A Texas CHL Update
Well, the CHL playoffs have been going for about a week now, and the higher-ranked Texas CHL teams (Texas, Odessa, Laredo) are starting to get into the mix now. For those who are following closely, please excuse my “Late-to-the-Party” appearance, but I haven’t gotten a chance to chime in until now.
I missed talking about the Rio Grande Valley/Corpus Christi series, and I am sorry I didn’t get to, because it was a great series. RGV took the series, 2 games to 1, but it was a closely contested battle the whole way. RGV has gone on to play the Texas Brahmas now, and the #1 team in the league during regular season is showing why they earned that ranking – they lead the Killer Bees 2 games to 0 in that series. In those 2 games Texas has played, Jason Deitsch has 5 points (2G, 3A) and has been a key to their offense. RGV has 5 players in the top 10 in scoring. It helps that they’ve played more games than many teams, but they’ve also had some break-out nights. Nathan Ansell leads them in points with 7 points, all of them assists. Ansell was missing from Sunday’s game against Texas, which the Killer Bees dropped 5-4. Top RGV goal scorer, Grant Goeckner-Zoeller, has 4 goals amongst 6 points. Also noteworthy – RGV signed college amateur Brennan Sarazin from R.I.T on Sunday. In his pro debut later that night, he scored a goal and had an assist. Talk about immediate impact!
The other big Texas CHL series going on right now is the Odessa Jackalopes against the Laredo Bucks. The Jacks always seem to come up short against the Bucks in the playoffs, and it looks to be happening again this year. Despite the #2 overall seeding in the playoffs, the Jacks have squandered their home-ice advantage, and are heading down to Laredo behind 0-2 in the series. The key this year, it seems, is first period scoring. Odessa starts out behind the 8-ball, and can never get out from behind it. They’ve been outscored 5-0 in two first periods they’ve played thus far. An early lead is a powerful thing to get, and Terry Ruskowski doesn’t let his Bucks squander it, it seems. The other key factor would appear to be special teams: The Jacks had the league’s best power play percentage during the regular season (22.3%), but are 0-for-13 in the 2 games they’ve played against the Bucks. If Odessa can’t get their power play working, especially when Laredo is giving them so many opportunities, then the Bucks will be looking at another playoff win against the Jackalopes.
Is anyone going to the games? Let me know, as I’d love to have some impressions of the game first-hand, and would really love to see if you have any pictures. E-mail me or comment on here!