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Peoria Rivermen

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March 27, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


TUESDAY, MARCH 28

Houston Aeros @ PEORIA RIVERMEN

7:00 p.m., Carver Arena

FRIDAY, MARCH 31

PEORIA RIVERMEN @ San Antonio Rampage

7:00 p.m., at&t Center

SATURDAY, APRIL 1

PEORIA RIVERMEN @ Houston Aeros

7:30 p.m., Toyota Center

SUNDAY, APRIL 2

PEORIA RIVERMEN @ Houston Aeros

5:00 p.m., Toyota Center

Radio: All Rivermen games are broadcast LIVE on HOPE 98.5 (WPIA-FM), the flagship radio station of the Peoria Rivermen.

Internet Audio: LIVE streaming audio of all Rivermen games is available for no charge at www.rivermen.net.

Internet Video: LIVE streaming video with the accompanying audio feed is available at www.rivermen.net through the facilities of the b2 networks. The video Webcast of each game is available for a pay-per-view fee of $6.

Tuesday, March 28, Houston Aeros @ RIVERMEN

Saturday-Sunday, April 1-2, RIVERMEN @ Houston Aeros

SCOUTING THE AEROS

National Hockey League Parent Club: Minnesota Wild

Record Entering This Week: 45-21-2-3

Standings Points (Relative to Peoria Rivermen): 95 (+8)

Western Conference Standing: 3rd Place

West Division Standing: 2nd Place

Rivermen Record vs. Aeros: 2-5-0-0

Leading Scorer: RW Kirby Law (71 GP, 38 G, 61 A, 99 PTS)

Number-1 Goaltender: Seamus Kotyk (28 GP, 12-12-2, 3.03 GAA, .900 SV PCT, 1 SO)

AHL Power-play Ranking Entering This Week: 2nd (21.03%)

AHL Penalty-kill Ranking Entering This Week: 5th (84.40%)

Friday, March 31, RIVERMEN @ San Antonio Rampage

SCOUTING THE RAMPAGE

National Hockey League Parent Club: Phoenix Coyotes

Record Entering This Week: 21-43-2-4

Standings Points (Relative to Peoria Rivermen): 48 (-39)

Western Conference Standing: 14th Place

West Division Standing: 7th Place

Rivermen Record vs. Rampage: 7-0-0-1

Leading Scorer: C Layne Ulmer (68 GP, 17 G, 22 A, 39 PTS)

Number-1 Goaltender: Karl Goehring (20 GP, 4-13-1, 2.85 GAA, .921 SV PCT, 1 SO)

AHL Power-play Ranking Entering This Week: 27th (13.26%)

AHL Penalty-kill Ranking Entering This Week: 21st (80.99%)

RIVERMEN ACTION LAST WEEK

Friday, March 24, RIVERMEN 3 vs. San Antonio Rampage 0: The Peoria Rivermen took to the ice last Friday night against the San Antonio Rampage at home in Carver Arena and came away with a 3-0 shutout triumph. Neither team scored in the opening frame, but the Rivermen got things going in the second. Just 2:07 into the middle period, center Gavin Morgan notched his 13th goal of the season to stake Peoria to a 1-0 lead during a power play. The Rivermen then pulled away from the Rampage in the third session. At the 12:25 mark of the third, Peoria got another power-play goal from right wing Jon DiSalvatore to go up 2-0 on San Antonio on DiSalvatore's 19th strike of the year. Right wing David Backes then tallied his first goal as a professional with just over two minutes remaining in regulation to ice a 3-0 win for the Rivermen. Making only his second start in net for Peoria after joining the team on Monday, March 13, Gregg Naumenko faced 20 shots on goal from the Rampage and saved every one to record the shutout. The Rivermen out-shot the Rampage by the count of 27-20. Peoria converted two of the five power-play opportunities that the team had in the game, while San Antonio failed on four man-advantage chances.

Saturday, March 25, RIVERMEN 3 @ Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights 2 (SO): In the eighth meeting of the season between the Peoria Rivermen and the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights last Saturday in Omaha, the Rivermen won a tightly contested game by the score of 3-2 in a shootout. Peoria established an early 1-0 lead in the tilt when center Mike Zigomanis notched his ninth goal of the year during a Rivermen power play at the 2:34 mark of the first period. Omaha then responded about 10 minutes later with a power-play marker of their own from left winger Eric Nystrom, his 15th goal of 2005-06. With just 17 seconds to go in the opening frame, the Rivermen regained the lead at 2-1 when right wing Jon DiSalvatore scored his 20th goal of the campaign on a breakaway. The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, however, knotted the game up once again, this time at 2-2, on the sixth goal of the season by defenseman Zenith Komarniski at the 17:22 mark of the second session. Because the contest remained deadlocked at 2-2 through the third period as well as a five-minute, sudden-death overtime session, the Peoria and Omaha squads had to settle things in a shootout. Before the shootout began, though, Peoria inserted Gregg Naumenko between the pipes and removed Chris Beckford-Tseu, who had started the game in net and played the duration of regulation and overtime. The first two shooters for each team converted their shootout attempt, as left wing Peter Sejna and Zigomanis tallied for the Rivermen, and right wing Carsen Germyn and center Craig MacDonald lit the lamp for the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights. Both sets of shooters then went cold, and the two teams combined to go scoreless through the next five shootout rounds. Finally, in the first half of the eighth shootout round, Peoria right wing David Backes got a wrist shot past Omaha goalie Brent Krahn. Naumenko then stoned Ak-Sar-Ben Knights defenseman Mark Giordano to give the Rivermen a 3-2 win in the shootout tournament and a 3-2 shootout victory in the game. Although Beckford-Tseu backstopped Peoria to the shootout by making 30 saves during regulation and overtime, he ended up with a no-decision for his efforts. Naumenko received credit for the win after thwarting six of eight attempts by Omaha in the shootout. Despite suffering a shootout loss on the night, the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights did outshoot the Rivermen by the count of 32-30. Peoria went one for nine on the power play, while Omaha ended up at one for six with the man-advantage.

