1996-97 Huntsville Channel Cats Season

The 1996-97 Huntsville Channel Cats season was the 1st season in the Central Hockey League (CHL). The season began on Wednesday, October 16, 1996, with a home game in Huntsville against the Nashville Nighthawks.
==Regular season==
===Season standings===
Central Hockey League (CHL)East	GP	W 	L 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Huntsville Channel Cats 	66	39	24	3 	311	297	81
Macon Whoopee 	66	38	24	4 	276	237	80
Memphis Riverkings 	66	35	27	4 	278	260	74
Columbus Cottonmouths 	66	32	28	6 	292	291	70
Nashville Nighthawks 	66	12	52	2 	219	359	26
West 	GP	W 	L 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Oklahoma City Blazers	66	48	12	6 	307	200	102
Fort Worth Fire 	66	45	16	5 	279	210	95
Tulsa Oilers 	66	30	32	4 	286	284	64
Wichita Thunder 	66	25	31	10 	279	324	60
San Antonio Iguanas 	66	26	36	4 	261	326	56
===Game log===
====October====
Record:3-5-0 ; Home:2-1-0 ; Road:1-4-0 
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L/OTL	Decision
1	October 16	Nashville 	4-5 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
2	October 18	Huntsville	6-1 	Columbus 	W 	Seibel
3	October 19	Macon 	4-7 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
4	October 22	Huntsville	5-8 	Macon 	L 	Seibel
5	October 24	Columbus 	5-3 	Huntsville 	L 	Seibel
6	October 25	Huntsville	2-5 	Tulsa 	L 	Seibel
7	October 29	Huntsville	1-5 	San Antonio	L 	Seibel
8	October 31	Huntsville	4-6 	Columbus 	L 	Seibel
====November====
Record:5-5-2 ; Home:2-4-2 ; Road:3-1-0 
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L/OTL	Decision
9 	November 1 	Nashville 	3-6 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
10	November 2 	Memphis 	2-3 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
11	November 8 	Macon 	6-1 	Huntsville	L 	Seibel
12	November 9 	Macon 	4-3 	Huntsville	L 	Seibel
13	November 13	Huntsville	3-2 	Macon 	W 	Seibel
14	November 14	Memphis 	7-2 	Huntsville	L 	Seibel
15	November 15	Huntsville	7-3 	Memphis 	W 	Seibel
16	November 21	Memphis 	4-3 	Huntsville	OTL 	Puppa
17	November 22	Huntsville	8-2 	Nashville 	W 	Seibel
18	November 27	Columbus 	6-5 	Huntsville	OTL 	Puppa
19	November 28	Nashville 	4-3 	Huntsville	L 	Seibel
20	November 29	Huntsville	1-7 	Macon 	L 	Seibel
====December====
Record:7-5-1 ; Home:5-1-0 ; Road:2-4-1 
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L/OTL	Decision
21	December 3 	Huntsville	6-7 	Memphis 	OTL 	Puppa
22	December 4 	Huntsville	4-5 	Columbus 	L 	Seibel
23	December 6 	Huntsville	5-10 	Nashville 	L 	Puppa
24	December 7 	Nashville 	1-6 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
25	December 13	Huntsville	5-4 	Wichita 	W 	Seibel
26	December 14	Huntsville	5-4 	Oklahoma City	W 	Puppa
27	December 15	Huntsville	3-8 	Fort Worth 	L 	Seibel
28	December 19	Huntsville	6-8 	Nashville 	L 	Puppa
29	December 20	Columbus 	3-6 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
30	December 21	Memphis 	2-5 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
31	December 26	Memphis 	4-6 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
32	December 27	Macon 	4-3 	Huntsville 	L 	Seibel
33	December 31	Nashville 	2-3 	Huntsville 	W 	Seibel
====Janurary====
Record:9-4-0 ; Home:3-1-0 ; Road:6-3-0 
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L/OTL	Decision
34	January 2 	Huntsville	2-1 	Nashville 	W 	Seibel
35	January 3 	Huntsville	1-11 	Columbus 	L 	Seibel
36	January 9 	Nashville 	2-6 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
37	January 10	Huntsville	6-1 	Columbus 	W 	Puppa
38	January 11	Macon 	2-3 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
39	January 15	Huntsville	5-3 	Memphis 	W 	Puppa
40	January 17	Huntsville	5-4 	Macon 	W 	Seibel
41	January 18	Huntsville	4-0 	Nashville 	W 	Puppa
42	January 19	Wichita 	6-7 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
43	January 24	Huntsville	2-7 	Macon 	L 	Puppa
