Central Hockey League: Conference Finals Schedule & Preview

With Game 7 of the Allen Americans and Laredo Bucks wrapping up last night. It's finally time for the CHL Conference Finals to get underway as the Rapid City Rush & Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs have been on long layoffs as the teams finished off sweeps back on April 1 and 2.

As both teams are fresh and have had a chance to take a look at their foes as the 1st round sweeps could be a factor when the Presidents Cup Championship starts up that could give the Northern Conference Champions at least an advantage in being fresh and not being as banged up.

The Southern Conference has the best offense against the best record as the Jackalopes finished the Regular Season in the last several years as Odessa had 101 points. But had a slow start against the Texas Brahmas where they lost the first 2, only to comeback to win 4 straight to win the series in 6.

Allen will have to battle lack of rest of prep time for the Americans as they will only get one travel day to get ready for the Jackalopes as the Americans will be playing their 3rd game in 4 days in these playoffs.


Northern Conference Final

#1 Rapid City Rush VS. #3 Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs

Rapid City Road to the Ray Morin Presidents Cup

Regular Season Record: 43-14-7 93 PTS, 253 GF 197 GA

Northern Semifinals VS. Missouri: Game 1 5-1 W, Game 2 2-1 W, Game 3 4-1 W, 7-6 OTW

Rapid City Scoring Leaders
Les Reaney 4 GP 9 PTS (3G 6A, +5)
Rich Hansen 4 GP 7 PTS (2G 5A, +4)
Jon Pelle 4 GP 6 PTS (3G 3A, +3)


Rapid City Goaltending
Danny Battochio 4 GP 4-0 2.23 GAA .936 SV%


Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Road to the Presidents Cup

Regular Season Record: 38-22-4 80 PTS, 213 GF 180 GA

Northern Semifinals VS. Colorado: Game 1 4-3 OTW, Game 2 4-3 W, Game 3 3-1 W, Game 4 4-2 W

Bossier-Shreveport Scoring Leaders
Shawn Limpright 4 GP 5 PTS (3G 2A, +2)
David Pszenyczny 4 GP 4 PTS (3G 1A, +4)
Travis Clayton 4 GP 4 PTS (3G 1A, +2)


Bossier-Shreveport Goaltending
Ken Carroll 3 GP 3-0 2.17 GAA .935 SV%
John Decarlo 2 GP 1-0 2.42 GAA .927 SV%


This Series will be using the 2-3-2 Format

All Rapid City Rush Home Games are @ Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

All Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Home Games are @ Century Tel Center


Game 1, 4/10: @ Rapid City 8:05 PM

Game 2, 4/11: @ Rapid City 6:05 PM

Game 3, 4/14: @ Bossier-Shreveport 7:05 PM

Game 4, 4/16: @ Bossier-Shreveport 7:05 PM

Game 5, 4/17: @ Bossier-Shreveport 7:05 PM*

Game 6, 4/20: @ Rapid City 7:35 PM*

Game 7, 4/21: @ Rapid City 7:35 PM*

*If Necessary


Southern Conference Final

#1 Odessa Jackalopes VS. #2 Allen Americans

Odessa Jackalopes Road to the Presidents Cup

Regular Season Record: 48-11-5 101 PTS, 269 GF 187 GA

Southern Semifinals VS. Texas: Game 1 2-5 L, Game 2 2-3 OTL, Game 3 6-3 W, Game 4 5-1 W, Game 5 2-1 W, Game 6 5-4 OTW


Odessa Scoring Leaders
Sebastien Thinel 6 GP 12 PTS (5G 7A, +7)
Jeff Pierce 6 GP 10 PTS (4G 6A, +6)
Collin Circelli 6 GP 7 PTS (2G 5A, +5)

Odessa Goaltending
Juha Toivonen 4 GP 3-0 2.46 GAA .921 SV%
Joel Martin 3 GP 1-2 2.97 GAA .882 SV%


Allen Americans Road to the Presidents Cup

Regular Season Record: 42-17-5 89 PTS, 210 GF 183 GA

Southern Semifinals VS. Laredo: Game 1 3-4 L, Game 2 3-2 W, Game 3 4-1 W, Game 4 3-4 L, Game 5 1-5 L, Game 6 3-2 W, Game 7 4-1 W


Allen Scoring Leaders
Nino Musitelli 7 GP 9 PTS (4G 5A, +1)
Bruce Graham 7 GP 9 PTS (3G 6A, +3)
Justin Bowers 7 GP 9 PTS (3G 6A, -2)

Allen Goaltending
Chris Whitley 7 GP 4-3 2.53 GAA .909 SV%
David Mckee 1 GP 0-0 3.25 GAA .857 SV%


This Series will be a 2-3-2 format for this series.

