CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Update

Published on March 5, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


This Week's Schedule Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 - RiverKings 4, at Bossier-Shreveport 1 Friday, March 6th, 2009 - RiverKings at Tulsa (7:35 PM, BOK Center, Tulsa, OK) (Sports 56, WHBQ-AM) Saturday, March 7th, 2009 - RiverKings at Bossier-Shreveport (7:05 PM, Century Tel Center, Bossier City, LA) (96.1 FM "The Pig," WIVG-FM) Sunday, March 8th, 2009 - RiverKings at Odessa (4:05 PM, Ecter County Coliseum, Odessa, TX) (Sports 56, WHBQ-AM)

RiverKings Player Stat Leaders Bobby Chaumont is the Mississippi goal scoring leader with 27 goals for the season, with a team-leading nine of his goals coming on the power play. Martin Gascon has 48 assists for the season, but only ten have come with the RiverKings. Jeff Nelson leads the team in assists in a RiverKings' sweater with 39 and he and Gascon lead the team in points scored with 57 each. Eleven of Gascon's points have been scored in Mississippi. Nelson also has a team-leading seven game-winning goals. Matt Summers is plus-21 with the RiverKings and plus-23 for the season overall. Adam Smyth leads the team in penalty minutes collected with 229. Louis Dumont leads Mississippi in shorthanded goals scored with five. At the crease, Kevin Beech leads in all statistical categories, including games played (44), minutes played (2661), wins (31), shutouts (3), goals-against-average (2.37), and save percentage (.909).

The Last Time Out...Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 - RiverKings 4, at Bossier-Shreveport 1 Matt Summers scored a goal and added an assist in Mississippi's ninth-straight victory, a 4-1 win at Bossier-Shreveport on Tuesday night, March 3rd. Joe Markusen, Andrew Lackner, and Dallas Steward added goals for the RiverKings in the win, while Adam Smyth, Martin Gascon, Garrett Larson, Dallas Costanzo, and Derek Landmesser chipped in with assists. Meanwhile, goaltender Kevin Beech won his 31st game of the season (31-10-3) with a 21-save effort. The RiverKings broke open a 1-1 tie with three third-period goals. Each team scored once on the power play in six attempts and the RiverKings out shot the Mudbugs 47-22 for the contest.

Friday's Matchup: RiverKings at Tulsa Oilers (7:35 PM Start, BOK Center, Tulsa, OK) This matchup is the sixth meeting between the teams this season with the RiverKings having a 4-0-1 record for nine points. The teams play one more time at the BOK Center on March 18th, and Tulsa is the season-ending opponent for Mississippi on March 21st at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven.

Jeff Alcombrack is the point leader against the Oilers this season with eight points in five games, including a team-leading six assists. Alcombrack is also plus-six in games against Tulsa this year. Matt Summers, Bobby Chaumont, and Garrett Larson have each scored three goals against Tulsa. Adam Smyth has collected 24 penalty minutes to lead the RiverKings in that category against Tulsa. Alcombrack, Chaumont and Larson have each scored two power play goals against the Oilers, and Chaumont and Louis Dumont each have one shorthanded tally. Two of Chaumont's goals have been game-winners.

In the crease, Kevin Beech is 3-0-1 against the Oilers with a goals-against-average of 1.71 and a save percentage of .917.

Mississippi is 24.2% on the power play against Tulsa (8-of-33) and has scored a total of 22 goals, 11 of which have come in the first period of play.

Tulsa is led in scoring against the RiverKings by Michel Beausoleil with six points. Beausoleil and Brendon Hodge each have four assists, while Jeff Christian is the goal scoring leader against Mississippi with three. Hodge is also plus-three against the RiverKings this year. Chris Kovalcik leads the Oilers in penalty minutes against Mississippi with 26 PIMS. Two of Christian's goals have been on the power play and Sean Collins has the only game-winning goal for the Oilers this year, coming in a shootout.

In goal, Davis Parley is 1-1-0 against the RiverKings this season, has a 3.85 goals-against-average, and a save percentage of .890.

Tulsa is 10.0% on the power play against Mississippi (3-of-30) and has scored 11 goals against the RiverKings, five of which have come in the opening period of play.

Special Teams Update Tuesday night against Bossier-Shreveport, the RiverKings were 1-for-6 on the power play. It marks the fifth straight game with a power play goal for Mississippi and the RiverKings are 19.4% on the power play in the team's last five games (6-of-31). On the road, Mississippi is 17.1% with the man advantage (30-of-175) and overall for the season has a power play percentage of 19.4% (73-of-377).

In the Tuesday night win against the Mudbugs, Mississippi was 1-for-6 on the penalty kill. In the last five games, the RiverKings are 80% on the penalty kill (5-of-25), are 82.7% on the penalty kill in road games (31-of-195), and overall are successful 84.6% of the time on the penalty kill (52-of-337).

Mississippi has scored eight shorthanded goals and has allowed nine "shorties" this season. Four of the shorthanded goals scored have been on enemy ice and the RiverKings have allowed two shorthanded goals in road games this year.

