Knights Play Home-And-Home Series This Week

Published on January 11, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Abbotsford Heat News Release


Omaha, NE - The Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights have just two games and one opponent in the upcoming week. On Friday, they'll kick off a home-and-home series with the Peoria Rivermen. The Knights will host the Rivermen on Friday and travel to Peoria on Saturday. The two games are part of a string of nine straight for the Knights against West Division opponents. They are 3-2-0-0 in that stretch so far. The Knights split two games with the Chicago Wolves last week and lost to the Milwaukee Admirals in between. They begin the week in third place in the West Division of the American Hockey League with a record of 16-16-1-7, good for 40 points. The Knights have reached the half-way point of their inaugural season with a division-high 40 games played. Tickets for all home games are on sale all week at the Civic Auditorium box office from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 422-1212 and at Ticketmaster.com. The box office is open through the opening face-off on game nights.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS: Friday, January 6: Ak-Sar-Ben Knights 3, Chicago Wolves 1 The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights scored three goals in a span of 4:30 of the first period to take a commanding lead over the visiting Wolves. Zenith Komarniski, Warren Peters and Mark Giordano (powerplay) all tallied. Brent Krahn was outstanding in goal throughout, in particular in the first when he stopped all nine shots. Justin Morrison got the Wolves' only goal midway through the second period. Krahn stopped 29 of 30 shots as the Knights won their third straight.

Saturday, January 7: Milwaukee Admirals 3, Ak-Sar-Ben Knights 1 Their streak ended the next night when the Admirals weathered some early pressure from the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights before getting a goal in the last ten seconds of the first period from Kevin Klein. Greg Classen scored a powerplay goal early in the second period and the Admirals led 2-0 after two. Craig MacDonald scored a powerplay goal to draw the Knights to within 2-1 early in the third period. But they couldn't get the equalizer past goaltender Pekka Rinne, and Kris Beech added an empty net goal for the win. Krahn was again strong in goal making 23 saves.

Sunday, January 8: Chicago Wolves 6, Ak-Sar-Ben Knights 3 The Wolves avenged Friday's loss in the rematch. They bookended a powerplay goal by the Knights' Justin Taylor with goals by Braydon Coburn and Carl Stuart to lead 2-1 after one. They stretched their lead to 4-1 with a powerplay goal from Mark Popovic and an even-strength goal from Brad Schell. Derek Couture scored his second of the season before the second period ended to get the Knights to within 4-2. Eric Nystrom closed the gap further with a goal early in the third. But the Wolves got a powerplay goal from Nick Naumenko and an empty-net goal from Karl Stewart to win 6-3. The Knights had won the last four meetings with the Wolves prior to the loss.

THE WEEK AHEAD: DAY/DATE EVENT TIME BROADCAST Mon., Jan. 9 Day Off Tues., Jan. 10 Practice @ OCA 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Wed., Jan. 11 Practice @ OCA 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 12 Practice @ OCA 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Fri., Jan. 13 Morning Skate @ OCA 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Game vs. Peoria 7:00 p.m. TV, 1420 AM, Web, B2 Sat., Jan. 14 Game at Peoria 8:00 p.m. 1420 AM, Web, B2 Sun., Jan. 15 Day Off

Legend OCA--Omaha Civic Auditorium TV--Cox Cable Channel 802 Web-Free live audio broadcast of game at omahaaksarbenknights.com (Choose "Listen Live" link from home page) B2-B2 Networks live, pay-per-view webcast, available at omahaaksarbenknights.com for $6 per game by clicking on B2 Networks link.

OPPONENTS THIS WEEK:

Friday, January 13: vs. Peoria Rivermen (St. Louis Blues), 7:00 p.m. Saturday, January 14: @ Peoria Rivermen, 8:00 p.m. Fourth and fifth meetings of ten; Friday - first of five in Omaha; Saturday - fourth of five in Peoria The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights renew acquaintances with the Rivermen. It's their first meeting since December 7th, a 3-2 Knights' win in Peoria. In fact, the three previous meetings all have been in central Illinois. The Knights are 2-1-0-0 so far against the St. Louis Blues' top prospects. Peoria begins the week in fifth place in the West Division with a record of 17-15-1-2, good for 37 points. The Rivermen have won just two games since losing to the Knights on December 7th. The Rivermen are also winless in their last nine road games (0-7-1-1). Mike Glumac and Peter Sejna are tied for the team lead in scoring with 41 points. Glumac leads the team with 19 goals while Sejna paces the club with 24 assists. Reinhard Divis and veteran NHL goalie Patrick Lalime currently share time in the Peoria net. Divis has played in ten games, posting a record of 2-6-1 and a 3.31 goals against average. Lalime has played in just six games, going 1-3-1 with a 4.14 GAA. The Rivermen do not play before visiting Omaha.

