CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Weekly

Published on January 4, 2010 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


LAST GAME:

RiverKings 5, at Tulsa 3 (Saturday, January 2nd, 2010)

Mississippi broke a 3-3 tie with defenseman Nathan Schwartzbauer's second RiverKings goal of the season, which became the game-winning goal eight and half minutes into the final period of play. Matt Pierce added an empty-net goal with 41 seconds remaining for the final result. Ryan Held took over the team scoring lead with three assists on the night. Derek Landmesser scored a power play goal and added a helper for a two-point night, and Matt Summers and Ryan Campbell also added a pair of assists in the team's second straight victory. Kevin Beech (5-2-1) won his second straight victory in goal with an 18-save performance. Mississippi was 3-6 on the power play and held the Oilers to just one power play goal in five chances. The RiverKings out shot the Oilers by a 40-21 margin.

NEXT THREE GAMES (all games on CHL-TV)

1/9 - Allen at Mississippi (7:05 PM) - WHBQ-AM

1/15 - Mississippi at Missouri (7:05 PM) - WHBQ-AM

1/16 - Mississippi at Missouri (7:05 PM) - WHBQ-AM

ODESSA: Mississippi will be playing Odessa for the first and only time in the 2009-2010 regular season. All-time, the RiverKings have an 11-5-0 mark against the Jackalopes and last year won two of three contests. The only loss last season in Odessa stopped an 11-game win streak by the RiverKings.

ALLEN: The RiverKings will face the Americans for the second time this season and have a 1-0-0 season and all-time record against Allen. In the first meeting of the season series, Mississippi rallied for a 3-1 victory in the first-ever appearance at the Allen Event Center on November 25th. The next game against Allen after Saturday's contest will be February 2nd at the DeSoto Civic Center at 7:05 PM. The next time the RiverKings play at Allen will come on Friday, February 5th at 7:30 PM.

MISSISSIPPI LEADERS vs. ODESSA (08-09): Louis Dumont and the now departed Jeff Alcombrack led the RiverKings in points against the Jackalopes last season with six points each, with Dumont scoring three times. Both Dumont and Alcombrack scored two power play goals. Dumont also had the best plus-minus statistic for the RiverKings against Odessa at +3. Adam Smyth paced Mississippi in penalty minutes against the Jackalopes with 18.

MISSISSIPPI GOALIES vs. ODESSA (08-09): Kevin Beech won both starts for the RiverKings against the Jackalopes last season, posting a 2.51 GAA and a save percentage of.917.

MISSISSIPPI LEADERS vs. ALLEN (09-10): Louis Dumont scored a goal (game-winner) and added an assist in the team's first meeting back in November to lead the RiverKings in points against the Americans. Derek Landmesser and now-departed Cam Severson also scored goals for Mississippi. Landmesser and Severson scored goals on the power play. Dumont also leads the RiverKings in penalty minutes against Allen with six.

MISSISSIPPI GOALIES vs. ALLEN (09-10): None of the current RiverKings goaltenders played against Allen in the first meeting of the season in November. Ian Keserich (now with Wichita) won the game between the pipes after a one-goal, 39-save performance.

JACKALOPE LEADERS vs. MISSISSIPPI (08-09): Kory Karlander was the leading scorer for Odessa last season against the RiverKings with five points, including a team-leading four assists. Sebastien Thinel scored twice against Mississippi last season, both coming on the power play. Karlander, Kenny Barnard, and Mike Ramsay each were +2 against the RiverKings. Garrett Gruenke collected 14 penalty minutes against Mississippi.

JACKALOPE GOALIES vs. MISSISSIPPI (08-09): Juha Toivonen last season was 1-1-0 against the RiverKings with a 3.51 GAA and a save percentage of.889. Jeremy Symington was 0-1-0 against Mississippi with a 4.01 GAA and a save percentage of.879.

AMERICAN LEADERS vs. MISSISSIPPI (09-10): Nino Musitelli scored the Americans' lone goal in the November meeting. Justin Bowers and Kurtis Dulle earned the assists on the goal. Britt Dougherty has the most penalty minutes against Mississippi with five.

