GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Central Hockey League announced today that the league has taken control of the Quad City Mallards in an effort to stabilize the current operations, provide funding and evaluate the ownership status in order to keep the club in the Quad Cities at the i wireless Center in Moline, Illinois.  “The CHL is committed to the Quad Cities market and is confident that the long-standing tradition of Mallards hockey can flourish once again,” CHL Commissioner Duane Lewis said.  The CHL will work alongside current Mallards Executive Vice President Ryan Simmons and the i wireless Center and their General Manager Scott Mullen to run operations of the team.    “We are very appreciative to the building and in particular Scott Mullen for his efforts in helping keep the franchise operating over the past few months as well as to the Mallards staff who has been through a challenging off-season,” Lewis added. “One of the immediate tasks is to hire additional front office staff to complement the current group of employees.”  The Mallards are heading into their third season in the CHL and were originally established in 1995. The organization previously won three league championships and had 50 or more wins in five consecutive seasons. The Flock are 71-58-3 in their two seasons in the CHL and will begin their 2012-13 season on the road in Tulsa on Friday night with their home opener slated for Saturday, October 27 against the Oilers.   “We believe in this market and are fully aware of what strength that a solid organization in Quad Cities can add to our league now and into the future,” Lewis said.   Contact comments@prohockeynews.com
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GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Central Hockey League’s 21st season opens tonight with three contests including Rapid City at Bloomington, Tulsa at Wichita and Missouri at Denver. 
On Saturday night, Arizona travels to Allen with the Rush and Blaze, Oilers and Thunder and Mavericks and Cutthroats each playing a second weekend game. The Sundogs and Americans are the lone game on Sunday and the Fort Worth Brahmas and the Quad City Mallards are both idle, beginning play next weekend. 
The Wichita Thunder return as the CHL’s regular season champs (Bud Poile Governors’ Cup) and will jump right into things with a pair of games against their longtime rivals, the Tulsa Oilers. The teams will be meeting for the 226th time on Friday night with Wichita owning 116 wins and Tulsa owning 109 wins in the all-time series.
With the National Hockey League’s season hampered by a lockout, three NHL players have signed in the CHL to keep sharp during CBA negotiations. The Arizona Sundogs have signed defenseman David Schlemko and forward Kyle Chipchura, both of the Phoenix Coyotes and the Denver Cutthroats have inked Detroit Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey.
The CHL’s lone expansion team, the Denver Cutthroats will begin play in the historic Denver Coliseum on Friday night against the Missouri Mavericks. The Coliseum is celebrating its 60th anniversary opening in 1952. Denver is coached by former NHL player Derek Armstrong. 
Aside from Derek Armstrong in Denver, the CHL features three coaches who are new to their teams this season including Allen’s Steve Martinson, Bloomington’s Brian Gratz and Quad City’s Terry Ruskowski. David Lohrei begins his first full season with the Arizona Sundogs as he joined the team late in the 2011-12 campaign.
The Rapid City Rush will open their fifth anniversary season on Friday night when they travel to Bloomington to play the Blaze in the first of back-to-back games. The Rush won just 22 games during their expansion season in 2008-09 but have since rattled off 121 wins (more than 40 wins a season average) winning the 2010 CHL Championship. Rush Head Coach Joe Ferras is sixth on the league’s all-time wins list with 303 victories, just 16 behind Bill McDonald for fifth place (319 wins).
Rapid City’s Tim Boron finished last season as maybe the hottest goaltender in the CHL winning eight of his final 10 decisions. In those eight victories, Boron allowed just 14 goals and he finished the year with a sparkling 24-11-2 record, a .925 save percentage and a 2.44 GAA.
CHL-TV is back with a new look, powered this season by America ONE Sports. New packages are now available with new lower prices and better options including season and monthly passes that provide access to all games. Visit www.americaonesports.com for ordering information.
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GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Central Hockey League announced today its 2012 preseason schedule, which consists of eight games beginning on Friday, October 12 and concluding on Sunday, October 14.  Eight of the CHL’s 10 teams will be in preseason action with only the Arizona Sundogs and Missouri Mavericks not taking on a fellow CHL opponent.  The preseason gets underway on Friday, October 12 with three games including Quad City at Bloomington, Allen at Texas and Denver at Rapid City. In all three cases, it is the first of back-to-back games between the teams.  Rivals Tulsa and Wichita meet on Saturday night at the Wichita Ice Center and then on Sunday, October 14, the Tulsa Oilers will be the home team when they and the Denver Cutthroats battle in the first ever professional game at the United Wireless Center in Dodge City, Kansas. The new Cutthroats are the busiest club with three games; two in Rapid City and one in Dodge City against Tulsa. 2012 CHL Preseason Schedule (all times local)
Oct. 12- Quad City @ Bloomington, 7:30 PM Oct. 12- Denver @ Rapid City, 7:05 PM Oct. 12- Allen @ Texas, 7:00 PM Oct. 13- Denver @ Rapid City, 7:05 PM Oct. 13- Texas @ Allen, 7:05 PM Oct. 13- Bloomington @ Quad City, TBD Oct. 13- Tulsa @ Wichita, 3:00 PM (at the Wichita Ice Center) Oct. 14- Denver @ Tulsa, 6:00 PM (in Dodge City, KS) ***games will be played at home team’s primary venue unless otherwise noted Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The 2012-13 Central Hockey League schedule has been officially released with the 330-game season beginning on Friday, October 19th in three locations and concluding on Sunday, March 24th, also with three contests. 
