CHL Headlines for Friday, February 25
February’s Best
Heading into the final weekend of February, the Texas Brahmas and the Rapid City Rush are carrying the month’s best marks with identical 8-1-0 records. The Rush host the Missouri Mavericks for a pair of games this weekend, the Mavs are 6-2-1 in February. The Brahmas play at Allen, at Bossier-Shreveport and home to Bloomington this weekend. The Fort Wayne Komets have also won eight games in the month (8-2-0). Other top marks in the month are the Mudbugs (6-2-1), the PrairieThunder (6-2-2), the Americans (6-3-1) and the Colorado Eagles (7-3-1). At the other end of the spectrum are the Odessa Jackalopes at 1-7-1, the Evansville IceMen at 1-6-2 and the Arizona Sundogs at 2-5-1.
Bloomington Point Streak Reaches Eight Games
The Bloomington PrairieThunder won their fourth straight game on Thursday beating Bossier-Shreveport 2-1 in overtime. Marco Emond returned to the line-up after missing four games and was spectacular making 33 saves earning his 22nd win. The PThunder have earned a point in eight straight games going 6-0-2 over that stretch. John Snowden scored the game winner in OT versus the ‘Bugs marking his eighth GWG this season (six of those giving Bloomington a one-goal win). Bloomington now travels to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the remainder of the weekend facing Allen on Saturday and Texas on Sunday. Sitting with 64 points, the PTunder are all alone in third place in the Turner Conference three points behind Colorado and four points behind the conference-leading Rapid City Rush.
Yellow Horn Pacing Americans
The Allen Americans became the first CHL team to clinch a playoff berth this week with their win in Laredo on Tuesday night and followed that up with a 2-1 win in Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday night giving them a league-best 36-11-2 record. Recently, the Americans have been led by third-year pro Colton Yellow Horn who is having his best pro season nearly doubling his output from a year ago. Currently, the Brocket, Alberta native is on a nine-game point streak scoring nine goals with five assists over that stretch. His hot play dates back much further though as he has scored 35 points (16-19=35) in 21 games in 2011. For the season, Yellow Horn ranks just outside the league’s top 10 with 63 points (25-38=63). Last season with Allen, the forward notched 10 goals and 25 assists.
By the Numbers
60- The number of shots on goal the Wichita Thunder rattled off in Wednesday’s 8-7 overtime loss to the Texas Brahmas. The Thunder trailed 5-0 in the game but mounted an incredible comeback only to fall in the first minute of overtime. The 60 shots on net are the most in a single game this season. Texas’ Chad Woollard (2-4=6) and Greg Hogeboom (3-3=6) each had six points in the win for Texas, their seventh straight victory.
7- The current number of consecutive wins for the Texas Brahmas who have a tough weekend ahead traveling to Allen on Friday, Bossier-Shreveport and then hosting Bloomington on Sunday. The combined record of the Brahmas opponents this weekend is 94-48-9 and the Mudbugs are the team that Texas is currently locked into a battle with for the second spot in the Berry Conference.
6-3-0- The record of the Quad City Mallards versus their Friday night opponent, the Fort Wayne Komets, this season. The Mallards begin a road three-in-three on Friday with the game in Fort Wayne, Saturday night in Dayton and Sunday in Evansville. Quad City has lost three of their last four games, while the Komets have won three straight games and five of six.
8- The number of wins in 14 games that the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees have over their South Texas rivals, the Laredo Bucks. The two clubs meet this weekend in a home-and-home with Friday’s game in Laredo and Saturday’s in RGV. It will mark the final two meetings of the regular season between the two teams with RGV holding a six point lead over the Bucks in the standings.
2- The number of points that separate the Odessa Jackalopes and the Arizona Sundogs who play on Friday and Saturday in the Jack Shack. The Jacks are currently in seventh place in the Berry Conference holding the narrow two point lead over the Sundogs who have a chance to make up some ground this weekend with the pair versus Odessa and Sunday’s tilt in Laredo. Odessa has a game in hand on the Sundogs but Arizona is 3-1-1 this season head-to-head versus the Jacks.
281- The total number of CHL goals that Colorado’s Riley Nelson has scored in his career. With his two goals in Wednesday’s win over Rapid City, Nelson passed Sylvain Naud for seventh on the league’s all-time goals scored list and now Don Parsons is in his sights sitting with 290 goals. Nelson is tied for third in the league with 73 points (30-43=73).
One-Timers
-Texas forward Chad Woollard extended his goal streak to nine games with a pair of scores in Wednesday’s 8-7 overtime win in Wichita. Woollard has tied for the league lead with 34 goals on the season and during his nine-game streak has scored 12 times. His nine-game streak is the longest this season and the longest since Mississippi’s Ryan Held ended the 2009-10 season on a nine-game streak. The CHL record is 13 straight games set by Daniel Larin (OKC, 1992-93) and Carl Menard (MEM, 1995-96).
-The Evansville IceMen will have a new face in the line-up this weekend when former CHL Most Valuable Player Jeff Christian laces them up for the IceMen. The forward was signed this week after being claimed off waivers by Evansville. Christian has 499 points (187-312=499) in 352 career CHL games. The IceMen have a difficult three-in-three this weekend with road games at Dayton and Fort Wayne and a home contest on Sunday versus Quad City.
-Tulsa received the word on Thursday that forward Jack Combs and goaltender Trevor Cann have both been re-assigned to the team from the Chicago Wolves and Lake Erie Monsters, respectively. Combs has 63 points (29-34=63) on the season ranking second in the team and just outside the top 10 in the CHL. Cann is 11-6-1 with a .909 save percentage.
|
