Richards, Christian help SteelHounds win

Youngstown took two of three against Austin.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Chris Richards scored two goals and added an assist and Jeff Christian had four assists, as the Youngstown SteelHounds defeated the Austin Ice Bats, 4-2, in Central Hockey League action at the Chevrolet Centre Saturday night before 2,977 fans.
Christian, the CHL's leading scorer, now has 49 points with his four assists while Richards, with two goals and an assist, remains second in the league behind Christian with 46 points.
Richards' 30th assist of the season made him the first-ever SteelHound player to register 100 career assists, after getting 70 last year.
The SteelHounds and Ice Bats concluded their only series of the season with Youngstown taking two of the three games.
The SteelHounds (14-7-5 for 33 points) remained in second place in the Northeast Division behind the Memphis River Kings.
The Ice Bats (11-10-5 for 27 points), remained third in the Southeast Division after falling to 7-5-2 on the road.
The SteelHounds will conclude a five-game homestand next weekend when they take on the River Kings at the Chevrolet Centre at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.
"Our effort tonight was excellent," said SteelHounds' coach Kevin Kaminski.
"I thought we responded really well. We had plenty of intensity and that's exactly what we needed."
Christian, Richards lauded
Kaminski lauded the 1-2 punch of Christian and Richards.
"These guys have shown great leadership," said Kaminski. "The best thing is the fact that they both want to be the go-to guys. They have a great work ethic, so it's easy to understand why they are the top two scorers on the team and in the league.
Christian praised the addition of Brad Petterson to the lineup. Patterson had two assists.
"Adding Brad to our line tonight was an excellent move by coach Kevin Kaminski. [Patterson] has great vision and gives us balance. He's very underrated. He's the ultimate team player."
Richards didn't know he was honing in on 100 career assists.
"I just found that out tonight and hopefully I'll get 100 more," said Richards.
"Tonight's game was huge for us, in that while you want to sweep the [series] games, that's tough to do, so getting two of three was what we really needed."