Dashney Fired

Merlin · Fresh meat Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Lubbock

Story last updated at 1:56 a.m. Monday, February 12, 2007
Dashney fired after Kings' win
BY ADAM ZUVANICH
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Bobby Brown's late goal Sunday may have helped the Lubbock Cotton Kings snap a three-game home winless streak, but it didn't help save his coach's job.

Cotton Kings coach Chris Dashney was fired following the game, team spokesman Chris Due confirmed late Sunday. A formal announcement by the team is expected today.

Dashney was in his third season with the Cotton Kings after joining the franchise in 2004. The Navan, Ontario, native was a former Central Hockey League all-star defensemen and spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma City before coming to Lubbock.

His Cotton Kings tenure started with a bang as he led the team to its first division title in six years en route to being named the CHL Coach of the Year. The Cotton Kings were later eliminated in the Southern Conference semifinals by Amarillo.

Last season, the Cotton Kings failed to advance to the playoffs and finished with a 27-31-6 record. They got off to a better start this season but have struggled mightily as of late, losing four of their last 16 games.

The tough stretch has dropped the Cotton Kings to fourth place in the Southwest Division, 14 points behind first-place New Mexico.

Brown made sure Dashney's final game with the Cotton Kings would be a victorious one when he stuffed a wraparound shot past Arizona goaltender Kris Mayotte to give the Cotton Kings to a 3-2 victory at City Bank Coliseum

"For once, we didn't hang our heads," said Brown, who also scored in the second period. "That's happened so many times where they get a lucky goal to tie the game, and we've kind of (said), 'Oh, geez, here we go again.' But we didn't. We stuck with it, and we didn't hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves on the bench."

The back-and-forth win continued a bizarre trend for the Cotton Kings, who improved to 6-0-1 this season when playing for the third consecutive day. They're a combined 2-11-1 in the first two games of a three-in-three set, which is one of the reasons they're tied for last place in the Southern Conference.

"I don't know what that is," said rookie center Simon Watson, who scored a shorthanded goal for the second straight game. "I guess it might be focusing on our game plan a little bit more. After you lose two you're itching to win, and we were itching for a win tonight."

Brown and Watson accounted for all of Lubbock's offense, and rookie goaltender J.F. Perras sparked the defense with 42 saves. The 25-year-old all-star looked sharp from the onset, helping the Cotton Kings kill all six of Arizona's power plays and overcome a 44-26 disadvantage in shots on goal.

"A lot of the shots were perimeter shots, and that's what coach (Chris Dashney) has been trying to have us do is give up shots on the outside," said Perras, who has played in each of Lubbock's last 10 victories. "They had a lot of good chances, too, but tonight was our night."

The Sundogs (20-24-1) dominated the first seven minutes of the game, out-shooting Lubbock 11-2, but Perras made save after save to keep them off the board. Then, with Arizona on the power play at the 7:44 mark of the opening period, Watson scored his team-leading third shorthanded goal of the season.

The 26-year-old all-star intercepted a pass at the blue line, skated in uncontested and beat Arizona goalie Chris King with a nifty move to his right, extending his point streak to four games. It was Watson's 21st goal of the season, which ranks second among Central Hockey League rookies.

Arizona tied the game only 1:04 into the second period, when winger David Svagrovsky skated down the left side, skirted a Lubbock defender and beat Perras with a wrist shot to the stick side.

To comment on this story:

adam.zuvanich@lubbockonline.com 766-8733

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LUBBOCK 3, ARIZONA 2

Arizona 0 1 1 - 2

Lubbock 1 1 1 - 3

First period-1, Lubbock, Watson 21, 7:44 (sh). Penalties-Callahan, Lub (tripping), 1:18. Sellan, Ariz (charging), 1:18. Scott, Lub (hooking), 7:00. Bartolone, Ari (hooking), 11:03. Bartolone, Ari (unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:03. Strome, Lub (delay of game), 11:42. Campbell, Ari (delay of game), 11:42. Greene, Ari (hooking), 13:19. Neal, Lub (interference), 18:54. Bianchi, Lub (roughing), 19:50. Sellan, Ari (roughing), 19:50.

Second period-2, Arizona, Svagrovsky 5 (Laperriere), 1:04. 3, Lubbock, Brown 13 (Lacasse, Minard), 16:46 (pp). Penalties-Landry, Ari (tripping), 2:18. Levesque, Lub (hooking), 6:50. Leonov, Ari (slashing), 7:49. Callahan, Lub (interference), 12:02. Greene, Ari, bench minor (too many men), 15:11. Bianchi, Lub (tripping), 18:12. Laperriere, Ari (hooking), 18:52.

Third period-4, Arizona, Svagrovsky 6 (Bartolone, Campbell), 10:53. 5, Lubbock, Brown 14 (Strome), 15:12. Penalties-Campbell, Ari (holding), 5:14. Callahan, Lub (roughing), 7:33. Lizotte, Ari (roughing), 7:33. Scott, Lub (delay of game), 10:14. Greene, Ari (delay of game), 10:14. Hobson, Lub (holding), 17:13.

Shots on goal-Arizona 18-13-13 44. Lubbock 7-5-14 26.

Power plays-Arizona 0 of 6. Lubbock 1 of 8.

Goalies-Arizona, King (10 shots-8 saves); Mayotte 6-10-1 (16 shots-15 saves). Lubbock, Perras 11-11-2 (44 shots-42 saves).

A-2,437. T-2:30.

Referee-Ian Croft. Linesmen-Rich Walters, Scott Topping.

**dfwbat** · Gross Misconduct Joined: 11 Feb 2007 Posts: 1160

OMG! Bobby Brown can skate? And play hockey?

I thought all he did was smoke crack and beat on Whitney...

:

saaha · Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:30 pm Post subject:

OK, so who is the new head coach, or is the AC taking over the rest of the season.

CottonKingFanatic · Two for cheating Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 66

Will be announced tomorrow, word is its an asst. from the NHL 15 years exp. from what Due said on the cafe today.