ONE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER – THREE TEAMS NEED SINGLE POINT
The Arizona Sundogs, Austin Ice Bats and the Texas Brahmas are all on the brink of qualifying for the post-season and would need to lose out in their remaining games to not make it to the Ray Miron President’s Cup playoffs. Thus far, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, the New Mexico Scorpions, the Odessa Jackalopes and the Sundogs have all punched their ticket to the playoffs. The Colorado Eagles magic number is two points and the Sundogs, the Bats and the Brahmas magic number is one point.
The Sundogs play at New Mexico on Tuesday night and with one point they will clinch the Southwest Division and the #2 seed in the upcoming playoffs. Arizona has won five straight games and have been riding the league’s hottest line of Alex Leavitt, Cory Urquhart and Jason Visser who have combined to score 16 goals with 23 assists and a +19 plus/minus rating in their last five games and have also contributed six power play goals and four game winners.
The Bats have won four straight games allowing just six goals over their win streak. Austin needs one point in their match-up on Thursday versus Amarillo or a Gorillas loss on Tuesday at Odessa. Miguel Beaudry has been the catalyst going 16-5-1 in 2008.
Texas has been the best CHL team over the second half of the season going 22-3-1 in their last 26 games and currently are riding a 12-game point streak (11-0-1). The Brahmas need one point to earn a berth or a Rocky Mountain loss.
MUDBUGS WIN SECOND STRAIGHT GOVERNORS’ CUPThe Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs have won the CHL Governors’ Cup for the second consecutive season and are currently sitting with a 42-13-6 record and 90 points. The Bugs won 44 games and had 94 points a year ago but did not clinch the regular season championship until the final weekend of the season. This year, the Bugs did it in fitting fashion behind a 3-0 shutout win over Mississippi by John DeCaro. It was Bossier-Shreveport’s CHL record 17th shutout of the season. The Mudbugs are slotted into the #1 seed in the Northern Conference and will face the winner of the #4 vs. #5 seed best-of-three opening round series. The Bugs have slumped a bit coming down the stretch going 3-4-2 in their last nine games.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN AVALANCHE
The Rage could be the story of the second half of the season just as much as they were the story of the first half of the season. Rocky Mountain has fallen on difficult time being bit by the injury big and a tough schedule. The Rage were 24-5-3 at the All-Star break but are 11-16-2 in the second half and have won just twice in their last nine games. The Rage had a 10 point lead in the Northwest Division at the end of 2007 but have seen a dramatic turnaround now trailing the Colorado Eagles by five points. The Rage are one point behind Mississippi for the fifth and final Northern Conference playoff spot. The final three games of the season for Rocky Mountain include Wednesday at Arizona, Friday at Tulsa and Saturday at Bossier-Shreveport.
TULSA – GOING DOWN SWINGING
The Tulsa Oilers had a memorable weekend in Colorado defeating the Colorado Eagles on Friday night and the Rocky Mountain Rage on Saturday night. Goaltender Guy St. Vincent is one of the better stories of the season going 10-4-0 in his time with Tulsa (signed at the end of January). He won both games over the weekend stopping 19 shots in the third period of Friday’s win and making 50 saves in Saturday’s game at Rocky Mountain.
OTHER NOTES
The Colorado Eagles will finish the season with three straight games at Youngstown where they are 4-1-0 all time during the regular season…Ryan Held (MIS) has scored two goals in six different games this season…The 14 SHG’s allowed by Oklahoma City are the most in franchise history…Jordan Cameron (TEX) is currently riding an 11-game point streak (17 points) and has goals in four straight games…Wichita’s 125 major penalties is 10 shy of the CHL single-season record…Bruce Richardson’s (WIC) hat trick on Sunday was the first for the Thunder this season…Alex Leavitt (ARZ) has a 13-game point streak (37 points).
