CHL Central Hockey League

Shots From The Point

Published on February 1, 2010 under Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Trade Deadline a Week Away

The CHL's trade deadline is just one week away set for 3:00 PM CST on Monday, February 8. Already there has been some movement with the Wichita Thunder being big noisemakers in the last few weeks acquiring Kevin Cooper, Steve Makway, Ian Keserich and Ryan Campbell from Mississippi and Paul Kelly and J.R. Bria from Odessa. This past week, the Corpus Christi IceRays made a pair of moves that may just be enough to advance them safely into a playoff spot with the acquisitions of defenseman Kurtis Dulle and goaltender Kevin Beech (recorded a shutout in his first game with the Rays on Sunday). Keep up with all the movement leading up to the deadline at www.centralhockeyleague.com and the 'Trade Tracker'.

20-Goal Scorers

There is quite a race for the league's goal scoring title as a dozen players have scored 20 or more goals with the leader sitting at 24. The two top scorers are also the league's hottest goal scorers with Corpus Christi's Chad Woollard sitting in first place with 24 goals and Laredo's Darryl Smith sitting in second place just one behind. Woollard scored nine goals in the month of January (eight on the power play) while Smith led the league with 10 goals in January. Missouri's Jeff Christian, Odessa's Collin Circelli and RGV's Jesse Bennefield round out the top five with 22 goals apiece.

January's Best

It is no surprise that the CHL's winningest team overall takes the belt for the month of January as the Odessa Jackalopes (34-6-4) are coming off a month that saw them go 10-2-1. The Jacks have been voted the top team in the Yellowbook CHL Coaches Poll during each poll this season and are on pace for 104 points which would be the most since the 2003-04 season when Laredo hit 104 points. Tied for second in the month were the Mississippi RiverKings and the Allen Americans who both finished with an 8-3-1 record. The team's at the other end of the spectrum were the Wichita Thunder (1-8-0), the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (3-7-2) and the Tulsa Oilers (4-6-1).

Milestone Achievements for Nelson and Landmesser

A couple of CHL All-Stars reached milestones this past week with Colorado's Riley Nelson hitting the 600 CHL points plateau and Mississippi's Derek Landmesser hitting 500 CHL points. Nelson becomes just the 11th CHL player to hit 600 points with his 240 goals and 362 assists in his career. Landmesser moves up to 20th on the league's all-time points list with his 500 points and is just the second defenseman to reach that mark (Hardy Sauter - 669 points).

________________________________________

BY THE NUMBERS

9- The number of points that Tulsa's Aaron Davis has scored in his last four games (3-6=9) registering a +6 in those games. Davis has 17 points in (5-12=17) in the month of January and is second on the Oilers with 45 points (17-28=45) on the season.

.926- The league-leading save percentage of Wichita goaltender Ian Keserich who is fourth in the league with a 2.57 goals against average. Keserich is 0-9 since joining the Thunder and has received just nine goals scored on his behalf.

232- The number of consecutive games Arizona defenseman Chris Bartolone had played in before being placed on the 14-day injured reserve on January 23. The veteran had two goals and five assists in the four games prior to the game he was injured.

Dec. 26- The last time the Texas Brahmas have won a road game (at Allen) as they boast the league's longest active road losing streak. Texas will have a chance to break that skid this weekend with games at Corpus Christi on Friday and at Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday.

31- The number of points that Corpus Christi rookie Ryan Garbutt has this season leading all first-year players. In his last six games, Garbutt has four goals and five assists and his 15 goals is the most among all rookies.

SLAP SHOTS

-The Mudbugs win versus Colorado on Saturday was their first versus the Eagles in their last nine chances and it extended their home winning streak to five games (the longest active home streak in the CHL).

-Where they stand after 20 minutes seems to be quite an indicator for the Arizona Sundogs who are 14-0-1 when leading after two periods. In contrast, they are 0-20-2 when trailing after two periods.

-The Amarillo Gorillas are just two points out of a playoff spot but recently they have been surrendering a ton of shots for both Mike Brown and Tuomas Lohtander to deal with. The Gorillas have allowed an average of 45 shots on goal in their last eight games and have surrendered 1642 shots on the season (most in the CHL).

-The Odessa Jackalopes have great balance this season with nine players scoring double digit goals and Jean Bourbeau just one away from joining the club. In the Jacks last eight wins, eight different skaters have tallied the game winning goal and on the season, five different Jacks have three or more winners.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Central Hockey League Stories from February 1, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central