Rioux, 27, joins the Mallards after skating in the training camp of the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild, with whom the Mallards have an affiliation agreement.  Last year, Rioux scored seven goals and totaled 27 points while posting a plus/minus rating of +3 for the Central Hockey League’s Bloomington Blaze.  The durable Riviere-Du-Loup, Quebec, native played in each of the Blaze’s 66 regular season games last season and missed just a single game over his first two professional campaigns.

 

Rioux this year will play under Mallards coach and general manager Terry Ruskowski for the  second time after first skating for Ruskowski as a rookie with the CHL’s Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in 2011-12.  The Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec, native scored five times, produced 21 points and turned in a plus/minus rating of +5 in 65 games with the Killer Bees.

 

The 6’ 1”, 205-pound Rioux turned pro after a three-year college career at St. Cloud State during which he totaled three goals and four assists in 26 games. Rioux played two seasons of junior hockey in the British Columbia League- with the Quesnel Millionaires and Prince George Spruce Kings- before heading to St. Cloud.