CHL Chalk Talk
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Amarillo Gorillas (11-21-6, 28 points)
The Gorillas have just one win in their last six games (1-4-1) and are currently seven points out of a playoff spot…The Gorillas have scored just 24 goals in their last nine games (2.6/game), while allowing 37 goals over that same stretch (4.1/game)…Chris Lipsett has a goal and five assists in his last four games…David Nimmo is second among rookies with 40 points (22-18=40)…Nimmo is tied for the lead among rookies with 22 goals and nine power play goals…Bill Vandermeer has three goals and three assists in his last four games…Amarillo is 0-4-1 versus the Rage this season…The Gorillas penalty kill is last in the league at 77.2% (allowed a league-high 53 PP goals).

Arizona Sundogs (23-10-4, 50 points)
The Sundogs recharged their engines during the all-star break and have come out winning three straight games while outscoring their opponents 21-12 in those three games…Tyler Redenbach has 11 points (3-8=11) in his last three games and including the all-star game has 17 points in his last four games…Arizona has a five point lead in the Southwest Division over Odessa…Alex Leavitt (67 points) and Redenbach (64 points) rank 1-2 in the CHL in scoring…Mark Kolanos leads all rookies with 41 points (22-19=41)…Defenseman Chris Bartolone has points in four straight games (1-6=7)…The Sundogs lead the CHL with a 25.3% success rate on the PP scoring 12 more PP goals than any other team…Arizona has score 6+ goals in 11 games this season.

Austin Ice Bats (14-23-1, 29 points)
Austin has won a season-high five straight games and are 6-1-0 in 2008…The Ice Bats are just six points behind Corpus Christi for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Southern Conference…Brendan Cook has five goals in his last six games and leads the CHL with five shorthanded goals…Ted Vandermeer has five goals and six assists during the Bats current five-game win streak…Miguel Beaudry, the reigning Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week, has won four straight starts allowing eight goals over that span…Austin is 4-1 in shootouts this season…Austin is 8-0 when leading after two periods (one of two teams to be undefeated when leading after two frames).

Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (26-7-4, 56 points)
The Mudbugs CHL record-tying 15-game win streak ended Sunday afternoon in Youngstown with a 3-2 shootout loss…The Mudbugs return home on Saturday night versus Laredo after playing seven straight road games (5-0-1 on the road trip thus far with Friday’s game at OKC remaining)…Bossier-Shreveport has won a franchise record 15 straight home games…The Bugs are 26-2-3 since their 0-5-1 start…Ken Carroll has won 12 straight starts allowing 16 goals over that stretch…He leads the CHL with a 1.78 GAA and a .941 save percentage…Carroll and John DeCaro have combined for eight shutouts, the most in the CHL…Joe Ori has three goals and two assists in his last four games.

Colorado Eagles (21-9-5, 47 points)
The Eagles traded for forward Kris Weibe on Tuesday…The 6-0 forward had eight goals with 11 assists with Wichita this season…Paul Esdale and Scott Polaski have been placed on the 14-day injured reserve…The Eagles play a pair of games in Arizona this weekend versus the SW Division leading Sundogs…Ed McGrane is currently on a seven-game point streak with two goals and 11 helpers on his streak…After tonight’s game versus RGV, the Eagles hit the road for a five-game road swing…Aaron Schneekloth is tied for the league lead among defensemen with 16 goals…The Eagles are 6-0 versus the Thunder and Oilers combined…Colorado leads the league averaging close to 40 shots per game.

Corpus Christi Rayz (15-18-5, 35 points)
The Rayz are 2-3-1 in their last six games and have gone to overtime or a shootout in three of their last six games…Defenseman Geno Parrish leads the team with 38 points (10-28=38)…Four of the Rayz next five games are at home…Corpus Christi is currently in the fifth spot in the Southern Conference holidng on to the final playoff spot…Brent Howarth (35 points) and Jon Jankus (33 points) both rank just inside the top five rookies in points…Jason Tapp was ejected from a game for the second time this season on Tuesday versus Austin…The goaltender leads the CHL in minutes (2042:17), saves (1119) and shootout wins (7)…The Rayz are one of two teams that average under 20 penalty minutes per game…The Rayz have allowed a league-high 13 shorthanded goals.

