CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Update

Published on April 13, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


Back In the Finals Again

The RiverKings franchise returns to the CHL Northern Conference finals for the fourth time in franchise history, having won the conference title two of the previous three times. All three previous appearances came as the Memphis RiverKings in 2002, 2003, and 2007. On the team's road to its first Ray Miron President's Cup championship in 2002, the RiverKings defeated Bossier-Shreveport in seven games, including a 4-2 series-clinching victory at home in game seven. The following year, Indianapolis was swept by the RiverKings in four games of the Northern Conference finals, including a 6-3 victory on Indiana ice in the final contest. Memphis went on to win its second straight league championship that season, taking out Austin in five games of the finals. Colorado has the only victory over the RiverKings in the Northern Conference finals, handling the RiverKings in six games of the 2007 series. Prior to 2002, the RiverKings lost a best-of-five series in four games to Columbus in the 2001 Eastern Division finals and defeated Huntsville in six games of a best-of-seven set in the CHL Eastern Conference finals, before losing out to the Fort Worth Fire in the league championship series that season.

The Last Time Out...Monday, April 6th, 2009 - RiverKings 3, Oklahoma City 1

Mississippi advanced to the Northern Conference finals with a 3-1 victory over the Oklahoma City Blazers on Monday, April 6th at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. All of the damage was done in the first period, when the RiverKings scored three times after Oklahoma City broke through first on the scoreboard. Following an unassisted goal by Blazers' forward Eric Przepiorka, the group of Bobby Chaumont, Andrew Lackner, Jeff Nelson, and Dane Marshall combined to net the next three goals and finish off the Blazers' hopes for a seventh and deciding game. Chaumont deflected a shot from Lackner at 7:13 for the first RiverKings goal, then Lackner responded with what would become the series-winning goal just over two minutes later, assisted by Chaumont and Nelson, who then finished the first session outburst with his first goal of the series, assisted by Chaumont and Marshall. RiverKings goaltender Kevin Beech and the Mississippi defense took over from there, as did Doug Groenestege and the Blazer blue liners, but the RiverKings held on to win the game and the series in six games. RiverKings won every game played in Oklahoma City during the regular season and the playoffs, and the series clinching tally was the only RiverKings victory claimed by more than one goal.

Shootout at OKC Corral Sets Records

The RiverKings-Oklahoma City series set records, as the long-standing CHL rivals met for the fifth time in the franchises' history. That is a CHL record and Monday's game was the 27th playoff game between the teams, which is also a CHL record for most playoff games played between two teams. Oklahoma City holds a 14-13 lead in head-to-head playoff matchups with the RiverKings all time, including a 7-7 mark in Oklahoma City. Prior to Monday's series-clinching conquest of the Blazers, the RiverKings' only other playoff series victory against Oklahoma City came in the 2003 Ray Miron President's Cup championship campaign, when the Memphis RiverKings defeated the Blazers 3-2 in the best-of-five Northern Conference first round.

Second Time's The Charm

The RiverKings and Colorado organization are dueling in the Ray Miron President's Cup post-season for the second time in the history of the franchises. The Memphis RiverKings last met Colorado in the CHL Northern Conference finals during the 2007 post-season. The series was won by the Eagles in six games. Colorado reeled off three straight wins after Memphis opened with a 3-2 overtime victory in Colorado. The RiverKings took another 3-2 extra-session victory in game five at home, before the Eagles advanced to the final round with a 6-3 win following game six in Colorado.

Picking Up a Point a Game

Going into the series with the Eagles, four RiverKings are averaging a point a game in the playoffs. They are led by Bobby Chaumont and Jeff Nelson, who each have tallied eight points in the six games of the series with Oklahoma City. Chaumont leads the team in goals scored with four and Nelson paces the RiverKings with seven assists. Louis Dumont and Matt Summers are the other two players to average a point a game in the post-season, each with three goals and three assists.

We're Using Rally Scoring For This One...

The RiverKings did well in coming from behind during the series with Oklahoma City. In the six games played, Mississippi forged a 1-2 record when the RiverKings scored first, but were unbeaten at 3-0 when the Blazers scored first. In last year's first round series with Texas, the RiverKings scored the first goal in two of the three games played against the Brahmas, who won the series in three games. During the six-game Northern Conference finals played between the Memphis RiverKings and the Eagles in 2007, Colorado scored first four times and were 2-2 when that happened. Mississippi scored the first goal in the other two games and lost both times that occurred.

