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CHL Mississippi RiverKings

Ice Bats swoop away with 4-3 overtime victory

March 4, 2004 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, MS – The two-time defending CHL champion Memphis RiverKings dropped a heartbreaker as they fell 4-3 in overtime to the visiting Austin Ice Bats before a crowd of 2,947 at the DeSoto Civic Center.

The game seemed destined to go into a shootout until Austin forward Mike Olynyk hammered home a Kelly Smart centering pass to seal the win with just 23.1 seconds remaining in the overtime period. The goal was his second on the game and his 6th on the season.

The ‘Kings found themselves in the hole early after a nifty drop-pass from Smart found defenseman Arturs Kupaks wide open. Kupaks wasted little time burying his 2nd of the season.

The Austin lead survived back to back Memphis power plays, but the ‘Kings put themselves back into the game 5 minutes into the period courtesy of a rocket shot from forward Alexandre Mathieu. The goal came off a Brent Ozarowski assist and was Mathieu's 24th this year.

Memphis doubled the score line early into the second period as forward Chad Grills won a face-off cleanly and pushed the puck back to all-star defenseman Derek Landmesser who unleashed a hard slap shot and beat Austin goaltender Jonathan Forest for Landmesser's 5th lamplighter.

Not wanting to be outdone, Kupaks leveled the score in a similar fashion within a few minutes. Rookie forward Chris Richards won an offensive zone face-off and Kupaks fired a hard shot past ‘Kings goalie Jean-Francois Racine.

The see-saw battled continued into the third period and Memphis again reclaimed a 1 goal lead. This time, captain Don Parsons found the back of the net for his team-leading 34th goal of the season.

The Ice Bats refused to go away and forward Mike Olynyk capitalized on a loose rebound in front of Racine's net for his 1st of the night and 5th of the year.

The overtime loss moved the RiverKings to 33-22-4 on the season. Their 70 points gives them a tenuous lead in the wild card race over both Indianapolis, who sits one point back, and Wichita, whose 68 points keep them within two. The RiverKings will try to make it a three-point homestand tomorrow night as they battle the Laredo Bucks. Gametime is set for 7:20 PM CST at the DeSoto Civic Center.

All 64 RiverKings games can be heard on Easy 680 AM, as well as worldwide via SportsJuice.com. RiverKings games can also be heard inside the DeSoto Civic Center on FM frequency 107.9 FM. Select RiverKings games will also be available through CHL TV, a league-wide video streaming enterprise. CHL TV is available at www.CHLTV.com. Information on the RiverKings, including the latest roster moves, press releases, and pictures, is available at www.riverkings.com.

Group and individual game tickets for all remaining RiverKings games are available. For more information, telephone (662) 342-1755.



Central Hockey League Stories from March 4, 2004


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