IS IT JUST ME, OR HAVE WE PLAYED A LOT OF ROAD GAMES LATELY?

The Rivermen return home this Tuesday night for the third of just three home games during a 14-game stretch that will keep them on the road for the better part of March and early April. Through 10 games of the road-heavy trek, Peoria owns a 7-1-2-0 mark, having earned 16 out of a possible 20 standings points along the way. The long stretch of mostly road contests will conclude this weekend, when the Rivermen travel to San Antonio for a game on Friday evening and then make their way to Houston for a two-game set on Saturday and Sunday. Since snapping their season-worst nine-game road winless skid (0-7-1-1 from December 9 to January 7) on January 13, the Rivermen have posted an exceptional 12-3-2-1 mark in their last 18 contests away from Carver Arena. Peoria's season-best four-game road winning streak was set earlier in the year from October 21 to November 13, 2005.

NOTHING BUT THE WIN

In an odd statistical quirk, Rivermen goalie Gregg Naumenko received credit for the win in Peoria's 3-2 shootout victory at Omaha this past Saturday even though he registered no minutes played, zero shots faced, not one save, and no goals against. Netminder Chris Beckford-Tseu, on the other hand, recorded 65:00 of game time, 32 shots faced, 30 saves, and two goals against in the contest, yet came away with a no-decision for his efforts. Things turned out that way because Beckford-Tseu started the game and played all of regulation and overtime but was replaced just for the shootout tournament by Naumenko. The latter goalie then stopped six of the eight shootout attempts he faced to get nothing but the win.

FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME

Last Friday versus the San Antonio Rampage, Rivermen goaltender Gregg Naumenko made 20 saves to record his first shutout of the season. It was also his first shutout in his last 66 games played, dating back to an ECHL game on March 5, 2003, in which he shut out Lexington for the Cincinnati Cyclones. Prior to his whitewash last Friday, Naumenko last recorded a shutout in the AHL back in the 2000-01 season as a member of the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks.

WELCOME BACK, EMPLOYEE #24!

Peoria left wing Peter Sejna returned to action last Saturday in Omaha after a lengthy absence due to injury. All in all, Sejna was out of the Rivermen lineup for a total of 29 games over a span of 63 days.

RAGING RIVERMEN

D Mike Mottau has scored four goals and dished out 10 assists to collect 14 points in the last 19 tilts...C Gavin Morgan has registered 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists) in the last 11 contests...RW Jon DiSalvatore has scored 18 points (6 goals, 12 assists) in his last 16 games...D Mike Stuart has registered four assists in the past eight games...F Cam Keith has potted two goals and two assists in the past seven contests...D Aaron MacKenzie chipped in one assist in Peoria's last game on 3-25 @ OMA...LW Peter Sejna notched a shootout goal on 3-25 @ OMA...RW David Backes netted one goal in his first game as a pro on 3-24 vs. SAN and then tallied the game-winning shootout goal in his second pro outing on 3-25 @ OMA...RW Brendan Brooks has picked up one goal and four assists in the past 10 tilts...C Ryan Ramsay has tallied seven goals and four assists over the last 13 contests...LW Charles Linglet has recorded one point in each of his last three outings (2 goals, 1 assist)...RW Reed Low has tallied three goals and four assists in his last eight outings...C Mike Zigomanis has scored 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in his last 12 contests...G Gregg Naumenko is 2-0-1-0 with one shutout in three appearances for the Rivermen so far this season.

RECENT RIVERMEN TRANSACTIONS

March 24, 2006 C Troy Riddle reassigned by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) from the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

March 21, 2006 D Jeff Woywitka recalled from his loan to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) under emergency conditions.

March 20, 2006 D Ed Hill loaned by the AHL Peoria Rivermen to the ECHL Utah Grizzlies.

March 20, 2006 RW David Backes signed to a 25-game amateur tryout (ATO) contract.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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