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Cutthroats Release Season Schedule

The Denver Cutthroats will welcome every Central Hockey League team into the historic Denver Coliseum for its inaugural season, as the league released its schedule for the upcoming 2012-13 season today.  Of the team’s 33 home games, 24 will be played on a Friday or Saturday, including a weekend set against the Missouri Mavericks beginning October 19 at the Coliseum to open up the campaign.

The Cutthroats most common opponent this season will be their geographic rival, the Rapid City Rush.  The two teams square off 16 total times this season – eight times each in Denver and South Dakota, including the regular season finale at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Saturday, March 23.

All Cutthroats home games will begin at 7:05 PM with the exception of Sunday, March 10 – a 4:05 PM start against Rapid City. The doors for each home game open one hour prior to puck drop.

The CHL also announced the top eight teams will qualify for the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup Playoffs, and three rounds of a best-of-7 series format will determine this year’s Presidents’ Cup Champion.  The higher seeds in each playoff round receive home-ice advantage.  In the Presidents’ Cup Final the team with the better regular season record earns home-ice advantage.

The Cutthroats enjoy their longest home stretch of the season during December, a six-game stand beginning on December 11 against Rapid City and closing on December 22 when the Arizona Sundogs visit.

The Fish roll into January facing the longest road trip of any team in the CHL this season – a 12-game trek across six states to visit seven teams while the Denver Coliseum hosts the annual National Western and Stock Show.  The road trip begins on New Year’s Eve at Rapid City and the Cutthroats return home from the 12-game stretch to host the Bloomington Blaze on Friday, February 1.

The Cutthroats follow up the January road trip playing 13 of their next 17 games on Denver Coliseum ice.  On Monday, February 18, the Cutthroats face off in a Presidents Day battle against Missouri, a club based in the Kansas City suburb of Independence – the hometown of United States President Harry Truman.  The team’s final home game of the season takes place against Rapid City on Sunday, March 10.

Other key dates for the inaugural season include a pair of home contests against Arizona to close out a stretch of five consecutive games between the two clubs (November 14 and 16).  A weekend home set against the Wichita Thunder, the team with the best regular season record a year ago who also lost in the Presidents’ Cup Final (November 30 and December 1).  And a weekend visit from the Allen Americans (December 14 and 15), a team who has averaged 42 wins per season over the past three years – more than any other CHL team.

The full schedule is available at http://www.denvercutthroats.com.

About Denver Cutthroats

The Denver Cutthroats are the Central Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.  The team drops the puck on their inaugural season on October 19, bringing professional hockey back to the historic Denver Coliseum for the first time since 1989.  Season ticket and mini-plan packages are on sale now, and can be purchased by calling (303) 295-FISH (3474).

-Cutthroats Press Release-