CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings To Battle Steelhounds

January 31, 2006 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


COMING UP

Wednesday, February 1 , 9 am CST

Memphis RiverKings (15-21-2, 32 pts, tie 2nd place NE) @ Youngstown Steelhounds (15-22-2, 32 pts, tie 2nd place NW)

Chevrolet Centre, Youngstown, OH (5,700)

Radio: AM 1210

Webcast: riverkings.com (Click "Listen Live")

TV: CHLTV.com

Friday & Saturday, February 3 and 4, 6:05 CST

Memphis RiverKings (15-21-2, 32 pts, tie 2nd place NE) @ Youngstown Steelhounds (15-22-2, 32 pts, tie 2nd place NW)

Chevrolet Centre, Youngstown, OH (5,700)

Radio: Sports 56 WHBQ (560 AM)

Webcast: riverkings.com (Click "Listen Live")

TV: CHLTV.com

WEEK IN REVIEW (3 games / 0-2-1)

Friday, January 27 Tulsa 8 RiverKings 5 @ Tulsa

The Oilers jumped out to 3-0 first period lead and held on for an 8-5 victory over the Memphis RiverKings Friday night in Tulsa. Rookie Jim Dahl bagged the hat trick for the home team while the RiverKings' Don Parsons scored a pair for his 16th and 17th goals of the season. The game featured 225 penalty minutes; 77 for former RiverKing Curtis Voth alone.

Memphis cut the lead to one, 5-4, late in the second period at 17:21 on Parsons' second of the night. But Jaroslav Cesky scored his second of the game on a power play with just :07 left in the period to put the lead back at two entering the third. The Oilers added two more at 12:01 and 14:46 of the third to put the game away. Ryan Campbell, Travis Banga and Kevin Harris each had a goal and two assists in the loss as the RiverKings began a seven game road trip. Despite giving up five goals, Tulsa's Marco Emond was a big difference in the game; stopping several uncontested, quality chances for the RiverKings. He stopped 39 of 44 shots to get the win. Michael Dilorenzo made 36 saves on 44 shots to take the loss. Memphis was 1 for 11 on the powerplay while Tulsa was 4 for 12 to go with two short handed goals.

Saturday, January 28 Wichita 6 RiverKings 5 @ Wichita

The RiverKings rallied from a 4-1 deficit early in the second period to force overtime, but it was Wichita's Kris Wiebe who scored the game winner :54 into overtime to give the Thunder a 6-5 win in front of 8,200 Saturday night at the Kansas Coliseum. The 6-5 win gave the Thunder a 3-0 record in the season series with Memphis. The RiverKings' Don Parsons collected his 35th career hat trick to help the team come back and take a point from a team that has lost just once all season at home. Derek Landmesser and Ryan Campbell each had three assists as the team tied the game twice; at four and at five, but could not get the goal to give them the lead. In a special teams feast, the two teams combined for 7 power play goals. Wichita's Jason Duda even added a penalty shot. For the RiverKings, Taras Foremsky scored his first of the season and Kevin Harris his third. Wichita finished with the shots advantage 40-39. Sebasitien Laplante was the winning goalie after coming in to start the third period. He stopped all eight shots he saw. Guy St Vincent stopped 34 of 40 and took the loss.

Sunday, January 29 Bossier-Shreveport 4 RiverKings 2 @ Bossier City

The RiverKings closed out their three game weekend with a 4-2 loss to the Mudbugs Sunday evening in Bossier City. The Mudbugs scored two goals in the second period to break a 1-1 stalemate and, in the process, increase their lead in the Northeast Division to 13 points over the RiverKings and Youngstown Steelhounds. Milan Vodrazka scored twice for Bossier-Shreveport while goalie Ken Carroll made 31 saves. Darrell Stoddard and Travis Banga scored for the RiverKings as they finished the weekend 0-2-1 in the three road games. Michael Dilorenzo suffered the loss in the nets for Memphis, making 37 saves.

RADIO BROADCAST CHANGE

Due to the early 9 a.m. C.S.T. start, the radio broadcast of tomorrow's RiverKings at Youngstown game will be on AM 1210 instead of the team's usual radio home, Sports 56 WHBQ (AM 560). The pregame show will start at 8:45 with the drop of the puck at 9 a.m. C.S.T. The games on Friday and Saturday will be back on Sports 56 WHBQ.

