Professional Standings as of 1/11

National Hockey League

With just a month till the Olympic Break, the midway point of the season has some interesting surprises in the West as teams like Nashville, Colorado and Phoenix would be in while others like Dallas, Detroit and Anaheim would be out of the playoff picture right now. Just like the East, San Jose and Chicago are expected to fight it out for the Top Spot in the Conference and possibly the Presidents Cup Title for the Home Ice Advantage throughout the playoffs.

As for the 3rd Place Calgary Flames, they will be in the best Division Race as the Flames lead but the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche are just 1 point back in the Division (Vancouver in 5th and Colorado in 6th). Every game between these 3 teams will be huge towards both the Division Championship and playoff seeding as these 3 will look to keep teams like Nashville and Los Angeles who are just behind them.

The Los Angeles Kings hold down the 8th and final spot while the Detroit Red Wings are just a point back and the Stars are 4 points back of the Final Playoff spot. However, Minnesota and Anaheim are starting to catchup to the Stars who loss ed the first of a 3 game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets and have been woeful on the road this season. If somebody like Dallas, Minnesota or Anaheim doesn't get on a hot streak before the Olympic Break, these teams may start beginning to drift away from the playoff spots.

Meanwhile in the Eastern Conference, The New Jersey Devils lead the East with the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals in 2nd and 3rd right now. Defending Cup Champion Pittsburgh in 4th is attempting to track down the Devils while the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals have some pretty comfy leads in their divisions right now as both teams lead by double digits. Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference.

The gap from 5th from 10th (Boston, NY Rangers, Ottawa, Montreal, Philadelphia and NY Islanders) where the gap is just 5 points separated right now as these teams will look to make up some room to catch the Penguins who are currently in the 4th and final spot for 1st round home ice when the league returns from the Olympic Break in Early March.

Unless New Jersey or Buffalo topple to give up their lead, expect the Devils and Sabres to possibly compete for the top seed in the East as Devils goalie Martin Brodeur continues to set all sorts of goalie records as he is beginning to cement his legacy as the leagues best goalie of all time.

American Hockey League

Two teams that got off to great starts are starting to fade somewhat as the Texas Stars have lost their lead in the West they have held onto since the beginning of the season where they taken over by the Milwaukee Admirals.

For the Manchester Monarchs, the Atlantic Division Lead has been shrunk to 5 points as the Worcester Sharks and Lowell Devils have been on hot streak. For Manchester, a loss to Springfield gave them a wake up call who is last in the Atlantic Division where they had to comeback and gave up a 1-0 lead recently.

After the Monarchs, the gap between 2nd and 6th place is 5 points where the Portland Pirates who are in 5th would make the playoffs because they have a stronger record then the Adirondack Phantoms who are 4th in the East.

Speaking of the East, the defending champion Hershey Bears are opening up a 14 point lead over the Albany River Rats where winning 9 of their last 10 are starting to prove that they want to be in the race to defend the Calder Cup and at the moment would have home ice advantage through the entire playoffs right now.

Until someone can stop the Bears, it will be a race for 2nd in the East as the Albany River Rats have the 2nd spot and the W-B/Scranton Penguins have the 3rd spot. After that, the rest of the East is hoping that the Atlantic Division cools it jets since the 5th place team in the Atlantic could be in the post season if they have a stronger record then the 4th place team in the East. The good news for the East is that the bottom 4 spots are just separated by 2 points and if anyone can get into a 2nd half surge, they could easily get into the playoff race.

Like the East, the Hamilton Bulldogs up north are separating themselves in the pack as the Bulldogs have won 7 of their last 8 and are a perfect 4 for 4 on the current 7 game homestand. The Bulldogs have 2 games against the Lake Erie Monsters and a match against the Rochester Americans to end the home stand before a 7 game road trip starting on 1/16 against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The rest of the North continues to be very competitive as the Rochester Americans, Manitoba Moose and Abbotsford Heat are just 3 points apart which separate 2nd through 4th place and the Grand Rapids Griffins are just 4 points back, but winning just 2 of their last 10 have them concerned going into the All Star Break could have them concerned with a surging Lake Erie Monsters is looking to take them over.

