Barons fly away from Rivermen with 4-2 win
Published on February 25, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Peoria, IL (February 24, 2006) - On Friday evening at Carver Arena, the Peoria Rivermen dropped a 4-2 decision to the visiting Cleveland Barons. Rivermen center Gavin Morgan notched his fifth goal of the season, right wing Brendan Brooks converted a Peoria power play, and defenseman Mike Mottau recorded his team-leading 38th assist of the campaign. Those highlights would have been enough to win this game for the Rivermen had they not allowed a goal to the Barons early on in each of the three periods of the tilt.
The Barons jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just 6:15 into the game. Stealing the puck behind and to the left of the Rivermen goal, Cleveland center Josh Prudden stepped out in front and drove toward Peoria goalie Reinhard Divis. After Divis thwarted Prudden's charge, Barons winger Shane Joseph streaked in and banged the puck in the net at the right post for his eighth goal of the year.
In the second frame, the Barons flew out to a 2-0 lead just 1:45 into the period. The goal came on a rebound of a shot from the high slot in the Peoria end by Cleveland center Josh Hennessy. On the rebound, the puck bounced to Divis' left into the path of Barons winger Ryan Clowe, who barreled in from the right wing and sent a quick shot just inside the right post for his 13th tally of 2005-06.
The Cleveland club got another early goal to start the third period. Taking a nice feed off the left-wing boards in the Peoria zone from right wing Mike Iggulden, Cleveland's Hennessy wired a shot over Divis and into the top left corner of the Rivermen net from within the left circle just 1:17 into the third. The 19th marker of the season for Hennessy gave the Barons a 4-1 lead and prompted the Rivermen to replace Divis in goal with Chris Beckford-Tseu.
As a result of their loss on Friday night, the Rivermen now stand 31-20-1-4 overall. At home in Carver Arena, the Rivermen are now 18-9-0-2. The Barons, meanwhile, improve to 22-35-2-2 on the season and to 10-17-1-1 on the road.
The Rivermen got one of the Barons' goals back in the second period after winger Cam Keith dumped the puck into the Cleveland zone, and the puck took an awkward hop off of the end boards. Bounding out into the slot, the puck was collected by Peoria center Gavin Morgan at the inner edge of the left circle, and he then deked to get Cleveland netminder Dimitri Patzold down before backhanding the puck up over the goalie at the 3:49 mark of the second. Morgan's fifth tally of the season for Peoria made the score 2-1 for Cleveland.
The Barons established a 3-1 advantage about midway through the contest. Skating into the Rivermen end from left to right, the Barons' Joseph dropped off the puck in the high slot area for trailing left wing Patrick Rissmiller, who then sent a snap shot by Divis, stick side, to give the Barons a two-goal lead at 11:41 of the middle session. The goal was Rissmiller's 15th of the campaign.
Rivermen right wing Brendan Brooks capped off the scoring in this tilt with a power-play goal in the third period. As Peoria defenseman Mike Mottau accepted a pass sent down the left wing in the Barons zone from Mike Zigomanis at the left point, Mottau spied Brooks sneaking in behind the Cleveland defense at the top of the crease. With a quick flick of his wrists, Mottau gave Brooks a tape-to-tape pass that Brooks easily redirected into the Cleveland cage behind Patzold at the 4:19 mark of the third frame for his 12th strike of the season. The lone power-play goal of the contest produced the final score of 4-2 in favor of the Barons.
The Rivermen will have Saturday off to come to grips with their two-goal loss on Friday before returning to action for a 5:00 p.m. game on Sunday versus the Chicago Wolves at Carver Arena.
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- Barons fly away from Rivermen with 4-2 win - Peoria Rivermen
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