RIVERKINGS HERE AND THERE

On Sunday, Defenseman Derek Landmesser played in his 283rd game for the Memphis RiverKings. That total ties him with Dan Brown for third on the RiverKings' All-Time Games Played List. Derek Grant is second at 317 with Don Parsons holding the franchise mark at 353 games and counting

With his three goals in Saturday's overtime loss at Wichita, Don Parsons took over sole possession of fourth place on the Central Hockey League's All-Time Goal Scoring List. He began the game tied with Chris George for fifth and on his second goal of the night he surpassed Sylvain Naud for the number four spot. Parsons now has 281 goals in his RiverKings and CHL career. He trails only Luc Beausoleil (294), Paul Jackson (312) and Joe Burton (565).

Fifteen of Parsons' 20 goals this season have come in games where he has scored 2 or 3 goals.

Forward Ryan Watson has a four game assist streak with seven assists in his last 4 games. Both the assist streak and the accompanying four game point streak (1-7-8) match career highs for the fourth year pro.

Forward Travis Banga is on a four game point streak (3-4-7) heading into Wednesday morning's game. He also has 8 goals in his last 12 games.

Forward Ryan Campbell has 11 points (3-8-11) in his last six games

By scoring goals on Friday and Saturday, Defenseman Kevin Harris had his first career multi-game goal streak.

The RiverKings' 84 penalty minutes in Friday's loss at Tulsa were a season high and the most since 2/1/03 when the team had 86 in a 6-2 loss at Indianapolis. Memphis also had games with 95 PIM (1/17/03 @ Austin) and 94 PIM (11/2/02 @ Bossier-Shreveport) that same season.

After going 3 for 41 on the power play in the previous 5 games, Memphis has gone 5 for 24 in the last 2 games.

After giving up 2 in Friday's game, the RiverKings are tied for the league lead with Odessa with 12 short-handed goals against. Tulsa has scored 8 short-handed goals this season, 4 against Memphis, with the Oilers' Jim Dahl scoring 3.

RIVERKINGS IN THE COMMUNITY THIS WEEK

Today, January 31, 5-9 pm....RiverKings forward Jeremy Wray and RiverKings mascots Sheldon and RiverThing will be participating in the Celebrity Waiters Night at Boscos Squared in Memphis benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of Memphis. They will join several other Memphis celebrities and personalities as they wait on guests. All tips collected will go to Rock 103's Ronald McDonald House Radio-thon.

ROAD TRIP PUTS KEVIN MCCLELLAND SHOW ON HIATUS

The Kevin McClelland Show on Sports 56 WHBQ (AM 560) will take a few weeks off as the team will be on the road until February 9. The show will return on February 14.

SCHEDULE REMINDERS

There are date changes for March that are not reflected on early versions of the RiverKings' schedule. On March 14, the RiverKings will host Bossier-Shreveport and on March 21, they will be at Bossier-Shreveport. For the most up-to-date and accurate game schedule, please go to www.riverkings.com .

CHECK OUT PHOTOS ON RIVERKINGS.COM

Fans are invited to check out the photo galleries on the RiverKings' website at www.riverkings.com . The photos are in the "Fanzone" drop down menu on the home page. Pictures from the 1/13 game versus Oklahoma City and recent community appearances have recently been posted.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS AND GIVEAWAYS

On Friday, February 10, the first 1,500 fans will get Ford key chains and the next night, February 11, the first 3,000 fans will receive Cellular South CheerStix.

Be sure to take advantage of 2 for 1 deals on Tuesdays: 2 for 1 gold level tickets, 2 for 1 hot dogs, 2 for 1 soft drinks and $2 draft beer. There are 2 for 1 gold level tickets for the Thursday, February 16 game,, too.

Don't forget to head to TGI Fridays on Goodman Road after every home game for the "Official RiverKings Post-Game Party."

You can hear all regular-season RiverKings games on Sports 56 WHBQ (AM 560).



Central Hockey League Stories from January 31, 2006


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