Northern Conference Playoff Teams Set With last weekend's results, the five teams to play in the Northern Conference half of the Central Hockey League playoffs have been determined. Colorado clinched the Northwest Division championship last Saturday with the point earned for the shootout loss to the RiverKings in Mississippi. The other Northwest Division team to make the playoffs is Rocky Mountain, who punched their ticket over the past weekend. Mississippi, Bossier-Shreveport and Oklahoma City make up the three Northeast Division teams to qualify.

Win Streak Now At Nine Straight Mississippi has reached its longest winning streak of the season at nine consecutive victories with its win Tuesday night at Bossier-Shreveport, which also is the second-longest winning streak for the entire year, just two away from the Odessa Jackalopes' 11-game skein between November 22nd and December 20th. Six of the nine wins have come on the road, while only three of the nine victories have been at the DeSoto Civic Center. Last year's RiverKings team won five straight on two occasions, but paled in comparison to a 10-game winning streak fashioned by the 2006-07 RiverKings between December 29th, 2006 and January 23rd, 2007. Two victories in that streak came in shutout form and the victories included a pair of wins against Youngstown, two against Odessa, a pair against Tulsa, and one each against Colorado, Corpus Christi, Bossier-Shreveport, and Oklahoma City (1/5/07). The RiverKings' team record winning streak is 12 straight games, set between January 23rd and February 22nd, 2002.

We Get A Point, Again! As impressive as the winning streak may be, the RiverKings are also continuing a string of 15 straight games where they have achieved at least one standings point (13-0-2 for 28 points). The last regulation time loss for Mississippi came on January 27th, when Mississippi lost at home against Bossier-Shreveport 2-1 on "Face-Off Field Trip" Tuesday morning. Since then, the RiverKings have suffered an overtime loss at Texas and a shootout loss against Rocky Mountain to mar the current streak, but gained a standing point both times in the process. The 13-0-2 skein includes the team's largest one-game goal-scoring output of the season against Wichita (9-2, February 3rd) and a shutout of Rapid City on January 31st, (4-0). It is both the longest active non-loss streak of the season and for the entire regular season. The 15-game non-loss streak is the longest string of its type for the entire Central Hockey League season and the nine-game non-loss streak on the road is the longest active and longest overall in the CHL this season.

2008-09 RiverKings Hat-Tricks: Darrell Stoddard (4 goals, February 3rd, 2009 vs. Wichita) 2008-09 RiverKings Penalty Shots: Jeff Nelson (miss, January 17th, 2009 at Tulsa), (goal, February 24th, 2009 at Odessa) 2008-09 RiverKings Goaltender Shutouts: Tyler Sims (November 29th, 2008 at Corpus Christi), Kevin Beech - December 31st, 2008 vs. Bossier-Shreveport; January 9th vs. Tulsa; January 31st vs. Rapid City)

Streaking RiverKings Goals: (none) Assists: Jeff Nelson (6 games - 10 assists), Derek Landmesser (6 games - 9 assists), Martin Gascon (4 games - 5 assists) Points: Jeff Nelson (6 games - 13 points), Derek Landmesser (6 games - 11 points), Martin Gascon (4 games - 5 points), Dallas Steward (2 games - 2 points), Adam Smyth (2 games - 2 points) Penalty Minutes: Derek Landmesser (3 games - 11 PIMS), Goaltender Wins: Kevin Beech (7), Tyler Sims (2)

Recalculating the Record Book With Tuesday night's victory over Bossier-Shreveport, RiverKings goaltender Kevin Beech tied a RiverKings team record for victories by a goaltender in one season with his 31st win of the year. Beech is now 31-10-3 for the season. His next victory at the crease would set a new team record for goalie victories, moving Beech beyond Larry Sterling's 31 victories in the 2006-07 campaign. After further searching the records, we find the team record for career goaltending victories belongs to Jean-Francois Racine, who won 46 games at the crease with the RiverKings in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2004-05.

Broadcasts RiverKings hockey games are heard in the Mid-South and around the world on "The Voice of the Fan," Sports 56, WHBQ-AM and www.sports56whbq.com. Veteran hockey broadcaster and RiverKings media coordinator Bob Bakken provides the play-by-play coverage on Sports 56 and also on CHL-TV. "Never Miss another Away Game" with the CHL-TV link found on the team web site at www.riverkings.com. Games not broadcast on Sports 56 due to other programming commitments are heard on fellow Flinn Broadcasting station 96.1 "The Pig," WIVG-FM.

Tickets RiverKings season and group tickets, fundraiser programs, and more are available by contacting the RiverKings' front office at 662-342-1755 or by e-mail at tickets@riverkings.com. New season ticket packages for the 2009-2010 season are now available for sale through the RiverKings offices or by calling the front office. Single game tickets for RiverKings hockey are available through the DeSoto Civic Center box office, or by contacting Ticketmaster.

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Central Hockey League Stories from March 5, 2009


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