, Most Outstanding Defenseman and Rookie of the Year. Voting will be conducted over the next week with CHL Head Coaches, Communication's staff and select media members from CHL markets having the opportunity to cast their votes. The five finalists for the MVP award are Denver's Garett Bembridge and Troy Schwab, Tulsa's Ben Gordon, Missouri's Sebastien Thinel and Rapid City's Jesse Schultz. The goaltending finalists are Rapid City's Tim Boron, Denver's Kent Patterson, Missouri's Shane Owen, Quad City's Ty Rimmer and Arizona's Andrew Engelage. The top defenseman award will be determined among the group of Wichita's Andrew Martens, Rapid City's Riley Weselowski, Missouri's Matt Stephenson, Allen's Tyler Ludwig and Quad City's Nicholas Rioux and the Rookie of the Year finalists are Denver's Vincent Arseneau, Quad City's Thomas Frazee, Rapid City's Brett Kostolansky, Allen's Alex Lavoie and Tulsa's Adam Pleskach.

2.) Playoff Picture Getting Clearer- Three teams have clinched post-season berths, the Missouri Mavericks, the Rapid City Rush and the Denver Cutthroats and the Allen Americans could be the next team to punch their ticket, as soon as Friday night. A win by the Americans in Rapid City on Friday and a regulation loss by the Wichita Thunder against Tulsa would clinch the Americans their fifth straight playoff appearance. Brampton, Quad City and Tulsa are all nine points clear of Wichita who is the ninth place team and all three could clinch their spot within the week. The final playoff spot right now is occupied by the Arizona Sundogs who have a six point lead over the Thunder but Wichita has two games in hand and three straight games in the regular season's final week in Arizona head-to-head against the Sundogs.

3.) Mavs and Beast Continue Series- The Missouri Mavericks and Brampton Beast started a three-game series on Thursday night with the Mavs winning Game 1 by a 3-2 count. John-Scott Dickson scored a pair of goals and has four goals and three assists in his last three games. Dickson reaches the 20 goal mark for the third consecutive season. Josh McQuade scored a pair for the Beast who fall to 0-3-1 in their last four games. The teams meet again on Friday and Sunday. Missouri has won six straight games and now find themselves six points up on both Denver and Rapid City.

By the Numbers

5: The number of consecutive games the Tulsa Oilers (29-25-3) and the Wichita Thunder (23-27-6) will play over the next nine days. The Oilers are nine points ahead of the Thunder in the standings meaning a clean sweep of the five-game series could propel the Thunder ahead of the Oilers. Tulsa leads the season series with six wins in nine games with the most recent being a shutout on February 28. Michel Beausoleil and Kyle Bochek each have 10 points in the season series against Wichita.

One-Timers

-Denver's Vincent Arseneau has scored goals in six straight games, tied for the second longest goal scoring streak in the CHL this season. The longest was seven games coming from Tulsa's Michel Beausoleil back in November.

-The Arizona Sundogs host the St. Charles Chill on Friday night in the first of back-to-back games between the teams and the first of an eight-game home stand to finish the season for the Sundogs. Arizona is 4-0 so far this season against the Chill as St. Charles will look to put an end to an 11-game road losing streak.

-Rapid City's Eric Giosa has three goals and eight assists over his last six games and is a +6 over that stretch.

-Denver heads into a busy weekend with six straight wins as they prepare to take on the Quad City Mallards on Friday/Saturday and Allen on Sunday. The Cutthroats are coming off a 4-0 road trip where they outscored the opposition 18-10.

-The Wichita Thunder, six points out of a playoff spot, are sliding at the wrong time going 0-3-2 in their last five games.

-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 March 14, 2014


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