CHL Central Hockey League

Shots From The Point

Published on December 18, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE HEADLINES

All-Star Coach

The man who will stand behind the bench of the CHL All-Star team will be decided in the next five days with the coach with the highest winning percentage after the games of December 22 getting the nod. This year's game will be played in Laredo, Texas at the Laredo Entertainment Center with the format pitting a South Texas All-Star team (comprised of players from Laredo, Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley) taking on a team of CHL All-Stars from the remaining 12 teams. The coaches for the South Texas team will be selected by the host Laredo Bucks and both coaching staffs will be announced on December 23. The game will be played on Wednesday, January 13 and all the action will be available LIVE on CHL-TV. Current win percentages have Colorado's Kevin McClelland at.795, Odessa's Paul Gillis at.780, Allen's Dwight Mullins at.761 and Rapid City's Joe Ferras at.717.

Odessa, Allen Showdown

The Odessa Jackalopes (18-4-3) and the Allen Americans (17-5-1) are the first and second place teams in the Southern Conference respectively. Both teams are getting ready to start a three game mini-series with the first of three games set to take place in Allen on Friday and then in Odessa on Saturday and Tuesday. Allen handed the Jackalopes one of their four losses on November 27 in their last meeting winning 5-4. The Jacks currently lead the Americans by four points in the South. Allen's Nino Musitelli is currently on the league's longest point streak of the season at 17 games scoring six goals with 15 assists during his streak.

Rush Almost in the Conversation

The Rapid City Rush are getting dangerously close to having fans of the CHL start to talk about the record books with their current 10-game win streak. The CHL record for consecutive wins is 15 reached twice (Colorado in 2006-07 and Bossier-Shreveport in 2007-08). The Rush will go for 11-in-a-row on Friday in Mississippi and then will play in Tulsa on Saturday. Should things stay in the winning direction, the Rush would face the challenge of three straight games with the Colorado Eagles on Dec. 22, Dec. 26 and Dec. 27. The Rush have played near perfect during their win streak outscoring the opposition 46-22 and allowing three or fewer goals in nine of the 10 games. Rookie goaltender Danny Battochio has won six games during the win streak allowing just 12 goals.

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BY THE NUMBERS

10- The number of one-goal losses this season by the Corpus Christi IceRays who are 3-6-4 in games decided by a goal. The 10 losses are the most in the league and the 13 games played in is tied for the most in the CHL with Odessa who is 8-2-3 in the close ones. On Thursday night, the Rays were essentially in another one-goal game as en empty-netter by Laredo's Darryl Smith closed the score at 2-0. Corpus Christi is 0-4-2 in their last six games.

+14- The combined plus/minus of Rapid City forwards Les Reaney and Scott Wray over the Rush's 10-game win streak (each player is +7). Reaney has 19 points (6-13=19) and Wray has 18 points (6-12=18) during Rapid City's hot stretch.

6- The current win streak of the defending champion Texas Brahmas who have outscored their opposition 21-9 over those six games. In all six wins, the Brahmas defense has allowed two goals or fewer. During last year's championship run, the longest win streak for the Brahmas was seven games (Jan. 23-Feb. 6)

9-0-2- The record for Odessa goaltender Joel Martin in his last 11 decisions. The first-year Jack leads the league with a 2.27 goals against average and had a.917 save percentage. On the season, he is 10-1-2 and leads the league with six shootout wins.

11- The number of seasons that current Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs forward Travis Clayton played in Wichita with the Thunder prior to joining the 'Bugs. Clayton and the Mudbugs will face his old team for the first time this season when they face a two-game series in the Kansas Coliseum. Clayton has five goals and 10 assists in his last seven games and his team has won three straight games and five of their last seven.

SLAP SHOTS

-Check out the new personalized CHL Fan Banner, get your favorite team and name or someone else's since it makes a great gift for the holidays.

-Something's got to give on Friday night when the Amarillo Gorillas visit the Tulsa Oilers at the BOK Center. Both teams are mired in extended losing streaks with the Gorillas dropping five straight (0-4-1) and Tulsa losing seven consecutive games.

-Colorado's Kevin Ulanski had a four assist game in Wednesday's 8-2 win over Wichita and has taken over the league lead with 40 points (13-27@). He is currently on an eight-game point streak scoring five goals with 10 assists over that stretch.

-The expansion Missouri Mavericks will face a tough test this weekend when they play in Colorado versus the Eagles on both Friday and Saturday. Goaltender Doug Groenestege has been hot lately going 4-0 in his last four decisions allowing just five goals over that span.

-Odessa defensemen Alex Dunn (7-13=20) and Philippe Plante (5-15-20) have combined to score 40 points this season as they are both tied for the league lead among defensemen with 20 points. Dunn leads all blue liners with seven power play goals.

-The RGV Killer Bees have scored the first goal in 12 of their 23 games going 8-3-1 in those contests. The Bees have a big three-in-three this weekend after playing just once in the last 13 days. RGV will play a home-and-home with Corpus Christi on Friday/Saturday and then will host Mississippi on Sunday (RGV is 3-0 versus the North Conference this season).

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 18, 2009


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