CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings sign former WHA2 leading goal scorer Stevens

Published on August 5, 2005 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN---The Memphis RiverKings of the Central Hockey League announced today that they have signed winger B.J. Stephens for the 2005-2006 season. The 27 year-old will be entering his sixth professional season.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound Stephens played last season for the Jacksonville Barracudas of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) where he had 17 goals and 16 assists in 47 games. The two seasons prior, Stephens was with the Orlando Seals of the W.H.A.2. He was the Seals' leading scorer in the 2003-2004 season with 82 points in 57 games and the league's leading goal scorer with 39. The WHA2 eventually morphed into the SPHL.

"This is a great opportunity for me," Stephens said. "With the new head coach and the changes there, I am excited to have the chance to be a part of that. I hope to show them that, given the opportunity and the ice time, I can put up numbers like I did in Orlando."

The RiverKings will be the Hershey, Pennsylvania native's tenth professional organization. Prior to turning pro in 2000, he played Junior Hockey in the USHL with the Rochester Mustangs and the Waterloo Black Hawks. He was the Black Hawks' leading scorer in the 1998-99 season with 54 points and his 29 goals were seventh in the league. Stephens also played a year of college hockey at the University of Ottawa in 1999-2000.

The RiverKings are also going to bring some size into camp with 6-foot-5, 245 pound forward Anthony Zaino (ZAY no); 6-foot-5, 230 pound defenseman Gabe Yeung (YUNG) and 6-foot-4, 225 pound Memphis native Drew Terry signing try-out contracts.

Terry returns to RiverKings camp after a rookie season that saw him play for the Knoxville IceBears of the SPHL, the Oklahoma City Blazers as well as the RiverKings of the CHL. The 2000 graduate of Germantown (TN) High School became the first Memphis native to play for the RiverKings as he played 13 games last season and scored one goal. The 22 year-old also played junior hockey with Tupelo of the America West Hockey League in 2001-2002 and the Dubuque Thunderbirds of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League in 2002-2003. He followed that with a season of Division III collegiate hockey at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN in 2003-2004.

The 28 year-old Zaino will enter RiverKings camp as a rookie after playing five games last season for the Saguenay Fjord of the LNAH before the team folded. He had 39 penalty minutes in those five games. In the 2002-03 season, the Chicago, Illinois native played Senior A hockey with the Chicago Generals and in the Great Lakes Hockey League with the Milwaukee Flyers. Zaino was in camp with the New Mexico Scorpions when they were in the WPHL in 1997.

Yeung has 32 games of pro hockey experience including four in the CHL. Last season, he had one assist and 64 PIM in 27 games for the Asheville Aces of the SPHL. At the conclusion of the Aces' season, he was called up and played in one game with the Greenville Growl of the ECHL. In 2003-2004, the 22 year-old native of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin played Junior A hockey with the Traverse City Enforcers of the Continental Elite Hockey League, the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and the Summerside Western Capitals of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League in Nova Scotia. He also made his pro debut that season with the Lubbock Cotton Kings of the CHL, scoring one goal in four games.

The RiverKings now have 13 players on their training camp roster. Training camp opens on Monday, October 10 at the DeSoto Civic Center.

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Central Hockey League Stories from August 5, 2005


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