KNIGHTS NOTES: The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights' winning streak hit three games when they beat the Chicago Wolves 3-1 on January 6. It was their second longest win streak of the season.

The Knights run of success coincided with a four-game point scoring streak by defenseman Mark Giordano who had five goals and seven points.

The Knights' powerplay has now scored goals in six straight games. They have eight goals in 26 chances for a success rate of 30.8%.

On January 5th, defenseman Richie Regehr was re-assigned to Omaha from the Calgary Flames where he had earned his first NHL recall. After playing in one game and earning an assist for the Knights in their 3-1 win over Chicago, he was recalled again to Calgary. Regehr is the third Knight to earn a recall to the NHL.

TRANSACTIONS: 1/4/06 ADD Tim Hambly (D), recalled from Las Vegas (ECHL) and signed to PTO

1/5/06 ADD Richie Regehr (D), returned on loan from Calgary (NHL)

1/7/06 DELETE Richie Regehr (D), recalled from loan by Calgary (NHL)

IN THE COMMUNITY: Player Appearance, Tuesday, January 10: Knights' defenseman Brett Palin visited employees and signed autographs for employees of Mutual of Omaha during a visit with the Knights' ticket sales staff.

Radio Appearance, Tuesday, January 10: Knights' left wing Brandon Prust visited Hot 107.7/97.3 at 4:30 p.m. as part of the station's "Hockey 101" segment designed to give its listeners a greater appreciation of the sport of hockey.

Radio Appearance, Tuesday, January 10: Knights' head coach Ryan McGill was a guest of "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" on 1620 The Zone at 5:45 p.m.

Radio Appearance, Thursday, January 5: Randy Conner from Kansas Speedway will be appearing on Pinnacle Sports Network's "Sports Nightly" program (KFAB AM 1110 in Omaha) on Tuesday at 7:40 p.m. He will speak about the upcoming "Kansas Speedway Night" promotion with the Knights and the Speedway's upcoming racing season.

Player Appearance, Thursday, January 12: Knights' defensemen Tim Hambly and Adam Pardy will visit employees and sign autographs for employees of Mutual of Omaha during a visit with the Knights' ticket sales staff.

The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights' Speakers Bureau is available to provide speakers to local businesses, civic and church groups and other interested organizations holding weekly or monthly meetings and special events. There is no charge for this program. For more information on the Speakers Bureau or to schedule an appearance for your group's next meeting, call Dave Ahlers at (402) 344-GOAL or contact him by e-mail at dahlers@omahaaksarbenknights.com.

KANSAS SPEEDWAY NIGHT: The Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights will salute the only sport faster than hockey when they host their first annual Kansas Speedway Night on Friday, January 13th against Peoria. One lucky fan will walk away with two season tickets to the 2006 racing season at Kansas Speedway, and additional fans will leave with other great Kansas Speedway merchandise. Fans can register to win the season tickets by signing up at the Civic Auditorium on game night. Kansas Speedway will bring both its pace car and pace truck to the game. The Speedway will also bring its mascot, Victor E. Lane. As part of the night, fans can purchase their tickets in the second balcony at the Civic for just $10 by logging on to omahaaksarbenknights.com or kansasspeedway.com and printing out the coupon at the bottom of the news story about the event. Kansas Speedway Night is presented in part by Cox Communications.

BROADCAST NOTE: Friday's game against the Peoria Rivermen will be televised live on Cox Cable Channel 802. It is the second of eight Knights' games to be carried on Cox. Knights' play-by-play voice Dave Ahlers will call the action, and Joe Clark of the Omaha World Herald provides the analysis.

AK-SAR-BEN KNIGHTS TEAM STATISTICS (As of 1.10.06): Click here to view Ak-Sar-Ben Knights player stats. Click here to view Ak-Sar-Ben Knights goalie stats.

OMAHAAKSARBENKNIGHTS.COM The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights' official web site, omahaaksarbenknights.com, is the comprehensive source for all information about the Knights during the season. Log on for player bios and stats, game recaps, a list of community appearances, stats, photos, great downloads and live links to listen to and watch Ak-Sar-Ben Knights' hockey all season.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from January 11, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central