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Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Weekly

March 23, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


WEEK 24 IN REVIEW (1-1-1-1)

DAY DATE OPPONENT RESULT RIVERMEN GOALS RIVERMEN GOALIE (GA/SV)

Wed. 3/18 @ San Antonio 1-0 W Porter Manny Legace (0/45)

Thurs. 3/19 @ San Antonio 3-2 OTL Chris Holt (3/19)

Sat. 2/21 @ Houston 2-1 L Manny Legace (2/28)

Sun. 2/22 @ Houston 4-3 SOL Manny Legace (3/25)

@ San Antonio (3/18): With 11 saves in the first period Manny Legace was just getting warmed up. He finished by making 17 more in each of the final two periods to finish with 45 saves in a 1-0 win for the Peoria Rivermen over the San Antonio Rampage on Wednesday at AT&T Center.

@ San Antonio (3/19): The Peoria Rivermen never trailed in their game on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Rampage until they were skating off the ice in overtime. Kevin Porter's wrist shot through a screen found its way into the net to give the Rampage a 3-2 win at AT&T Center just 40 seconds into sudden death.

@ Houston (3/21): Jason Ryznar's goal with 10:29 remaining in regulation broke a 1-1 tie and stood as the game winner in the Houston Aeros 2-1 victory over the Peoria Rivermen, Saturday night at the Toyota Center. Manny Legace turned in a 28-save performance but Nolan Schaefer's 19 stops were enough for the victory.

@ Houston (3/22): After facing a 3-1 deficit midway through the final period, the Rivermen stormed back to force overtime before falling 4-3 in an eight-round shootout to the Houston Aeros on Sunday at the Toyota Center. While the Rivermen are winless in their last three games, they have collected a single point in two of them to stay alone in third place of the West Division.

TEAM LEADERS

THIS SEASON THIS WEEK

POINTS Whitfield - 46 Fletcher - 4

GOALS Whitfield - 20 Paddock/Stastny - 2

ASSISTS Whitfield - 26 Fletcher - 3

POWER PLAY 55-for-351, 15.7% 2-for-12, 16.7%

PENALTY KILL 286-for-345, 82.9% 16-for-18, 88.8%

NEWS AND NOTES

Where they stand...With 9 games left to play, the Peoria Rivermen have forced their way back into a potential playoff spot. Their 76 points (36-31-2-2) have them situated in third place with the top four seats in the West Division advancing to the playoffs. They trail Houston (79) by three points. Peoria is trying to fend off Rockford (74) and Chicago (74) as well as Iowa (72) and Quad City (68). The Milwaukee Admirals (96) have already clinched a playoff birth and can wrap up a division crown this week. San Antonio (62)is in eight place.

Welcome Back Home...After starting the season with an 11-3-1 at Carver Arena, the Rivermen struggled going 1-9-1 over their next 11 home games. Since Feb. 18, the Rivermen have turned things back around by winning seven of their last eight home games and six-straight heading into their March 27 matchup with Milwaukee.

On the March...Already with 16 points in the month of March, the Rivermen are just one point away from claiming it as their most productive month of the season. Their record of 7-2-2 in 11 games have earned them one fewer point than their 8-6-1 mark in December did. Peoria still has two games remaining before the calendar flips to April.

History in the making...The Rivermen have won six consecutive home games for the first time since joining the American Hockey League prior to the 2005-06 season. Their previous high was five straight wins between Dec. 18, 2005 - Jan. 14, 2006. This season they have set both the longest home winning (current) and losing (Jan. 7 - Feb. 15) streaks in their history at six games.

A minor victory...Peoria fell just short on Sunday in the shootout against Houston but it took an impressive comeback to get that far. They scored twice in the final 9:17 of the third period to earn a point. It was just the fifth time this year (in 30 games) that the Rivermen have earned a point in a game that they entered the third period trailing.

Portability...With a goal and two more assists this week, Chris Porter now has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) on the season. He has posted 38.8 percent of his points (two goals, five assists) in his last six games alone. He has scored three game-winners, all in the month of March, and both of his multi-point games have come since March 15.

Working Overtime...After going 9-2 in games that require more than 60 minutes, the Rivermen fell twice this week in that situation. Peoria is 3-2 in overtime and 6-2 in shootouts. Their .692 winning percentage in those games is now third in the league (behind Worcester - .727 and Chicago - .714).

Power Play...After matching their season-long power-play drought with an 0-for-18 performance over the course of six games, the Rivermen responded with a perfect 2-for-2 on Sunday. It was the first time this season that they have completed a game with 100 percent efficiency. It was just the third time this season that Peoria had two or fewer power plays in a game and they have all come in the month of March.

Penalty Kill...The Rivermen allowed a pair of power-play goals on Sunday to break their stretch of five consecutive games without allowing a goal on the man-advantage. Previously the Rivermen had never gone more than two-straight games without surrendering a power-play goal. The Rivermen have killed off 61 of the last 68 (88.8%) power plays against them and 80 of the last 89 (89.9%), dating back to Feb. 8. They lead the league in SHG with 15 (two better than Hamilton, Hartford, Iowa and Rochester).

WEEK 25 PREVIEW

Iowa Chops

National Hockey League Parent Club

Anaheim Ducks

Record 30-27-4-8

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 72 (-4)

West Division Standing 6th

Rivermen Record Against 2-4-1

Leading Scorer Petri Kontiola (17g, 39a, 56pts)

Starting Goaltender David LeNeveu (19-16-5, 2.92 GAA, .895 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 13th - 17.2%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 28th - 79.6%

Milwaukee Admirals

National Hockey League Parent Club

Nashville Predators

Record 44-17-3-5

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen)

96 (+20)

West Division Standing

1st

Rivermen Record Against

1-5-0

Leading Scorer Cal O'Reilly (14g, 55a, 69pts)

Starting Goaltender

Drew MacIntyre (30-12-3, 2.32 GAA, .920 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank

8th - 18.6%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank

1st - 86.9%

Houston Aeros

National Hockey League Parent Club

Minnesota Wild

Record 35-25-1-8

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 79 (+3)

West Division Standing 2nd

Rivermen Record Against 2-2-2

Leading Scorer Corey Locke (24g, 46a, 70pts)

Starting Goaltender Nolan Schaefer (25-16-5, 2.56 GAA, .902 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 2nd - 20.9%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 5th - 85.5%

*All statistics as of 3/23/09

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

03/18/2009 Jori Lehtera (C) ADD Signed to ATO

03/17/2009 James Livingston (RW) ADD Signed to ATO

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American Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2009


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