The CHL also announced the conference alignment and playoff format for the league’s upcoming 21st season.  “We are very excited to release the 2012-13 CHL schedule, renew some old rivalries, and create some new ones starting October 19th,” Duane Lewis, CHL Commissioner said. “We also would like to welcome the Denver Cutthroats to the CHL family, in their tradition-rich hockey region.”   Each of the CHL’s 10 member clubs will play a 66-game schedule with 33 home games and 33 road games. Weekends comprise a large majority of the schedule as 77% of the games will be played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (255 of the 330 games will occur over the weekends) and 67% of the games are played on the prime nights of Fridays and Saturdays. Opening weekend will see four teams open their home schedules with the Bloomington Blaze, Denver Cutthroats and Wichita Thunder starting things off on Friday, October 19th and the Allen Americans opening their home schedule on October 20th. On October 26th, the Arizona Sundogs, Rapid City Rush, Texas Brahmas and Tulsa Oilers will play their home openers with the Quad City Mallards opening on October 27th and the Missouri Mavericks being the last to see home ice with their opener slated for November 3rd.   The Denver Cutthroats, the CHL’s newest franchise, will play their first ever game on October 19th when they host the Missouri Mavericks at the Denver Coliseum. The game will be the first hockey game in the Coliseum since 1989. Some of the Holiday highlights on the schedule include five teams in action on New Year’s Eve with Quad City playing at Allen, Bloomington playing at Arizona, Tulsa playing at Missouri, Denver playing at Rapid City and Wichita playing at Texas. The Allen Americans will continue their tradition of an afternoon game on Martin Luther King Day hosting the Arizona Sundogs this season and the Cutthroats will play the lone CHL game on President’s Day hosting the Missouri Mavericks.  The Rapid City Rush are celebrating a milestone season in 2012-13 playing in their fifth season. The team has unveiled a new fifth anniversary logo for the season. Additionally, the CHL announced several operational items today including that the league would compete as one 10-team conference and that eight teams will make up the playoffs beginning in late March. The items were recently voted on by the CHL Board of Governors.   Competing in the league’s 21st season, all teams will play in the Berry Conference, named after N. Thomas Berry, the current Commissioner Emeritus of the CHL who has been involved in the sport of hockey for close to a half-century. The CHL’s regular season points champion will claim the Bud Poile Governor’s Cup. The 10 teams that will be competing for the top prize, the Ray Miron President’s Cup, are the Allen Americans, Arizona Sundogs, Bloomington Blaze, Denver Cutthroats, Missouri Mavericks, Quad City Mallards, Rapid City Rush, Texas Brahmas, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder. Berry Conference Allen Americans Arizona Sundogs Bloomington Blaze Denver Cutthroats Missouri Mavericks Quad City Mallards Rapid City Rush Texas Brahmas Tulsa Oilers Wichita Thunder The league’s Governors also determined the playoff format with eight teams making it to post-season play resulting as the conclusion. The eight highest point totals from the Berry Conference will qualify for the post-season with the teams being ranked one through eight and the Opening Round featuring the #1 seed vs. #8 seed, the #2 seed vs. #7 seed, #3 seed vs. #6 seed and the #4 seed vs. #5 seed. The four advancing teams will be re-seeded for the conference semifinals with the two winners advancing to the league finals. All three rounds of the playoffs (the Opening Round, the Berry Conference Semifinals and the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals) will be best-of-7 series formats. 2012-13 Schedule Miscellaneous 2012-13 Central Hockey League Home Openers Allen Americans – Saturday, October 20th vs. Arizona Arizona Sundogs – Friday, October 26th vs. Missouri Bloomington Blaze – Friday, October 19th vs. Rapid City Denver Cutthroats – Friday, October 19th vs. Missouri Missouri Mavericks – Saturday, November 3rd vs. Wichita Quad City Mallards – Saturday, October 27th vs. Tulsa Rapid City Rush – Friday, October 26th vs. Denver Texas Brahmas – Friday, October 26th vs. Allen Tulsa Oilers – Friday, October 26th vs. Quad City Wichita Thunder – Friday, October 19th vs. Quad City 2012-13 Central Hockey League Schedule Highlights October 19th -The Denver Cutthroats will play their first game hosting the Missouri Mavericks in the first of back-to-back games (play Oct. 20th as well). October 26th -The Texas Brahmas and Allen Americans meet in the first of 18 meetings between the two rivals who are separated by just 40 miles. The Americans lead the all-time series with a 20-7-4 record. -The Quad City Mallards and Tulsa Oilers play a home-in-home series with each team playing in the home opener for the other (the Oilers BOK