CHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Weekly

March 21, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, MS --- The Mississippi RiverKings finished last weekend's play with a 2-1-0 record and improved its season record to 29-29-5 going into the final weekend of the Central Hockey League regular season. Mississippi is sixth in the CHL Berry Conference race, two points behind fifth-place Odessa and four points ahead of seventh place Arizona. The RiverKings have played one fewer game than Arizona and have played an equal number of contests as Odessa.

· Friday, the RiverKings out-gunned Texas 6-5 in the opener of a two-game weekend set with the Brahmas at Southaven's DeSoto Civic Center. Darrell Stoddard scored a goal and added a pair of assists to lead the offense, while Andrew Lackner scored twice. Alexander Pechurskiy made 27 saves in net for the RiverKings, who were outshot 32-25 in the game and were 3-for-5 on the power play.

· Saturday, the RiverKings completed the sweep of the Brahmas with a 4-3 victory at the DeSoto Civic Center. Four separate players scored goals with Chris Auger adding an assist for a two-point contest. Alexander Pechurskiy again provided the winning effort in goal with a 29-save performance. Mississippi scored once on the power play, but again was out shot by the Brahmas 32-30.

· In the Sunday finale of the weekend, Mississippi was shut out by the Missouri Mavericks 7-0 in Independence. Larry Sterling took the loss in goal, stopping 25 of 32 Mavericks' shots. Alexander Pechurskiy played the final nine minutes in goal. Mississippi was outshot 35-22 in the game and was scoreless in eight power play chances.

MISSISSIPPI VS. ALLEN: Games Friday at home against the Americans and at Allen Saturday will be the second and third games of the regular season between the Berry Conference rivals. Allen won the only previous game of the season against Mississippi, a 2-1 victory in Allen on December 26th, 2010. Jeff Christian, no longer on the roster, scored the RiverKings' lone goal (power play) in that game, with Nathan Lutz and Louis Dumont getting assists on the play. Matt Boyd and R.G. Flath each received four penalty minutes against the Americans in the game. Larry Sterling was in goal for the RiverKings and stopped 24 of 26 shots on net in the contest. Mississippi was 1-for-10 in the game. All-time, the RiverKings have a 3-4-1 record against the Americans.

MISSISSIPPI VS. WICHITA: Sunday's game against the Thunder will be the regular season finale for both teams and the sixth game of the season between two of the remaining three original franchises from the CHL rebirth in 1992-93. The RiverKings have a 3-2-0 record against the Thunder this season, with the last victory over Wichita coming February 13th in a 4-1 decision at Southaven's DeSoto Civic Center. Wichita won the last meeting between the team in Kansas on March 11th, a 5-2 decision. Matt Summers leads Mississippi in goals against the Thunder with five and points with seven. Two of Summers' five goals have come on the power play. Chris Richards has assisted on four goals in games against Wichita this season. Patrik Levesque leads Mississippi in plus-minus against the Thunder at +4. Russell Smith has taken the most penalty minutes in games against Wichita with 31. At the crease, Alexander Pechurskiy is 2-1-0 against Wichita and Larry Sterling stands 1-1-0. Pechurskiy has the better goals-against-average at 1.95 and better save percentage at .939. Mississippi is 14.8% on the power play against the Thunder and has scored one shorthanded goal. Seven of the RiverKings' 13 goals scored against Wichita have been scored in the third period. All-time, the RiverKings are 66-45-15 against Wichita.

RIVERKINGS AT HOME: Mississippi enters Friday's regular season finale with a home record of 19-11-2 for 40 points. The RiverKings' best home record in history is the 27-2-4 mark in the 2001-02 Ray Miron President's Cup championship season. Chris Richards has led the offense in home games with 34 points and has a team-leading 21 assists. Matt Summers is the home goal scoring leader with 14 and in power play goals with seven. Summers also has scored the first goal of the game at home on four occasions this season. Louis Dumont has scored a team-leading four shorthanded goals at home. R.G. Flath paces the RiverKings in game-winning goals at home with three. At the crease, Alexander Pechurskiy has a record of 10-3-1 with one shutout, while Larry Sterling has a 9-6-1 mark, also with one shutout to his credit. Pechurskiy has the better goals-against-average at 2.10 and the better save percentage at .914. The RiverKings are 18.4% on the power play at home and have scored 39 of the team's 106 goals in the final period.

