Notebook SteelHounds

Road trip: The SteelHounds’ final road trip of the season begins Friday at 9:05 p.m. with a game against the Rocky Mountain Rage (33-16-5). Saturday at 9:05 p.m., the SteelHounds (32-19-4) will play at Colorado (33-16-5). The trip ends Sunday with a 6:05 p.m. game against the Thunder in Wichita. “This is going to show us what we are made of,” SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski said. “This was a good weekend for us here, but it’s not going to get any easier.”
Final homestand: The regular season will end with six games against playoff contenders. The Laredo Bucks (37-17-3) will be at the Chevrolet Centre March 14-16. The March 14-15 games have 7:05 p.m. faceoffs while the March 16 game will begin at 4:05 p.m. Then Colorado, which is battling the Rage for the Northwest Division title, will be in Youngstown March 19 and March 21-22. All three games will begin at 7:05 p.m. The SteelHounds’ home record is 15-8-3. “There are three teams that you’d probably have to beat to win a championship,” said Joel Irving referring to the Eagles, Rage and Bucks. “It’s a positive because we get a look at them over the next couple of weeks and that could help prepare us when it comes time for the playoffs.”
Series: The SteelHounds are 4-0-0 against the Thunder this season. “It’s tough to beat any team three days in a row,” SteelHounds captain Chris Richards said. “We’ve got nine big games ahead of us so this is a big confidence booster for us.”
Playoff chase: The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (40-10-5) are running away with home-ice advantage for the Northern Conference. The winner of the Northwest Division (Colorado or Rocky Mountain) also will get a first-round bye and home-ice for the first playoff series. Chasing the SteelHounds are the Texas Brahmas (33-20-1) and Mississippi RiverKings (31-20-2).
Penalty leaders: The SteelHounds and Thunder lead the Central Hockey League in penalties and did nothing Sunday to allow anyone else to catch up. The Thunder took 12 penalties for 33 minutes, giving them 1,667 for the season. The SteelHounds were penalized 10 times for 37 minutes, giving them 1,668 to become the CHL leader.