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CHL Announces 2008-09 All-CHL Team
The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today the six member All-CHL team for the 2008-09 season, selected through balloting of all 16 head coaches. Making the team as forwards are Colorado’s Riley Nelson and Kevin Ulanski along with Odessa’s Sebastien Thinel. The defensemen are Bossier-Shreveport’s Dale Lupul and Colorado’s Aaron Schneekloth and the goaltender is Mississippi’s Kevin Beech.
The Northwest Division winning Eagles land three members on the team including one of the five Most Valuable Player finalist Nelson who is tied for third in the league with 80 points (29-51=80) and is third as well with a +32 plus/minus rating. Joining Nelson as one of the forwards is first-year Eagles Ulanski who is second in the CHL with 82 points (24-58=82) and second with a +37 plus/minus rating. The final Eagle is Schneekloth who makes the All-CHL Team for the second consecutive season. He is tied for fourth among defensemen with 51 points (17-34=51) and leads the league with a +38 plus/minus rating. He is one of the five finalists for the CHL’s Most Outstanding Defensemen award.
The other forward is the league’s leading scorer Thinel who is 13 points ahead of Ulanksi in the race for the Joe Burton Scoring Championship. The veteran Jackalope forward has 95 points (37-58=95) and his 37 goals are also tops in the league.
The second defenseman on the team is Lupul who in his fourth professional season is posting career high numbers with 48 points (12-36=48). He ranks seventh among CHL defensemen in points.
Beech earns All-CHL honors with his 35-10-3 record. He leads the league with 35 wins and is tied for the league lead with three shutouts. He ranks third with a 2.37 goals against average and has gone 15-0-2 since the end of January leading the RiverKings to the Northeast Division Championship. The CHL record for wins in a season is 39 set in the 1998-99 season by Huntsville Derek Puppa.
2008-2009 All-CHL Team
F: Kevin Ulanski, Colorado Eagles
F: Riley Nelson, Colorado Eagles
F: Sebastien Thinel, Odessa Jackalopes
D: Dale Lupul, Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs
D: Aaron Schneekloth, Colorado Eagles
G: Kevin Beech, Mississippi RiverKings
Colorado’s Aaron Schneekloth Named CHL’s Most Outstanding Defenseman
The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today that Aaron Schneekloth of the Colorado Eagles has been named the recipient of the 2008-09 Central Hockey League’s Most Outstanding Defenseman award. The honor is ‘presented annually to the Central Hockey League defenseman who has demonstrated the greatest all-round ability in the position’ and is determined through balloting of CHL head coaches, communications departments and selected media members in each market. Amarillo’s Sam Ftorek finished second in the voting.
The Calgary, Alberta native is tied for third among defensemen in points with 52 (17-35=52) and is tied for the league lead with a +38 plus/minus rating. Last year, Schneekloth finished second in the voting to New Mexico’s Vladimir Hartinger and he earned a spot on the All-CHL team in each of the last two seasons. The veteran defenseman has been an even or plus in 48 of the 62 games he has played in this season.
The seventh-year pro has experienced the greatest success in his career with the Eagles scoring 49 goals with 109 assists in 168 games. The former college star at North Dakota has played in 64 career American Hockey League games seeing action with Grand Rapids and Houston.
The recipient of the CHL’s Most Outstanding Goaltender award will be announced later today, with the CHL Most Valuable Player award selection announced Monday, March 23rd, in conjunction with the winner of the Joe Burton Scoring Champion award. Already announced earlier this week were the recipients of CHL Athletic Trainer of the Year (Rocky Mountain’s Osama Kassab), CHL Gunner Garrett Equipment Manager of the Year (Rapid City’s Shawn Smith), CHL Coach of the Year (Mississippi’s Kevin Kaminski), Rick Kozuback Award (Tulsa’s Jeff Lund), CHL Rookie of the Year (Laredo’s Darryl Smith) and CHL Man of the Year (Amarillo’s Austin Sutter) honors, along with both the 2008-2009 All-CHL and All-Rookie teams.
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