Finally in the West Division, the Texas Stars have lost their division lead after a bad December and not being able to find their grove into the New Year has them in 2nd and may lose a lot more as the Rockford, Houston and Peoria all looking to take advantage. From top to bottom, the West is shaping up to be the Toughest Division with the entire gap being just 11 points right now.

Central Hockey League

Heading into the All Star Game which is on Wednesday night as the Rapid City Rush have caught the Colorado Eagles with being one of the hottest teams in the North. Going into the All Star Game, leading scores Les Reaney and Scott Wray have lead the Rush to win 5 of their final 6 to end the first half of the season with the exception of a 4-2 loss back on Saturday at home against Shreveport. For Colorado, the Eagles go into the break losing 5 of their last 6 including a loss to the Rapid City Rush back on December 27.

Elsewhere in the North, it's a very tough battle from 3rd through 6th as the gap is just 6 points right now as the Tulsa Oilers look to overcome a couple of dreadful years recently as they sit in 5th.

For the Expansion Missouri Mavericks, they have been able to stay in the race where Jeff Christian has helped them with 17 goals while help from players like Bill Vandermeer and Jeff Macdermid have the team in 6th, but just 2 points back of 5th place Tulsa as the Mavericks have 19 home games which is one of the heaviest home schedules left in the regular season after a 14 game road trip to start the season.

This includes a 6 game home stand in early Feb. which includes two games against Tulsa and one against Bossier-Shreveport which will be huge towards the Mavericks chances of making the playoffs in the teams first season.

Easily the biggest surprise has been the success of the Allen Americans as they have a strong footing in 2nd place. They are 7 points back of Odessa for the Conference Lead, but 9 points ahead of the 3rd place and Local Rival Texas Brahmas.

Leading the way for Allen is Justin Bowers and Bryce Graham who are in the top 5 of scoring leaders in the Central Hockey League. After Odessa and Allen, the gap from 3rd thru 7th is just 6 points where Corpus Christi and Amarillo have been on hot streaks to challenge the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and the Laredo Bucks are looking to hold on to the 4th and 5th playoff spots which would be the Southern Conference Play In Round.

