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Shots from the Point

January 3, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


CHL Headlines for Monday, January 3

Team of the Week - Quad City Mallards

No team made a bigger splash last week than the Flock who, despite having a large contingent on the injured reserve, won three straight games and now find themselves tied for fifth place in the Turner Conference and just four points behind the conference leaders (Rapid City) in the extremely tight race for the top spot. Mallards goalie David Brown performed spectacularly last week going 3-1-0 shutting out the Bloomington PrairieThunder twice. Eric Giosa has led the offense during their recent surge with three goals and three assists in their last five games and Obi Aduba has scored the game winning goal in each of their last two wins with Saturday ‚¬â„¢s strike in QDC ‚¬â„¢s 3-2 win in Missouri coming with just one second remaining in regulation. This week, the Mallards host Tulsa on Friday before traveling to Evansville on Saturday night and to Fort Wayne for a Sunday showdown.

All-American Offense

No team in the CHL had a more potent offense coming into the games of New Year ‚¬â„¢s weekend than the Allen Americans and after the 72 hour display of firepower, no team is even close. The Americans are averaging a league-best 4.47 goals per game and this past weekend in their three contests combined to score 24 goals. Allen beat Tulsa 10-1 on Friday, lost to Colorado 11-6 on Saturday and then beat Tulsa again, 8-4, on Sunday. Bruce Graham (7-6=12), Dave Bonk (4-6=10) and Judd Blackwater (4-6=10) have all accumulated double-digit points in their last five games and for Graham, his seven goals and four assists in four games last week was enough to earn Oakley CHL Player of the Week honors. The Americans have a big week ahead of them playing Friday in Colorado and Saturday in Rapid City in a re-match of last year ‚¬â„¢s Ray Miron Presidents ‚¬â„¢ Cup Finals.

Welcome Back Jacks

As it turns out, the demise of the Odessa Jackalopes (16-14-2) was greatly exaggerated as the 2010 CHL Bud Poile Governors ‚¬â„¢ Cup Champions (regular season) are up to their old tricks winning four straight games and going 14-5-1 since their surprising 2-9-1 start. Their recent surge has placed the Jacks into sole possession of third place in the Berry Conference with 34 points. Although all four wins on their current win streak came against Rio Grande Valley, the Jacks have scored fewer than four goals just eight times in their last 20 games. The Jacks have a pair of games at Texas (15-11-3) this weekend in their final two games before the All-Star Break.

Numbers Game

38- The number of games played between Christmas Day and New Year ‚¬â„¢s Day in what is the busiest stretch of games of the season. Teams get a bit of a respite this week with just 21 total games all week and just two weekday games: Rio Grande Valley at Arizona and Evansville at Bloomington, both on Wednesday.

4- The number of points that Tulsa forward Chad Costello has scored in each of his last two games totaling three goals and five assists. His recent surge, six goals scored over his current league-best five-game goal scoring streak, has vaulted him to third in the league in scoring at 48 points (19-29=48),

125:58- The consecutive minutes that Quad City goalie David Brown has blanked the Bloomington PrairieThunder shutting them out in each of his last two appearances against. Brown is 8-9-0 on the season with a 2.69 GAA and a .920 save percentage.

14- The league-best number of wins that Bloomington goaltender Marco Emond has on the year. His 2.51 goals against average is third overall and he has allowed just seven goals over his last four decisions (3-1-0).

900- The league leading number of penalty minutes the Mississippi RiverKings have accumulated on the season leading the league in majors (46) and game misconducts (14) as well. The ‚¬ËœKings have 118 more minutes than the next highest team (Arizona-782).

12- The league-leading number of goals among rookies that Rio Grande Valley ‚¬â„¢s Aaron Lewicki has scored this season. His 24 total points are just one fewer than Tulsa Gary Steffes who is tops among first year players with 25 points (9-16=25). After scoring six goals in a six game stretch, Lewicki has gone without a goal in each of the Bees last five games.

Slap Shots

-Colorado ‚¬â„¢s Kevin Ulanski is making up for lost time after scoring 17 points (6-11) in the 14 games prior to Thanksgiving by racking up 25 points (12-13=25) in the 15 games since. The reigning CHL MVP has done the most damage in his last six games scoring seven goals with 11 assists. The banner game for Ulanski came on Saturday in an 11-6 win in Allen when he scored four goals with two assists, all while notching the ever unlikely shorthanded hat trick.

-The Dayton Gems have taken advantage of the Hara Arena posting a league-best home mark of 11-4-2. The Gems are 5-8-0 away from home but their overall record has accumulated 34 points, just four behind the conference leaders, Rapid City. Dayton is back on home ice Saturday versus Fort Wayne.

-Odessa ‚¬â„¢s Sebastien Thinel ended an eight-game goalless stretch on Saturday in the Jacks in over RGV. Thinel scored just twice in the month of December after lighting the lamp 10 times in November. Overall, he still pitched in 18 helpers in the month of December and is tied for the league lead atop the point list (54 points) with teammate Todd Robinson.

-The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs ended a three-game losing streak on home ice on Saturday when they defeated Mississippi, 8-2. The ‚¬ËœBugs have the largest GF/GA differential in the league on home ice outscoring the opposition by 19 goals on the season.

-The season series ‚¬â„¢ that haven ‚¬â„¢t exactly been fair resume this week when Arizona hosts RGV and Bloomington hosts Evansville, both on Wednesday night. The ‚¬ËœDogs are 3-0 this season versus the Killer Bees and the PThunder are 4-0 against the IceMen.

-The Fort Wayne Komets have racked up points in six straight games posting a 4-0-2 mark, their longest point streak of the season. An oddity for the Komets has been their PP which is best in the CHL on home ice (26.0%) but has scored just a dozen times in 93 chances on the road (12.9%), last in the league.

-A pair of Brahmas forwards enter the week on extended point streaks with Chris Moran holding the league ‚¬â„¢s longest active point streak at eight games (12 points) and Chad Woollard finding the score sheet in seven straight contests (10 points). Allen ‚¬â„¢s Nino Musitelli holds this year ‚¬â„¢s longest point streak at 11 games.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2011


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