Laredo Bucks (26-12-2, 54 points)
The Bucks have lost a season-high four straight games but still lead the Southern Conference by four points over Arizona and lead the Southeast Division by 19 points over Corpus Christi…Jeff Bes is fourth in the league with 61 points (24-37=61)…Bes, Adam Rivet and Serge Dube are the top three in the CHL in plus/minus combining for a +76…Dustin Traylen has not played since January 4th, he is 15-6-1 on the season ranking third in the league with a 2.09 GAA…Andrew Desjardins is third among rookies with 36 points (13-23=36)…Dube leads all defensemen with 29 assists…The Bucks are 16-2-2 when scoring first…Laredo leads the CHL on the penalty kill successfully killing 87.8% of the power plays they face…They lead the league with 11 shorthanded goals scored…The Bucks allow a league-low 26.6 shots per game.

Mississippi RiverKings (22-14-1, 45 points)
The RiverKings have scored just one goal in their last two games, both losses…The RiverKings acquired goaltender Jeff Van Nynatten from RGV and signed former Colorado Eagle Ian Keserich to replace the injured duo of Sebastien Centomo and Kyle McNulty in net…Sheldon Wenzel is second in the league with 16 major penalties…The RiverKings have need extra time the least of any team in the league this season playing in just three overtimes…The RiverKings are third in the CHL on the PK at 86.3%...Mississippi is a +15 in the third period this season…Mississippi is 16-0-0 when leading after two periods…The RiverKings are 11-2-0 when being outshot.

New Mexico Scorpions (20-13-4, 44 points)
The Scorpions eight-game win streak was snapped on Tuesday in Arizona (a 9-4 loss)…The Scorpions are six points behind the Sundogs for first place in the Southwest Division…Konrad Reeder ranks fifth in the CHL with 54 points (15-39=54) and has seven assist in his last five games but has scored just one goal in the month of January…All-Star goaltender Andrew Martin is seventh in the CHL with a 2.68 GAA…Dominic Osman is third among first year players with 19 goals…The Scorpions are 13-3-3 when scoring the first goal…The Scorpions are a +16 in the first period but have been outscored in each of the other two frames…New Mexico is 14-4-1 when outshooting their opponents…Defenseman Aaron MacInnis has three goals in his last five games.

Odessa Jackalopes (19-10-7, 45 points)
Odessa is five points behind Arizona for first place in the Southwest Division…Dominic Leveille scored a pair of goals on Saturday in Arizona ending a five-game scoring drought…He is seventh in the CHL with 51 points (22-29=51)…After losing just once in regulation in his first 13 games, rookie goaltender Alexandre Vincent has lost three of his last five decisions…Odessa acquired defenseman Kevin Wilson from OKC over the all-star break in exchange for John Kozoriz…Odessa is 6-0-2 versus the teams of the SE Division…The Jacks are 2-7 in games decided in overtime or a shootout…Odessa is 14-0-1 when leading after two periods.

Oklahoma City Blazers (18-16-4, 40 points)
Blazers head coach Doug Sauter won his 1200th career game and is just five wins away from 500 victories with the Blazers…OKC is 4-1 in their last five games and have crawled to within four points of a playoff spot…Defenseman Mike Burgoyne is first among d-men with 40 points (16-24=40)…He leads all defensemen with nine power play goals…Seven of the Blazers 18 wins have come versus Tulsa…The Blazers PP is tied for third in the CHL at 20.1%...OKC’s best period is the first where they are a +13 over their opponent…OKC is one of two teams to not win a game when trailing after two periods this season…Garret Prosofsky has a goal and six assists in his last three games and is a +5 over that stretch.

Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (9-22-6, 24 points)
The Killer Bees have won just two games since November 27th…They are 2-16-4 over that stretch…The Bees are currently on an eight-game losing streak (0-7-1) and have won just one game on the road in 17 tries…RGV is 0-6 in overtime/shootouts this season…The Killer Bees are 4-2-2 versus Corpus Christi this season…The Bees traded goaltender Jeff Van Nynatten to Mississippi in exchange for defenseman Bernie Chmiel…Lance Herauf has one point in his last six games after having seven points in his previous five games…David Lemanowicz made a CHL season-high 59 saves on Saturday versus Amarillo…Rob Voltera has four goals and two assists in his last four games.

Rocky Mountain Rage (27-5-3, 57 points)
The Rage have the highest winning percentage (.814) and the most points in the CHL this season (57)…They have won three straight games and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 contests…Daymen Rycroft has stormed into the CHL goal scoring lead with 31 goals (seven better than anyone else)…Rycroft has 12 goals over his seven-game goal scoring streak…Brent Cullaton is third in the league with 63 points (12-51=63)…He leads the league with 51 helpers…Scott Reid leads the league with 19 wins…Tyler Butler is second among defensemen with 38 points (11-27=38)…Rocky Mountain’s power play is second in the CHL connecting 24% of the time…The Rage have not lost in regulation when outshooting their opponents (18-0-2).

Texas Brahmas (17-16-1, 35 points)
The Brahmas are 3-1-0 in their last four games and have moved back above .500…Texas’ Scott Sheppard returned to the ice Sunday after missing more than a month…Anders Strome has goals in three straight games after going without a goal in the previous 10 games…David Cacciola is 3-7-1 in his last 11 games…Grant Jacobson has two goals and two assists in his last three games…Brett Jaegar is 2-3-0 with a 2.31 GAA since being signed by the Brahmas…Texas is 8-0-0 versus teams from the Southeast Division including 3-0 versus Austin…The Brahmas power play is 16th in the league at 15.5%.

Tulsa Oilers (10-22-3, 23 points)
The Oilers have lost four straight games and have the lowest point total (23) in the Northern Conference…Jeff Christian’s point streak is at 19 games (30 points over his streak)…David Beauregard is tied for second in the CHL with four shorthanded goals…Clint Chalmers is 1-4-0 in his last five decisions allowing 23 goals over those five games…Tulsa is 3-1 in shootouts this season…The Oilers have been outscored by 28 goals in the third period this season…Tulsa has outshot their opponents in just seven of their 35 games this season (2-5-0).

Wichita Thunder (12-21-1, 25 points)
Wichita is …The Thunder traded Kris Wiebe to Colorado on Tuesday in exchange for future considerations…Chris Greene and Mike Batovanja are both out for the near future with various injuries…The Thunder went 2-3-1 on their recently completed six-game road trip…Wichita is last in the league averaging 2.44 goals per game and last with just20 PP goals scored (9.8% on the season)…Wichita is 9-5-0 when scoring the first goal…Bruce Richardson has three goals and three assists in his last five games…Brad Thompson had a season-high four points (2-2) in the Thunder’s 5-3 win versus Tulsa on Tuesday...Sebastien Laplante is 7-3-0 in his last 10 games.

Youngstown SteelHounds (21-13-2, 44 points)
The Hounds are 1-2 through three games of a stretch of playing six straight games versus the CHL’s top two teams (Bossier-Shreveport and Rocky Mountain)…Youngstown is in third place in the NE Division for the first time this season and are in the fifth spot in the playoff race currently…The Hounds placed Jason Baird and Milan Maslonka on the 14-day injured reserve…The Hounds are 5-8-1 in their last 14 games…Chris Richards has scored three of the team’s last seven game winners…Eric Przepiorka has three goals and three assists in his last five games…Andy Franck has won just once in his last six starts…The Hounds lead the CHL averaging 32.7 PIM’s per game.