NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Challenge Brahmas, Thunder This Weekend

October 22, 2009 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


THIS WEEKEND

The RiverKings return to the rink this weekend with games Friday at home against the defending CHL champions Texas Brahmas at 7:05 PM, followed by a trip to the Brahmas' home rink for their home-opener at Saturday evening, also at 7:05 PM. The RiverKings will return home after the game to play a Sunday afternoon contest against the Wichita Thunder, a game that begins at 3:05 PM.

HELD'S HAT-TRICK YEAR'S FIRST

Ryan Held scored a three-goal hat-trick in Saturday's 5-3 RiverKings victory over the Wichita Thunder in Wichita. The trifecta was Held's first of the season and the first for the team this year. It was also Held's first hat-trick in the Central Hockey League, having played two seasons with the Memphis/Mississippi RiverKings before playing in Italy last season. Mississippi's last hat-trick was the only one recorded last season, when Darrell Stoddard netted four goals in one period, which also came against Wichita on February 3rd in a 9-2 home victory. Stoddard's four-goal effort came in the third period of the victory.

HELD UP FOR TOP PERFORMANCE

Ryan Held's three-goal night against Wichita is one of a number of game performances fans can vote on for CHL "Performance of the Week." Fans can go to the CHL web site at www.centralhockeyleague.com and vote for the top performance of the past week. Voting can continue through Monday, October 26th, with the winner being announced on Tuesday, October 27th.

JARMAN NETS PAIR IN WEEKEND

Kevin Jarman netted single goals in the Friday loss to Tulsa and the Sunday loss at Amarillo. The goals were Jarman's first CHL goals scored since he played 45 games with the Youngstown SteelHounds in the 2007-08 season. Kevin did not score in the Wichita victory last weekend. Wichita was a team he scored his last CHL goal against on March 1st, 2008 in his next to last regular season appearance of the 2007-08 season.

CAMPBELL'S ALSO A POINT A GAME

Ryan Campbell is also averaging a point-a-game after one weekend of the CHL regular season following a two-goal effort last weekend. Campbell was shut out in the season opening loss against Tulsa, but netted tallies in the Saturday win at Wichita and Sunday's loss at Amarillo. Campbell led the 2007-08 season in scoring with 30 goals and 76 points, then played in Italy last season with fellow RiverKings forward Ryan Held. His red-lighter against Wichita Saturday night was his first CHL tally since scoring a goal in the team's regular season wrap up against Corpus Christi on March 22nd, 2008.

LONG TIME FOR SEVERSON

When RiverKings forward Cam Severson scored a goal in Friday's loss to Tulsa, it was Severson's first CHL goal since scoring six times in five games as a member of the Oklahoma City Blazers in the 1998-99 season. Severson has gone on to play at several levels in professional hockey, including the NHL with Columbus and Anaheim, but this is his first CHL campaign since the 98-99 stint in OKC.

LANDMESSER ASSISTS ON THREE

Defensman Derek Landmesser earned a trio of assists last weekend to open the year. Solo assists came in each of the three contests, including Saturday's victory at Wichita in a game which was his 500th career contest as a RiverKings' blueliner. Last season, Landmesser collected 45 of his 51 points on helpers to lead the RiverKings in that category.

JEAN WINS FIRST RK GOALIE WIN

Goaltender Ray Jean stopped 24 of 27 shots on goal in posting the first RiverKings goalie victory of the season Saturday in Wichita. His busiest period in the contest was the first, when he faced 12 shots on goal. However, the afternoon, the Amarillo Gorillas put a four-spot on the board in the third period of a 5-2 loss against the Randolph, Maine native. In that game, Jean stopped 26 of 31 shots on goal and his team in a 1-1 tie going into the final frame. Jean has played briefly in the ECHL and AHL after a four-year college career split between Maine and Bentley.

STARTING SLOW AGAIN

Using last year's 44-17-3 season record as a ruler, last weekend's start is certainly no reason to jump ship already. The RiverKings last year also started the season 1-2-0, after an opening game victory over Wichita (3-2), followed by a 4-2 loss at Texas and a 6-2 home loss to Bossier-Shreveport. However, the rest of the year resulted in one of the best regular season marks of all time, the 44 wins the most since the CHL championship team of 2002 won 46 games. The 91 points last year is one short of the all-time record of 92 points earned in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons.

