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AHL Peoria Rivermen

Houston Downs Rivermen on the Road, 5-2

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


Houston, Texas (January 23, 2009) - The Houston Aeros scored three times in the second period en route to a 5-2 win over the Peoria Rivermen on Friday night at the Toyota Center. T. J Fast and Ryan Reaves scored goals for Peoria as the Rivermen are now 1-1-1 against the Aeros this season.

The Rivermen (22-20-1-1) went 0-for-5 on the power play and has now gone three consecutive games without scoring on the man-advantage for the first time this season. The Aeros (21-17-1-7) scored twice in their five chances.

Despite three power-play opportunities for the Rivermen in the opening period, Peoria was unable to put one past Houston's Nolan Schaefer (16 saves on 18 shots). Houston, on the other hand, capitalized on its first power play of the evening. Morten Madsen blasted a one-timer from the center point at 15:11 to give the Aeros the 1-0 first period lead. A minor scrap between Houston's Tomas Mojzis and Peoria's Steve Wagner at 14:06 gave Houston its first and only power play of the first period, which led to Madsen's goal. Mojzis received a two minute roughing penalty, but Wagner drew a four minute double-minor.

Peter Olvecky extended the Aeros' lead to 2-0 at 1:39 of the second period by poking in a loose puck. Bishop made the initial save off of Paul Albers' shot, but Olvecky netted his sixth goal of the season on the rebound.

T.J. Fast quickly responded for the Rivermen with the first goal of his professional career at 2:15 into the middle frame. The defenseman wristed one past Schaefer to cut Houston's lead in half.

Corey Locke gave Houston some insurance with his 16th goal of the season at 12:07 of the second. Locke was able to bang one off of Bishop's arm into the net to give Houston its second power-play goal of the game. Matt Beaudoin and Benoit Pouliot assisted on Locke's goal.

It was only 1:05 later when Maxim Noreau backhanded a puck under Bishop's left pad to propel Houston out to a three goal lead they would not relinquish. Bishop, who gave up four goals on 16 shots, was pulled following the goal after only 33 minutes of action. Chris Holt stopped the recorded 10 saves in his 24:43 of work.

The second period ended with a slew of penalties for both squads. A total of 52 penalty minutes were doled out following a fight between Peoria's Cam Paddock and Houston's John Scott. Jeff Cowan tried to intervene and was assessed a game misconduct for being the third man into an ongoing altercation. After Scott was finished with Paddock, he was greeted by Matt Foy who jumped off the bench to fight him. Foy was given 27 penalty minutes for instigating, fighting, and a game misconduct for leaving the bench.

Ryan Reaves added a late backhanded goal at 19:41 in the third period for the Rivermen. Reaves' goal came off of the initial shot by Steve Regier to narrow the deficit to 4-2. But Houston put the game away with an empty netter from Robbie Earl with 2.2 seconds remaining.

Houston outshot Peoria 27-18. The Rivermen will get a quick shot at revenge on Saturday night as they'll face off against Houston from the Toyota Center at 7:35. The radio broadcast will be available on Hippie 101.1 FM and online through www.rivermen.net.

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