Monday, March 1, 2010
CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE HEADLINES
Mudbugs Making Up Ground
The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs enter the week as the hottest team in the CHL winning eight straight games outscoring their opposition 35-16 over that stretch. The ‘Bugs are moving up in the North trailing second place Colorado by just five points and conference-leading Rapid City by nine points. The Mudbugs are 17-6-3 in 2010 including 9-3-0 at home. Bossier-Shreveport is nine points in front of Mississippi for the third spot as they are close to removing any doubt that they will avoid the best-of-three Opening Round series. Mudbugs goaltenders Ken Carroll and John DeCaro are 9-1 collectively over their last 10 decisions sitting with a 2.20 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. Bossier-Shreveport hosts Allen on Tuesday night.
New Additions Adjusting Nicely for Laredo and Missouri
Both the Laredo Bucks and the Missouri Mavericks have benefitted from recent additions for their respective playoff pushes. Last week, the Bucks signed forward Sylvain Deschatelets who made an immediate impact with three goals (two game winners), four assists and a +6 plus/minus rating in three games. His play earned him the Oakley CHL Player of the Week honors on Monday. For the Mavs, they have benefitted from a trade deadline deal that saw them acquire goaltender Charlie Effinger from Allen. The rookie goaltender was gone 7-1-0 with the Mavs and has them sitting in the fifth and final playoff spot in the North. Effinger went 4-0 last week earning himself the Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week.
Jacks and Eagles Clash Again
The Colorado Eagles and the Odessa Jackalopes will meet for the fourth and final time in the regular season on Wednesday night at the Budweiser Events Center. The Eagles won the first two match-ups this season (2-1 in Colorado on Dec. 12 and 5-3 in Odessa on Feb. 5) but the Jacks poured it on in the third meeting, a 9-4 win at the Jack Shack on Feb. 6. Mike Ramsay has owned the Colorado net scoring six times in the three games. Jim Jackson paces the Eagles with three scores versus Odessa. Odessa currently leads the Southern Conference by eight points over Allen and Colorado trails Rapid City by four points in the North.
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BY THE NUMBERS
186- The number of CHL wins that Bossier-Shreveport goaltender Ken Carroll has in his career sitting just one win behind Tony Martino for second on the league’s all-time wins list. Rod Branch leads the list with 194 career CHL wins. The veteran goaltender is 13-6-3 with a 2.53 goals against average (2nd in the CHL) and a .924 save percentage (1st in the CHL).
498- The number of games that Laredo Head Coach Terry Ruskowski has coached for the Bucks in his seven-plus seasons. He joins Doug Sauter, Scott Muscutt, Bill McDonald, Chris Stewart and Garry Unger as the only coaches to reach 500 CHL games. Ruskowski is 314-139-45 in his career with the Bucks helping them to two CHL Championships.
13- The number of consecutive wins the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs have over the Tulsa Oilers after sweeping the two games in Tulsa this past weekend. The Mudbugs are 5-0 this season versus the Oilers and were 8-0 during the 2008-09 campaign.
3-1- The record of Mississippi goaltender Tim Boron over his last four decisions while carrying a .910 save percentage. The RiverKings won back-to-back home games over the weekend with Boron allowing just four goals in those wins.
SLAP SHOTS
-Tulsa forward Marty Standish became just the 22nd player to play in 500 career CHL games on Sunday in the Oilers game versus Bossier-Shreveport. Standish is just six goals shy of reaching 200 in CHL career and this year has six goals and 14 assists in 55 games.
-Texas defenseman and Captain Craig Minard is one assist shy of 200 in his professional career.
Wichita had forward Bobby Hughes assigned to them last week from the NY Islanders and he made waves quickly scoring points in each of the two games he played. The former NHL draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes scored goals in each contest and was a +3 over the weekend.
-Arizona goaltender Doug Groenestege has started nine straight games for the Sundogs going 5-3-1 over that stretch.
-Odessa forward Kory Karlander is one goal away from 300 in his professional career. This season with the Jacks, Karlander has 18 goals and 28 assists in 54 games.
-The Missouri Mavericks have matched their franchise best win streak, four games, and will be looking for number five in a row on Tuesday night when they host the RGV Killer Bees. Missouri has won eight of their last nine games.
