CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point for October 24, 2011

Published on October 24, 2011 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Top Three

1.) Shootout Stars- What a thrilling beginning to the 2011-12 season for the Wichita Thunder who are 2-0 for the first time since the 2006-07 season after a pair of shootout wins to start this season. The wins came against some impressive competition in two of the conference finalists from a year ago in the Rapid City Rush and the Allen Americans. On Friday, the Thunder saw the Rush come back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime. In the extra session, the reigning Oakley CHL Player of the Week (Brett Hemingway) scored the game winner (his second goal of the night) in the sixth round of the shootout. On Saturday, it was Wichita who played the role of the chasers spotting Allen a 3-0 lead before goals from Matt Summers, Colin Hemingway and Daniel Tetrault tied the game. In the ninth round of the shootout, it was Tim Kraus who scored giving Wichita the win.& nbsp; Adam Russo earned both wins for Wichita.

2.) Brick Wall- It is remarkable to think that the Evansville IceMen went into Fort Wayne and shutout the Komets on opening night by a 5-0 score but it is even more remarkable when you consider that their scoreless minute streak is now sitting at 180 minutes dating back to the preseason. The IceMen shutout both the Quad City Mallards and the Bloomington Blaze in the preseason and with Pier Pelletier's 34 save effort on Saturday, have now tasted a regular season shutout. The IceMen will look to extend their shutout streak on Saturday night when they once again visit the Komets.

3.) Oilers on Fire- Maybe no team was more impressive on opening weekend than the Tulsa Oilers who knocked off a pair of playoff teams from a year ago in the Texas Brahmas and the Allen Americans. On Friday, the Oilers beat Allen 4-1 with goaltender Ian Keserich allowing the lone goal of the night with just over a minute remaining in the game. On Saturday, the net minder finished the shutout with a 29 save performance in a 3-0 win against the Brahmas. Patrik Levesque, Michel Beausoleil and Gary Steffes each have four points for the Oilers who are off until Friday when they play another perfect team, the 2-0 Wichita Thunder.

Inside the Numbers

150: The number of CHL wins that Arizona Sundogs head coach Marco Pietroniro has after Saturday's 4-3 win over the Laredo Bucks. Pietroniro becomes just the 23rd coach to reach the 150 win mark and entering his sixth season behind the bench for the ‚¬ËœDogs, is 150-145-29. Pietroniro guided the Sundogs to the 2008 CHL Championship.

On the Fly

-Bloomington Blaze goaltender Marco Emond reached a personal milestone on Saturday night, playing in his 400th professional game. Emond ranks seventh on the CHL's all-time wins list with 138 sitting two wins behind Arizona's Scott Reid (the two highest active players on the list). Emond played more than 60 minutes in the Blaze's 5-4 overtime win against Dayton but did not get the win as the team's OT winner came after he was removed from the game at the 62:13 mark due to injury. Back-up D.J. Delbuono played 1:14, made two saves and got the win.

-The Missouri Mavericks continue their season-opening six-game road trip (longest road trip of the season) this week with three games in Arizona against the Sundogs. The Mavs are 2-0 after beating the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on both Friday and Saturday and with their game in Arizona on Wednesday night will be playing their first ever game at Tim's Toyota Center. The Sundogs own wins in the only two meetings the clubs have had winning a pair of games in Independence during the 2009-10 season.

-For the second straight season, the Fort Wayne Komets were blanked on opening night, this year to the Evansville IceMen by a final score of 5-0. Last year, the Rapid City Rush dealt the Komets a 4-0 loss. Celebrating their 60th season, Saturday night marked just the fourth time that Fort Wayne had been shutout on opening night and with the loss, their record in openers fell to 38-17-1-4.

-For the first time in the brief franchise history of the Allen Americans, they are without a win to start the season. Two years ago, the Americans won their first four games as a franchise and last season began the year 5-0. After Friday's 4-1 loss at home to Tulsa and Saturday's 4-3 shootout loss at Wichita (a game the Americans led 3-0 at one point), Allen is 0-1-1 and their all-time record in October falls to 10-4-1.

-Texas is without head coach Dan Wildfong for the first four games of the season due to a suspension that carried over from last season. Assistant coach Ron Vogel will serve as the head coach on the bench for the Brahmas in Wildfong's absence.

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Central Hockey League Stories from October 24, 2011


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