The 2003-2004 season hardly began in ideal fashion for the Amarillo Gorillas. Coming off their first playoff appearance in franchise history, the Gorillas promptly dropped four of their first five games. In a remarkable about-face, the Gorillas are now the hottest team in the Central Hockey League, posting seven consecutive wins both overall and away from home ice.
Facing a daunting five-game road trip November 8th through 15th with stops in Austin, Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Corpus Christi and Odessa, the Gorillas emerged victorious in each contest, with the first four wins all coming by a single goal followed by a 7-0 shutout in Odessa. In eight victories this season, Amarillo has allowed more than two goals only once, behind outstanding defensive play and goaltender Sean Degagne, who has won six of his last seven starts. The heroics have been spread around offensively, with seven different players accounting for their eight different game winning goals, and 13 players with at least one goal this year.
While Amarillo Coach Joe Ferras is more focused on consistency, the streaking Gorillas have a chance of establishing themselves in the CHL record book with continued quality play. Three more road wins (this afternoon at New Mexico, November 21st at Wichita and November 26th at Lubbock) would tie four teams, most recently the 2001-2002 Odessa Jackalopes, for the all-time CHL record for consecutive road wins (10). Five more straight wins overall would give Amarillo a share of the record for consecutive victories (12) shared by three clubs.
While Amarillo has been impressive in road games early in the season (7-1-0), they are one of only two clubs below .500 on home ice, posting a record of just 1-3-0 at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Gorillas have two opportunities to improve that mark this weekend, hosting Odessa and Fort Worth this Saturday and Sunday.
*Note, Amarillo has just won their eighth consecutive overall and road contest, defeating the New Mexico Scorpions in a Tuesday afternoon matinee in Albuquerque. Statistics from this game are not reflected in this release.