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Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Meet IceMen Tonight in Southaven

November 30, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, MS --- The Mississippi RiverKings meet the Evansville IceMen tonight in a Central Hockey League contest at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven. Game time tonight is 7:05 PM. Tonight's RiverKings game is broadcast on 87.7 The Pig, WPGF-FM. Air time is 6:50 PM. Fans may also access tonight's game at www.radiopig.com or on CHL-TV through the RiverKings web site. Media Coordinator Bob Bakken provides the play-by-play.

RIVERKINGS RECAP: Mississippi went 2-2-0 for the week around Thanksgiving, winning a 15-round shootout at Wichita and claiming an overtime home win against Laredo. In between, the RiverKings were beaten in Tulsa on Thanksgiving night and lost a Sunday matinee at Bossier-Shreveport. Sunday, Mississippi took a 2-0 lead, but Bossier-Shreveport reeled off four unanswered goals before the RiverKings could score again in a 5-4 loss in Louisiana. Levesque was credited with two goals, Andrew Lackner and Flath earned the others. Goaltender Larry Sterling, starting his first game since November 9th, saw 37 shots and stopped 32 of them.

OPPOSING VIEWPOINT: Evansville, coached by Rich Kromm, comes to Mississippi for the second time this season on Tuesday night at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven. The IceMen have a 2-1-0 edge in the season series, but the RiverKings won the last meeting in Indiana on November 20th, 3-1. Jeff Christian and Nathan Lutz each lead the RiverKings in scoring against Evansville with a goal and three assists each. Alexander Pechurskiy made 23 saves in posting the team's lone win against Evansville in the November 20th contest. Brian Bicek leads Evansville in scoring against Mississippi with three goals and five points. Matt Lundin has faced Mississippi in goal twice this season and has a 1-1-0 mark against the RiverKings.

RIVERKINGS SPECIAL TEAMS: Mississippi was 1-for-6 on the power play in Sunday's game against Bossier-Shreveport, scoring its first PPG since scoring twice with the extra man in the November 20th win in Wichita. For the season, the RiverKings starts the week 12th in the CHL on the power play at 17.1% (19-111). The RiverKings allowed one power play goal in Sunday's loss to Bossier-Shreveport, the first PPG allowed since Wednesday's win in Wichita. For the year, Mississippi enters the week seventh in the CHL rankings in penalty killing at 83.3% (18-108).

SHOTS IN THE DARK: Mississippi ranks ninth in the CHL for shots taken per game at 31.72 and is fourth in the league for shots allowed per game at 28.83. The RiverKings were outshot Sunday in Bossier-Shreveport 37-34, the fifth time Mississippi has been out shot in the game this season. Mississippi's record in games where opponents have taken more shots on goal is 2-3-0.

FIRST SHIFT, FIRST GOAL: New RiverKings forward Patrik Levesque made an immediate impact on his arrival from the Quad City Mallards Saturday night. Acquired in a trade for future considerations, Levesque scored his second goal of the year and first as a RiverKing just 29 seconds into the game last night. The red-lighter became his 200th career professional point. It also became the fastest goal to start the game scored by a RiverKing this season, coming 24 seconds faster than Chris Richards' goal at 53 seconds in the November 13th victory at Colorado (4-3).

RICHARDS, CHRISTIAN JOIN LUTZ AT THE TOP: Two forwards have joined a defenseman at the top of the RiverKings score sheet at the start of the week. Defenseman Nathan Lutz was joined by forwards Jeff Christian and Chris Richards to leads Mississippi scoring at 16 points each. Lutz was joined by Matt Summers to lead the RiverKings in goals scored with six. Christian leads the team in assists with 12 with Richards close behind at 11 and Lutz with ten.

LUTZ SCORES FROM THE LINE: Nathan Lutz remains one of the top scoring defensemen in the Central Hockey League. Lutz is second in the CHL for defenseman goals scored with six and is third in defenseman points with 16. Four of his goals have come on the power play, putting him in a tie for second in the CHL for defenseman power play goals scored, and his seven power play assists has him in a tied for third (with teammate Derek Landmesser and one other player) in the CHL standings.

LET ME HELP: Jeff Christian starts the week tied for second in the CHL stats for power play assists with nine.

A MAJOR SCUFFLE: Darrell Stoddard is second in the league for major penalties with eight and Tyler Sheldrake (on the injured reserve) is tied for third with seven.

THAT'S A FOUL ON YOU: Mississippi continues to lead the CHL in several penalty areas, including penalty minutes (573), majors (33), ten-minute misconducts (4, first place tie with Rapid City), game misconducts (11), and match penalties (1). While the number continues to drop, Mississippi's 31.83 penalty minute average remains tops in the league.

FINALLY SOME FREE HOCKEY: Mississippi had to go beyond regulation for overtime and shootout hockey this past week for the first time this season, and came away victorious in both cases. Saturday's 5-4 win over Laredo was the first time a RiverKings game had been decided in overtime this season, and Wednesday's 3-2 shootout win was the first to be decided on "penalty shots." Wednesday's win was also the longest RiverKings shootout game since before 2002. Before Wednesday night, the RiverKings won a ten-round game against Youngstown, 5-4, on March 10th, 2007, and also won a nine-round marathon against Bossier-Shreveport on January 6th, 2005, by a score of 4-3.

NOTABLES: Sunday's loss was the first time the RiverKings have been beaten when leading after two periods of play. When ahead after forty minutes, Mississippi is 5-1-0 for the season. The RiverKings are 5-2-0 in games played on Saturday, but are winless (0-2-0) in contests played on Tuesday and are 2-4-0 in Friday games this season. Matt Summers is two points short of 100 RiverKings points (35 goals, 63 assists). Jeff Christian is one assist short of 300 career CHL assists. Chris Richards is one short of 300 career professional goals.

OFFICIALLY SPEAKING: Tonight's referee is Geoff Miller with linesmen Cory Piche and Michael Johnstone.

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