CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings news and notes

December 17, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


Following a great week against the Northwest Division, the RiverKings return to Northeast Division play in a big way! The Texas Brahmas come to town for a pair of games, and the RiverKings can make life easy on themselves with a pair of wins. The second-place RiverKings lead the third-place Brahmas by six points. However, the Brahmas have two games in hand on the RiverKings. In their only meeting this season in North Richland Hills, Tex., the Brahmas beat the RiverKings 5-1 on Nov. 30.

SCHEDULE

Tomorrow: RiverKings Roundup @ Beef O'Brady's in Southaven

Radio: Sports 56 WHBQ, 7 p.m.

Friday: RiverKings vs. Brahmas 7:05 p.m.

Radio: Y 96.1 FM, 6:55 p.m.

Saturday: RiverKings vs. Brahmas 7:05 p.m.

Radio: Y 96.1 FM, 6:55 p.m.

WEEK REVIEW (3-0)

Tuesday: Mississippi 4, Wichita 0

Rick Kozak scored twice to lead the RiverKings over the Thunder at the DeSoto Civic Center. He beat Jon Horrell to the glove side on a breakaway 8:31 into the game for what ultimately ended up as his league-leading sixth game-winning goal on the year. Kozak next took a cross-slot pass from Derek Landmesser on the power play and slammed the puck home from the left wing doorstep at 14:02 to make it 2-0. Then Louis Dumont scored his second goal of the season on a slap shot from the left circle with 1:54 remaining in the first to give the RiverKings a 3-0 lead.

The Thunder's best chance to beat Sebastien Centomo came late in the second period, but he made two saves from point blank range. As the RiverKings grabbed the rebound and turned it up the ice, Chad Woollard pulled up at the right circle and fired the puck home with 4:10 to go in the second. Centomo, who made 21 saves on the night for this third shutout of the season, received an assist on the play.

Friday: Mississippi 8, Tulsa 4

Kozak registered his first pro hat trick to lead the RiverKings over the Oilers at the Tulsa Convention Center. At this point, Kozak had scored five goals in two games, 13 goals on the season, and 27 goals in 37 games with the RiverKings dating back to last year.

Things did not start out well for the RiverKings, however. Steve Jensen scored 1:47 into the game, prompting RiverKings Head Coach Kevin McClelland to pull an ailing Centomo in favor of Adam Hanna. However, the Oilers continued their strong play with Paul Kelly scoring at 3:46 on a power play to make it 2-0.

Nevertheless, as soon as the second period began, the RiverKings transformed into a different team. Ryan Campbell scored at 2:51 to make it 2-1, and then Kozak scored on the power play to tie the game. The goal of the night, however, belonged to Aaron Davis. Davis came down the right wing and backhanded a shot off the toe of his stick past Clint Chalmers with 2:14 left to give the RiverKings a 3-2 lead.

The RiverKings continued to blitz the Oilers in the third period. In the first five minutes of the third, Darrell Stoddard scored his first of the season, Chad Woollard registered his 14th, and Ryan Kindret banged home his fourth. Warren McCutcheon soon made it a 6-3 game and gave the Oilers a sliver of hope, but Kozak scored his second of the game at 6:47. David Beauregard responded at 8:40 to make it a 7-4 game, capping six goals between the teams in a span of 7:31.

To finish his night, Kozak scored on a power play with 5:21 left in the game, authoring the RiverKings' third hat trick this season.

Saturday: Mississippi 5, Colorado 4 (SO)

Dumont scored the winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout as the RiverKings came back to defeat the Eagles at the DCC. Dumont's goal capped a wild night that featured 177 penalty minutes and the ejections of both starting goalies in a partial bench-clearing brawl at the end of the first period.

The Eagles led 3-0 at 8:05 of the first after Scott Polaski, Dave Iannazzo, and Seth Leonard all scored. However, the RiverKings never quit, as Campbell scored shorthanded to get the RiverKings on the board at 9:58 with his nine goal of the year. Then when the Eagles' power play ended, Brian Mullally jumped out of the penalty box and the puck found him. Mullally had the presence of mind to dish it to Dumont, who passed it on the left wing to Ryan Held. Held scored at 11:31 to make it a 3-2 game.

Makway scored his third goal of the year on a power play with 2:05 remaining in the first to bring the RiverKings level with the Eagles. As the period expired, however, players from both teams got together. Hanna got together with Ian Keserich for an old-fashioned goalie brawl near the RiverKings bench, and Sheldon Wenzel and Fraser Filipic went toe-to-toe at center ice.

