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CHL Central Hockey League

Shots from the Point

January 2, 2009 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


1) Good-Bye to 2008

2) Huge NE Division Home-and-Home 3) Southern Conference Powers Battle on Saturday

1- With the 2008 calendar year gone, many team are thankful for the start of a new year and some are sad to see the past 365 days end. The top teams in CHL during 2008 were the Colorado Eagles (44-17-4) and the Texas Brahmas (44-19-4) who each earned 92 points in the past 12 months. The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (43-17-5) finished with 91 points finishing third but played fewer games than Texas. The teams at the bottom of the ladder are the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (21-40-4) with 46 points, the Wichita Thunder (23-41-4) with 50 points and the Corpus Christi IceRays (22-34-8) with 52 points. 2- Two Northern Conference rivals battle this weekend in a big home-and-home series that could shorten or widen the gap in the Northeast Division. On Friday, the division-leading Oklahoma City Blazers (19-6-4) travel to Mississippi to face the RiverKings (18-11-0) and then on Saturday the two will do it again in the Ford Center. The Blazers currently have a six point lead over both Mississippi and Bossier-Shreveport (17-10-2). This season, the Blazers and ‘Kings have met four times with each team winning twice (OKC is 2-1-0 in Mississippi).

3- The Laredo Bucks (19-8-3) have had their way in past seasons winning five straight Southeast Division titles but this year could be different. The Texas Brahmas (18-9-3) moved from the North to the South this past off-season and through almost a half of the season the Brahmas have given the Bucks all they can handle. The two teams meet in Laredo on Saturday night with Texas trailing the division-leading Bucks by two points. Laredo is idle on Friday night and Texas hosts Corpus Christi with a chance to tie the Bucks with a win making Saturday's showdown a battle for first place.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

18-4-1 The Odessa Jackalopes record when both Sebastien Thinel and Dominic Leveille each score a point in a game...Leveille currently leads the CHL with 50 points (13-37-50) and Thinel is tied for second with 47 points (23-24=47)...Thinel leads the league with 23 goals and 14 power play goals

3 The number of CHL players currently on re-call with the AHL's Houston Aeros...Laredo's Darryl Smith made his AHL debut on December 30th but did not record a point...Corpus Christi defenseman John Adams has an assist in five games with the Aeros and Texas' Jason Deitsch has played in 24 games with Houston scoring 14 points (4-10=14)

694 The number of saves that Tulsa goaltender Kevin St. Pierre has made this season easily leading the league...The veteran back-stop has played in 22 games going 5-12-4 and ranks fourth in minutes played with 1217:53

8-4-1 The December record of the Rocky Mountain Rage who allowed just 34 goals during the final month of 2008...The Rage have recovered from a 1-6-1 start to the season and currently have themselves in a playoff spot

12 The current length of Colorado goaltender Andrew Penner's point streak (11-0-1)...The first-year Eagle leads the league with 15 wins and is third in the CHL with a .922 save percentage...Penner has not tasted defeat in regulation since November 1st at Mississippi

ONE-TIMERS

-Arizona's Karl Sellan has six goals and is a +2 in his last five games...Sellan is second in the league with 22 goals and first with 255 penalty minutes -Rocky Mountain's Marty Magers and Arizona's Marco Emond are tied for the league lead with three shootout wins apiece

-The Colorado Eagles have the top power play in the CHL at 24.8% including an impressive 32 PP goals in 114 chances at home (28.1%)

-The Texas Brahmas lead the CHL with nine shorthanded goals and are the only CHL team to not allow a goal while on the man advantage...In their 5-2 win vs. CRP on New Year's Eve, the Brahmas scored a pair of shorthanded goals

-Odessa's Sebastien Thinel has nine goals in his last six games and his six-game goal scoring streak is tied for the longest in the CHL this season (RMR's Aaron Davis and ARZ's Adam Perry) -RGV signed veteran Dennis Maxwell before Wednesday's game and he scored a goal vs. Laredo...Maxwell had more than a 100 points and more than 30 goals in the previous two seasons with the Killer Bees

-Arizona placed forwards Cory Stillman and Tyler Liebel on the 30-day Injured Reserve and signed veteran Martin St. Amour...He last played in 2002 with the San Diego Gulls (WCHL) and then went on to coach San Diego until 2006...His coaching record with the team was 69-59-16...He becomes the second oldest player in the CHL (38) second only to teammate Chris Bartolone...St. Amour has played more than 500 professional games



Central Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2009


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