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LAREDO -- The South Texas squad was led by the Sher-Wood/TPS Most Valuable Player, rookie forward Sean Muncy from Rio Grande Valley who finished the game with two goals and two assists leading all players with four points. The CHL All-Star player that earned their Sher-Wood/TPS Most Valuable Player award was Odessa goaltender Joel Martin who stopped 27 of 28 shots in the first period and left the game with a 2-1 lead.

The game format featured a team of all-stars from South Texas (players from Laredo, Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley) taking on a CHL All-Star team.

The star of the early going was Martin who leads the CHL with a 2.26 goals against average and it showed. He made three huge saves in the game’s first four minutes and then at the 14:50 mark robbed hometown heroes Jeff Bes and Darryl Smith on consecutive shots. The South Texas team registered 11 of the game’s first 12 shots.

It was the 13th shot however that struck gold as the Colorado Eagles connection gave the CHL All-Stars an early 1-0 lead. Defenseman Aaron Schneekloth scored the goal, , as he drove the net and teammate Riley Nelson fed him for his first all-star goal and fifth all-star point in his fourth appearance. Nelson and Kevin Ulanski (Colorado) drew the assists at the 6:09 mark of the first period.

The CHL made it 2-0 thanks to a laser shot from Arizona defenseman Jon Landry, playing in his first CHL All-Star game, that beat Rio Grande Valley goaltender Andy Franck high on the glove side. For Franck, it was his third straight all-star start (a CHL record). Allen’s two all-stars, Bruce Graham and Justin Bowers earned the assists at the 8:05 mark.

Martin seemed invincible until there was a minute and a half remaining in the period as he turned away 25 straight shots before Darryl Smith (Laredo) beat him just under the crossbar for his second career all-star goal. Corpus Christi’s Kyle Peto and Justin Quenneville had the assists.

The score ended up 2-1 after the first 20 minutes with Martin stealing the show with 27 saves, some of which were acrobatic getting the crowd out of their seats. The 27 saves by Martin and 28 shots by the South Texas team both were the most in a single period since the CHL/WPHL merger.

South Texas tied the score quickly in the second period when Corpus Christi’s Jereme Tendler found a small opening top shelf beating Bossier-Shreveport’s Ken Carroll making the score 2-2. Ryan Garbutt (Corpus Christi) drew the lone helper at the 2:01 mark of the period.

Shortly thereafter, the South Texas squad took their first lead thanks to a nifty play that saw Evan Schwabe (Laredo) tuck a shot by Carroll that eventual ricochet off an opponent stick and across the line. Peto earned the only assist for his second point of the game at the 5:46 mark of the second period.

Franck left the game for the South Texas team at the midway point of the period after stopping 14 of 16 shots and sitting in line for the win.

Before the end of the period, RGV’s Sean Muncy scored his first if two on the night, assisted by Peto and Quenneville, at the 18:33 mark of the second period making the score 4-2 after 40 minutes of play.

Carroll finished his all-star time with 13 saves on 16 shots.

Compared to the first two periods, the flood gates opened in the final frame as seven total goals were scored.

Muncy scored his second of the game and the eventual game winner just 1:21 into the period with Grant Goeckner-Zoeller notching the lone assist making the score 5-2. It was the first of three points in the final period for Goeckner-Zoeller.

South Texas started stretching their lead midway through the final period as a one-timer from Jesse Bennefield made the score 6-2 with Goeckner-Zoeller and Jason Tessier earning the assists.

Garbutt got into the goal game at the 11:10 mark as the blowout was on. Quenneville and Muncy drew the assists on the goal that made the score 7-2. The interesting thing about Garbutt’s goal is that it came on the power play as Tulsa’s T.J. Caig was whistled for tripping resulting in the only penalty of the game.

The two teams exchanged goals as the period wound down with Caig and Jeff Christian (Missouri) scoring goals for the CHL All-Stars and Laredo’s Jeff Bes and Goeckner-Zoeller scoring for the South Texas team.

Kevin Nastiuk (Corpus Christi) finished his half-game with 19 saves on 21 shots and Rapid City’s Danny Battochio finished his period of play turning aside 14 of 19 shots.
Peto (0-3=3), Quenneville (0-3=3) and Goeckner-Zoeller (1-2=3) all finished with three points in the game.

The final shots on goal reflected the score as South Texas out-gunned the CHL All-Stars 63-37