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January 31, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


CHL Headlines for Monday, January 31

Team of the Week - Rapid City Rush

The defending CHL Champs disputed the argument that a lot of games in a short timeframe are bad for a team as they played five games in six nights and won all of them defeating Wichita, Quad City, Odessa twice and Allen - all four teams are over 500. The Rush outscored the opposition 23-13 on the trip. The Rapid City penalty kill stopped 20 of 24 shorthanded chances which includes allowing three PP goals to Odessa on Friday night. Danny Battochio stopped 66 of 70 shots earning the wins in each of the last three Rush victories. The Rapid City road show returns to Odessa on Wednesday and then wraps up with a pair of games in Rio Grande Valley this weekend. The addition of Konrad Reeder has worked out well for the Rush as he has scored 19 points (8-11=19) in the 13 games he has played.

Oilers Climb Up to Second

On November 26, after a 6-2 loss in Bossier-Shreveport, the Tulsa Oilers sat 5-12-1 with 11 points, 19 behind the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs who were an impressive 15-4-0. Since that time, the Oilers have been one of the hottest teams in the CHL going 18-7-0 and with their two-game sweep of Missouri this past weekend they have finally leapfrogged the Mudbugs in the standings and now sit alone in second place in the Berry Conference with 47 points. Looking much higher may be futile as the conference-leading Allen Americans are 14 points ahead of Tulsa and appear to be on cruise control winning 12 of their last 15 games. Tulsa forward Chad Costello seems to have fueled their surge in recent months sitting second in the league with 66 points (26-40=66), two behind Odessa ‚¬â„¢s Sebastien Thinel ‚¬â„¢s 68 points (18-50=68). Costello is coming off a month of January that saw him amass 10 goals, 16 assists and a +10 plus/minus rating. He also notched three game winning goals in his team ‚¬â„¢s 11 games.

Trade Deadline Approaching

The CHL ‚¬â„¢s trade deadline is a week away marked for Monday, February 7 at 3:00 PM (CST). With the races so close in both conferences, it will be interesting to see if that prompts more movement than usual or less. Last year ‚¬â„¢s deadline saw limited activity on the deadline day with just a half dozen deals but there was much more activity in the week leading up to 3:00 PM timeline. This year has already seen several key deals in the month of January with Quad City acquiring high-scoring forward Joe Blaznek from Bossier-Shreveport ;last week and Evansville snatching goalie Jeff Harvey and forward Matt Pierce from Texas just before the all-star break. Missouri added some offense, at the expense of the defense, when they traded for Sean Muncy from Rio Grande Valley and parted with d-man Dominic D ‚¬â„¢Amour.

Numbers Game

400- The number of CHL coaching victories that Colorado Head Coach Chris Stewart has after Sunday ‚¬â„¢s 5-2 win in Arizona. Stewart joins Doug Sauter and Scott Muscutt as the only men who have reached the 400-win plateau.

8- The current Wichita Thunder point streak, the longest for the franchise since the end of the 2005-06 season when they had a nine-game point streak. The Thunder are 7-0-1 in their last eight games and have moved all the way up to fourth place in the Turner Conference with 49 points, three back of the conference lead. Wichita will test their streak on Tuesday in Missouri (game three of their current five-game road trip).

+8- The plus/minus total of Colorado ‚¬â„¢s Riley Nelson this past week in the Eagles four wins. The forward scored seven goals with two assists and two game winning goals in Colorado ‚¬â„¢s best stretch of the season and for his outstanding play was given the Oakley CHL Player of the Week award. Nelson ‚¬â„¢s 64 points (24-40=64) are third in the league and his +29 is tops in the CHL.

27- The league-leading number of goals that three players currently share with Bossier-Shreveport ‚¬â„¢s David Rutherford, Arizona ‚¬â„¢s Luke Erickson and Wichita ‚¬â„¢s Matt Robinson all tied for the top spot. Ironically, only Rutherford has not been traded this season as Erickson joined the ‚¬ËœDogs in a deal with Rapid City and Robinson came over to Wichita from the Laredo Bucks. Tulsa ‚¬â„¢s duo of Jack Combs and Chad Costello along with Rapid City ‚¬â„¢s Ryan Menei are all one back with 26 goals on the season.

10-3-4- The Fort Wayne Komets record since December 18 when the team sat 5-15-1. The Komets have since earned points in 14 of 17 games and have moved into eighth place in the Turner Conference, two points clear of Evansville for the final playoff spot. The Komets will be tested this week when they face the red-hot Wichita Thunder on Friday/Saturday.

Slap Shots

-Missouri ended a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) on Sunday in Quad City with a 2-1 shootout win over the Mallards. Robby Nolan stopped 33 shots and Nick Sirota scored the shootout game winner complimenting his hat trick on Saturday night versus Tulsa. Three of the Mavs four losses during their streak came by just one goal. Sunday ‚¬â„¢s shootout pitted the two top goalies in the CHL in terms of goals against average with Nolan (2.39) and David Brown (2.37).

-The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs are 1-8-1 in their last 10 games and are coming off a two-game sweep at the hands of the Fort Wayne Komets this past weekend. The ‚¬ËœBugs scored six times in their line victory in their last 10 games (Jan. 25 vs. TEX) but in their nine losses have scored just 16 goals. The Mudbugs host Evansville on Thursday/Friday this week.

-Evansville ‚¬â„¢s win over Dayton on Saturday night marked their first home win since December 3, also against the Gems. In fact, three of the IceMen ‚¬â„¢s seven home victories have come against the Gems who are just 0-3-1 in their last four games.

-Due to the weather conditions in the Midwest, several games were postponed this week with Tuesday ‚¬â„¢s Wichita at Missouri contest moving to March 22, Tuesday ‚¬â„¢s Quad City at Bloomington game moving to February 21 and Wednesday ‚¬â„¢s Bloomington at Dayton game moving to February 22. Fort Wayne at Bloomington, originally scheduled for February 21 will now be played on March 22.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 31, 2011


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