CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Weekly 1.10.11

Published on January 10, 2011 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, MS --- RIVERKINGS RECAP: The RiverKings were 1-1-0 for the week, splitting a two-game weekend series at Laredo. Friday, the RiverKings defeated the Bucks 3-2, as Jeff Christian scored a goal and added an assist in the victory. Chris Richards also scored in the win to gain his 800th career CHL point. Goaltender Larry Sterlimg stopped 22 shots in posting his seventh victory of the season in goal (7-6-1). Saturday, Laredo scored twice in a 50 second span of the first period and held off a third-period rally to defeat the RiverKings 4-2 and avoid being swept by Mississippi in the three-game season series. Brennan Sarazin scored a goal for the second straight night and Chris Richards tipped in a shot for the other Mississippi goal in the game. Goalie Alexander Pechurskiy stopped 25 shots in suffering the loss (8-7-0).

THE WEEK AHEAD: Mississippi has a three-game weekend on the road complete its second five-game road trip of the regular season. Friday, January 14th, the RiverKings meet the Missouri Mavericks in Independence, Missouri at 7:05 PM. Saturday, January 15th, Mississippi heads to Evansville for another meeting with the IceMen at 7:35 PM, followed by a late afternoon game Sunday, January 16th (4:00 PM Central time) at Fort Wayne.

RIVERKINGS STATISTICAL LEADERS: GOALS: Matt Summers (12) ASSISTS: Nathan Lutz (21) POINTS: Lutz, Chris Richards (31) PLUS-MINUS: Derek Landmesser (+8) PENALTY MINUTES: Darrell Stoddard (99) POWER PLAY GOALS: Summers (8) SHORTHANDED GOALS: Dumont (3) GAME-WINNING GOALS: Jeff Christian, Nathan Lutz, R.G Flath, Summers, Brian Ihnacak (2)

RIVERKINGS GOALTENDING LEADERS: GAMES PLAYED: Alexander Pechurskiy (17) MINUTES PLAYED: Pechurskiy (938) WINS: Pechurskiy (8) SHUTOUTS: Pechurskiy (1) GOALS-AGAINST-AVERAGE: Pechurskiy (2.94) SAVE PERCENTAGE: Larry Sterling (.894)

LAST FIVE GAME STAT LEADERS: GOALS: Jeff Christian, Chris Richards (2) ASSISTS: Nathan Lutz (3) POINTS: Christian (4) PLUS-MINUS: R.G. Flath, Brennan Sarazin, Chris Auger, Derek Landmesser (+1) PENALTY MINUTES: Levesque (24) POWER PLAY GOALS: Christian, Richards, Matt Summers, Landmesser (1) SHORTHANDED GOALS: Louis Dumont, Chris Auger (1) GAME-WINNING GOALS: Summers, Christian (1) GOALIE GAMES PLAYED: Larry Sterling, Alex Pechurskiy (3) GOALIE MINUTES PLAYED: Sterling (164) GOALIE WINS: Sterling (2) GOALS-AGAINST-AVERAGE: Sterling (2.55) SAVE PERCENTAGE: Sterling (.913)

RIVERKINGS SPECIAL TEAMS: Mississippi failed to score on the power play in Saturday's loss to Laredo, the first time since January first the RiverKings have not scored an extra man goal. In the team's last five games, Mississippi has scored four power play goals in 24 attempts for a success rate of 16.67%. For the season, the RiverKings enter the week ranked 13th on the power play at 16.2%. On the penalty kill, Mississippi allowed one power play goal in seven tries during Saturday's loss to Laredo and has allowed one extra-man goal in its last three games. In the past five meetings, Mississippi is 3-for-30 on the penalty kill for 90.0% and for the year is ranked seventh in the CHL for penalty killing at 83.3%. Mississippi has scored nine shorthanded goals and has allowed eight "shorties" on the season.

JUST CALL HIM AN ALL-STAR: Defenseman Nathan Lutz will start for the CHL All-Stars Wednesday, January 12th in the annual Classic, being hosted this year by the Rapid City Rush at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena. The Mistatim, Saskatchewan native continues to rank high in statistical categories for CHL defensemen. Lutz ranks second in scoring by a defenseman with 29 points, is second in assists by a defenseman with 21, and is tied for fourth among league blue liners for power play goals with five. Lutz has also assisted on 14 power goal plays, putting him second among CHL defensemen.

BAGS ARE PACKED AGAIN: With this weekend's "three-in-three," Mississippi will wrap up its second five-game road trip of the season and by the time Sunday evening comes, will have finished playing ten of its last eleven away from the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven. Mississippi is 10-6-0 at home this year, but only 6-11-1 on the road. The reward for getting through this next group of road games is that a nine-game home stand will await, starting with Bossier-Shreveport on Tuesday, January 18th. Mississippi has won its last two home games, a streak dating back to December 21st.

SHARPSHOOTER SUMMERS CHARGING UP POWER PLAY: Forward Matt Summers paces the RiverKings in power play goals with eight and starts the week in a four-way tie for number one in the league for power play goals. The Savage, Minnesota native also leads the RiverKings in goals scored with 12 and is third in the CHL for shooting percentage at .226.

DUMONT HELPING OUT ON THE SHORT SIDE: Veteran forward Louis Dumont took over the team lead for shorthanded goals with Sunday third period marker on Sunday, January 2nd against Bossier-Shreveport and he's tied for the league lead in shorthanded assists with three.

WATCH OUT FOR AUGER: Rookie forward Chris Auger has recently picked up his offensive production, especially when the RiverKings are on the penalty kill, as his two shorthanded goals has him leading CHL rookies.

RICHARDS HITS 800: RiverKings ‚¬â„¢ forward Chris Richards reached the 800 CHL point mark with a power play goal in Friday's 3-2 victory over the Bucks in Laredo. With the goal, the native of Cornwall, Ontario became the fifth CHL player to score 800 or more points in his career. The former Ohio State Buckeye leads the RiverKings with 31 points.

LANDMESSER WATCH: RiverKings captain and veteran defenseman Derek Landmesser is again nearing record territory in his distinguished career. Already the record holder for appearances as a RiverKing, the Thunder Bay, Ontario native is 11 points short of Don Parsons ‚¬â„¢ record for points with the Memphis/Mississippi franchise, now with 541 points, to Parsons ‚¬â„¢ 552 points with the RiverKings. Landmesser reached the 900 career professional games played with his appearance Saturday night against Laredo. A team record 595 of Landmesser ‚¬â„¢s 900 career appearances have come as a RiverKing.

OTHER NOTABLES: Matt Summers reached 200 career professional and CHL games last Friday at Laredo, a team he played for before being sent to Mississippi in the 2008-09 season. Louis Dumont is six short of 100 career CHL and RiverKings goals. Dumont has scored 420 in his pro career. R.G. Flath is within three of 100 career CHL points. Russell Smith went over the 600 penalty minute mark for his pro career with time spent last weekend in the "sin-bin" in Laredo, now at 601. Jeff Christian is six short of 600 career CHL penalty minutes. Patrik Levesque is within seven of 500 career professional penalty minutes. Goaltender Larry Sterling surpassed the 8300 minute mark for CHL appearance time last weekend in Laredo. He's now seen 8309 minutes of goalie time, split between the RiverKings and two seasons with the Fort Worth Brahmas.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Central Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central