SPHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Fall in Regular Season Finale

Published on March 23, 2013 under SPHL (SPHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - The Mississippi RiverKings (24-24-8) made a late push, but could not overcome the three-goal deficit as they saw their winning streak and regular season end in a 4-2 loss to the Knoxville Ice Bears (33-19-4) on Saturday night.

Knoxville jumped out to an early lead midway through the first. Jon Higgins took a Mark Van Vliet pass and beat Matt Krahn to put the Ice Bears ahead 1-0 9:07 into the first period.

After a scoreless second, the team's picked up the offense late in the game. After Brendan Taylor and Kevin Flather tallied goals to put the Ice Bears ahead by three, the RiverKings battled back with a pair of goals in 23 seconds. Tom Craig notched the first one as he completed a tic-tac-toe passing play from Darrell Stoddard to Kevin Willer to bring the RiverKings within two. Then, after a battle in front of Connor Toomey, Ian Finnerty pushed the puck to the back of the net to cut the deficit to one with just under four minutes to play in regulation.

But a pair of penalties doomed the home team. After Kevin Willer's slashing penalty and Kyle Lundale's elbowing call, Eric Satim's shot beat Krahn blocker side to put the Ice Bears on top to stay as they snapped the RiverKings' winning streak at six games.

Matt Krahn (15-14-4) took the loss after stopping 30 of 32 shots against. Connor Toomey (19-6-1) stopped 34 of 38 shots against in the win.

The RiverKings take on a yet-to-be-determined playoff opponent at the Landers Center on Friday, March 29 with puck drop at 7:05 and all the action airing live on the America One Sports Network. For the latest updates on all things RiverKings, including playoff information, "like" us on Facebook (facebook.com/mississippiriverkings) and "follow" us on Twitter (twitter.com/riverkings).

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SPHL Stories from March 23, 2013


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