CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Report

October 27, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SPLIT OF THE WEEKEND

The RiverKings split a pair of games on the road last weekend. Mississippi defeated the Oklahoma City Blazers, 3-2 in a shootout Friday night in Oklahoma City, and then fell to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, 6-2 on Saturday evening in Bossier City, LA. The weekend split dropped the RiverKings' season record to 2-3-0, putting them in third place in the CHL Northeast Division with four points.

RIVERKINGS 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (SHOOTOUT)

Mississippi was successful in its first shootout contest of the season, as the RiverKings rallied to take a 2-1 lead in the second period, and held off the Blazers after a goal tied the game with 45 seconds left in the period at 2-2 after forty minutes. The Blazers struck first with a power play goal, but second period scores from Jeff Alcombrack and Bobby Chaumont gave the RiverKings a 2-1 lead six and a half minutes into the middle frame. Kevin Beech stood out in the crease for the RiverKings, allowing only one goal on 20 shots on net in the first period, and allowing just one more tally the rest of the contest, including the shootout. The physically-played contest featured 135 minutes in penalties between the two teams. Louis Dumont and Stephen Margeson scored goals in the shootout for the RiverKings, with Dumont's goal being the game-winning tally.

BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT 6, MISSISSIPPI 2

Bobby Chaumont and newcomer Dallas Costanzo triggered the Mississippi offense against the Mudbugs. Chaumont scored his second goal of the weekend and of the season with a red-lighter at 2:48 of the first period, but the Mudbugs would score the next five goals before Costanzo scored against his former teammates on the power play at 13:22 of the final frame. Kevin Beech made 14 saves, but allowed six goals in his first start of the season against Bossier-Shreveport, who posted their second straight 6-2 victory against the RiverKings. Mississippi was 1-for-6 on the power play, while Bossier-Shreveport was 2-8 with the man advantage.

COSTANZO, BONELLO ADDED TO ROSTER

There was some movement for the RiverKings' roster over the weekend, as Dallas Costanzo and Brad Bonello were added to the Mississippi roster.

Costanzo comes from Bossier-Shreveport and was taken off waivers during last week. The Montrose, British Columbia native played in two games for Bossier, but failed to score any points in those pair of contests. He played the last three seasons in the Canadian collegiate ranks at South Alberta Institute of Technology, where he captained his team the last two seasons to conference titles. In his three year collegiate career, Costanzo scored 13 goals and had 42 points in 66 games. He also played two seasons with the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League. To make room for Costanzo, Mike Tuomi was placed on waivers.

Bonello came to Mississippi in a trade with the Texas Brahmas for future considerations and to fill a spot on the roster with Darrell Stoddard being placed on injured reserve. He played his first three games of the season with Texas, assisting on one goal in that trio of games. Prior to this season, Bonello had played with four different ECHL teams, including last season with the Dayton Bombers. In Dayton, Bonello scored a pro-career high 19 goals and 42 points in 67 games. Bonello has also played in the UHL with Port Huron and Bloomington, and had a brief tenure in the AHL with Grand Rapids.

CHAUMONT EXCELS FOR RIVERKINGS

Bobby Chaumont scored two of the RiverKings' four goals last weekend, giving him three points for the season in five games. Chaumont scored the lead goal in the RiverKings' 3-2 win at Oklahoma City Friday night, and scored the team's first goal in the 6-2 loss at Bossier-Shreveport. Chaumont is in his third season in professional hockey, having played last season with the Dayton Bombers in the ECHL, where he scored five goals and had 13 points in 26 games. This is Chaumont's second go-around in the CHL, as the Sudbury, Ontario native played with the Laredo Bucks in the 2006-07 season, netting 27 goals and 60 points in 64 contests. Chaumont's background also includes a year of Canadian college hockey at Dalhousie University and four seasons of major junior experience with his hometown Sudbury Wolves.

BEECH BACKSTOPS THE RIVERKINGS

Goaltender Kevin Beech was the starting and finishing goaltender for the RiverKings last weekend, earning the win in Oklahoma City, and taking the loss at Bossier-Shreveport. Beech was a key reason for the RiverKings in the win, stopping 19-of-20 shots on goal in the first period alone in Oklahoma City. He was 17-of-18 the rest of the contest, and stopped all four Blazer shooters in the shootout round. The London, Ontario native is 2-2-0 for Mississippi this season, has a save percentage of .889 and a goals-against-average of 3.20. Kevin is third in the CHL in minutes played with 244:05 for the season.

RIVERKINGS STAT LEADERS

Through five games of the regular season, Louis Dumont, Bobby Chaumont, and Stephen Margeson are the goal scoring leaders with two each. Jeff Nelson paces the skaters in assists with five, which also gives him the team point leadership. Joe Markusen leads the RiverKings in plus-minus stats with a plus-three, while Adam Smyth has been tagged for the most penalty minutes on the squad at 26, putting him in a tie for eighth place in the league stats.

COMING UP.....

Mississippi is home for a pair of games this weekend against the Colorado Eagles. Both games at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven will begin at 7:05 PM. The weekend will feature the return of former RiverKings' coach Kevin McClelland to the Mid-South, as he is now on the Eagles' bench and has taken Colorado to a 6-0-0 record and first place in the CHL's Northwest Division. Colorado will be playing their second and third consecutive games of the week when they come to Mississippi, with a Thursday night contest scheduled between the Eagles and Bossier-Shreveport in Louisiana. Tickets for all RiverKings' games at the DCC are available through the arena box office and through Ticketmaster. For more ticket information, contact the RiverKings' office at 662-342-1755.



Central Hockey League Stories from October 27, 2008


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.

OurSports Central