AMERICAN GOALIES vs. MISSISSIPPI (09-10): Chris Whitley took the loss in the November game in Allen, making 26 saves and allowing three goals.

NOTES TO KNOW: Friday night is the only meeting of the regular season between the RiverKings and Odessa. The last time the RiverKings had a losing record against the Jackalopes came in the 2007-08 campaign, when Odessa won both meetings. The RiverKings and Jackalopes have never played more than three games against each other in one season since 2001-02. The Memphis RiverKings first lost to Odessa in the 2004-05 season, when the teams split a pair of contests and twice had losing records against the Jackalopes (2005-06 and 2007-08).

At home, the RiverKings have a 9-6-1 record for 19 of the team's 35 standings points. Last year, Mississippi was 24-7-1 on its way to the Northeast Division championship. The RiverKings last won at home on New Year's Eve against Missouri, 4-3 in overtime.

On the road, Mississippi brings a record of 7-7-2 for 16 of the team's 35 standings points. Last season, the RiverKings were 20-10-2 for 42 of its 91 standings points. Mississippi's last road victory was last Saturday, January 2nd, at Tulsa (5-3).

When scoring first, the RiverKings have a record of 11-4-2.

Mississippi won its first overtime game of the season on New Year's night against Missouri, improving its overtime record to 1-3. The RiverKings are 2-0 in games decided in a shootout.

Against the Northern Conference, the RiverKings have a record of 11-11-3 for 23 points.

The RiverKings are 5-2-0 against the Southern Conference, with a 5-3 win at Corpus Christi December 22nd being the last win against the Southern side of the Central Hockey League.

Mississippi has earned at least one standings point in its last three overall games (2-0-1) and is 3-0-1 in its last four road games.

Mississippi enters the week tied for fifth place in the CHL on the power play at 17.6%. At home, the RiverKings are ninth-best in the CHL on the power play at 14.4%.

The RiverKings are ranked tenth in the CHL in penalty killing at 82.9%. In home games, Mississippi is seventh in the CHL at 83.9%.

Three of the RiverKings' six shorthanded goals scored have come in home games, while two of the three shorthanded goals allowed have been on DeSoto Civic Center ice.

The RiverKings have the best shootout scoring percentage in the CHL at.556 (5 of 9).

Mississippi has scored an average of 3.19 goals per game and has allowed an average of 3.25 goals a contest. Both numbers rank seveth in the CHL.

The RiverKings rank number one in the CHL for shots allowed per game at 29.03.

At home, Mississippi has a record of 5-0-0 when ahead after two periods, but are winless (0-6-0) when trailing after forty minutes. The RiverKings are 8-5-1 when out shooting their opponents at home and are 5-3-1 in one-goal games.

RiverKings defenseman Nathan Schwartzbauer scored the game-winning goal Saturday night against the Oilers in Tulsa, his second as a RiverKing. Schwartzbauer's last goal came at Bossier-Shreveport on December 26th, where he added an assist for his only multi-point night of the season.

Mississippi defenseman Andrew Lackner scored a goal against Tulsa Saturday night, his second of the season. Lackner's last goal came at Bossier-Shreveport on December 26th. Andrew has an assist against Allen this season.

RiverKings forward Matt Pierce scored a goal against the Oilers in Tulsa Saturday night, his fourth of the season. Pierce has a goal and an assist in his last two games and has no points scored against Allen. Pierce has the best plus-minus statistic on the roster at +8.

Mississippi defenseman Kevin Truelson netted a goal against Tulsa Saturday evening, his second as a RiverKing. Truelson has scored goals in his last two games. He did not play for Mississippi in the RiverKings' first meeting with Allen this year.

Mississippi forward Ryan Held is tied for fourth in the CHL for goals scored with 17. Ryan leads the RiverKings in points with 32. Held assisted on three of the RiverKings' five goals scored Saturday night at Tulsa, given him 15 helpers for the season. Held leads the RiverKings in shorthanded goals scored with two. Ryan is on a three-game point streak with six points (1g, 5a). He had no points in the game at Allen last November.

