Kingfish weekly

December 2, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Baton Rouge Kingfish News Release


On a Roll: After breaking an 11 game winless streak a little over a week ago, the Kingfish have gone 3-1-0 in their last 4 games and are just 7 points out of a playoff position in the Southwestern Division. The Kingfish have outscored their opponent 11-3 in the third period during their last four games.

New Help: Joe Guenther arrived in Baton Rouge late Wednesday night right before the team departed for Mississippi on Thanksgiving and has not skated in a practice with the team yet. Despite not skating in a practice, Guenther tallied two goals and an assist in Friday's 6-4 victory over the RiverBlades. On Saturday, he picked up a goal and two assists and put home the game winner in the shootout in the Kingfish's 4-3 shootout win.

Kingfish's Leaders: Bryan Richardson, Clark Jones and Glen Crawford are tied for the team lead in scoring with 16 points apiece. Richardson has picked up 8 goals and 8 assists while Jones has tallied 7 goals and 9 assists. Crawford has reached 16 points off 4 goals and 12 assists. Jeff Blair leads the Kingfish in net with a 2.89 goals against average and a .909 save percentage.

Milestones: Kingfish forward Bryan Richardson tallied his 100th career assist as a Kingfish in Thursday's 5-3 loss at Mississippi. He added two assists in last night's 6-4 victory in Arkansas moving past Jon Stugis and into second place for most assists as a Kingfish. He trails Kingfish head coach Cam Brown (158) by 56 assists for fist place for most assists as a Kingfish. Twenty goals this season will give Richardson 100 goals as a Kingfish. Richardson is just 12 goals shy of the 100-goal plateau. Richardson is second only to Kingfish Head Coach Cam Brown (103) for goals scored as a Kingfish. Brown owns the franchise record with 139 goals.

On the Power Play: Bryan Richardson picked up another power play goal over the weekend giving him five on the season. He now stands with 25 power play goals in a Kingfish career, good for first place. He passed former leader Cam Brown (21) earlier in the season.

We Don't Need a 6th Guy: Bryan Richardson keeps moving up on all the Kingfish career lists as he added another shorthanded goal in Friday's 6-4 win at Arkansas giving him 6 in his Kingfish career. He moved past Dan Shermerhorn (5) into second place and trails Cam Brown (9) by 3 goals for the most shorthanded goals in a Kingfish career. One more shorthanded goal this season by Richardson will move him into a tie for most shorthanded goals in a single Kingfish season.

Offensive Explosion: The Kingfish tallied five goals in the third period to beat the RiverBlades 6-4 on Friday night. The five goals in the third period were not the most goals scored in a period this season by the Kingfish. They tallied 6 in the second period against Jackson on opening night.

Turnaround: The Kingfish have turned things around in their last 4 games after breaking their 11 games winless streak. A breakdown between the two streaks:

Last 4 11 game winless streak

Goals per game: 4.0 1.8

Goals allowed per game: 3.2 3.3

Shots per game: 33.5 31.9

Shots allowed per game: 30.8 31.6

Power play percentage: 20 % 8.3 %

Shorthanded goals: 1 0

Penalty minutes per game: 26.5 29.1

Penalties per game: 9.2 10.3

Last Week's Games: 2-1-0, 4 pts.

November 28th, @ Mississippi 5, Kingfish 3

Mississippi jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before the Kingfish got on the board in early in the third period on a goal by Steve Cheredaryk. Mississippi scored the next two to take a 5-1 lead and put the game out of reach. Sam Paquet added the Kingfish's second of the game and Steve Cheredaryk chipped in another but the Kingfish could get no closer. The two teams combined for 5 goals in about four minutes early in the third period. The Sea Wolves take a six-point lead in the Coca Cola Cup with seven games left in the series.

November 29th, Kingfish 6, @ Arkansas 4

Arkansas took a 3-1 lead into the third period and Ernie Hartlieb added another on the power play just 26 seconds into the final period. Bryan Richardson got a 5 goal Kingfish third period going with a shorthanded goal at the 2:31 mark of the period. Steve Cheredaryk cut the Arkansas lead in half about five minutes later. Joe Guenther tied it up at four and Garnet Jacobson gave the Kingfish a 5-4 lead about a minute later. Guenther added an insurance tally with three minutes remaining. Brian Leitza picked up his first win of the season as he made 29 saves in the win.

November 30th, Kingfish 4, vs. Arkansas 3 (SOW)

Looking to rebound from giving up 5 third period goals, Arkansas jumped out to a 3-0 lead just past the midway mark of the first period. Bryan Richardson's power play goal with five minutes remaining in the second period got the Kingfish on the board. Six minutes into the third, Joe Guenther cut the Arkansas lead to one on the power play. Twenty-eight seconds later, Glen Crawford tied the game up at three and sending it into overtime. Joe Guenther picked up the game winner in the shootout.

This Week's Games:

Thursday, December 5, 2002 - @ Pensacola, 7:05 p.m. (104.5 WZRB)

Fifth meeting this season with the IcePilots. Pensacola leads the series 4-0-0, while the Kingfish are 0-2-2 with 2 points. Trevor Wasyluk, who led the Kingfish in scoring against the Ice Pilots with 4 points in four games, has retired. Baton Rouge has been outscored by a combined 13-8.

Saturday, December 7, 2002 – vs. Pensacola, 7:05 p.m. (sportsjuice.com)

Sixth meeting of the season between the Ice Pilots and Kingfish. Baton Rouge went 4-3-0 last season against Pensacola. The Kingfish's last win against the Ice Pilots was a 3-0 shutout win on February 9th of last season at home. Baton Rouge's last win in Pensacola took place in the 2000-01 season, a 2-0 shutout on March 24th.

Sunday, December 8, 2002 - @ Columbus, 3:05 p.m. (104.5 WZRB)

The Kingfish won both meeting against the Cottonmouths in Columbus last season, a 3-2 win on October 26th and a 5-4 overtime win on March 1st. Kingfish are 0-1-0 this season against teams in the Southeastern division. Neither team has won in its home building in this series since each team relocated; Baton Rouge from Erie, Columbus from Hampton Roads.

Stocking Stuffers: Get ready for the Holidays with a 12-pack of Kingfish Freedom vouchers. Get 12 vouchers good for any Kingfish regular season home game for the price of 11 tickets and save. Freedom Voucher packages start as low as $121. Call the Kingfish office at 225-336-GOAL for more information.



ECHL Stories from December 2, 2002


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