CHL Central Hockey League

Shots From The Point For May 5, 2010 (Playoff Edition)

Published on May 5, 2010 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


This is the final Shots from the Point of the 2009-10 season - thanks for a great season!

The Rapid City Rush took home the Ray Miron Presidents' Cup Championship on Tuesday night with a Game 6 victory over the Allen Americans. The game lasted four hours and twenty minutes and was the longest cup clinching game in CHL history. The Americans grabbed a 3-0 lead after one period looking to be on their way to extending the series to a deciding Game 7 but goals from Gio Flamminio, Blaine Jarvis and Brendan Cook tied the game sending it to overtime where it took 39:28 of sudden death hockey before Scott Wray crashed the net and knocked a puck by Allen's Chris Whitley (60 saves in the game).

Ray Miron Presidents' Cup Finals- Rush Win Series 4-2

Game 1 - ALN 4 @ RPD 1

Allen goaltender Chris Whitley made 48 saves and the Americans scored four times in the second period to earn the Game 1 win. Nino Musitelli led the way offensively scoring a pair of goals.

Game 2 - ALN 4 @ RPD 5 (OT)

Rapid City defenseman Dave Grimson scored a goal and assisted on the game-tying goal with less than a minute remaining and Blaine Jarvis scored his first professional playoff OT game winner as the Rush evened the series. Allen's Chris Whitley made 52 saves in the losing effort. Brendon Hodge and Les Reaney each had three helpers for the Rush.

Game 3 - RPD 2 @ ALN 5

The Americans got a hat trick from Colton Yellow Horn and a pair of goals from Justin Bowers as they built a 4-0 lead and held on for the 5-2 win. Chris Whitley made 35 saves in his CHL record-tying 17th appearance of the post-season.

Game 4 - ALN 2 @ RPD 4

Rapid City had nine different players on the score sheet and multi-point games from Dave Grimson, Brendon Hodge, and Les Reaney. Allen's Chris Whitley completed the game with 34 saves 39 shots in the losing effort.

Game 5 - RPD 7 @ ALN 2

The Rush got a hat trick from Brendan Cook and four points off a pair of goals and assists from Les Reaney as they put a stop to the Americans scoring after the first period. Danny Battochio made 24 saves in the victory to give the Rush an opportunity to end the series.

Game 6 - ALN 3 @ RPD 4 (2OT)

The Rush closed out the 09-10 Ray Miron Presidents' Cup Playoffs with goaltender Danny Battochio stopping 46 of 49 shots in a double overtime win. American goaltender Chris Whitley stopped 60 of 64 that he faced coming close to breaking the CHL record for saves in a playoff game (65 by Tony Martino in 1996). Veteran Scott Wray notched the dramatic double OT goal with just 32 seconds remaining in the second OT after crashing the net on a shot from Les Reaney.

Longest Yet

As the Rapid City Rush battled to take the championship trophy on home ice, and the Allen Americans worked their hardest to fight off that fate, neither team would've guessed that their efforts would have them battling some 14 minutes longer than the previous longest game deciding a finals. The previous longest was Game 5 between the Memphis RiverKings and the Austin Ice Bats in 2003, a game that Memphis took the championship home after going five minutes into the second overtime. That contest went three hours and fifty-seven minutes.

Ferras Leads the Way

Rapid City Head Coach Joe Ferras joined elite company on Tuesday night by becoming just the seventh head coach to win the CHL Coach of the Year award and coach his team to the Presidents' Cup in the same season. He joins Laredo's Terry Ruskowski (2006) as the only coaches to hit this high in the past 10 years. Other coaches that can lay claim to this feat are Chris Stewart (1999-Huntsville), Bill McDonald (1997-Fort Worth Fire), Doug Sauter (1996-Oklahoma City), Doug Shedden (1994-Wichita) and Garry Unger (1993-Tulsa). Interestingly. McDonald opposed Ferras in this year's finals as the associate coach for the Allen Americans.

Records Set Memories

Chris Whitley etched his name in the record books during the 2010 playoffs by setting a new record for most appearances by a goaltender with 20, most minutes with 1205:31 and the most saves during the playoffs with 636. Teammate Justin Bowers (30 points) came just two points shy of Greg Pankewicz record for most points in a post season with 32, This after seeing his 11-game point streak stopped in Rapid City's Game 6 win. Rush rookie goaltender Danny Battochio set the record for most wins for a goaltender in a post season with the 12 that it took to take home the Ray Miron Presidents' Cup Championship.

Many Watched

Close to 30,000 fans (29,885) watched the six game finals live as both teams experienced great attendance in the final series. In all there were three sellouts (two by Rapid City and one by Allen) and a near sellout (5,693 by Allen in Game 4). The total for the CHL playoffs saw 168,815 fans watch post-season action in 46 games (3,669 average per game).

Quick Hits

-The Americans allowed 66 goals scored against in their 20 games (a 3.30 goals against average) setting the CHL's single post-season mark for most goals allowed in a playoff season.

-Rapid City forward Brendan Cook finished the final with a team-high five goals and was tied with teammate Riley Weselowski with a +7 plus/minus rating. Cook scored the game-tying goal late in the third period of Game 6 giving the Rush a chance in overtime.

-Colton Yellow Horn's 11 points (5-6=11) ended up as the most of any player during the finals. He helped out on all three Allen goals in Game 6 and did his damage in the final five games of the series after going scoreless in Game 1.

-Allen's Nino Musitelli finished as the leading goal scorer in the playoffs finding the back of the net 13 times including once in Game 6. He finished with 26 points and three game winning goals.

-With Tuesday's Game 6 double OT win, the Rapid City Rush finished the 2010 post-season a perfect 5-0 in overtime games. Coupled with the regular season, they were 11-1 in games decided by overtime.

-Rapid City thrived in the third period during the playoffs outscoring their opponents 27-14. They were a -5 in the other two periods combined.

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Central Hockey League Stories from May 5, 2010


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