Van Nynatten earns Player of the Week honors

Published on January 22, 2007 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees News Release


Hidalgo, Texas --- The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, in conjunction with the Central Hockey League (CHL), today announced that rookie Jeff Van Nynatten is the Week 14 winner of the Oakley CHL Goalie of the Week Award.

A 24-year-old native of London, Ontario, Van Nynatten led the Bees to a pair of wins last weekend that catapulted the team into third place in the Southeast Division. Rio and Austin are knotted with 35 points but the Bees have one more win (15) than the Ice Bats.

Van Nynatten (pronounced vuh-NY-nat-in) helped the Bees snap a nasty slide in which they picked up just one win in their previous 10 games with Friday night's 6-1 win over Wichita. Van Nynatten made 27 saves, including key first period stops on a breakaway (Jason Duda) and a 2-on-1 (Travis Clayton). Van Nynatten made 26 saves on Saturday night in a 5-2 win over Rocky Mountain.

The wins were the fourth and fifth of the season for the Niagara University graduate. Prior to Friday's win, he had gone six games without a triumph (0-5-1) and had not cracked the win column since Nov. 17 vs. New Mexico. Three of those losses were one-goal games in which he made 30-plus saves.

Van Nynatten is the third Killer Bees goaltender to win the award this season. Mathieu Blanchard received the award for Week 1, while Jeremy Symington was the recipient for Week 6.

The Bees take their two-game winning streak on the road for a trio of games vs. Youngstown beginning this Friday night (6:05 p.m. CST). Listen to the game live on ESPN Radio 1240. Saturday's game will be on Jammin' 104.9/95.3 FM, while Sunday's finale will be back on ESPN Radio 1240 (3:05 p.m. CST). Every Killer Bees game is available on killerbeehockey.com.

The Bees return home Thursday, February 1 vs. Corpus Christi.

Killer Bees tickets are available at the Dodge Arena Box Office, online at killerbeehockey.com, and by phone at 866-RIO-TIXX. Tickets can also be purchased at The Boot Jack Valley Wide, Valley Yamaha, Melhart Music Center, Lionel's Western Wear Weslaco, or Lone Star National Bank.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 22, 2007


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