CHL Chalk Talk
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Amarillo Gorillas (1-5-2, 4 points)
The Gorillas begin a three-game road trip on Friday night that sees them play two games at New Mexico and one game at Rocky Mountain…Amarillo earned their first win of the season on Saturday night with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Colorado Eagles…Chris Lipsett had a pair of goals including the game winner in the shootout…The Gorillas, along with Corpus Christi, are tied for the league lead with three shootout appearances (1-2)…Lipsett has three goals and two assists in his last three games…Despite having the best road power play in the CHL (28.6%), the Gorillas are 0-3 away from home.

Arizona Sundogs (5-2-1, 11 points)
The Sundogs split a pair of home games with Odessa this past weekend remaining in first place by one point in the Southwest Division…The Sundogs hit the road on Friday starting a five-game road trip, 12 of the next 15 games for Arizona are away from home…Tyler Redenbach is tied for second in the CHL with 15 points (3-12=15) and his 12 helpers are tops in the league…Arizona’s penalty killers are last in the league allowing 11 PPG’s on 40 chances (72.5% kill rate)…The Sundogs are 5-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.

Austin Ice Bats (2-7-0, 4 points)
The Ice Bats have lost four straight games and are 14 points in back of Laredo for first place in the Southeast Division…Austin leads the CHL with five shorthanded goals…Brendan Cook’s two shorthanded goals land him tied for second in the league…Austin averages 25.1 shots per game, the fewest in the CHL…Cook, Henry Kuster and Jason Tessier are all tied for the team lead with eight points…After registering five points in his first five games, veteran Jamie Thompson has just one assist in his last four games.

Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (1-5-1, 3 points)
The Mudbugs won their first game of the season on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over Mississippi…John DeCaro stopped 34 shots earning the win…The ‘Bugs begin a three-game home stand on Thursday night versus the Tulsa Oilers and then see Austin and Mississippi come to town…Despite the early struggles for wins, the Mudbugs have eight players with a plus rating…Defenseman Jason Basile played his first game of the season on November 2nd after missing the first five games with an injury…The Mudbugs have led after two periods in five of their seven games thus far (1-3-1) and are 0-4-1 in games decided by one goal.

Colorado Eagles (3-3-2, 8 points)
For just the fourth time in the franchise’s history, the Eagles have lost three straight games…The last time it happened was Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 2004, the team has never lost four straight games…The Eagles begin a seven-game home stand on Friday night and are 99-20-9 at the BEC in their history, one win shy of 100 regular season home victories…The Eagles dressed just 14 skaters in their 5-3 loss at Oklahoma City on Tuesday night as Ryan Tobler, Fraser Filipic, Chris Hartsburg, Erik Adams and Marco Emond are all out of the line-up with various injuries…Ed McGrane is pacing the Eagles with 14 points (6-8=14) and is +6, he has goals in three straight games (3G)…Colorado is 1 for their last 11 on the PP but still rank third in the CHL with a 24.4% conversion rate.

Corpus Christi Rayz (2-5-1, 5 points)
The Rayz spoiled the SteelHounds perfect start on Sunday with a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout victory…Corpus Christi has played in the second most one-goal games (Texas) in the CHL this season and are 2-3-1 in those games…Goaltender Jason Tapp has made the most saves in the league this season, 234…The Rayz are last on the PP this season scoring just three times in 42 chances (7.1%)…The Rayz have been outscored 10-4 in the third period this season...The Rayz begin a five-game road trip on Friday in Laredo…Joe Blaznek leads the Rayz in scoring with seven points (1-6=7).

Laredo Bucks (9-0-0, 18 points)
Winners of nine straight games, Laredo is off to the best start in team history and are just one win shy of tying the CHL record for the most wins to start a season (accomplished by the 2002-03 Austin Ice Bats and the 1996-97 New Mexico Scorpions, then of the WPHL)…The Bucks have outscored the opposition 50-12 this season and are first in the CHL averaging 5.56 goals per game and are first by allowing just 1.33 goals per contest…Nine of the league’s top 10 players in plus/minus are Bucks including Adam Rivet who leads the CHL with a +18…Laredo’s Kevin Beech (1.00) and Dustin Traylen (1.56) are 1, 2 in goals against average…Jeff Bes leads the CHL with 19 points (8-11=19)…Brent MacSween’s eight goals are tied for tops in the CHL and his six power play goals are two more than any other CHL player…The Bucks lead the CHL with 15 power play goals and are tops with a 25.9% conversion rate.

Mississippi RiverKings (5-2-0, 10 points)
The RiverKings are 3-0 on the road this season and have allowed just three total goals in those road wins…The Goaltending tandem of Sebastien Centomo (2.00) and Larry Sterling (1.68) are 3, 4 in the CHL in goals against average…Mississippi’s penalty kill is the best in the CHL allowing just four PPG’s in 50 opportunities (92.0%)…Ryan Held and Chad Woollard each have eight points leading the way for the RiverKings…The RiverKings and the Blazers play twice this weekend in Mississippi, the teams have met 109 times in the regular season previously with Oklahoma City winning 72 of those games.

New Mexico Scorpions (3-4-1, 7 points)
The Scorpions have won back-to-back games for the first time this season and are coming off a 10-0 drubbing of the Northwest Division leading Rocky Mountain Rage on Saturday night…The 10 goals scored by the Scorpions are the most by a CHL team since February 22nd, 2007 (Laredo, 10 goals)…Konrad Reeder leads the CHL with three shorthanded goals, two of those came in Friday’s 3-2 shootout win over Amarillo…Scorpions rookie forward Dominic Osman has been named the Oakley CHL Player of the Week for his five goals and two assists last week in three games…New Mexico is a +5 in the first period this season (13-8), the best in the CHL.

