Shots from the Point for October 21, 2013
Published on October 21, 2013 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release
Three Things You Need to Know
1.) Down But Never Out- The Rapid City Rush (2-0-0) had quite a start to their season winning a pair of road games, both in come-from-behind fashion. On Friday, the Rush outshot the Wichita Thunder 35-17 but couldn't solve Thunder goalie Torri Jung who allowed just two goals. The Rush tied the game in the second period and then Konrad Reeder notched the game winner with less than five minutes remaining in the game. The next night in Quad City, the Rush fell behind 2-0 and later trailed 3-2 after two periods but a huge third period fueled four goals and a 6-4 win. Rapid City returns home this weekend for a pair of games against the expansion Brampton Beast (1-1-0).
2.) Allen and Wichita Pick Up Where They Left Off- One of the best CHL Finals in the history of the League took place last Spring with Allen beating Wichita in a seven-game war. The two teams got at it quickly here in 2013-14 playing in Wichita on Saturday and in Allen on Sunday. The Thunder fell behind 3-0 on Saturday but scored three straight (two in the third period) to earn a point eventually falling to Allen 4-3 in a shootout. On Sunday, the Thunder once again scored three straight erasing a 2-0 deficit but it was Allen who scored late tying the game eventually earning a point as Wichita won in a shootout. The two rivals combined for 127 penalty minutes in the two games.
3.) What's the Point- Nine of the 10 CHL teams claimed at least a point on opening weekend with just the Quad City Mallards shut out. The Flock played just one game and fell 6-4 to Rapid City. Every other club earned a point with St. Charles and Tulsa both taking a shootout loss while Missouri, Brampton and Arizona earning two points. Allen and Wichita took three points apiece (all earned against each other) and Denver and Rapid City are the lone 2-0 clubs with four points apiece.
By the Numbers
18: The number of rounds needed in Saturday's shootout between the Denver Cutthroats and Tulsa Oilers. The Fish won the shootout 3-2 and the game by the same score of 3-2 sweeping their two-game series against the Oilers. The 18-round shootout is the longest in the CHL since the merger of the League with the WPHL beating the old mark of 16 rounds set in 2010 (ODE @ RGV). Garett Bembridge, T.J. Fox and Steve Kaunisto scored goals for Denver in the marathon event and Kieran Millan stopped 16 of 18 shooters finishing the game with 36 saves earning his second win in as many nights.
One-Timers
-Brampton and Arizona meet for the third time in four days on Monday night in Ontario. Each team has won one game in the series with rubber match signifying the end of the opening series in Brampton, the first ever for the CHL in Canada.
-Having a lead in the CHL wasn't a good thing over opening weekend as teams trailing heading into the final period won 50% of the games. Eight times, a CHL club led after 40 minutes and in four of those games, the trailing team came back to win. Last year after opening weekend, eight times a team led after 40 minutes and in all eight cases the team with the advantage won.
-Denver goaltender Kieran Millan had an opening weekend to remember winning both starts stopping 72 of 75 shots (.960 save percentage). Millan was unreal in Saturday's win stopping 36 shots including 16 of 18 shooters in the longest shootout in more than a decade in the CHL. Millan went 15-15-4 with a 2.91 last season in his rookie campaign with the Cutthroats.
-The Missouri Mavericks defenseman were on fire Saturday night in the Mavs 3-2 shootout win over St. Charles accounting for both of Missouri's regulation goals and totaling 16 of the team's 28 total shots. Sam Posa and Anders Franzon scored the goals.
-Wichita defenseman Tyler Hostetter was assigned by Philadelphia (NHL) just before opening weekend and the d-man made his presence felt with points in all three Thunder games scoring two goals with two assists.
-The Arizona Sundogs made a big move in net just prior to the opener signing Andrew Engelage and releasing David Brown. Engelage had played the previous four seasons in the ECHL posting a 60-45-9 record with six shutouts. He won his first start for the Sundogs making 25 saves in a 3-1 win over Brampton.
-The Rapid City Rush were comeback kings over opening weekend outscoring the opposition 8-2 in the final two period. In the opening period, the Rush were outscored 3-0.
-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 October 21, 2013
- Sundogs Drop Game Three against Beast, 4-0 Shutout - Arizona Sundogs
- Shots from the Point for October 21, 2013 - CHL
- Rapid City's Tristin Llewellyn Named Oakley CHL Player of the Week - CHL
- Tulsa Oilers Weekly News and Notes - Tulsa Oilers
- Mallards Weekly Update - Quad City Mallards
- Thunder Weekly - Wichita Thunder
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