44	January 25	Huntsville	3-4 	Memphis 	L 	Seibel
45	January 29	Fort Worth	7-5 	Huntsville	L 	Puppa
46	January 31	Huntsville	5-4 	Columbus 	W 	Puppa
====February====
Record:10-2-0 ; Home:8-0-0 ; Road:2-2-0 
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L/OTL	Decision
47	February 1 	Columbus 	7-11 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
48	February 6 	San Antonio 	4-5 	Huntsville	W 	Puppa
49	February 8 	Memphis 	4-6 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
50	February 9 	Huntsville 	4-5 	Memphis 	L 	Puppa
51	February 11	Huntsville 	4-11 	Columbus 	L 	Puppa
52	February 12	Nashville 	3-6 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
53	February 14	Huntsville 	8-6 	Memphis 	W 	Seibel
54	February 15	Macon 	2-4 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
55	February 18	Tulsa 	6-7 	Huntsville	W 	Puppa
56	February 19	Huntsville 	4-2 	Macon 	W 	Seibel
57	February 21	Columbus 	2-8 	Huntsville	W 	Puppa
58	February 22	Oklahoma City	2-3 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
====March====
Record:5-3-0 ; Home:3-1-0 ; Road:2-2-0 
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L/OTL	Decision
59	March 1 	Huntsville	5-4 	Nashville 	W 	Seibel
60	March 2 	Huntsville	7-3 	Nashville 	W 	Seibel
61	March 7 	Columbus 	5-8 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
62	March 8 	Macon 	5-7 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
63	March 11	Memphis 	4-6 	Huntsville	W 	Seibel
64	March 14	Huntsville	4-6 	Macon 	L 	Seibel
65	March 15	Columbus 	6-5 	Huntsville	L 	Seibel
66	March 16	Huntsville	4-8 	Memphis 	L 	Seibel
==Playoffs==
====Quarter Finals====
The Huntsville Channel Cats ended the 1997-98 season in 1st place in the Eastern Division which placed them against the eastern 4th place team the Columbus Cottonmouths. Huntsville defeated Columbus 3 games to 0 in the first round. 
==== Huntsville Channel Cats vs. Columbus Cottonmouths ====
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L	Decision
1	March 19	Columbus 	3-5 	Huntsville	W 	 
2	March 21	Huntsville	8-3 	Columbus 	W 	 
3	March 22	Columbus 	1-4 	Huntsville	W 	 
====Simi Finals====
The Huntsville Channel Cats faced the Memphis Riverkings in the Simi Final round. The Riverkings defeated Macon 3 games to 2 in the quarter final round. Memphis also defeats the Channel cats in the Simi finals 4 games to 2.
==== Huntsville Channel Cats vs. Memphis Riverkings ====
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	W/L	Decision
1	April 1 	Memphis 	5-4 	Huntsville	OTL	 
2	April 4 	Huntsville	4-6 	Memphis 	L 	 
3	April 5 	Memphis 	5-7 	Huntsville	W 	 
4	April 9 	Huntsville	5-3 	Memphis 	W 	 
5	April 11	Memphis 	4-2 	Huntsville	L 	 
6	April 12	Huntsville	3-4 	Memphis 	L 	 
1997 CHL Playoffs
==Roster==
# 	Player Name 	Transitions 	Position	Games Played
27 	Donald MacPherson	  	Defence 	54
 	Gatis Tseplis 	To San Antonio	Defence 	10
5 	Igor Bonderev 	  	Defence 	60
23 	John Gibson 	  	Defence 	66
4 	Marc Vachon 	  	Defence 	57
 	Sam Fields 	From Wichita 	Defence 	6
39 	Todd Dougherty 	  	Defence 	44
17 	Tom Moulton 	  	Defence 	66
8 	Alex Kholomeyev 	  	Forward 	57
7 	Chris George 	From Columbus 	Forward 	54
9 	Chris Kostopoulos	To Columbus 	Forward 	22
18 	Dan Carter 	  	Forward 	5
 	Greg Murray 	To Nashville 	Forward 	17
 	Jamie Salera 	  	Forward 	24
 	Jeff Frankel 	To Nashville 	Forward 	17
43 	Jonathan Dubois 	  	Forward 	62
18 	Max Middendorf 	  	Forward 	42
33 	Mike Degurse 	  	Forward 	62
16 	Mike Gamble 	  	Forward 	11
 	Paul Berrington 	  	Forward 	3
21 	Phil Daigle 	  	Forward 	55
15 	Shawn Randall 	  	Forward 	48
10 	Tony Frenette 	  	Forward 	47
16 	Wade Tulk 	From Nashville	Forward 	8
1 	Derek Puppa 	  	Goalie 	25
 	Greg Lovell 	  	Goalie 	2
35 	Troy Seibel 	  	Goalie 	49
Category:Huntsville Channel Cats seasons
Category:Huntsville, Alabama Pro Hockey seasons