CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Weekend Report

October 20, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, MS --- The Mississippi RiverKings complete a three-game home stand to start of the 2010-11 Central Hockey League (CHL) regular season with a pair of contests Friday and Saturday nights, October 22nd and 23rd. Evansville is the opponent for Friday's game and Missouri will come in for Saturday's meeting. Both games at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven are slated for 7:05 PM faceoffs.

RIVERKINGS RECAP: Mississippi opened the home portion of its 2010-11 regular season schedule on Saturday, October 16th and fell to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs for the second straight time, this time in a 2-1 tussle before 5,327 fans at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, dropping the team's regular season record to 0-2-0. Andrew Lackner opened the scoring with a power play goal as time expired in the first period, assisted by Derek Landmesser and Matt Miller. Brett Smith tied the game for Bossier-Shreveport in the second period and Shane Hart added the game-winner at 6:58 into the third period of play. Goaltender Larry Sterling stopped 25 of 27 shots on goal in the RiverKings' crease. Mississippi was 1-for-6 on the power play and stopped all eight Bossier-Shreveport power play chances.

HOME COOKING NOT TASTY: Saturday's home opening loss at the DCC dropped the team to 6-2-1 in home openers in the last nine years. Mississippi has now lost its last two home lid lifters, falling to Tulsa last season by a score of 6-3. The last home opener win for the RiverKings was in 2008, when the RiverKings edged Wichita 3-2 in Kevin Kaminski's first regular season game as RiverKings' head coach.

THERE'S A BIG CROWD HERE: Saturday's paid attendance of 5,327 was the second-largest home opening crowd for a RiverKings game at the DeSoto Civic Center since 2002. A total of 7,203 watched the Memphis RiverKings defeat the Fort Worth (now Texas) Brahmas 3-1 in the 2003-04 home opener, played on October 18th, 2003. Two other crowds have surpassed the 5,000 mark on opening night for the RiverKings at the DCC. They include 5,160 in attendance on October 23rd, 2004 for a 5-4 shootout win over Fort Worth, and 5,012 watched the RiverKings defeat Bossier-Shreveport 4-1 on opening night, October 18th, 2002. By contrast, 4,588 was the paid attendance for last year's home opening loss to Tulsa, and in 2008-09, 2,375 fans witnessed the team's first home game, a 3-2 win over Wichita.

WHAT HISTORY?: Tonight's game between the RiverKings and Evansville will be the first time the two teams have met in regular season play and is the first of two straight regular season visits by the IceMen to the DeSoto Civic Center. Evansville returns to the DCC on November 9th. The first Mississippi visit to Indiana will be on November 20th at 7:35 PM. Friday's game also marks the first visit here of a hockey team from Indiana since the Indianapolis Ice last visited the Mid-South on March 13th, 2004, a game won by the Ice over the Memphis RiverKings 1-0.

THERE'S A HISTORY HERE: Saturday's opponent, Missouri, will come into the DeSoto Civic Center for the first time since eliminating the RiverKings from the post-season playoffs last March. The Mavericks claimed the three-game first round series with Mississippi in the final game, a 3-1 defeat on March 25th. However, Mississippi last season claimed the regular season series with the Mavericks by a 6-4-1 margin and were 5-0-1 in games played in Southaven. Louis Dumont led the RiverKings in scoring against the Mavericks with 13 points on three goals and ten assists. Goaltender Kyle McNulty, a late season pickup off waivers from Arizona, won his only regular season start in goal against Missouri. Current RiverKings forward Jeff Christian led Missouri in scoring against Mississippi with five goals and 13 points.

NOT "LACKING" FOR OFFENSE: Mississippi's lone goal of Saturday night's 2-1 loss to Bossier-Shreveport came off the stick of defenseman Andrew Lackner, a goal that came as the first period was ending to give the RiverKings a 1-0 lead at the time. In two previous seasons with the RiverKings, Lackner has netted 22 points each year, including a three-goal, 19 assist effort last season. He scored seven goals for the RiverKings two years ago in his first season with the team. The fifth-year professional has also played with Tulsa in the CHL and with Bloomington, Chicago, and Fort Wayne when they were members of the United Hockey League.

LARRY'S TRYING TO BE "STERLING": Despite allowing two goals in Saturday's loss to Bossier-Shreveport, RiverKings' goaltender Larry Sterling fashioned a .926 save percentage in the contest, placing among the top ten in CHL goalies in that category. Sterling's 2.04 goals-against-average also has him among the top five in the CHL.

NEED TO BE MORE SPECIAL: Mississippi's power play percentage stands at 15.4% entering tonight's contest, having scored twice in 13 chances. The team's penalty kill percentage stands at 76.5%, allowing four power play goals in 17 opportunities. The RiverKings have not scored a shorthanded goal, but have allowed three "shorties" by the opposition.

MILESTONE MET: Defenseman Derek Landmesser reached 1,300 career professional penalty minutes with a minor call in Saturday's loss to Bossier-Shreveport.

A FULL NELSON RETURN: Evansville features veteran Jeff Nelson on its roster, returning to hockey after a year's retirement last season. Nelson last played professionally two years ago with the RiverKings and scored 19 goals to go with 39 assists for 58 points in 55 games, as the RiverKings won the CHL Northeast Division championship. Nelson added two goals and 13 points in 12 playoff games. A former second-round draft choice of the NHL Washington Capitals in 1991, Nelson has played 52 NHL games and three Stanley Cup playoff contests.

RIVERKINGS RADIO/WEBCAST: Friday's game will be aired on WMFS-AM 1210 in Memphis and Saturday's contest will be on Sports 56, WHBQ-AM 560. Both games are available on audio stream at www.sports56whbq.com. Games are also available on the Internet at CHL-TV (chltv.neulion.com/chltv/). One constant is 30+ year veteran broadcaster Bob Bakken, who comes back to the RiverKings microphone for his third season with the team.

MVPS OF THE NIGHT: Friday's RiverKings game against Evansville will feature the work of Safehaven of North Mississippi, while Saturday's MVP is Horn Lake Parks and Recreation.

TICKETS: For ticket information on the RiverKings' 19th season of hometown professional hockey in the Mid-South, call the RiverKings at 662-342-1755 or go online to www.riverkings.com today!



Central Hockey League Stories from October 20, 2010


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