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CHL Central Hockey League

Southern Conference breaks streak with 11-6 win

January 16, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL) News Release


Broomfield, Colo. - The stars were bright in Broomfield on Wednesday night with the CHL and the Rocky Mountain Rage hosting the 2008 CHL All-Star Game. The game featured outstanding offensive play and in the end the Southern Conference ended a four-game losing streak with an 11-6 victory.

The Sher-Wood Most Valuable Players in the game were Arizona's Alex Leavitt for the Southern Conference and Rocky Mountain's Brent Cullaton for the Northern Conference. Leavitt finished with a hat trick and a pair of assists, while Cullaton had a goal and two assists.

The brightest stars of the night featured the line of Leavitt and Tyler Redenbach of Arizona and Konrad Reeder of New Mexico. Along with Leavitt's five points, Redenbach notched a goal and five assists with Reeder totaling a goal and four assists as well as a game-high plus/minus rating of a +4.

The first period gave fans exactly what they expected with up-and-down the ice action. The goaltenders were sharp in the early going with the first big test for the Northern Conference's Andy Franck coming just over three minutes into the opening period when Leavitt broke free for a point-blank chance that Franck turned away. The Southern Conference's back-stop, Dustin Traylen, earned his stripes about two minutes later turning away a great chance by Youngstown's Petr Pohl.

The first goal of the game came off a missed shot by North defenseman Tyler Butler (Rocky Mountain) that bounced hard off the boards and led to a two-on-none in the other direction ending with Leavitt beating Franck high on the glove side. Redenbach and Reeder earned the assists at the 8:28 mark of the first period. The North would strike back at the 12:02 mark of the opening period with hometown hero Scott Wray of the Rage breaking in behind the defense and finishing with a shot that sailed high and by Traylen. Brent Cullaton (Rocky Mountain) drew the lone helper on the goal that tied the score at one goal apiece.

The final three minutes of the opening period would tilt dramatically in favor of the South with the game's visiting team scoring twice. The first came from the same line that broke the ice initially. This time it was Redenbach that found the back of the net assisted by Reeder and Leavitt giving the trio two points apiece in the first period. The final goal of the period was scored on a hard wrist shot by Amarillo defenseman Nate Fornataro. The rookie took a pass from Serge Dube (Laredo) and showed the hard shot that earned him the spot on the all-star squad. Along with Dube, Corpus Christi rookie Brent Howarth was credited with the assists on the goal that came with just two seconds remaining in the first period.

The South's 3-1 lead at the end of one period was in spite of each team taking 14 shots on net. Traylen finished with 13 saves and Franck with 11 saves.

The second period saw a little more flow with seven goals scored between the two teams. The scoring started just 28 second into the period with Cullaton taking a cross-ice pass and burying it behind Odessa's Alexandre Vincent. Wray and Colorado's Greg Pankewicz drew the assists. The North then continued pressuring Vincent hitting the post three times in a three minute period.

The South would weather the storm getting their two-goal cushion back with Leavitt camping out in front of the net and scoring his second goal of the game. Redenbach and Reeder grabbed the helpers at the 4:05 mark of the period making the score 4-2. The South would increases their advantage when Vladimir Hartinger (New Mexico) took a pass from Arizona's David Schlemko and streaked in slamming a shot past John DeCaro (Bossier-Shreveport) for the goal.

Trialing 5-2, the North would rally with three straight goals starting with Warren McCutcheon (Tulsa) undressing Vincent from close-range. Pohl and Ryan Campbell (Mississippi) drew the assists. The home team would pull to within a goal at the 15:06 mark with Oklahoma City's Mike Burgoyne blasting a shot through the wickets of Vincent. The score would even up at the 18:43 mark with Youngstown's Chris Richards blasting a one-timer by Vincent making the score 5-5.

The South would answer the bell, again late in the period, with Travis Banga (Rio Grande Valley) scoring on a breakaway. Each team registered 19 shots on net with Vincent stopping 15 shots and DeCaro stopping 16 shots.

The South added to their lead early in the third period with Austin's Jason Tessier taking a shot that looked to deflect off a North defenseman. Redenbach and Reeder each recorded their fourth points of the game with assists on the play at 2:38. Pankewicz would make the score 7-6 at the 5:38 mark of the third period scoring his second point of the night and pushing his CHL record point total to 17 points.

The South would close the door in the second half of the final period scoring the game's final four goals, all within a 3:20 time frame. The first two goals in the stretch were scored by a pair of Jackalopes with Sebastien Thinel netting the first and Dominic Leveille netting the second.

Making the score 10-6 was Leavitt notching the hat trick and the final goal of the game came from Reeder giving him a goal and four assists. Redenbach assisted on the last two goals giving him five in the game tying a CHL All-Star record.

The shots in the final period favored the North 23-17. Andrew Martin (New Mexico) earned the victory stopping 22 shots in the period and Rocky Mountain's Scott Reid took the loss stopping 12 shots.

The final shots in the game were 56-50 tilting towards the North.

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