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Kansas City Mavericks

Mavericks Secure Playoff Spot In 5-2 Win Over Wichita

March 14, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Kansas City Mavericks News Release


WICHITA, Kansas - The Missouri Mavericks secured a playoff spot in the 2010 Central Hockey League (CHL) playoffs Sunday evening in a 5-2 win over the Wichita Thunder at Intrust Bank Arena. Missouri finished 10-0-0 against the Thunder this season. Braden Walls had a pair of goals and Jeff MacDermid finished with four points (1-34) as Missouri improved their record to 31-25-6 overall. Missouri scored four unanswered goals to finish the game and will face the Mississippi RiverKings in the opening round of the playoffs.

"We are in the playoffs, but what I like is our expectations are higher than this," said Mavericks' Head Coach Scott Hillman. "This is step one, and there is a lot of relief."

"There was a lot of pressure on these guys for the past six weeks," added Hillman. "In the end, we are really happy to do this for our fans that have supported us so much throughout the season."

Paul Kelly gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead just 1:06 into the opening period on his team-leading 21st goal of the season. The lead lasted until the 13:02 mark of the period when Blake Forsyth scored his first goal of the season with Missouri on a sharp angled shot from the left circle. Forsyth was assisted by Jeff Christian and Nick Sirota and the teams headed into the first intermission tied 1-1.

Missouri took control in the second after giving up a 2-1 lead. Tomas Klempa scored for the Thunder six minutes into the period, but that was all the offense the Thunder had. Walls took over when he scored at the 6:39 and 8:20 marks. Missouri held on to the 3-2 lead until the final minute of the second period when MacDermid notched his 23rd goal of the season on the power play that gave the visitors a 4-2 lead.

Toby Lafrance scored his third goal in the past two games for Missouri in the third period to secure the victory for Missouri.

The Mavericks outshot the Thunder 33-32 and Mavericks' goaltender Charlie Effinger improve to 9-2 in a Mavericks' uniform by stopping 31 of 33 shots in net.

Missouri continues their final road trip of the regular season Wednesday night when they travel to Allen, Texas to take on the Americans. Tune into KCWJ 1030-AM to listen to all the action live, or listen live online through www.MissouriMavericks.com. The Mavericks will go on sale for the first home game of the playoffs on Tuesday, March 16. Visit the Mavericks website for more information, or call (866) 443-8849 to purchase playoff tickets.

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