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Shots from the Point

January 7, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Three Things You Have to Know for Friday, January 7

#1 - Four of the Finest

Four of the top teams in the CHL will learn a lot about themselves and each other this weekend when the Berry Conference leading Allen Americans (23-6-1) and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (20-11-1), second in the Berry Conference, travel north to face two of the top teams in the Turner Conference in the conference-leading Rapid City Rush (17-11-4) and the Colorado Eagles (17-10-2), fourth in the conference but just two points behind the conference leaders. The Americans and Mudbugs will switch after Friday's games so that each team gets to square off against both the Rush and Eagles.

#2 - Two-Man Wrecking Crews

A pair of Odessa Jackalopes find themselves atop the CHL scoring list with Todd Robinson and Sebastien Thinel each sitting with an identical 17 goals, 37 assists and 54 points. Their 108 combined points are obviously the most of any pair of teammates in the league followed by Colorado's duo of Riley Nelson (43 points) and Kevin Ulanski (42 points) who combine to make 85 points as do Tulsa's tandem of Chad Costello (48 points) and Jack Combs (37 points). Next is the Mudbugs duo of Justin Aikins (42 points) and David Rutherford (39 points) who sit at 81 points and then rounding out the top five is Allen's pair of Bruce Graham (41 points) and Judd Blackwater (37 points).

#3 - Streaking Into the All-Star Break

Several teams will look to carry their good play through the weekend and into the All-Star Break and a couple that will look to break long slides. The Odessa Jackalopes have the longest current win streak at four straight games and are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games. They play at Texas twice before the break. Fort Wayne has earned points in every game since December 18 and are 4-0-2 over that stretch. The Komets have a three-in-three this weekend playing Evansville, Dayton and Quad City. The Mallards have won each of their last three games and face Tulsa, Evansville and Fort Wayne this weekend. Allen has not lost a road game since November 26, winning four straight away from home and carrying an overall road record of 14-2-0. The Americans play at Rapid City and at Colorado this weekend. On the other side of things, Evansville has not won a game since before Christmas going 0-4-2 in their last six contests and Missour i, once atop the Turner Conference, will look to end a brief two game slide on Friday night in Wichita.

Numbers Game

+9- The plus/minus total of Allen forward Dave Bonk over the last four games. The scoring star has four goals and seven assists over thos four games and is a +20 for the season, second in the CHL. Colorado's Riley Nelson leads the league with a +22.

3- The number of Tulsa Oilers currently on re-call with the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters. Defenseman Tom Dignard was summoned on Thursday joining forward Harrison Reed and goaltender Trevor Cann. The Oilers are the CHL affiliate of the Monsters and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche.

10-1- The goal differential in the third period this year in the season series between the Missouri Mavericks and the Tulsa Oilers. The two teams clash for the sixth time this season on Saturday night in Independence. So far this season, the Mavs are 4-0-1 versus the Oilers and 2-0 in Missouri.

22- The number of points that Arizona forward Joey Sides earned in the Oakley Three Stars standings during the month of December. Sides had 10 goals and 10 assists for the Sundogs and is the winner of the Oakley Three Star Player of the Month. Missouri's Robby Nolan earned second star honors with 21 points and Rapid City's Ryan Menei was the month's third star with 18 points.

Slap Shots

-Texas and Evansville hooked up this week with a trade that sent forward Matt Pierce and goaltender Jeff Harvey to the IceMen in exchange for future considerations. Harvey will be suiting up for his third team this season carrying a 6-3-0 record in split time with Bossier-Shreveport and the Brahmas. Pierce has five goals and eight assists on the season.

-Goaltender David McKee has been a nice pick-up for the Odessa Jackalopes winning each of his two starts thus far posting a 2.50 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. McKee should see plenty of action this weekend as the Jacks play a pair of games in Texas versus the Brahmas and one of the Jacks regular goaltenders, Joel Martin, is on re-call with the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

-In a game that changed from the original schedule, the Quad City Mallards will visit the Fort Wayne Komets on Sunday in the final game before the All-Star break. The Flock has won four of the previous six match-ups against the Komets with defenseman Tyler Kindle putting up an amazing 14 points (2-12=14) in those six games. In fact, 14 of Kindle's 19 points on the season have come against Fort Wayne.

This Date in CHL History (Jan. 7, 2006)

The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs scored three times in the third period of a 3-2 win over the, then, Memphis RiverKings at the DeSoto Civic Center. Current Texas Brahmas Head Coach Dan Wildfong had a goal and an assist in the win and David Cacciola made 25 saves en route to a 18-5-4 record that season. All three ‘Bugs goals in the third came via the power play and that season the Mudbugs won the Northeast Division with a 41-15-8 mark.

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