All Odessa Jackalopes Home Games are @ Ector County Coliseum

All Allen Americans Home Games are @ Allen Event Center

Game 1, 4/9: @ Odessa 7:05 PM

Game 2, 4/10: @ Odessa 7:05 PM

Game 3, 4/14: @ Allen 7:30 PM

Game 4, 4/16: @ Allen 7:30 PM

Game 5, 4/17: @ Allen 7:30 PM*

Game 6, 4/19: @ Odessa 7:05 PM*

Game 7, 4/21: @ Odessa 7:05 PM*

*If Necessary

3 unaswered goals for Laredo tie the series at 2-2

From the Central Hockey League Website: http://www.centralhockeyleague.com/

The Laredo Bucks beat the Allen Americans 4-3 Thursday Night in Game four of the Central Hockey League Southern Conference Semifinals at Laredo Energy Arena. The best of 7 series is tied at two games apiece with a pivotal game five in Laredo.

Pier Pelletier stopped 37 of 40 shots he faced and Todd Griffith had two goals to help the Bucks snap a five-game home playoff losing streak. The Bucks last home playoff win was April 25, 2008 against the Arizona Sundogs.

Laredo was out-shot in the game 40-28.

The Americans jumped out on top very quickly as they tallied a shorthanded goal just 1:05 into the contest. Jarret Larkin jammed in a rebound from the bottom of the left faceoff circle to pick up his 1st goal of the playoffs.

The Bucks would strike back for two goals in a span of 10 minutes to take a 2-1 lead after the first period. Laredo improves to 10-8 in game four of a playoff series.

Brent Cullaton would tie the game at 1-1 at the 3:27 mark of the first when he streaked down the left side of the ice and hammered in a wrist shot from the top of the circle. The goal was Cullaton's first tally of the CHL Playoffs since April 27, 2006 where the Bucks won game two of the CHL President's Cup Final over Bossier-Shreveport. Cullaton has 13 career CHL Playoff Goals.

Laredo took a 2-1 lead with 6:33 left in the first period when Griffith jammed in a rebound from the bottom of the left circle to pick up his third goal of the playoffs. The Bucks were out-shot 15-12 in the first period.

Laredo took a 3-1 lead as they scored their first power play goal of the series 1:20 into the 2nd period. Neil Trimm jammed in a shot from the right side of the crease to pick up his third goal of the playoffs. Trimm scored a goal in games one and two.

Allen would cut the lead to 3-2 when Erik Adams scored on a laser slap shot from the top of the right circle 4:57 into the 2nd. The strike was Adam's third in the series and his second in as many games.

The Bucks would increase their lead to 4-2 with 3:39 left in the 2nd period when they struck on the power-play again. Griffith scored his 2nd goal of the game and his fourth of the playoffs with a rifle from the slot. Griffith now has six career playoff goals. Each team put up 11 shots in the 2nd period.

Colton Yellow Horn cut the Bucks lead to 4-3 with 6:02 in the third period when he scored from the bottom of the right circle. Yellow Horn now has two goals in the series. The Americans pulled their goaltender for the final 1:48 of the third period to try and tie the game but Laredo held on to tie the series. Laredo was out-shot 14-5 in the third period. Chris Whitley suffered the loss as he stopped 24 of 28 shots in the contest.

With both teams tied at 2-2, the series will go at least 6 games with each team playing at least one more home game in this series. Game 5 will be in Laredo tomorrow night while Game 6 will be in Allen on April 6.


Series is Tied from 2-2.

Game Boxscore

Allen Americans 3 Laredo Bucks 4 (1-2, 1-2, 1-0)

1-0 ALN: Jarrett Lukin (SH) (Unassisted) 1:05 1st

1-1 LAR: Brent Cullaton (Rivet, Bes) 3:19 1st

1-2 LAR: Todd Griffith (Schwabe, Deschatelets) 13:27 1st

1-3 LAR: Neil Trimm (PP) (Schawbe, Rivet) 1:20 2nd

2-3 ALN: Erik Adams (Salekin, ONabigon) 4:57 2nd

2-4 LAR: Todd Griffith (PP) (Schwabe) 16:21 2nd

3-4 ALN: Colton Yellow Horn (Lukin, Whelan) 13:58 3rd


Game Stats

SOG: ALN 40 LAR 28

PP: ALN 0/5 LAR 2/6

PIM: ALN 25 Minutes on 7 Penalties LAR 12 Minutes on 6 Penalties

Goalies: ALN Chris Whitley 24 SVS on 28 Shots LAR Pier-Olivier Pelletier 37 SVS on 40 Shots

ATT: 3112

3rd Star: Jarrett Lukin (ALN)

2nd Star: Evan Schwabe (LAR)

1st Star: Todd Griffith (LAR)