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SPHL Mississippi RiverKings

RiverKings Win President\'s Cup

April 29, 2002 - SPHL (SPHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


Ten years in the making and now the Memphis RiverKings are Central Hockey League Champions!

Michal Stastny's goal at 5:48 of overtime gave the Riverkings a 5-4 win and a 4-1 series victory in the President's Cup Final over the Austin Ice Bats Sunday night at the DeSoto Civic Center.

As the whole series was, game five proved to be a see-saw battle. The RiverKings jumped to a 2-0 lead on first period goals by Ben Gorewich and Luch Nasato. But Tab Lardner tallied for the Ice Bats before the frame ended to close the gap to 2-1.

Austin tied it when Kelly Smart banged in a rebound at the right side of the net. But Don Parsons got his 14th goal of the playoffs putting the RiverKings on top heading into the third period.

The Ice Bats showed why they were Southern Conference champs on two goals in the first eight minutes of the third period, to claim a 4-3 lead. But Kahlil Thomas capped a perfect passing play on a two man advantage to even the score 4-4. Austin goalie Bryan McMullen and RiverKing goalie Mark Richards closed the door the rest of the way setting up the overtime.

After both teams had good scoring chances, Stastny moved into the right wing circle, and snapped home a shot that beat McMullen on the short side, sending the RiverKings crowd of 4,720 into a championship frenzy. It was the largest playoff crowd for the RiverKings since 1997.

Parsons finished the playoffs on a 15 game point streak. He finished the playoffs with 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points. He was named the Playoff Most Valuable Player, capping a year in which he was also the regular season Advantage Rent A Car MVP.

For RiverKing 2002-03 season ticket and Memphis Xplorers arenafootball2 ticket information, group sales, or corporate opportunities, call the RiverKings and Xplorers at (662) 342-1755.

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