opener is on Oct. 26th and the Flock’s home opener is on Oct. 27th). -The Denver Cutthroats play at the Rapid City Rush for the first time in what should be an instant rivalry. The clubs play a total of 16 times throughout the season. November 2nd -The Quad City Mallards and Bloomington Blaze meet in the first of 18 match-ups on the season. The Flock owned the season series in 2011-12 winning seven of the nine contests. November 7th -In a re-match of last season’s Berry Conference Finals, the Texas Brahmas host the Wichita Thunder in Texas. The Thunder won last year’s best-of-7 series, four games to two. November 11th -The Missouri Mavericks host the Tulsa Oilers on Veteran’s Day in the first of nine meetings on the season. The Mavs lead the all-time series 19-5-3 and won eight of the nine contests last season. November 17th -Better mark this one on the calendar as it is the first time the Mavs and Rush battle. Missouri has had a nice off-season in signing several former Rapid City stars including forwards Colt King and Derek LeBlanc. Jamie VanderVeeken, David Simoes and Blake Forsyth are all current Mavs and all once patrolled the blue line in Rapid City. December 31st -The final night of play in 2012 sees five games with the Mallards playing at the Americans, the Thunder playing at the Brahmas, the Blaze playing at the Sundogs, the Oilers playing at the Mavericks and the Cutthroats playing at the Rush. January 25th -The Quad City Mallards travel to Arizona for the only time on the season and will not only battle the Sundogs but a pair of ex-netminder as Adam Russo and David Brown appear to be the cornerstones in net for the Sundogs. Russo played with the Flock in 2010-11 and Brown played parts of the past two seasons in Quad City. The duo both signed with Arizona in the off-season. March 24th -The Wichita Thunder host the Missouri Mavericks in what could be a huge game and the 330th and final contest of the CHL’s regular season. The Thunder advanced to the CHL Finals last season and the Mavs made it to the conference finals. The entire schedule is available on www.centralhockeyleague.com .   Contact comments@prohockeynews.com
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GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Central Hockey League announced on Tuesday that two former CHL officials have been signed to National Hockey League (NHL) contracts for the 2012-13 season. Those officials are linesman John Grandt and referee Jon McIsaac.  “The CHL is very proud of both John’s and Jon’s accomplishments and the rapid rate in which they have climbed through the officiating ranks,” Jim Wiley, CHL Director of Hockey Operations said. “They both have tremendous work ethics and their appointments reflect and reward that hard work.”

Grandt has been a full-time official in the CHL for the past three season and during each campaign, worked his way to the CHL Finals. This past season, Grandt not only worked Game 1 of the CHL Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup Finals between Fort Wayne and Wichita, but also was appointed to the lines in Game’s 1 and 2 of the AHL’s Calder Cup Finals between Norfolk and Toronto. “The past three seasons in the CHL have played a major role in my development as an official,” Grandt said. “The excellent supervision and opportunities provided by Bryan Lewis, Jim Wiley, Wayne Bonney and the rest of the CHL supervisory team, both current and previous, have provided me with this excellent opportunity. Each of these individuals does a great job working with the officiating team, preparing us for the next level of professional hockey and I cannot thank them enough for that.” Other CHL accomplishments for Grandt include working seven CHL Presidents’ Cup Finals games over the past three seasons and working the 2011 CHL All-Star Game in Rapid City, South Dakota. Before joining the CHL, Grandt worked in the USA Hockey Junior Development Program doing games in the United States Hockey League. “The Central Hockey League is very pleased with the National Hockey League’s hiring of CHL Linesman John Grandt,” Bryan Lewis, CHL Referee-in-Chief said.  “His dedication and hard work, along with his receptiveness to his supervisors, have combined to enable John to achieve his ultimate officiating goal, the National Hockey League. The CHL Officiating Department is excited for John and wishes him all the best as he accepts his next officiating challenge.”    Additionally, former CHL referee Jon McIsaac was also given an NHL contract.  McIsaac worked was named a CHL full-time official in 2009 and like Grandt, worked in the 2011 CHL All-Star Game in Rapid City. The Truro, Nova Scotia native worked the CHL Finals in 2010 and 2011. Prior to joining the CHL, McIsaac worked six seasons in the QMJHL. Grandt and McIsaac join David Banfield, Gord Dwyer, Frederick L’Ecuyer, Mark Lemelin and David Brisebois as former full-time CHL officials that were hired into the NHL in past seasons. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter (@prohockeynews)