CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Fight off Thunder, Cancer in Sunday Matinee Win

Published on February 13, 2011 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, MS --- Three unanswered goals, including two in the space of ten seconds, gave the Mississippi RiverKings a 4-1 victory over the Wichita Thunder in Central Hockey League (CHL) action Sunday afternoon at Southaven's DeSoto Civic Center. Then, in the post-game activities, several thousand dollars were raised to help wage the continuing fight against cancer in the Mid-South region.

In the contest, the third of three straight for both teams, neither team scored in the first period, with the RiverKings outshooting the Thunder by a 14-8 margin.

But, the RiverKings struck in the second period on a power play goal from Derek Landmesser, whose blast from inside the blue line found the back of the net at 5:27 for a 1-0 lead. The goal was Landmesser's seventh of the season and his third power play tally.

Wichita tied the game to open the third period on a power play goal from Daniel Tetrault, a red-lighter that came at 8:11 of the final frame.

But, the RiverKings answered quickly with a pair of goals in the space of ten seconds. R.G. Flath scored the eventual game-winning goal at 9:08 of the final period, followed by Brennan Sarazin adding a goal at 9:18 for a 3-1 lead. Flath netted is 13th of the season and team-leading fourth game-winner and Sarazin scored his seventh of the year in the ten-second span.

With Wichita goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas pulled for an extra attacker on a late power play, Jeff Christian filled an empty net for the final goal of the game, his 14th of the season.

Each team scored once on the power play in seven chances. Wichita outshot the RiverKings 34-33 for the game, with Mississippi goaltender Larry Sterling (11-9-3) stopping 33 shots and Gelinas (19-9-3) making 29 saves in the effort.

With the victory, Mississippi breaks its season-longes winless streak at four (0-2-2) and moves within one point of fourth place in the CHL Berry Conference standings at 23-22-4. The Thunder fell to the RiverKings for the third time this season and is 24-18-4.

Prior to the game, the RiverKings signed forward Rusty Masters, who played in Sunday's game, contributing an assist in the victory. Masters was added from the Mississippi Surge of the Southern Professional Hockey League, where he was the team's leading point producer with 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points. Masters ranked ninth in SPHL point production when he was called up to the RiverKings.

After the game, the RiverKings auctioned off their special night jerseys, which returned a total of $10,245 to be shared between the DeSoto County Relay for Life/American Cancer Society and the Jr. StreetKings youth in-line hockey program in Hernando.

The RiverKings Fan Club contributed eight "pink" hockey sticks used by members of the RiverKings during Sunday's game. Those sticks were also auctioned off to support the Jill Russell Foundation and the Ryan Christian Love Fund. A total of $1,785 was raised through the stick auction part of the post-game activities.

Russell, a long-time supporter of the team, has been battling cancer the past two years, and Christian, the daughter of forward Jeff and wife Dorie Christian, has been treated the past year for a rare form of cancer at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

RiverKings fans were also able to accomplish the goal of raising $2,500 to have forward R.G. Flath get his head shaved and that money is also going to the cancer fight.

Next action on the ice for the RiverKings will be at home Tuesday night against the Evansville Icemen at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, starting at 7:05 PM.

For RiverKings ticket information, call 662-342-1755 or go online to www.riverkings.com today!

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Central Hockey League Stories from February 13, 2011


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