AUSTIN, Texas – One weekend, 15 games and 113 goals. Any questions as to whether or not the offense was ahead of the defense were answered over the CHL’s opening weekend. Teams scored an average of 7.5 goals per game, including ten games where the winning team put at least five goals on the board.
Every team except Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley played twice, but that didn’t stop the IceRays and the Killer Bees from netting 12 and seven goals respectively in their single games.
Chris Richards, playing for his fourth CHL team, had four goals and three assists, leading Corpus to a 12-3 walloping of the Tulsa Oilers. Teammate Justin Quenneville added and a goal and four assists. And oh, by the way, Mike Zbriger had a hat trick. The game took nearly four hours, mostly as a result of the 54 penalties and 244 penalty minutes. Ice Ray forward John McNabb, another prolific goal scorer, sat out the game due to immigration issues.
Rio Grande got off to a good start in their home opener, topping the Rocky Mountain Rage 7-2. The goals were spread out among six players with Daryl Moore dropping the puck in the net twice and adding an assist.
The Laredo Bucks opened their season at home by drubbing the Rage 7-1, and then dropped a squeaker 2-1 to the Bossier Shreveport MudBugs. Daryl Smith had a hat trick for Laredo in their win while Jeff Bes added four assists. Bossier scored two power play goals in their win. Coupled with their 5-1 win against the Texas Brahmas, Bossier finished the weekend 2-0.
The league’s newest team, the Rapid City Rush earned their first two franchise points in the standings against the always tough Colorado Eagles in Colorado. It could have been four points. Both games went to a shootout with Colorado coming out on top 7-6 and 5-4.
Goaltender Jason Wolfe posts CHL%27s only opening weekend shutout
Oklahoma City is also perfect with wins over Tulsa (3-2) and Wichita (5-1). Mississippi opened with a 3-2 win against Wichita, and then dropped a 4-2 squeaker to Texas.
The surprise of the week might have been the Odessa Jackalopes two big division wins over the Arizona SunDogs. Collin Cercelli had two goals and three assists. Mario Joly added a goal and three assists.
If you were looking for anything negative about the opening weekend, it would have to be the sparse attendance in New Mexico and Mississippi who drew 3155 and 2375 respectively in their home openers. Only Fort Worth and Amarillo drew less, but they play in very small venues. Both New Mexico and Mississippi have large, modern arenas and are close to large metropolitan populations. The league average for the opening weekend was a respectable 4680 with Wichita leading the way in their new arena with 9560.
It’s obviously way too early to make any sense out of who beat who and why there were so many goals, but if this keeps up, there will be much to write about in the CHL’s 2008-2009 season. And remember to take your calculators to the games.
Contact the author at: mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.