Around the League

As per usual during the regular season, the CHL announced Player and Goaltender of the Week honors this afternoon. They have been awarded to Corpus Christi IceRays center Chris Richards (apparently Hockey DB has not started reflecting the name change just yet) and the Odessa Jackalopes' Juha Toivonen, respectively.

Bob Hoffman's press release does not appear to be online yet, so I'm going to copy and paste from the e-mail he sent:

Corpus Christi’s Chris Richards and Odessa’s Juha Toivonen Earn Weekly Awards

The Central Hockey League announced today that the recipients for the Oakley CHL Player and Goaltender of the Week for the period ending October 19^th, 2008 are center Chris Richards of the Corpus Christi IceRays and goaltender Juha Toivonen of the Odessa Jackalopes.

Richards led the IceRays to a 12-3 win over the Tulsa Oilers in their only game of the week. The Cornwall, Ontario native scored four goals and added three assists leading the league in scoring despite playing just the one game. He also finished the game with a +4 plus/minus rating. The seven-point game matches a career high for the veteran center who had four goals and three assist on February 1^st, 2007 while a member of the Youngstown SteelHounds. The 5-10, 180-pound forward was one of the biggest off-season signings in the league after recording 278 points over his last three seasons (all with the SteelHounds).

Toivonen went 2-0 this past weekend making 46 saves on 49 shots (.939 save percentage) in the two road victories versus the defending CHL Champion Arizona Sundogs. The rookie made 22 saves in the Jacks 7-2 victory on opening night and 27 saves in the team’s 3-1 win the following night. The Hattula, Finland native was a member of the 2005 Team Finland club that played in the Under 18 World Junior Championships. The 21-year-old has the Jacks one of five teams that have started the season 2-0.

In recognition of their achievement, both Richards and Toivonen will receive a pair of Oakley sunglasses.

Oakley CHL Player of the Week
Chris Richards, Corpus Christi IceRays
Position: C

(Weekly Totals)
Games Played: 1
Goals: 4
Assists: 3
Points: 7
Plus/Minus: +4

Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week
Juha Toivonen, Odessa Jackalopes
Position: G
(Weekly Totals)
Games Played: 2

Record: 2-0-0
GAA: 1.50
Save %: .939
Saves: 46 of 49

In other news around the league, the Jackalopes have been forced to make some roster changes following an impressive 2-0 start against the defending champion Sundogs, as forward Jean Bourbeau has been called up to the AHL after playing just two professional games.

Meanwhile, it seems that the Bucks have decided to join in on all the fun in the blogosphere. Here is the link to the team's blogging home. Only Bryan Benway has posted so far; you can read his first entry here.

Some other CHL blogs that I've yet to mention include Kollen Long's Wichita Thunder blog for the Wichita Eagle and Alex Mansfield's New Mexico Scorpions blog. I am in the process of figuring out the best way to link these on the sidebar of this page.

For those of you who are curious about the new IceRays' sweaters you'll be seeing this season, Greg Rajan has a first look at their three options. I have to agree with all the comments on that post; the black ones are pretty cool.

There were no CHL games yesterday, but in the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks collected their second win of the season with a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks and the Carolina Hurricanes topped the Anaheim Ducks 3-1.

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins are in Boston, where they practice at my alma mater's arena, to take on the Bruins; the Dallas Stars are at the New York Rangers; the Florida Panthers are at the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche are at the Los Angeles Kings.

Speaking of BU, it's a shame they lost to New Hampshire this weekend; with Boston College falling to Northeastern, the Terriers could have had a real shot at taking over the No. 1 spot in the next few weeks. They only fell one spot with the loss, so I guess it's not that bad..