CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for March 7, 2014

March 7, 2014 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Need to Know

1.) Mavs First to Clinch- Thanks to their 5-2 victory in Quad City on Wednesday night, the Missouri Mavericks (36-16-2) are the first team to officially clinch their spot for the 2014 Ray Miron Presidents' Cup Playoffs. The Mavs have won three in a row and are currently sitting seven points ahead of Rapid City (33-20-1) for the top spot in the CHL. The win over the Mallards was the 20th of the season away from home for Missouri, four more road wins than any other team (Brampton has 16). Things don't let up for the Mavs who host third place Allen (31-18-4) on Friday and second place Rapid City on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Mike Ramsay scored his 20th goal of the season giving the Mavs a trio of 20-goal scorers in Ramsay, Eric Castonguay and Andrew Courtney. Only Tulsa (Ben Gordon, Adam Pleskach and Michel Beausoleil) and Brampton (Andrew Fournier, Jason Pitton and Scott Howes) can also boast three 20-goal scorers.

2.) Sundogs Trip Coming to an End- The Arizona Sundogs (26-24-6) head into Quad City (26-18-8) this weekend for games on Friday and Saturday as they end their nine-game road trip. Arizona has won back-to-back games in Wichita and St. Charles outscoring the opposition 10-2 in those games and now have a seven point lead over the Thunder for the eighth and final playoff spot. Arizona is an impressive 15-12-4 away from home and already have a 1-0 win in Moline under their belt earlier this season. In fact, the Sundogs are 3-0 against the Flock this season allowing just four total goals. Jason Morgan has scored three times against Quad City. Following Saturday's game, the Sundogs head home to finish the regular season with an eight-game home stand. So far on their nine-game trek, Arizona is 2-2-3 earning points in five of the seven games. Forward Kevin Baker has been fueling the offense recently w ith seven goals and three assists over his last six games and he has the game winning goal in each of the last two games for Arizona.

3.) High-Five for Allen, Tulsa and Brampton- A trio of teams head into this weekend's action on five-game win streaks with the Allen Americans (31-18-4), Tulsa Oilers (29-23-3) and Brampton Beast (29-21-5) all looking to extend their successful runs. The Americans head into Missouri on Friday night for the final regular season meeting against the first place Mavericks (36-16-2) and then Allen heads to St. Charles (10-39-6) for games on Saturday and Sunday. Tulsa hosts second place Rapid City (33-20-1) on Friday and Saturday looking to extend their outstanding recent play that has them 10-1 in their last 11 games. Brampton has a three-game series against third place Denver (28-15-10) facing off on Friday night (other games are on Sunday and Monday) as both the Beast and Cutthroats are red-hot with Brampton going 6-2-2 in their last 10 and Denver going 8-2-0 in their last 10.

By the Numbers

900: The number of CHL points that Sebastien Thinel has scored in his CHL career becoming just the third member of the exclusive club with an assist in Wednesday's 5-2 win in Quad City. Thinel has 305 goals and 595 assists in his 687 career CHL games. Only Joe Burton (985 points) and Travis Clayton (982 points) have scored more points than Thinel and both are in the CHL Hall of Fame. Thinel has won the CHL Most Valuable Player award twice (2009 and 2013) and the CHL Joe Burton Scoring Championship three times (2009, 2011 and 2013). This season, the St. Jerome, Quebec native is fourth in the CHL in scoring with 75 points (18-57=75).

One-Timers

-Denver's Garett Bembridge continues to lead the race for the Joe Burton Scoring Championship with 87 points (37-50=87) and his 37 goals are still tops in the league. Fellow Cutthroat forward Troy Schwab is second in scoring with 81 points (21-60=81) and Tulsa's Ben Gordon is third with 78 points (35-43) and second in goals with 35.

-Wichita goaltender Taylor Nelson had just two wins in his last seven appearances but over that stretch he has allowed just 13 goals. The Thunder have scored just 12 goals for Nelson in the last seven games he has played. Nelson is 12-10-2 on the season with a 2.77 GAA (sixth in the CHL).

-Allen rookie forward Alex Lavoie is currently sitting atop first year scorers with 70 points (24-46=70). His 70 points are the most by a rookie since David Nimmo scored 84 points in 2007-08 with Amarillo. Overall, Lavoie's 70 points are fifth in the CHL scoring race.

-Despite being in second place overall, the Rapid City Rush are an enigma on special teams ranking last with a power play percentage of 13.2% and last with a penalty kill percentage of 74.3%.

-The Quad City Mallards have dropped three straight home games and have three games remaining on their season-long seven-game home stand. After their two games against Arizona this weekend, the Flock finishes off the home stretch on Wednesday versus Denver.

-Rookie forward Travis Ouelette has been a nice pick up for the St. Charles Chill who claimed the first year player off waivers from Arizona earlier this season. In 11 games with the Chill, Ouelette has three goals and six assists and on the season he has scored 20 points (6-14=20) in 21 games combined between Arizona and St. Charles.

-Rapid City forward Anthony Perdicaro has been suspended one game for an elbowing infraction in Tuesday's win over Wichita. He'll miss Friday's game in Tulsa.

-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 7, 2014


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