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January 25, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROAD TRIP BEGINS WITH THREE IN OHIO

The CHL and its fans will learn a lot about the Rocky Mountain Rage (27-5-3) over the next few weeks when they negotiate their longest road trip of the season, seven games. In fact, 17 of the Rage's remaining 29 games are away from home. On the season, the Rage are 11-3-1 on the road. This weekend, the Rage plays three-games-in-three-nights versus the Youngstown SteelHounds (21-13-2) who are in a fight for a playoff spot in the Northern Conference.

The Rage have been carried lately by Brent Cullaton Trevor Weisgerber and Daymen Rycroft who have all been on a tear. Cullaton leads the way with 25 points (8-17=25) in his last 10 games and is putting a very good claim in for league MVP. Rycroft is the league's top goal scorer with 31 goals (seven more than the next closest player) and has 23 points (13-10=23) in his last 10 games. The sniper has scored five of the last seven game winning goals for the Rage. Weisgerber has notched 18 points (6-12=18) in his last 10 games.

Rocky Mountain leads the Northwest Division by eight points and have won three straight games. In the race for the Governors' Cup (the regular season champions) the Rage are one point in front of the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs with 57 points. Laredo is sitting third with 54 points.

The SteelHounds are trying to shake things up a bit making two separate trades this week acquiring forwards Jeff Genovy and Brent MacSween from Laredo in exchange for defenseman Gord Burnett and then the Hounds dealt MacSween to the Texas Brahmas for defenseman Eric Main. Youngstown is 8-12-1 in their last 21 games and are currently sitting in the fifth and final position for the playoffs (four points better than Oklahoma City).

DESERT SHOWDOWN WITH THE SUNDOGS HOSTING THE EAGLES

The Arizona Sundogs (23-10-4) host the Colorado Eagles (22-9-5) in a pair of games at Tim's Toyota Center this weekend in a statement series for both teams. The Sundogs are 3-1 this season versus the Eagles with all four decisions being sorted out by one-goal. Mark Kolanos, Alex Leavitt and Tyler Redenbach have all recorded seven points in the four games versus Colorado. Special teams have accounted for most of the goals in the series with Arizona (the league's top PP unit at 25.3%) scoring nine times in 31 chances (29%) and Colorado scoring six goals in 19 chances (31%). Arizona leads the Southwest Division over Odessa by three points and the Eagles are trailing Rocky Mountain by eight points in the Northwest Division.

AUSTIN KEEPS STREAKING

The longest current win streak in the CHL belongs to the Austin Ice Bats (14-23-1) who have won five straight games. The Ice Bats have pulled to within six points of the Southern Conference's final playoff spot currently held by the Corpus Christi Rayz (15-18-5). The hottest Bat has been Ted Vandermeer who has scored 12 points in his last five games. Mike Bartlett has added 10 points and Brendan Cook has added nine points in their last five games. Goaltender Miguel Beaudry is the reigning Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week and is 4-0 with a 1.96 GAA in his last four starts. This weekend, the Bats host the Texas Brahmas (17-16-1) tonight and travel to Odessa (20-10-7) on Saturday.

BUCKS WILL HAVE TO END SKIN ON THE ROAD

The Laredo Bucks (26-12-2) have been one of the most consistent teams in the Southern Conference this season and currently have a four point lead over Arizona for the conference lead but lately they have been struggling scoring just four goals over their last four games, all losses. The Bucks have to travel to Corpus Christi tonight and then to Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday in what should be a great re-match from the team's first meeting back on January 18th, a 6-2 Mudbugs win. The game featured 131 penalty minutes, nine major penalties and four 10-minute misconducts. Laredo's Alex Penner received a 10-game suspension for his conduct in the game and is still out of the line-up.

THINGS TO WATCH FOR

Texas' Scott Sheppard is back in the line-up after missing a month (21 points in 20 games)...Jeff Christian (Tulsa) is two-games away from tying the CHL's longest point streak of the season. Christian currently is on a 19-game streak two away from Tyler Redenbach's (Arizona) 21-game streak set during the first 21 games of the season...Daymen Rycroft (Rocky Mountain) has scored a goal in seven straight games, tied for the longest goal streak in the league this season (Warren McCutcheon - Tulsa)...Tulsa goaltender Kevin St. Pierre has been placed on the season-ending injured reserve (wrist surgery)...Scott Muscutt, head coach of the Mudbugs, won his 300th game on Tuesday in Mississippi...OKC head coach, Doug Sauter, is five wins away from 500 wins as Blazer's coach.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2008


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