National Hockey League

Eastern Conference

1. New Jersey 43 GP 31-11-1 63 PTS 126-94

2. Buffalo 44 GP 28-11-5 61 PTS 123-102

3. Washington 44 GP 27-11-6 60 PTS 162-121

4. Pittsburgh 46 GP 28-17-1 57 PTS 146-126

5. Boston 44 GP 22-15-7 51 PTS 114-107

6. NY Rangers 45 GP 22-17-6 50 PTS 120-122

7. Ottawa 46 GP 22-20-4 48 PTS 126-141

8. Montreal 47 GP 22-21-4 48 PTS 119-126

9. Philadelphia 43 GP 22-19-3 47 PTS 130-124

10. NY Islanders 46 GP 19-19-8 46 PTS 118-144

11. Atlanta 44 GP 19-19-6 44 PTS 137-149

12. Tampa Bay 43 GP 17-17-10 44 PTS 110-128

13. Florida 45 GP 18-20-7 43 PTS 128-140

14. Toronto 46 GP 15-22-9 39 PTS 123-160

15. Carolina 44 GP 13-24-7 33 PTS 110-152


Western Conference

1. Chicago 46 GP 31-11-4 66 PTS 152-102

2. San Jose 45 GP 28-10-7 63 PTS 147-117

3. Calgary 45 GP 26-14-5 57 PTS 123-108

4. Phoenix 46 GP 26-15-5 57 PTS 120-112

5. Vancouver 45 GP 27-16-2 56 PTS 145-109

6. Colorado 46 GP 25-15-6 56 PTS 135-132

7. Nashville 45 GP 26-16-3 55 PTS 128-127

8. Los Angeles 45 GP 25-17-3 53 PTS 134-128

9. Detroit 44 GP 23-15-6 52 PTS 115-110

10. Dallas 45 GP 19-15-11 49 PTS 128-141

11. Minnesota 45 GP 22-20-3 47 PTS 122-134

12. Anaheim 46 GP 20-19-7 47 PTS 129-143

13. Columbus 47 GP 18-20-9 45 PTS 124-154

14. St. Louis 44 GP 18-19-7 43 PTS 115-130

15. Edmonton 44 GP 16-23-5 37 PTS 121-147


American Hockey League


Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

1. Manchester 41 GP 25-11-5 55 PTS 113-90

2. Worcester 39 GP 24-13-2 50 PTS 123-117

3. Lowell 41 GP 23-15-3 49 PTS 134-114

4. Hartford 41 GP 21-15-5 47 PTS 118-116

5. Portland 40 GP 19-14-7 45 PTS 118-115

6. Bridgeport 41 GP 21-17-3 45 PTS 103-105

7. Providence 41 GP 19-20-2 40 PTS 101-112

8. Springfield 42 GP 11-21-10 32 PTS 98-148


East Division

1. Hershey 39 GP 29-8-2 60 PTS 149-84

2. Albany 40 GP 21-15-4 46 PTS 108-101

3. W-B/Scranton 39 GP 20-17-2 42 PTS 112-103

4. Adirondack 37 GP 17-18-2 36 PTS 85-110

5. Binghamton 37 GP 16-17-4 36 PTS 119-116

6. Norfolk 39 GP 16-21-2 34 PTS 98-111

7. Syracuse 39 GP 14-19-6 34 PTS 99-143


Western Conference

North Division

1. Hamilton 40 GP 26-9-5 57 PTS 129-85

2. Rochester 40 GP 23-15-2 48 PTS 128-121

3. Manitoba 41 GP 21-15-5 47 PTS 97-107

4. Abbotsford 41 GP 20-16-5 45 PTS 110-114

5. Grand Rapids 40 GP 20-19-1 41 PTS 129-136

6. Lake Erie 40 GP 17-19-4 38 PTS 113-118

7. Toronto 39 GP 15-17-7 37 PTS 98-136


West Division

1. Milwaukee 40 GP 22-12-6 50 PTS 115-111

2. Texas 40 GP 21-13-6 48 PTS 109-96

3. Rockford 43 GP 21-18-4 46 PTS 118-122

4. Houston 41 GP 19-15-7 45 PTS 108-104

5. Peoria 39 GP 20-15-4 44 PTS 117-116

6. Chicago 38 GP 20-16-2 42 PTS 115-106

7. San Antonio 38 GP 17-16-5 39 PTS 102-109


Central Hockey League

Northern Conference

1. Colorado 31 GP 21-7-3 45 PTS 134-94

2. Rapid City 32 GP 22-9-1 45 PTS 127-94

3. Bossier-Shreveport 33 GP 18-12-3 39 PTS 100-100

4. Mississippi 34 GP 17-13-4 38 PTS 108-110

5. Tulsa 32 GP 17-14-1 35 PTS 109-111

6. Missouri 34 GP 15-16-3 33 PTS 103-124

7. Wichita 33 GP 3-27-3 9 PTS 59-130


Southern Conference

1. Odessa 35 GP 26-6-3 55 PTS 146-93

2. Allen 33 GP 23-8-2 48 PTS 105-87

3. Texas 35 GP 17-13-5 39 PTS 103-103

4. Laredo 33 GP 15-11-7 37 PTS 106-112

5. Rio Grande Valley 33 GP 16-13-4 36 PTS 101-109

6. Amarillo 36 GP 14-16-6 34 PTS 109-131

7. Corpus Christi 34 GP 14-15-5 33 PTS 106-107

8. Arizona 34 GP 13-18-3 29 PTS 104-115