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT

The RiverKings scored three times on the power play during the trio of contests last weekend and are 16.7% (3 of 18) for the young season. The penalty kill allowed four power play goals in the three contests last weekend and stands at 80.0% (4 of 20).

TEXAS PREVIEW

The Texas Brahmas are the defending CHL champions and coach Dan Wildfong's club started 1-1-0 against the Colorado Eagles, the team Texas defeated in the Ray Miron President's Cup finals last season. Eleven skaters are back for the Brahmas and Anders Stone returned to Texas after spending last season playing overseas. Stone led the team in goals scored with 34 in 2007-08 and scoring the game-winning goal in overtime of Friday's win in Colorado. The team set several records last season, including a 16-game home winning streak from December 27th to March 7th. However, the RiverKings had success with the Brahmas last year, posting a 3-1-1 mark which included a three-game winning streak from December 12th to January 10th, all in Southaven. The RiverKings lost both times they played at the NYTEX Sports Centre last year, ending with an 0-1-1 record. Jason Deitsch was placed on CHL league suspension for one game, as of Thursday, for his actions in Saturday's game at Colorado and will miss Friday's game against the RiverKings.

WICHITA PREVIEW

Sunday's game will be the second of seven meetings between the long-time CHL rivals, and comes one week after the RiverKings stopped the Thunder in Wichita 5-3 on Saturday, October 17th. Newcomer Glenn Detulleo, Jason Duda, and Marc Belanger scored goals for the Thunder in the loss, and goaltender Scott Campbell stopped 25 of 30 shots on net. Wichita will enter the weekend with an 0-2-0 after losing to Amarillo and the RiverKings at home. Duda's goal on Saturday was his 874th point of his long career and puts him one point short of third place all-time for CHL points scored. Late this week, the Thunder signed defenseman Jason Woll, who made his professional debut last season with the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones, appearing in 10 games. Woll assisted on three goals while collecting 18 PIM. To clear a roster spot for Woll, the Thunder released defenseman Connor MacDonald.

TRANSACTION UPDATE

Goaltender Kevin Beech is on goaltender injured reserve and forward Matt Pierce is on the 14-day injured reserve, dating back to the start of the season.

CHL NEWS

Amarillo has played the most games of any of the Central Hockey League teams at four and they have won all four to lead the Southern Conference standings by four points over a trio of contenders. Laredo and the expansion Allen franchise entered the weekend four points back but are unbeaten after two contests. Rapid City paces the Northern Conference standings at this early junction of the year with four points and a 2-0-0 record. The Rush are one point ahead of defending Governor's Cup titlist Colorado. The RiverKings, Bossier-Shreveport, and Tulsa are two points behind the frontrunners from the Mt. Rushmore State.

BROADCAST COVERAGE

RiverKings Media Coordinator Bob Bakken provides the play-by-play for all 64 regular season and all post-game games, heard on the stations of the Flinn Broadcasting Company. All three weekend contests will be broadcast live on Sports 56, WHBQ-AM Radio with the pre-game report, sponsored by Yellowbook, starting 15 minutes prior to the first faceoff. Streaming audio of the radio broadcast is found at www.sports56whbq.com. RiverKings hockey is also webcast on CHL-TV through INSINC, a leader in event webcasting, including sportscasts. Log into www.chltv.insinc.com for the broadcast. Remember, if you have issues with the webcast, USE THE HELP PAGE on the web site to resolve your issues, or you can contact chl-support@insinc.com and let them know. Audio and video feeds are checked well ahead of the game from the venue sites to ensure functionality. The help page for CHL-TV is found at www.chltv.insinc.com/help/index.php

.

TICKET INFORMATION

Season and individual game tickets are now available for another exciting season of RiverKings hockey in Southaven. Call and reserve your season tickets now by calling the RiverKings at 662-342-1755.

• Discuss this story on the Central Hockey League message board...

Central Hockey League Stories from October 22, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Mississippi RiverKings Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central