SOUTHAVEN, MS ---  The Memphis RiverKings’ successful 2006-2007 season came to a close with a 6-3 loss to Colorado in game six of the Northern Conference Finals last Tuesday.  It was a season that saw the RiverKings have their best regular season since 2001-02 and return to the CHL playoffs for the first time since 2003. 

The season began with a number of new faces when head coach Kevin McClelland and the team broke training camp in October. Just five players that finished the 05-06 season with the club returned for this season.  Among the new faces were veterans Jason Tessier, Jason Sessa and Louis Dumont.   

After falling to Youngstown in the opening two games of the season, once in a shootout and once in regulation, at the DCC on October 20 and 21, the RiverKings went 8-0-1 their next nine contests to take over the top spot in the Northeast Division and build some momentum that would carry past the all-star break.   From early November until early March, first place was where the RiverKings resided.  Despite losing their grip on the division lead during the first weekend in March, the RiverKings clinched a CHL playoff berth for the ninth time in team history on March 2. 

The team finished the regular season with 39 wins, the most since 02-03 and the third most in the franchise’s history.  Even more important, perhaps, was the improvement from the previous season.  The RiverKings won 17 more games and finished with an increase of 35 standings points from the 2005-06 season.   The team enjoyed a 10 game winning streak, which was the second longest in team history, and a franchise record 11 game home winning streak.      

By midseason, people around the league had taken notice.  Three RiverKings, the most since 2002, were selected to the All Star Game in Bossier-Shreveport.  Derek Landmesser was voted to start, while Larry Sterling and Jason Tessier were selected as reserves.  Travis Banga was then tapped to take the spot of Tessier, who could not participate because of injury. Landmesser contributed two assists with Banga grabbing one.  Sterling stopped 14 of 15 shots in the third period to pick up the win.   

The RiverKings had great individual accomplishments to go with the team’s success in 2006-07.  To go with his fifth straight all-star game appearance, Derek Landmesser became the franchise leader in games played with 371, and in assists with 303.  Landmesser led the team in overall scoring for the second straight season with 62 points and his 50 assists also paced the club. He was also selected to his third straight All-CHL Team.

Goaltender Sterling’s 31 victories led the league and set the team single season record.  He started the season with the October and November Goalie of the Month Awards as well as a Goalie of the Week award.  Landmesser, Banga and goalie Kevin Schieve were also recipients of weekly awards during the season. 

Sessa paced the team with 30 goals and had three goal streaks that were three games or longer, the longest being a five gamer in late November and early December.  Banga also had a five game goal streak during the season.  His 26 goals were third on the team and also put him fourth all-time in RiverKings history with 84.  Ryan Campbell’s 28 goals were second on the squad and were also a career high.  He would go on to lead the team in goals and overall scoring in the playoffs with 8 and 19, respectively.  

The team’s defense, along with the improved goaltending, was also a key to the team’s resurgence. The RiverKings defensive corps of Landmesser, Tessier, Steve Makway, Bobby Gates, Andrew Davis, Will Bodine and Doug MacIver helped lower the team’s goals-against-average from just under 4.00 last season to 3.25 this season.  The club also yielded the third fewest shots on goal in the league, 30.2 per game. 

Veteran Dumont came over from the ECHL and helped provide great leadership to go with his 20 goals and his second- on-the-team 35 assists.  Phil Aucoin returned after playing in the ECHL last season and collected 34 assists, good for third on the club, and 19 goals.  Forward Sheldon Wenzel, who missed most of the season with an injury, returned for the playoffs.  While fellow forward Darrell Stoddard was able to add grit where needed.  He also scored the big overtime winner that ended the conference semifinal series with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs

The line of Tyler McGregor, Ryan Held and Derek Campbell created a situation that gave the team tremendous depth over all three of its forward lines.  Held finished the regular season scoring 12 goals in the final 18 games.  McGregor had eight goals during the regular season and then erupted in the postseason with six.  Derek Campbell, who had a career year stat-wise, provided a physical presence every time he took the ice.   

The team’s outstanding season earned second year head coach Kevin McClelland the CHL Coach of the Year honor. 

Not only was there the renaissance on the ice, but the RiverKings also experienced a revival at the turnstiles.  The average crowd for the final 13 regular season home games was 4,745, and the team’s overall season average of 3,545 was an 18% increase from last season. 

In the playoffs, the RiverKings fell to Oklahoma City in seven games in the first round, but were able to reenter the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Conference Semifinals in this year’s playoff format.  The RiverKings then decisively dispatched the Governor’s Cup Champion Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs to advance to the Northern Conference Finals versus the Colorado Eagles.  After a RiverKings win in game one, the Eagles won the next three including two at the DCC and then ended the series on home ice in Colorado in game six.