RiverKings Handle Eagles during Regular Season

While Colorado was successful with the majority of teams in the Central Hockey League during the regular season, such was not the case for the Eagles against the RiverKings. Mississippi took four of the five regular season meetings between the teams in the 2008-09 campaign, including a current four-game winning streak prior to game one of the Northern Conference finals. After falling to Colorado in the first game of the season series 4-3 on October 31st at the DeSoto Civic Center, the RiverKings pounded the Eagles 6-2 the following night on November 1st. The victory stopped Colorado's season-opening eight-game winning streak. Mississippi next met Colorado on successive nights in February, winning 5-2 on February 13th and 5-3 on February 14th. The RiverKings won their fourth straight game of the season series with a 4-3 shootout win two weeks later at home on February 28th.

Doing It with Defense

Mississippi claimed its series victory over Oklahoma City in large part to its defense. Mississippi was second to Texas among this year's playoff teams in fewest goals allowed per game at 2.50. The RiverKings were also tops in the CHL in fewest shots allowed per game at 23.33. By contrast, Colorado was third among the playoff teams in goals allowed per game at 2.75, but was next to last among the ten playoff teams in shots allowed per game at 39.50.

Chaumont Scores!!

RiverKings forward Bobby Chaumont has scored five of his eight playoff points in the past two playoff games. The Sudbury, Ontario native notched the team's second three-point night of the post-season in the 3-1 series-clinching victory over Oklahoma City on Monday, April 6th. Chaumont scored the RiverKings' first goal of the game and assisted on the next two, including Andrew Lackner's clincher two minutes after Chaumont's goal, all part of a three-goal first period outburst against the Blazers. For the playoffs, Chaumont has scored four goals and has four assists. During the regular season, Bobby played just twice against Colorado and collected one assist.

Landmesser Continues Lengthy Playoff Run

Defenseman and captain Derek Landmesser is continuing a lengthy run in the playoffs wearing the RiverKings sweater. Landmesser has appeared in 48 playoff games as a member of the RiverKings, which is a team record for playoff appearances. He has scored nine goals and has 33 assists for 42 playoff points with the RiverKings. That places him third all-time in playoff points, one fewer that Kahlil Thomas' 43 points during the 2002 and 2003 Ray Miron President's Cup championship runs. Don Parsons has the team record for playoff points with 61 from 2001-2003. Landmesser's 33 assists puts him first all-time as a RiverKings' player, four more than Thomas' 29 helpers. The RiverKings captain has also moved into fourth all time on the team playoff charts for penalty minutes at 82.

Beech Rising Up the Charts

The Central Hockey League's Most Outstanding Goaltender is also moving up the RiverKings playoff charts in only his first season with the team. Kevin Beech was between the pipes for all four of the team's victories against Oklahoma City in the Northern Conference semi-final series. The four victories will place him fourth all-time in goaltender victories, three fewer than Larry Sterling at number three. Beech is also fifth all-time in playoff minutes played as a RiverKing and will eclipse Scott Brower and move into the number four spot seven minutes into his first appearance of the next playoff game. During the regular season, Beech was named to the all-CHL first team as goaltender, and was also in consideration for the league's Most Valuable Player award. During the regular season, Kevin's 35 goalie victories were the most in franchise history for a single season and he tied a team mark for shutouts in one season at three.

RiverKings Reach Near-Record Levels in Regular Season

During the 2008-09 CHL regular season, the Mississippi RiverKings approached near record levels for success. The team's 44 wins were two short of a franchise record for victories, as the 2001-02 RiverKings won 46 games of a 64-game schedule. The 91 standings points were one short of the 92 points earned by the 2000-01 and 2001-02 teams. The 20-10-2 (42 points) record away from home was the team's best road record ever. Mississippi also set a single season mark for fewest goals allowed at 166, eleven fewer than the mark set in the 2007-08 campaign. The team's eleven-game winning streak between February 13th and March 7th tied the league's season-longest streak (with Odessa) and was one short of the franchise win streak record. An eight-game road winning streak between February 13th and March 7th tied a team record for consecutive road wins set in 2001.

Broadcasts

Six of the seven games during the Mississippi-Colorado series will be heard in the Mid-South by Flinn Broadcasting state 96.1 FM, "The Pig," Tunica-Memphis. A possible sixth game in the series will be aired on fellow Flinn Broadcasting station Sports 56, WHBQ-AM (560 AM). Air time for each broadcast will be fifteen minutes prior to the first faceoff of each game. RiverKings Media Coordinator and veteran hockey broadcaster Bob Bakken provides the play-by-play. Fans with a high-speed internet connection can view RiverKings hockey from CHL-TV through a link from the team's official web site, www.riverkings.com.

Tickets

Tickets to all RiverKings playoff home games are available through the DeSoto Civic Center box office or through local outlets of Ticketmaster. For group tickets and other information, call the RiverKings offices at 662-342-1755.

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Central Hockey League Stories from April 13, 2009


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