RiverKings defenseman Adam Smyth enters the week in fifth place in the CHL and leads the RiverKings for penalty minutes at 120. Smyth is tied for the CHL lead in major penalties with 12. Smyth took five minutes in a major penalty at the start of Saturday's game in Tulsa.

Mississippi defenseman Derek Landmesser is tied for sixth place in the CHL for points by a defenseman with 23 points and is tied for third in the CHL for shots by a defenseman with 91. Landmesser scored a goal and added an assist on Saturday in Tulsa, giving him seven goals and 16 assists. Derek is on a two-game point streak of four points (2g, 2a) in those two games. He has one goal against Allen this year. Landmesser recently was named to his seventh CHL All-Star game, which will be January 13th in Laredo. He was also recently named a starter on the CHL All-Decade team, reflecting the top players of the past decade in the CHL.

RiverKings blue liner David Simoes ranked fifth in the CHL for penalty minutes by a defenseman. Simoes is second to Odessa's Garrett Gruenke for major penalties by a defenseman with 11. Simoes took five minor penalties against Texas on November 3rd.

Mississippi forward Matt Summers has scored 11 points in his last nine games, the second-longest active point streak in the CHL entering this week's play. Summers assisted on two of the RiverKings' five goals scored on Saturday night in Tulsa, giving him 12 assists for the year. He has no points against Allen this season.

RiverKings forward Ryan Campbell scored two assists on Saturday in Tulsa, giving him 19 helpers for the season. Campbell is on a seven-game point streak of nine points (2g, 7a). Ryan has one assist against Allen. He is tied with Louis Dumont for the team lead in assists among the active roster members at 19 and leads the team in power play goals scored with six.

RiverKings forward Louis Dumont scored four goals in one game on December 4th against Colorado. Dumont is tied with Ryan Campbell for the team lead in assists among active roster members with 19.

Mississippi forward Bobby Chaumont leads the team in game-winning goals scored with four. After going 31 straight games without a penalty minute, Chaumont spent his first time in the "sin-bin" Saturday night in Tulsa.

Mississippi goaltender Kevin Beech made his tenth appearance of the season Saturday night in Tulsa, winning between the pipes with an 18-save performance. Beech has now won two straight games for the second time this year, posting an overall mark of 5-2-1.

The RiverKings look for their third straight victory in Friday night's contest. Mississippi has won two straight games on five previous occasions this season, its longest winning streak of the season.

Mississippi averages 20.00 penalty minutes per game. The total includes 37 major penalties, one ten-minute misconduct and four game-misconduct penalties.

The RiverKings took 19 penalty minutes in Saturday's win at Tulsa. The season low for PIMS by Mississippi this season is four, which came on November 20th in a 3-2 overtime loss to Bossier-Shreveport.

The RiverKings' 22 shots on goal in the third period of its October 25th 4-3 loss to Wichita is a league season high. Mississippi took 20 shots on goal in the first period of last night's victory against Missouri.

On Friday night, Mississippi has a record of 6-3-2 for 14 points. In Saturday games, Mississippi has a 6-4-0 record for 12 points.

Saturday night marked the end of the latest "three-in-three" weekend for the RiverKings, the fifth "three-in-three" of the season.

ODESSA EXTRA: The Jackalopes have the best record in the CHL during its last ten games with a 9-1-0 mark. The Jackalopes lead the CHL in goals (141), assists (247) and points (388). Odessa also leads the CHL in power play goals scored with 54. Odessa leads the overall league standings by seven points over second-place Allen. The Jackalopes are 3-0-2 against the Northern Conference this season. Odessa has the top power play in the CHL, both at home, on the road, and overall.

ALLEN EXTRA: The Americans start the week with the longest active winning streak in the CHL at 5-0-0. Allen is 6-3-0 against the Northern Conference.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2010


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