CHL Central Hockey League

Shots From The Point

February 19, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Eagles Nemesis, RiverKings, in Town

The Colorado Eagles host their regular season nemesis this weekend when the Mississippi RiverKings visit the Budweiser Events Center for a pair of games (Friday and Saturday). Mississippi has won five straight regular season games against the Eagles including each of the last two at the BEC. In the playoffs last year, Colorado won the Northern Conference Finals series against the 'Kings four games to two. Mississippi is 13-7-1 all-time versus Colorado and is the only team with a winning all-time mark versus the Eagles (other than the expansion Allen Americans). In the only meeting this season, Louis Dumont scored four goals in the final 7:01 of a 6-3 RiverKings win at the DeSoto Civic Center.

Lights Out in February

Odessa forward Sebastien Thinel had three helpers in his team's 4-3 win at Arizona on Tuesday continuing his torrid month of February. In six games during the month, last season's CHL Most Valuable Player has three goals and 14 assists and has multiple-point efforts in five of those six games. For the season, Thinel is third in the league in scoring with 70 points (14-56=70). Last season, Thinel also piled up the points in February scoring 20 points (6-14=20) in 11 games. The Jacks became the first team to clinch a post-season berth last night with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees loss to Laredo.

Sundogs Not Done Yet

The Arizona Sundogs are making a late season run trying to qualify for the post-season for the third time in their four-year history (currently trail final playoff spot by five points). Arizona finished a horrid stretch of games last night (a 3-2 win over Allen) that saw them play six games over a seven day span. The tough stretch was forced due to a building conflict for games scheduled for Friday and Saturday that had to be played on Wednesday and Thursday. Arizona went 4-1-1 in those six games with the only regulation loss coming against Southern Conference leading Odessa by a 4-3 score. In fact, all six games were decided by a goal and the Sundogs have actually played 13 straight one-goal contests. Arizona has earned a much deserved break as they are idle until Wednesday when they play at Rapid City.

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BY THE NUMBERS

45.3%- The percentage of CHL games this season that have been decided by one-goal. Thus far in 368 games played, 167 of them have been decided by a goal showing the parity in the league this season. In comparison, 204 total games were decided by one-goal last season (39.8%) and 205 in the 2007-08 season good for 37.6% (that year saw 32 more games played than the 2008-09 season). Arizona leads the league with 29 one-goal games. Dating back to last Sunday, 10 of the last 12 games in the league have had the outcome determined by a goal and seven of those games have gone to overtime/shootout.

200- The number of goals that Chad Woollard has scored in his CHL career. This season, Woollard leads the league with 31 goals in 42 games. Despite having his five-game goal scoring streak snapped on Sunday in Bossier-Shreveport, Woollard has seven goals in his last six games played. The Rays host Laredo on Friday and Rapid City on Saturday.

74 of 75- The number of saves that Rapid City goaltender Danny Battochio and Colorado goaltender Andrew Penner made in the team's classic 1-0 overtime game on Tuesday night in Rapid City. Penner allowed the game's only goal in OT, scored by Derek LeBlanc, but did make 38 saves in the game. Battochio stopped all 36 shots he faced for his first professional shutout. The Rush goaltender is 21-4-1 on the season and has lost just once in regulation since November 20th going 18-1 over that stretch. With the OT win, Rapid City extended their Northern Conference lead over Colorado to four points.

142- The number of points that high-scoring forward David Beauregard scored in his last two CHL seasons, both with the Tulsa Oilers, totaling 71 points during both the 2006-07 season and the 2007-08 season. Last year, the 34-year-old had 44 goals and 79 points while playing in England with Manchester. Tulsa brought their former Captain back on Wednesday and last night versus Missouri he scored the Oilers only goal in their 4-1 loss at Missouri.

SLAP SHOTS

-Missouri's Jordan Foreman has been a nice pick-up for the Mavs scoring six goals in 16 games including three game winners. Two of his three deciding goals have come in shootouts including Tuesday's 4-3 Missouri win at Tulsa. Foreman has three goals in his last five games. Missouri will look for their first five-game win streak in franchise history on Saturday when they visit Amarillo who has lost eight straight games (0-6-2).

-In January, Corpus Christi acquired goaltender Kevin Beech from the Mississippi RiverKings and all the reigning CHL Most Outstanding Goaltender has done is earn points in five of his seven starts going 4-2-1 with the Rays. He has allowed three goals or fewer in six of his seven starts and is carrying a.911 save percentage (compared to a.875 with Mississippi prior to the trade).

-The brother combo of Jake and Troy Riddle have been quite the goal scoring duo lately notching 12 goals in their last 11 games (seven for Troy and five for Jake). The brothers have combined for 20 points (12-8=20) in the Oilers last 11 games.



Central Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2010


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