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Richards Scores His 200th As Hounds Defeat Wichita

February 29, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Youngstown SteelHounds News Release


YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO - Chris Richards scored his 200th Central Hockey League goal to lead the SteelHounds past the Wichita Thunder 4-3 on Friday night. In a separate transaction the Hounds announced that they had signed defenseman Kriss Grundmanis. As per team policy terms of the deal will not be disclosed.

At 4:17 of the first period Mark Odut scored his seventh goal of the season to put Youngstown up 1-0. History happened at 11:12 as Chris Richards scored his 19th of the year for his 200th CHL career goal to put the Hounds up 2-0. Richards is the 14th man in league history to score 200 goals. Wichita fought back as Travis Clayton scored at 18:15 to make it 2-1 after one period.

The Thunder continued the rally in the second period as Bruce Richardson tipped a Todd Paul shot past Andy Franck to score a power play goal at 7:48 to tie the game 2-2. Youngstown answered as Kurtis Dulle responded with a power play goal of his own at 15:22 to give the Hounds a 3-2 lead after the second. Wichita was 1-6 on the power play while Youngstown was 1-5.

In the third period Nathan Schwartzbauer scored his second goal of the season at 13:48 to put Youngstown up 4-2. At 16:31 Mike Lukajic finished the scoring with his 16th of the season to end the game 4-3. Andy Franck made 25 saves on 28 shots to record his 18th victory of the season. The win moves the Hounds to 30-19-4 (64 points) and keeps them in fourth place in the Northern Conference standings. They are 13-8-3 at home this season.

Kriss Grundmanis, 19, is the youngest player in SteelHounds history. The native of Riga, Latvia came to North America last season as a member of the Toronto-St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League where he had a goal, eight assists and 80 penalty minutes in 59 games. He started the 2007-08 season with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL compiling two points and 54 penalty minutes in 14 games.

The Hounds and Thunder continue their series on Saturday night at 7:05 with a special appearance by ESPN's own Barry Melrose. Tickets are on sale for $8.00 by calling (330) 747-PUCK or by stopping by the Chevrolet Centre box office. All SteelHounds games are available on ESPN Radio 1240 and SteelHounds.com.

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