SteelHounds defeat Mississippi, 4-0

By TOM WILLIAMS

YOUNGSTOWN — Losing leading scorer Eric Przepiorka after a jarring check into the boards had the Youngstown SteelHounds desperately needing a superior performance to salvage a critical weekend.

Riding to the rescue were forward Joel Irving (two goals, one assist) and backup goaltender Kevin Beech (36 saves for a shutout in his SteelHounds debut) in Sunday’s 4-0 victory over the Mississippi RiverKings at the Chevrolet Centre.

In his first game since playing for the Laredo Bucks three weeks ago, Beech stopped every shot the RiverKings threw at him.

“It’s a tough situation, coming in with a new team and not playing for awhile,” said Irving of Beech. “He was strong, he was solid on the puck. He had good angles and not many rebounds.”

Beech, who was 10-4-1 as a Buck, said he “prepared all week as if I were going to play in every game.”

Sunday’s game was the SteelHounds fifth in six days. They split with Texas then lost to the RiverKings 5-1 on Friday and 6-5 in a shootout on Saturday.