CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings - Oklahoma City Preview

Published on February 26, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


This Week's Schedule Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 - RiverKings 6, at Odessa 4 Friday, February 27th, 2009 - RiverKings at Oklahoma City Blazers (Ford Center, Oklahoma City, OK - 7:10 PM) (Sports 56, WHBQ-AM) Saturday, February 28th, 2009 - Colorado Eagles at RiverKings (DeSoto Civic Center, Southaven, MS - 7:05 PM) (Sports 56, WHBQ-AM)

RiverKings Player Stat Leaders Jeff Nelson remains the RiverKings' point leader with 56 for the season through 52 games and has a team-leading seven game-winning goals. Bobby Chaumont leads the RiverKings in goals scored with 27 and nine goals have come on the power play. Martin Gascon has 44 assists for the season with six of them coming in a RiverKings' sweater, while Nelson leads the team in assists with the RiverKings with 38. Matt Summers is plus-23 for the season and plus-21 with the RiverKings. Adam Smyth leads the team in the penalty box with 227 PIMS. Louis Dumont remains the team leader in shorthanded goals scored with four. In goal, Kevin Beech is the RiverKings' leader in games played (41), minutes played (2473), wins (28), shutouts (3), goals-against-average (2.35), and save percentage (.909).

The Last Time Out...Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 - RiverKings 6, at Odessa Jackalopes 4 Mississippi extended its longest winning streak of the season to six straight games with a 6-4 victory over the Jackalopes in Odessa on Tuesday night. Six different players scored goals for the RiverKings in the victory and the offense was led by Jeff Nelson, who added two assists to his penalty shot goal in the first period, the first penalty shot goal scored by a RiverKings player this season. Kevin Beech stopped 34 of 38 shots on goal in posting his 28th victory of the season (28-10-3). Beech moved into second place for RiverKings' goaltender victories in a season, three behind Larry Sterling's 31 wins in the 2006-07 season. Mississippi scored once on the power play in two tries, and stopped five of six Odessa power play chances. The RiverKings outshot the Jackalopes by a 39-38 margin.

Friday's Matchup: RiverKings at Oklahoma City Blazers, Friday, February 27th, 2009 (7:10 PM Start, Ford Center, Oklahoma City, OK) Friday's contest is the RiverKings' ninth and final contest of the season with their Northeast Division rivals and the RiverKings have won the season series with a 5-3-0 record for ten points. Oklahoma City is 3-4-1 against the RiverKings this season for seven points.

Mississippi had won three straight against the Blazers before Oklahoma City prevailed 5-1 in the team's last meeting at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven on January 16th. Bill Vandermeer scored two goals and added an assist in that game, while Garrett Larson scored the only RiverKings' goal in the contest.

Jeff Nelson and Matt Summers lead the RiverKings in offense against the Blazers with eight points each. Bobby Chaumont has scored five goals against Oklahoma City and Summers' eight points includes seven assists. Nelson is plus-four against the Blazers and Darrell Stoddard has 23 penalty minutes in games against Oklahoma City. Nelson and Louis Dumont have each scored two power play goals and two of Nelson's four goals scored have been game-winners.

At the crease, Kevin Beech is 5-3-0 against Oklahoma City for a goals-against-average of 2.37 and a save percentage of .917.

Mississippi is 15.5% on the power play against the Blazers (9-of-58) and ten of the team's 21 goals scored have been scored in the second period.

Oklahoma City is paced offensively against the RiverKings by Bill Vandermeer with nine points. Ted Vandermeer has scored four goals against the RiverKings. Bill Vandermeer and Chad Hinz each have six assists. Ted Vandermeer is plus-four in games against the RiverKings and Cam Doull has committed penalties totaling 25 minutes in penalty time. Oriel McHugh has three power play goals against the RiverKings and Simon Lambert has scored a shorthanded goal. Lambert also has an unassisted goal and an empty-net goal against Mississippi.

In net, Doug Groenestege is 2-2-0 against Mississippi with a 2.01 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .938. Andy Franck is 1-2-1 versus the RiverKings with a 2.95 GAA and a .890 save percentage.

Oklahoma City is 16.7% on the power play against the RiverKings (11-of-66) and eight of the team's 20 goals have come in the second period.

Special Teams Update Against the Jackalopes on Tuesday night, the RiverKings scored once in two power play opportunities, marking the second straight game Mississippi has scored at least one power play goal in. In the team's last five games, the RiverKings are 4-of-21 (19.0%) and overall, Mississippi has a power play percentage of 19.5% (69-of-353). In road games, Mississippi is 16.9% with the man advantage (27-of-160).

In Odessa, the Jackalopes scored once in six power play attempts on Tuesday night. It was the second straight game that RiverKings' opponents had scored at least once on the power play. In Mississippi's last five games, the RiverKings are 85.7% (3-of-21) on the penalty kill. In road games, Mississippi is 82.9% in penalty killing (27-of-158) and overall for the year, the RiverKings are 84.5% on the penalty kill (50-of-323).

Mississippi has scored seven shorthanded goals this season and has also allowed seven. Garrett Larson's empty-net goal late in Tuesday's victory at Odessa was the latest shorthanded goal scored by the RiverKings this season.

