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Shots from the Point for October 21, 2011

October 21, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Top Three

1.) Opening Weekend- The CHL's 20th season begins on Friday night with four games including Rapid City at Wichita, Tulsa at Allen, Laredo at Arizona and Missouri at Rio Grande Valley. The rest of the teams get their first taste of the 2011-12 season on Saturday when Evansville travels to Fort Wayne, Dayton plays at Bloomington, Rapid City at Quad City, Allen at Wichita, Missouri at Rio Grande Valley, Laredo at Arizona and Tulsa at Texas. Be sure to catch all of the LIVE action on CHL-TV (http://chltv.neulion.com/chltv/).

2.) Other Anniversaries- It is not only a milestone year for the CHL as a league but four of its member teams are celebrating anniversary seasons led by the Fort Wayne Komets who will be facing-off their 60th season on Saturday when they open the 2011-12 campaign against the Evansville IceMen. Both the Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder were on board 20 years ago, thus both celebrating their 20th Anniversary seasons. Finally, playing in their 10th season, the Laredo Bucks have celebrated nearly as much success as anyone in their first decade with four finals appearances and two championships.

3.) New Coaches- A total of three CHL teams will be playing for new coaches this season and one team will be playing in their first CHL game as a franchise. Teams making coaching changes from last year are the Laredo Bucks who brought in Serge Dube to replace Terry Ruskowski, the Quad City Mallards whose new owners tabbed David Bell as their bench boss and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees who went with former enemy Ruskowski to lead the charge. The Bloomington Blaze are new to the league and are led by Paul Gardner (coached Mississippi last season).

Number Talk

255: The total number of goals that Texas forward Chad Woollard has scored in his CHL career placing him 11th on the league's all-time goal scoring list. The league's top goal scorer a year ago and the Oakley Three Stars Player of the Year needs just 22 goals this season to pass Chris Richards and move into the top 10. Woollard has scored 86 goals over the past two seasons, the most of any player in the CHL.

On the Fly

-The Tulsa Oilers have looked to a neighboring city to secure its veteran players as vets Tyler Fleck, Gordon Bell, Marty Standish, Michel Beausoleil and Gio Flamminio are all former members of the Oklahoma City Blazers.

-Maybe no team was more impressive in the preseason than the Evansville IceMen who were a perfect 2-0 but more impressively was their defense not allowing a goal. The IceMen defeated the Bloomington Blaze 6-0 and the Quad City Mallards 2-0. Both Pier Pelletier (29 saves) and Bryan Gillis (47 saves) worked full perfect games for the new and improved IceMen.

-Wichita forward Alex Bourret made quite a debut for his new team during the Thunder's 5-4 win over Tulsa in preseason action. The former first round NHL pick netted a hat trick over an eight minute stretch of the third period with his team trailing 3-2. Wichita won both preseason meetings with the Oilers, each by a goal.

-Both Dan Wildfong of Texas and Marco Pietroniro of Arizona could hit coaching milestones this weekend as Wildfong is just two wins shy of 150 for his CHL career and Pietroniro needs just one victory to reach 150 wins. Wildfong has coached one less than Pietroniro but each coach has a championship ring with the Sundogs winning the 2008 crown and the Brahmas taking the title the next season.

-The Fort Wayne Komets had to make a tough decision prior to the start of the season releasing forward P.C. Drouin. The forward was a member of the Komets three straight Championship teams (2008, 2009, 2010). Last season, Drouin played his 15th pro campaign scoring 14 goals with 30 assists.

-CHL-TV is back for the third season, powered by NeuLion, with new packages available for the 2011-12 season. Individual games are just $7.00 with All-Access Passes, Team Passes and Team Road Passes also available. If you miss the game, watch the archive for $4.00. Visit http://chltv.neulion.com/chltv/ for ordering information.

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Central Hockey League Stories from October 21, 2011


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