A fresh new voice!

It's Summers Time For The RiverKings Again!

August 2, 2010

SOUTHAVEN--- The Mississippi RiverKings of the Central Hockey League (CHL) today announced the signing of returning forward Matt Summers for the 2010-11 regular season.

The announcement of Summers' signing is the ninth roster announcement made this off-season by RiverKings' head coach and director of Hockey Operations Kevin “Killer” Kaminski.

Summers becomes the sixth forward announced and the fourth member of last year's roster to be announced as returning to the RiverKings. Playing in 52 games for Mississippi last season, Summers scored 13 goals and finished with 37 points in his third season in the Mid-South. He appeared in all three Mississippi playoff games last year.

The 37 points placed Summers fifth on the RiverKings point parade for the season. He ended with the fourth-best total for goals scored on the end-of-season active roster. Three of his goals came on the power play.

Kaminski believes Summers has the tools to be a star player in the CHL.

“Sums has all the tangibles to be a very good player all around,” Kaminski said. “He can be very physical, score big goals, and has good vision. I look for him to come into camp in great shape and work on his speed. If he does that, he will have a great

year.”

The six-two, 195-pound Summers scored two goals in a game on four occasions last year and his best single-night offensive output of the season came against Odessa in Southaven on Jan. 8. That's when he scored a goal and added a pair of helpers for a three-point night in the 3-2 victory over the Jackalopes.

Matt also ran off an eleven-game point streak (five goals, 10 assists, 15 points) between a 3-1 loss against Bossier-Shreveport on Dec. 12 and a 4-3 shootout loss to Allen on Jan. 9.

In the 2008-09 CHL season, Summers appeared in five games with the Laredo Bucks before being acquired by the RiverKings.  He finished the season in MIssissippi, where he appeared in 52 games as the RiverKings won the CHL Northeast Division championship.

For the season, Matt scored 16 goals (all coming with the RiverKings), and added 38 assists (35 with Mississippi) for 54 points and 35 penalty minutes. He added six goals and 12 points with eight penalty minutes in 12 Mississippi post-season appearances.

The 16 goals, 35 assists and 51 points with the RiverKings in the 2008-09 division title year are professional career highs for the native of Savage, Minn.

His most spectacular RiverKings moment came against the Colorado Eagles in the 2009 playoffs, when his goal at 3:46 of the second overtime period climaxed a Mississippi comeback from 4-0 down to stave off elimination and claim game four of the Northern Conference finals by a final score of 6-5.

Summers started his professional career in Laredo with the Bucks in 2007-08, playing in 57 games scoring 12 goals for 35 points and 41 PIMS. He added one goal in 11 Laredo post-season contests that season.

Matt says he's looking forward to coming back to the Mid-South.

“I like the organization, love the fans, love the team we always put together there and love playing for Killer (Kaminski),” Summers said. “I'm trying to get myself ready to be able to do whatever, whether it's power play or penalty kill, I want to give the best for the team.”

Matt came to the pros from an amateur career that was mostly played in Manitoba, playing for the OCN Blizzard (Manitoba Junior Hockey League) from 2003-04 to 2006-07. He also played in the United States Hockey League with the Green Bay Gamblers during part of the 2004-05 season.

With the Blizzard, Summers notched an amateur career-high 50 goals with 119 points 88 PIMS during his last junior season in 2006-07. The previous season, he assisted 70 times, combined with 29 goals for a total of 99 points.