In road games this season, Mississippi has scored four shorthanded tallies and has allowed just one.

Race for Number One With 12 games remaining in the Central Hockey League regular season, the Mississippi RiverKings are in position to make a solid run toward the top rung in both the CHL Northern Conference and in the Northeast Division. Mississippi is currently in first place in the Northeast race, three points ahead of second place Bossier-Shreveport and five points in front of Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, the RiverKings are within four points of first place Colorado in the Northern Conference

Against the Northeast Division Indicative of the tight Northeast Division race this season, Mississippi is 10-8-1 against its divisional foes this year. Against Oklahoma City, the RiverKings are 5-3-0, are 4-0-1 against Tulsa, and are 1-5-0 against Bossier-Shreveport. Friday's game is the final meeting of the regular season against Oklahoma City, while Mississippi has three games left against Tulsa, and six against Bossier-Shreveport.

Win Streak Reaches Six Straight Mississippi has reached its longest winning streak of the season at six consecutive victories with its win Tuesday at Odessa. Last year's RiverKings team won five straight on two occasions, but pale in comparison to a 10-game winning streak fashioned by the 2006-07 RiverKings between December 29th, 2006 and January 23rd, 2007. Two victories in that streak came in shutout form and the victories included a pair of wins against Youngstown, two against Odessa, a pair against Tulsa, and one each against Colorado, Corpus Christi, Bossier-Shreveport, and Oklahoma City (1/5/07). The RiverKings' team record winning streak is 12 straight games, set between January 23rd and February 22nd, 2002.

We Get A Point! As impressive as the winning streak may be, the RiverKings are also continuing a string of 12 straight games where they have achieved at least one standings point (10-0-2 for 22 points). The streak goes back to January 27th, when Mississippi lost at home against Bossier-Shreveport 2-1. Since then, the RiverKings have suffered an overtime loss at Texas and a shootout loss against Rocky Mountain to mar the current streak, but gained a standings point in the process. The 10-0-2 skein includes the team's largest one-game goal-scoring output of the season against Wichita (9-2, February 3rd) and a shutout of Rapid City on January 31st, (4-0).

Spinning Records at the Beech RiverKings goaltender Kevin Beech is entering RiverKings' record territory with his play between the pipes this season. With a record of 28-10-3 and with three shutouts, the first-year RiverKings' goalie has already equaled the team record for shutouts in one season at three. Scott Brower (1995-96) and Sebastien Centomo (2007-08) also earned three shutouts in the crease as a RiverKings goaltender, and Mark Friesen (2000-03) has the team career record for shutouts by a RiverKings' goaltender. Beech moved into second place in victories in a season by a RiverKings goaltender at 28 with Tuesday's victory in the crease at Odessa, passing Mark Richards (2000-01) and Scott Brower (1995-96) on the team chart for single season wins. Larry Sterling has the team victories record with 31 in the 2006-2007 season and is the team career wins leader with 34 from 2006-2008.

2008-09 RiverKings Hat-Tricks: Darrell Stoddard (4 goals, February 3rd, 2009 vs. Wichita) (Franchise hat-trick number 90 in team history) 2008-09 RiverKings Penalty Shots: Jeff Nelson (miss, January 17th, 2009 at Tulsa), (goal, February 24th, 2009 at Odessa) 2008-09 RiverKings Goaltender Shutouts: Tyler Sims (November 29th, 2008 at Corpus Christi), Kevin Beech - December 31st, 2008 vs. Bossier-Shreveport; January 9th vs. Tulsa; January 31st vs. Rapid City)

Streaking RiverKings Goals: Garrett Larson (3 games - 4 goals), Jeff Nelson (2 games - 3 goals) Assists: Jeff Nelson (5 games - 9 assists), Derek Landmesser (3 games - 5 assists) Points: Garrett Larson (11 games - 19 assists), Jeff Nelson (5 games - 12 points), Matt Pierce (2 games - 2 points) Penalty Minutes: Adam Smyth (6 games - 34 PIMS) Goaltender Wins: Kevin Beech (4), Tyler Sims (2)

Please To Note.... Jeff Nelson's penalty shot goal in the first period of Tuesday's victory at Odessa marked his 350th career professional goal. Matt Pierce's first period goal at Odessa put him at 70 career professional points.

Broadcasts RiverKings hockey games are heard in the Mid-South and around the world on "The Voice of the Fan," Sports 56, WHBQ-AM and www.sports56whbq.com. Veteran hockey broadcaster and RiverKings media coordinator Bob Bakken provides the play-by-play coverage on Sports 56 and also on CHL-TV. "Never Miss another Away Game" with the CHL-TV link found on the team web site at www.riverkings.com. Games not broadcast on Sports 56 due to other programming commitments are heard on fellow Flinn Broadcasting station 96.1 "The Pig," WIVG-FM.

Tickets RiverKings season and group tickets, fundraiser programs, and more are available by contacting the RiverKings' front office at 662-342-1755 or by e-mail at tickets@riverkings.com. New season ticket packages for the 2009-2010 season are now available for sale through the RiverKings offices or by calling the front office. Single game tickets for RiverKings hockey are available through the DeSoto Civic Center box office, or by contacting Ticketmaster.

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Central Hockey League Stories from February 26, 2009


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