CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for March 2, 2012

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


Top Three

1.) Brahmas Return to Cowtown- The Texas Brahmas (29-18-8) are headed back to Fort Worth, for the weekend at least, as they host the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (23-25-7) in the "˜Fort Worth Faceoff Series' on Friday and Saturday nights. The Brahmas and Bees will tangle at the Fort Worth Convention Center for the first time since 2006 when the team left Fort Worth and relocated in North Richland Hills at NYTEX Sports Centre. The Brahmas are wearing special jerseys and are having numerous events and special promotions to highlight the weekend's action. Texas is in third place in the Berry Conference just one point behind the second place Allen Americans (29-14-9) and the Killer Bees are on the playoff bubble just one point behind the fourth place Tulsa Oilers (24-23-6).

2.) February's Best- The Evansville IceMen were announced as the new #1 team on the CHL Coaches Poll on Thursday taking over that top spot from the Wichita Thunder who held that position for the previous six weeks. The change is somewhat surprising seeing that the Thunder ended the IceMen's 10-game win streak on Wednesday night thanks to a six-goal third period in their 8-5 come-from-behind win (the Thunder trailed 5-2 at one point in the third). The IceMen's month of February was the main catalyst for their surge to the #1 spot as they led the league with 22 points (11-4-0). Rounding out the top five in February were the Fort Wayne Komets (21 points, 10-4-1), the Thunder (20 points, 10-3-0), the Rapid City Rush (19 points, 8-3-3) and the Texas Brahmas (19 points, 9-3-1). The bottom teams for the month of February were the Tulsa Oilers (7 points, 3-8-1), the Arizona Sundogs (8 points, 3-8-2) and th e Dayton Gems (9 points, 3-6-3). Dayton and Arizona go head-to-head in a pair of games in Prescott Valley this weekend as both will look for fresh starts to the month of March.

3.) February's Three Stars- The Oakley Three Stars for the month of February were announced on Thursday with Wichita's Matt Robinson taking home first star honors, Evansville's Todd Robinson earning second star mention and Texas goaltender Mark Guggenberger winning third star recognition. Matt Robinson scored 12 goals (five game winners) in the month of February and was named top star four times (he earned 29 star points). Todd Robinson earned 27 star points and Guggenberger had 22 star points (Rapid City's Konrad Reeder also had 22 points but the tiebreaker went to Guggenberger who was a first star in games more than Reeder during the month). On Thursday, Guggenberger was also named the 50/50 Central/CHL Rookie of the Month.

Inside the Numbers

5 - The number of wins the Arizona Sundogs have this season in 24 games against teams from the Turner Conference (5-15-4). The Sundogs host the Dayton Gems on Friday and Saturday night and will look to put an end to their seven-game losing streak (0-5-2) against the Gems who have won just three times in their last 10 games (3-4-3). The Sundogs lost in a shootout in the only meeting against the Gems this season.

On the Fly

-Evansville forward Todd Robinson continues to lead the league in scoring with 80 points (21-59=80) and is currently riding a CHL season-high 15-game point streak. Robinson and the IceMen host the Wichita Thunder on Friday night in a battle between the two conference leaders in the CHL.

-Maybe no player in the CHL is hotter than Konrad Reeder who has scored goals in five straight games (league high for the season is his teammates Scott Wray's six-game goal scoring streak). Reeder has 19 points (10-9=19) in his last nine games and is a +11 over that stretch. The Rush are in Missouri taking on the Mavericks in a crucial Turner Conference battle on Friday night.

-Quad City pulled to within three points of the final playoff spot in the Turner Conference thanks to a 5-1 win on Thursday night in Bloomington. Brandon Marino scored a pair of goals taking over the league lead with 34 scores on the season. His 75 points are second only to Todd Robinson. Mickey Lang had three helpers and David McKee made 37 saves earning the sixth win in eight games for the Flock against the Blaze. The Flock return home to host the Fort Wayne Komets on Friday night.

-Laredo host Allen on Friday and Saturday nights and have had the Americans number lately winning three straight games and four of five in the season series. Bucks goalie Ryan Rondeau is 5-2 with a 1.56 GAA against Allen this season and Rusty Masters has three goals and eight assists in the head-to-head match-ups.

-Wichita's comeback over Evansville on Wednesday night marked the sixth time in 13 chances that the Thunder have come back to win a game they trailed after two periods. Three times in the month of February, the Thunder were able to score three times or more in the final period to earn a win after trailing through 40 minutes. Wichita has outscored the opposition 81-46 in the third period this season, best differential of any team in the final frame.

Fort Wayne's Jamie Milam and Frankie DeAngelis are the top two goal scorers among defensemen in the league with Milam leading the way with 17 goals and DeAngelis sitting second with 16 goals. DeAngelis is third among d-men in points with 39 (16-23=39) trailing the Evansville duo of Steve Makway (41 points) and Matt Gens (40 points).

-Tulsa is barely hanging on to the fourth position in the Berry Conference and the final playoff berth. The Oilers lead the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees by one point and enter play this weekend on a three-game losing streak. Tulsa plays at Bloomington on Friday and then hosts Rapid City on Saturday.



Central Hockey League Stories from March 2, 2012


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