MISSISSIPPI ON THE ROAD: The RiverKings enter the last two regular season games of the year with a road record of 10-18-3 for 23 points. The franchise record for road record is the 20-10-2 mark in the team's CHL Northeast Division championship season in 2008-09. Nathan Lutz and Louis Dumont are tied for the team lead in points on the road with 24 each. Lutz also leads the team in assists away from home with 18. Matt Summers is the goal scoring leader with 13, ten of which have come on the power play and two have been game-winners. Patrik Levesque has scored the first goal of an away game on three separate occasions. Darrell Stoddard leads the team in penalty minutes on enemy ice with 101. At the crease, Alexander Pechurskiy has a 7-9-1 record as a visiting goaltender and Larry Sterling has a 2-7-2 mark with one shutout. Pechurskiy has the better goals-against-average at 3.55 and the bet ter save percentage at .889. Mississippi is 14.4% on the power play away from home and 32 of the team's 86 goals scored have come in the third period.

RIVERKINGS VS. BERRY: Mississippi plays its last two conference regular season games against Allen this weekend with a 10-14-3 conference mark. The RiverKings have won a season-high three games against Bossier-Shreveport, but are also 3-6-0 against the Mudbugs. Mississippi has a winning conference record against Texas (2-0-0) and Laredo (2-1-0). The RiverKings were not scheduled to play Odessa this season.

RIVERKINGS VS. TURNER: Mississippi's last regular season game against Wichita will be the team's last attempt to improve on a 19-15-2 mark against the Turner Conference, with the last victory over a Turner Conference team coming Saturday, March 12th at Quad City (4-2). The RiverKings had a winning record against Turner Conference teams Evansville (6-2-0), Dayton (3-1-0), and Missouri (3-2-0), and currently have a winning record against Wichita (3-2-0) entering Sunday's contest.

RECORD SETTING LANDMESSER: By playing in all three games this weekend, captain Derek Landmesser will record 627 career RiverKings appearances, extending his team record for games played. Landmesser also has the team record for assists (460) and set the team record for all-time points this season, now at 560. Derek also has the franchise mark for penalty minutes, now at 950.

NOTABLES: Louis Dumont remains the league leader for shorthanded goals scored with five...Alexander Pechurskiy is tied for the CHL lead in shootout victories with three and is fifth in shootout save percentage at .815 (22-of-27)...Chris Auger leads CHL rookies in shorthanded goal scoring with three...Nathan Lutz is tied for the league lead in power play assists with 23...Derek Landmesser is tied for the CHL lead in shootout goals scored with two.

BROADCASTS: All three games scheduled this weekend for the RiverKings are set to be heard on the Official Flagship Radio Station, Sports 56, WHBQ-AM, with coverage starting 15 minutes prior to the first faceoff. The voice of the RiverKings, veteran broadcaster Bob Bakken, calls the action both home and away. Fans can reach an audio stream of the broadcast on the "Listen Live" link on the team web site.

RiverKings games are also available on CHL-TV, the league webcasting service accessed through the "Watch Live" link on the team web site.

An Away Game Watch Party will be held for fans to watch Sunday's game at Wichita at the Southaven Buffalo Wild Wings location on Airways Boulevard, north of Goodman Road, starting at 5 PM.

TICKETS: Orders are now being taken for season tickets for the 20th Anniversary Season of RiverKings hockey next year. For more information, call the RiverKings at 662-342-1755 or go online to www.riverkings.com today!



Central Hockey League Stories from March 21, 2011


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