Sports stats

SteelHounds Weekly Report

February 19, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Youngstown SteelHounds News Release


Hounds Avoid Most of the Storm

Last weekend saw the SteelHounds bring themselves closer to clinching a CHL Northern Conference Playoff spot as they took two of three from the Wichita Thunder here at the Chevy Centre. Friday night the Hounds jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to goals by Stephen Margeson, Jeff Christian and Chris Richards en route to a 5-1 victory. Richards recorded his 400th career assist in that game and now sits at 402 for his career. Saturday night was a hard fought game but Brad Roberts stellar goaltending combined with a last minute first period goal by Jeff Christian propelled the Hounds to a 3-1 win over the Thunder. Sunday afternoon was a wild affair with Wichita jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead and were up 4-2 after two periods. The Hounds did not quit though as two shorthanded goals during the same Thunder power play by Matt Hanson and Kelly Sickavish brought the Hounds to a 4-4 tie. Both teams scored one more goal to make it 5-5 and force a shootout. In the shootout the Thunder's Joe Blaznek scored the only goal in the fifth and final round to give the Thunder only their eighth road victory of the year by a score of 6-5. Youngstown finished the three game set 2-0-1 for five points and finished the six game home stand at 3-2-1 improving their record to 23-16-9 (55pts), good for third place in the Northeast division and are now only two points back of Oklahoma City for fourth place in the Northern Conference Standings.

What's on Tap - Three in a Row on the Road

After playing the Thunder three times in three days at the Chevy Centre the SteelHounds will now travel to Wichita to finish the four game regular season series with the Thunder on Wednesday night at 8:05pm. The Hounds will stay on the road as they take on division rivals Memphis and Bossier-Shreveport on Friday and Saturday night for 8:05pm starts. You can listen to every SteelHounds game on ESPN Radio 1240-The Fan and on the web at steelhounds.com. The Thunder are currently holding onto the sixth and final Northern Conference Playoff spot by only one point over the Tulsa Oilers with a 21-21-6 (48pts) record and are in the middle of a 17 game February as they will host the Amarillo Gorillas in a make up game from earlier this season on Tuesday before playing the Hounds on Wednesday. The Memphis RiverKings are the team to beat in the Northeast division with 34-12-3 (71pts) record and are only one point behind Colorado for the number one seed in the Northern Conference Playoff picture. The Hounds defeated the Kings in the first two games of the season but have lost the last four to Memphis with two of those games going to shootouts. The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs are thorns in every team's sides right now as with two victories over the Colorado Eagles on the road in the last week they are the hottest team in the CHL right now. The Bugs sit in second place in the Northeast division and third in the Northern Conference but with a record of 31-12-5 (67pts) they are only four points back of Memphis and only five back of Colorado for the first seed in the playoffs.

Congratulations Chris Richards

On Friday night Chris Richards recorded career assist 400 as he helped lead the Hounds to a convincing 5-1 win over the Wichita Thunder. Richards is second in the league this season in assists (54), points (83) and +/- (+33) as he only trails fellow Hound, Jeff Christian for the league lead in those categories. The former four year Ohio State Buckeye has played almost his entire career in the Central Hockey League and of his 402 assists, 363 of them have been as a member of five CHL franchises including the Austin Ice Bats and New Mexico Scorpions. Richards started the season ranked 25th all time for points leaders in the CHL with 451 and now has 536 for his career counting the playoffs.

The Human Torch had Nothing on Jeff Christian

The old phrase, "Too hot to handle and too cold to hold" can easily describe how opposing teams have felt about Youngstown captain Jeff Christian this season as he has lit the CHL on fire leading the league in points (93), assists (63) and +/- (+39) on his way to three Oakley CHL Player of the Week awards. In the 45 games that he has played this season, the Canfield, Ohio resident has only been left off the score sheet an amazing four times. Christian who had a 19 game point streak earlier in the year is currently having a 10 game point streak with eight goals and 20 assists for 28 points since January 31st. The one scoring category he doesn't lead the league in is goals but his 30 is good for third overall and best on the team.

And the "D" Can Score Too

The SteelHounds are an explosive offensive hockey team not just because of Jeff Christian, Chris Richards, Tab Lardner, Brad Patterson and the other forwards but because everybody gets in on the scoring including the defense as the unit combined for five goals and eight assists over the weekend series against Wichita. Leading the way for the back liners is Jeff Alcombrack with six goals and 30 assists as he had an assist in all three games over the weekend as well as a goal on Sunday afternoon. Stephen Margeson had two goals and an assist on Friday night as he is having a career year with 23 points coming from 10 goals and 13 assists. Matt Hanson scored his first goal of the season on Sunday with a shorthanded goal that helped start the come back and catapult the Hounds to an eventual one point in the standings. Kelly Sickavish has been the team's defensive machine with a +22 but he has really found his scoring touch with three goals and five assists in his last eight games. Josh Reed who just came back from the 45 day injured reserve list picked up an assist on Sunday and Milan Maslonka has been a steady enforcer for the Hounds and has a +3 for the season.

By The Numbers

Team

55 Points-Tied for 6th in CHL

175 Goals-3rd in CHL

26 Road Points-Tied for 5th in CHL

15 Overtime Games- Tied for 1st in CHL

3.65 Goals For Per Game- 3rd in CHL

3.19 Goals Against Per Game- 7th in CHL

32.98 Shots For Per Game- 9th in CHL

25.83 Shots Against Per Game- 1st in CHL

19-6-2 when Scoring First

16-1-2 when Leading after one period

20-0-3 when Leading after two periods

6-3-3 when Tied after one period

3-6-1 when Tied after two periods

1-12-4 when Trailing after one period

0-10-5 when Trailing after two periods

Individual

Jeff Christian first in assists (63), points (93), and +/- (+39)

Chris Richards second in assists (54), points (83), and +/- (+33)

Jeff Alcombrack seventh amongst defensemen in assists (30) and ninth amongst defensemen in points (33)

Kelly Sickavish tied for sixth in league for +/- and tied for third for defensemen at +22

Brad Roberts 2.67 GAA good for seventh in CHL



Central Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Youngstown SteelHounds Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central