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Shots from the Point

December 31, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Tonight marks the end of 2010 and the end of what has been an incredible 12 months for several CHL teams. Of the 13 teams that played in the CHL last season, the Allen Americans (current leaders of the Berry Conference and CHL Finalists at the end of the 2009-10 season) lead the way with a 43-15-4 record. Other top showings include the defending CHL Champion Rapid City Rush (39-16-10), the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (41-21-3) and the Colorado Eagles (36-19-8). Teams that will be thankful to turn the calendar year will be the Wichita Thunder (19-39-4) and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (25-31-9). There are eight games ringing in the new year:

Bossier-Shreveport at Texas

Evansville at Dayton

Quad City at Fort Wayne

Colorado at Missouri

Laredo at Arizona

Tulsa at Allen

Rio Grande Valley at Odessa

Wichita at Rapid City

Turner Powers Collide

It should be quite an event at the Independence Events Center on Friday night when the Colorado Eagles (15-9-2) and the conference leading Missouri Mavericks (17-8-3) battle. Colorado still has the sting in their system after the Mavs were rude guests at the BEC recently sweeping a two-game series. The Mavs are 10-2-1 in their last 13 games, while the Eagles are 3-5-1 in their last nine games.

Reaching Historic Territory

The Offensively prolific Chris Richards has been steadily climbing the CHL all-time list in several categories and is set to reach a historic plateau with his next point as he currently sits with 799 career CHL points. The Cornwall, Ontario native is poised to become just the fifth CHL player to reach the 800-point mark already ranking fifth on the league ‚¬â„¢s all-time list trailing just Doug Lawrence, Jason Duda, Travis Clayton and Joe Burton. Richards has nine goals and 20 assists this season leading the way for the Mississippi RiverKings. Richards ranks among the top 10 in games played (670-4th), goals (265-9th) and assists (534-4th). The former Ohio State Buckeye is just five assists away from tying Jason Duda for third on the league ‚¬â„¢s all-time list.

Numbers Game

849- The number of games played that Bossier-Shreveport forward Travis Clayton has played in his CHL career ranking as the league ‚¬â„¢s all-time leader. On Friday night in Texas, Clayton will become the first CHL player to reach 850 games played. He is currently second all-time in points (962), goals (374) and assists (588). The all-time league point ‚¬â„¢s leader is Joe Burton (985) who is just 23 points ahead of Clayton.

200- The number of wins that Wichita Head Coach Kevin McClelland has accumulated in his CHL career. The first-year coach for the Thunder reached the 200 win mark with a 2-0 win at Quad City on Wednesday. In his time in the CHL, McClelland has a 200-120-28 mark while coaching for Wichita, Colorado and Mississippi. The Thunder will look to give their boss win number 201 on Friday night in Rapid City.

63- The number of points the Quad City Mallards put on the injured reserve this week when they deactivated forwards Mike McLean (28 points), Tyler Shelast (18 points) and Brandon Marino (17 points). The Mallards also lost goaltender Adam Russo (8-3-0 with a 2.32 GAA) who was placed on goaltending IR. The Flock fell 2-0 on Wednesday night to Wichita, their first game without their stars.

1.69- The league-best goals against average during the month of December for Missouri goaltender Robby Nolan. The second year pro posted an 8-2-0 record with two shutouts and a .935 save percentage. The recently named all-star allowed just 16 goals in 10 games and more remarkably was that six of those 16 goals were allowed in a 7-4 loss to Wichita on Dec. 26. The netminder ‚¬â„¢s 1.96 GAA overall leads the league and his .925 save percentage is fourth in the league.

Slap Shots

-Odessa ‚¬â„¢s Todd Robinson ‚¬â„¢s six-game point streak may have come to an end on Wednesday in RGV but he is still atop the CHL with 49 points (16-33=49), one more than teammate Sebastien Thinel. Robinson has caught fire lately scoring 25 points (7-18=25) since Thanksgiving (14 games) and it is no coincidence his team has started winning over that stretch posting a 9-4-1 mark.

-Two of the league ‚¬â„¢s top offenses square-off on Saturday night when the Colorado Eagles visit the Allen Americans. The teams ranks first and third in the league in scoring with Allen pacing the way as the only CHL team to average more than four goals per game. The Americans won two of the three match-ups last year with Saturday ‚¬â„¢s game serving as the first meeting of the 2010-11 campaign. The only other meeting will be Jan. 7 at the Budweiser Events Center.

-The 19th and final CHL All-Star has yet to be determined as fans have until 5:00 PM CST on Friday to vote for which one of the four finalists they feel is most deserving. The candidates are Bossier-Shreveport ‚¬â„¢s Justin Aikins, Colorado ‚¬â„¢s Riley Nelson, Missouri ‚¬â„¢s Nick Sirota and Odessa ‚¬â„¢s Todd Robinson. Fans can vote for their choice on the CHL ‚¬â„¢s Facebook page (visit www.centralhockeyleague.com to access).

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2010


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