CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point

Published on December 29, 2008 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


1- After beginning the season with just one win in their first eight games, the Rocky Mountain Rage have won three straight games for the first time this season and have won five of their last six. With Sunday's win versus Laredo, the Rage are back to .500 at 13-13-2 and have strengthened their grip on the fifth and final playoff spot in the Northern Conference leading Rapid City by five points. The impressive part of Rocky Mountain's recent success is the competition they are doing it against. This past weekend saw them post back-to-back wins against the Southeast Division leading Laredo Bucks (18-8-3) and previously they won at New Mexico and at home versus Oklahoma City (19-6-3). Last year's goal scoring champ in the CHL, Daymen Rycroft - 48 goals, is getting hot finding the back of the net six times in the last 10 games.

2- Three losses in a row and looking like they were headed far away from the playoff picture, the New Mexico Scorpions (11-16-2) pulled off a back-to-back accomplishment beating Colorado (the Northern Conference leaders) on Saturday night and followed that up with a win at home versus Odessa (the Southern Conference Leaders) on Sunday afternoon. The 6-4 win versus the Eagles was the first time in 19 tries the Scorps had won a regulation game in the Budweiser Events Center. Chris Robertson scored a hat trick versus the Eagles and the game winning goal versus the Jacks earning him Oakley Player of the Week honors. New Mexico is three points behind Arizona for the fifth playoff spot in the Southern Conference.

3- New Year's Eve will be a busy night in the CHL with seven games on the schedule including several rivalry games. The Laredo Bucks (18-8-3) will be back on home face facing the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (13-12-2) who defeated the Bucks 1-0 during the last meeting. Other bitter rivals battling on Wednesday night will be Bossier-Shreveport at Mississippi, Tulsa at Wichita, Odessa at Amarillo and New Mexico at Arizona. The other two games on docket are Rocky Mountain at Rapid City and Corpus Christi at Texas.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

141:41 The length of RGV's Christian Boucher's shutout streak...During his hot stretch he posted back-to-back shutouts versus two of the top teams in the Southern Conference, Laredo and Texas...For the season, Boucher is 5-5-1 with a .916 save percentage

7 The total number of suspensions given after Friday's Bossier-Shreveport/Corpus Christi game after an all-out line brawl that saw three Mudbugs leave the bench to join the fray...The Mudbugs had Quade Lightbody (six games), J.R. Bria (two games), Neil Clark (one game), Brett Angel (one game) and Scott Muscutt (one game) suspended and the IceRays had Nicolas Bachand (one game) and Jonathan Trottier (one game) suspended...All but Lightbody and Bria have served the length of their suspensions

11 The number of games that Tulsa forward Jake Riddle missed with an injury...the first-year Oiler returned to the line-up on Christmas Day at Oklahoma City and scored a goal in each of the three games he played in after the return...For the season, Riddle has 12 points (9-3=12) in 15 games

8 The number of goals scored by Odessa's Sebastien Thinel in the last five games...The veteran forward has the league's longest current goal scoring streak and will look to tie the longest of the season (six games) on Wednesday at Amarillo...His 22 goals on the season are first in the league

0-2-2 The Laredo Bucks record on their recently completed road trip...The Bucks fell 1-0 in Rio Grande Valley before heading up to Colorado where they lost to the Eagles and dropped a pair of games to Rocky Mountain (one in overtime and one in a shootout)

ONE-TIMERS

-The Tulsa Oilers have relieved Dan Hodge of his coaching duties after a 8-15-3 start...Oilers General Manager Taylor Hall will be behind the bench on an interim basis when the team hosts Bossier-Shreveport on Tuesday night

-Wichita defenseman Jason Tessier notched a hat trick in Friday's win versus Tulsa and scored again on Saturday versus Rio Grande Valley...He had just two goals in the previous 26 games

-Mississippi's Jeff Nelson has three goals and two assists and is a +5 in his last three games

-Colorado's Andrew Penner leads the CHL with 14 wins and is 14-1-1 on the season...He has not lost a regulation game since November 1st at Mississippi

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2008


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