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CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Weekly

November 15, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


RIVERKINGS RECAP: The Mississippi RiverKings have a three-game week ahead for them, beginning Tuesday night at Rapid City, followed by a home game against Quad City on Friday and a road visit to Evansville on Saturday. While going just 1-2-0 last week in a trio of contests, Mississippi will enter the week hoping to extend some momentum obtained in a Saturday night win at Colorado.

The week opened up with a 5-2 loss to the Evansville IceMen on Tuesday, November 9th at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven. Matt Summers and Jeff Christian scored goals, both on the power play. Kyle McNulty was tagged with the loss in relieff of starting goaltender Larry Sterling, who was hurt in a collision following the second Evansville goal.

The RiverKings then hit the road to start a three-game swing through Rapid City and Colorado, beginning Friday night in South Dakota. The defending champion Rush handed Mississippi a 4-2 loss in Rapid City Friday night, despite goals from Louis Dumont and Summers. McNulty took the loss for the RiverKings and was replaced by Alexander Pechurskiy after the fourth Rush goal. Pechurskiy shut Rapid City down the remainder of the game, as he stopped all 21 shots he faced.

Saturday night, Mississippi took a 4-3 victory at Colorado, its 15th victory in the all-time series with the Eagles. Nathan Lutz, Chris Richards, Darrell Stoddard, and Ryan Kretzer netted goals for the RiverKings, with Lutz' tally on the power play with about six and a half minutes left becoming the game-winning goal. Pechurskiy won his first start, as he stopped 31 of 34 shots on net.

OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS: Rapid City meets the RiverKings for the final time this season Tuesday night in South Dakota. The Rush, coached by Joe Ferras, enter the week with a 6-4-1 record for 13 points and a tie for third place in the Turner Conference standings. The Rush is 3-0-1 in its last four games, sweeping a home weekend set Friday vs. Mississippi and Saturday vs. Tulsa. Ryan Menei is tied for fourth in the CHL with eight goals scored. Kevin Harvey leads the team in penalty minutes with 34. Danny Battochio has a 6-2-1 record in goal, a 2.90 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .911.

Quad City will meet the RiverKings for the first time ever on Friday. The Mallards, led by Frank Anzalone, start the week with a record of 5-5-0 for ten points and eighth place in the Turner Conference standings. The Mallards are led in goal scoring by Zac Pearson with seven, while Ryan Palmer has taken a team-leading 25 penalty minutes. David Brown has posted a 3-3-0 record between the pipes for Quad City. He has a 2.69 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .916.

Evansville, under coach Rich Kromm, has won both previous meetings against the RiverKings this season, and both times coming at the DeSoto Civic Center by scores of 5-2. The IceMen enter this week with a record of 6-5-1 for 13 points and a tie for third place in the Turner Conference standings. Nicklas Lindberg is tied for the league lead in points with 19 as the week begins. The total includes a league-leading 15 assists. Brian Bicek, Damian Surma, and Mario Larocque have each scored six goals to lead that stat department. Goaltender Matt Lundin has posted a 5-2-1 record, 2.63 goals-against-average, and a .919 save percentage.

RIVERKINGS POWER PLAY: Mississippi was 1-for-4 on the power play in Saturday's win at Colorado, with Nathan Lutz's power play goal in the third period becoming the game-winner. The RiverKings have now scored at least one power play goal in the team's last five contests (7-of-30) and are 3-2-0 in those five contests. For the season, the RiverKings enter the week seventh in the CHL on the power play at 18.92%.

RIVERKINGS PENALTY KILL: The RiverKings stopped all six Colorado power play opportunities on Saturday night, which marked the first time in four games Mississippi had shut out the opposition with an extra man. For the year, the RiverKings are 11th in the CHL on the penalty kill at 82.67%.

SHOTS IN THE DARK: Mississippi was out shot 34-19 in Saturday's victory in Colorado. The 19 shots taken were the fewest by the RiverKings this season, the least taken since the season opener at Bossier-Shreveport on October 15th. Saturday's game also marked the second straight contest the RiverKings have been out shot in, as Rapid City out shot Mississippi 42-36 in Friday night's loss.

PECHURSKIY WINS FIRST GOALIE START: Goaltender Alexander Pechurskiy has come through with two strong efforts for Mississippi since his arrival late last week. The native of Russia stopped all 21 Rapid City shots in relief of Kyle McNulty in Friday's 4-2 loss to the Rush, then fashioned a 31-save performance in beating Colorado on Saturday 4-3.

Pechurskiy was signed by the RiverKings before Friday's game after being released by the Tri-City Americans of the major junior Western Hockey League earlier in the year. Alexander is a fifth-round draft selection of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft who also played briefly in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League. He was a first-round pick of the Americans in the CHL Import Draft last year.

POWERED BY RICHARDS: Forward Chris Richards is among the league leaders in power play goals, as he was tied for fourth in the CHL for man advantage goals with four prior to Sunday's action.

YOUTHFUL BOYD AMONG ROOKIE LEADERS: Forward Matt Boyd enters the week among the top first-year players in the CHL, as he was tied for the league lead in points by a rookie with nine and led the league in rookie assists with eight. Boyd is also among the CHL rookie leaders in penalty minutes with 25.

OFFENSIVE D-MAN LUTZ: Nathan Lutz enters the week as the RiverKings' points leader with 12. Lutz is also among the top scorers for defensemen in the Central Hockey League, as his 12 points put him in a tie for points by a blue-liner, prior to Sunday's CHL action. Lutz was third in the CHL for assists by a defenseman with nine, six of which have come on power play goals.

MAJOR SHELDRAKE: Defenseman Tyler Sheldrake was tied for the CHL lead in major penalties with seven before Sunday's action. Sheldrake is tied with former RiverKing forward Adam Smyth, who now plays for Arizona. Tyler also is second among defensemen for penalty minutes with 55.

THAT'S A FOUL ON YOU: Inflated by a one-night 150 penalty minute performance against Missouri back in October, the RiverKings remain the top-ranked team for PIMS in the CHL. Mississippi has collected 453 penalty minutes and is tops in the league for majors (25), ten-minute misconducts (4), game misconducts (10), and match penalties (1). The RiverKings have averaged 41.18 penalty minutes per game.

APPLYING FOR MEMBERSHIP: The RiverKings' swing through the Turner Conference continues this week with the three games against members of the northern half of the Central Hockey League. Against the Turner Conference this season, Mississippi has a record of 3-3-0 and is 2-3-0 in games against foes of its own Berry Conference affiliation.

NOTABLES: Including time spent in Europe, Nathan Lutz has played in 500 career professional games, with number 500 coming Saturday night in Colorado. Derek Landmesser needs three points to reach 700 career professional points. Landmesser is one minor penalty short of 900 career RiverKings professional penalty minutes. Including one season in Germany, Chris Richards is one goal short of 300 career professional goals, two games short of 700 career pro appearances, and one minor penalty short of 900 career professional penalty minutes.

INJURED RESERVE: Defenseman Milan Maslonka was placed on 10-day injured reserve at the start of the season October 15th and has not seen action this year. Larry Sterling was placed on goaltender injured reserve on Friday, November 12th.

TICKETS: RiverKings tickets make a great holiday gift idea, with flex packs saving money while giving the gift of great hockey. For more information, call 662-342-1755 today!

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