Odessa Jackalopes (5-3-0, 10 points)
Odessa jumped into first place in the Southwest Division on Friday night after their victory over the Arizona Sundogs but quickly fell a point behind with the Sundogs winning the revenge game on Saturday night…Nathan Ward is tied for fourth in the CHL with 14 points (3-11=14)…Defenseman Mario Joly is tied for third in the CHL with 53 PIM’s…Odessa is +7 in the third period this season (12-5)…Rookie goaltender Alexandre Vincent has allowed just four goals in his two starts this season, both wins…Defenseman Josh Chase has seven helpers in his last four games.

Oklahoma City Blazers (4-4-0, 8 points)
The Blazers begin a three-game road trip on Friday at Mississippi, they are 1-3 away from home this season…Defensemen Mike Burgoyne and Peter Robertson are tied for the lead among defensemen with 10 points…Burgoyne leads all CHL blueliners with six goals…Goaltender Jason Wolfe is fifth in the CHL with a 2.01 GAA and is 4-1 on the season…OKC is 14 for 55 on the power play (25.5%), second best in the CHL…The Blazers are averaging 37 shots per game, second most in the league.

Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (3-3-1, 7 points)
The Killer Bees are 0-2 versus the Bucks this season being outscored 9-3 but are 3-1-1 versus the rest of the CHL…Rio Grande is 1-1 on their current four-game home stand that has Odessa and Youngstown as remaining visitors (12-3-1 combined records)…Travis Banga leads the Bees with 10 points (3-7=10)…Veteran goaltender David Lemanowicz is 3-1 on the season…The Bees have scored the game’s first goal just once in their seven games this season (0-1-0)…The Killer Bees are 1-2-1 when trailing after two periods earning points in half of those games. 

Rocky Mountain Rage (5-1-1, 11 points)
Despite a rough night on Saturday when they fell 10-0 to the New Mexico Scorpions, the Rage continue to lead the Northwest Division three points ahead of both Oklahoma City and Colorado…Rocky Mountain is home for four straight games that include visits from Texas (6-1-0) and Laredo (9-0-0)…Goaltender Scott Reid remains unbeaten at 4-0 with a 2.64 GAA…Nathan Rosychuk leads the Rage with six goals in seven games…Terry Dunbar is the only CHL goaltender who is perfect in shootouts stopping all six shooters he has faced…The Rage are 3-0-1 when scoring the first goal…The Rage are third in the CHL averaging 36.71 shots per game.

Texas Brahmas (6-1-0, 12 points)
The Brahmas are 4-0 on the road this season outscoring the opposition by four goals (15-11)…Texas has had each of their first seven games decided by one goal…Goaltender David Cacciola was named the Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week for his 3-0 week…Cacciola is seventh in the CHL with a 2.57 GAA…The Brahmas make a Colorado swing this weekend playing a game versus the Rage and the Eagles and then return home for a nine-game home stand…Texas’ offense has scored just nine goals in their last four games but are 3-1-0 over that span.

Tulsa Oilers (2-4-0, 4 points)
The Oilers put on a show for the home crowd in their home opener on November 2nd, a 3-2 victory over Oklahoma City…Paul Kelly’s goal scoring streak ended at five games on Tuesday night versus Mississippi…Veteran Jeff Christian needs just two points for 1000 professional points…He currently has 443 goals and 555 assists in 1078 career games…Defenseman Martin Kubaliak was acquired from Mississippi prior to the team’s home opener and made his presence known by scoring the game winning goal…Tulsa’s 104 penalty minutes are the fewest of any CHL team.

Wichita Thunder (1-4-0, 2 points)
The Thunder won their first game of the season on Saturday night with a 3-0 shutout victory over Oklahoma City…Sebastien Laplante made 33 saves earning the shutout victory…The Thunder and Oilers have a home-and-home series this weekend…Bruce Richardson leads the Thunder with five points (3-2=5)…Wichita is last in the league with eight goals scored (1.60/game)…The Thunder is second in the league averaging 40.2 PIM’s per game…On the power play, the Thunder is 3 for 39 (7.7%)…Wichita has outscored the opposition 4-3 in the third period this season.

Youngstown SteelHounds (7-0-1, 15 points)
The SteelHounds are 7-0-1 on their 14-game road trip to start the season…Youngstown dropped their first game of the season on Sunday in a 3-2 shootout loss at Corpus Christi…The Hounds are 4-0-1 in one-goal games…Bryan Lachapelle has the longest PIM streak in the CHL this season with minutes in each of the team’s first eight games…Defenseman Milan Maslonka leads the league with 73 PIMS and teammate Adam Smyth is third with 53…Defenseman Stephen Margeson remains on re-call with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL, he has no points in two games...As a team, the SteelHounds average 44.75 PIM’s/game, most in the CHL…Andy Franck is sixth in the league with a 2.06 GAA and is tops with seven wins, he has played every minute of every game thus far…Smyth has goals in three straight games and a five-game point streak overall…The SteelHounds have outscored their opponents 10-5 in the third period this season…Eric Przepiorka has three goals and five assists in his last four games and leads the Hounds with 11 points (4-7=11).