When the dust settled, both teams had to throw in backup goalies making their debuts for their clubs. Just before game time, the RiverKings signed Kyle McNulty to a five-game contract because of Centomo's injury. The Eagles had Bryan Bridges on the roster because their starter Marco Emond went home to Quebec following the death of his grandfather.

The Eagles took the lead again at 7:17 of the second period, as Aaron Schneekloth scored on a wrister from the left point. However, the RiverKings fought back again, as Davis scored his 12th of the season on the power play at 7:20 of the third period to tie the game 4-4.

After the third period ended and overtime came and went, Campbell scored for the RiverKings in the third round of the shootout. McNulty had a chance to end the game with a save, but Seth Leonard scored on him in the fifth and final round to send the shootout to sudden-death. Dumont then stepped on the ice and whipped a shot past Bridges to give the RiverKings a 2-1 lead. This time, McNulty made the save on Schneekloth to finish the game.

STRANGE BUT TRUE FACTS

Before Saturday's game, Woollard had recorded a point in four straight games and remained in the league's top 10 in goal-scoring and top 20 in points ..... Held has established a career-high five-game assist streak and equaled his career-high for at least one point through five straight games ..... Hanna incurred this season's single-game team-high 32 penalty minutes for leaving the crease to participate in Saturday's brawl ..... Centomo has already matched Scott Brower's single-season team record for shutouts with three during the 1995-96 season ..... After just two points in his previous 11 games, Dumont has recorded five in his last three and has 969 points in his career ..... Kozak tied a career-high with three points in one game on Friday and set the team's season-high with 14 shots on goal ..... Davis has already scored more goals this season than the 10 he scored with the Austin Ice Bats last season ..... The RiverKings close the deal well, going 7-0 when leading after the first period and 10-0 when leading after two ..... The RiverKings take care of business out west, going 10-0-1 against the Northwest Division so far this year ..... The ECACHL named McNulty to its All-Academic Team during his junior and senior years at Clarkson ..... Wenzel equaled his single-game career-high in penalty minutes with 21 as part of Saturday's brawl ..... Darrell Stoddard matched his single-game career-high in penalty minutes with 15 in Saturday's brawl ..... The RiverKings have scored five 5-on-3 goals this season while surrendering none ..... Makway recorded three assists in a game for the first time on Tuesday ..... Campbell has had a goal and an assist in three of the last four games ..... The RiverKings have won six out of seven one-goal games this year ..... The RiverKings have a 10-0 record when scoring at least four times ..... Mullally has four points already this year after just two last season ..... Derek Landmesser has an assist in each of the last three games ..... The RiverKings fired a season-high 56 shots on goal on Saturday.

TICKETS

Season Tickets

It's never too late to purchase a RiverKings season ticket package! Full season tickets are currently on sale at prorated prices. Season ticket holders receive benefits that include invitations to exclusive parties, year-long ticket discounts, and RiverKings merchandise specials. For more information, call the RiverKings at (662) 342-1755, or log on to the Internet at http://www.riverkings.com.

Group Outings

Schedule your next family, work, church, school, or team outing at a RiverKings game. Group tickets start as low as $7 per person for groups of 10 or more. Group leaders receive great benefits, including tickets to future games and entry into a contest for FREE airline tickets. Groups also receive recognition on the scoreboard and the assistance of their personal RiverKings account executives.

Birthday Parties

Come celebrate your birthday party at a RiverKings game! Birthday packages include tickets and RiverKings goodies for the birthday child and guests. Before the game, enjoy having cake with your birthday party in one of our special birthday party rooms located in the DeSoto Civic Center's banquet hall area.

Mini Plans

RiverKings ticket packages are available now and throughout the rest of the season. Get your package of either four, eight, or 16 vouchers that you can redeem for tickets to ANY home game, regular season or playoff. You can also use these vouchers in ANY quantity.

Fundraising

The RiverKings Ticket Fundraising Program allows your non-profit organization to raise money by selling tickets to a RiverKings game. Your non-profit organization can raise up to $9 per ticket sold. It can sell tickets for any RiverKings home game this season.

Never miss another away game!

Catch all CHL games live over the Internet for FREE on the CHL Network. For more information, surf the Internet to www.nifty-tv.com/chl, powered by Nifty Online Television.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 17, 2007


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