Peoria's inaugural AHL season comes to a close
Published on April 28, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
WEST DIVISION SEMIFINALS, SERIES "H"
Game 1 - Friday, April 21, Houston Aeros 5 vs. RIVERMEN 4 (OT): The Houston Aeros rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period and defeated the Peoria Rivermen 5-4 in overtime on their home ice at the Toyota Center in Game 1 of the West Division Semifinals, Series "H." Just 2:21 into this match, the Aeros grabbed a 1-0 lead when defenseman Shawn Belle put a long wrist shot through a screen in front and inside the right post of the Rivermen cage. Peoria evened things up at 1-1 on a goal by left wing Timofei Shishkanov at the 8:24 mark of the first and then went up 2-1 at the 17:06 mark of the initial period thanks to center Mike Zigomanis. Four minutes and 35 seconds into the middle frame, Zigomanis tallied again to stake the Rivermen to a 3-1 advantage before Aeros right wing Joel Ward cut the lead down to 3-2 at the 12:58 mark of the second. Just nine seconds after Ward's goal, however, right wing David Backes restored Peoria's two-goal lead at 4-2 with a wicked wrister from the right hash marks. The Aeros drew even with the Rivermen at 4-4 on two quick goals early on in the third period. At the 1:56 mark of the third, Houston's Bryan Lundbohm notched his first goal of the playoffs, and then left wing Peter Olvecky potted the tying tally at 2:19 of the third frame. The Aeros capped off their rally 4:51 into the first overtime period, when right wing Kirby Law netted the sudden-death game-winner. Chris Beckford-Tseu took the overtime loss in net for the Rivermen, stopping 33 of 38 shots. Houston not only won the game, but also out-shot Peoria by the count of 38-26. The Rivermen had four power-play chances in this tilt and converted one of them, while the Aeros failed to score on any of their six man-advantage opportunities.
Game 2 - Saturday, April 22, Houston Aeros 3 vs. RIVERMEN 2 (OT): As they did in Game 1 of the series, the Peoria Rivermen lost in overtime to the Houston Aeros in Game 2, this time by the score of 3-2 on Saturday, April 22, at the Toyota Center. The Rivermen and the Aeros traded goals in the second and third periods of this game before moving on to overtime. Houston got on the scoreboard first at the 13:09 mark of the middle frame, when center Erik Westrum tallied his first goal of this postseason. Peoria responded about two minutes later, at 15:06 of the second, to tie the score at 1-1 on left wing Peter Sejna's first playoff strike. The Aeros then took another lead at 2-1 at the 2:04 mark of the third session thanks to center Bryan Lundbohm's second goal of the playoffs. At 14:31 of the third, the Rivermen again drew even with the Aeros, this time at 2-2, once again on a goal by Sejna. This game then moved on to overtime when regulation time expired with the match tied at two goals apiece. The Aeros finally claimed victory in this tilt when right wing Matt Foy notched his first playoff goal at the 11:52 mark of the first extra session. With the 3-2 overtime triumph in Game 2, Houston went out to a 2-0 lead in the series. Chris Beckford-Tseu started once again between the pipes for Peoria in Game 2 and made 34 saves in the losing effort. Both teams registered a total of 37 shots on goal. With the man-advantage, the Rivermen scored once in nine chances, while the Aeros went one for eight.
Game 3 - Monday, April 24, Houston Aeros 6 @ RIVERMEN 1: In the first-ever home playoff game for the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL, the Houston Aeros handed the Rivermen a 6-1 loss, and Peoria fell behind Houston three games to zero in the two teams' West Division Semifinals series. The Aeros opened the scoring in this tilt at the 7:48 mark of the first period, when right winger Kirby Law netted his second postseason goal. Houston went up 2-0 on Peoria at the 3:14 mark of the middle frame on right wing Joel Ward's second strike of the playoffs. Law then lit the lamp for the second time in the game just two minutes and 56 seconds into the third session to extend the Aeros' lead to 3-0. The Houston advantage ballooned to 5-0 on two consecutive goals by right wing Matt Foy at the 4:09 and 6:55 marks of the third period. Left wing Josh Olson then tallied the final Aeros marker of the evening by denting the twine at 7:38 of the third to put his team up 6-0. At the 12:25 mark of the third frame, Peoria center Blake Evans scored his first goal of the playoffs to ruin the shutout bid of Houston goalie Josh Harding. The Rivermen went with Chris Beckford-Tseu in net to start this contest, but he was relieved early in the third period by Gregg Naumenko. In just over 40 minutes of action, Beckford-Tseu made 19 saves, allowed three goals, and was credited with the loss. Naumenko allowed three goals on four shots in slightly more than 17 minutes of action. Despite losing the game, the Rivermen out-shot the Aeros by a wide margin, 46-26. Peoria failed to convert any of the seven power-play opportunities it had over the course of the contest, while Houston capitalized on two of its eight man-advantage chances.
Game 4 - Wednesday, April 26, Houston Aeros 5 @ RIVERMEN 3: Although the Peoria Rivermen came back to tie this contest at two different junctures, they ultimately were unable to overtake the Houston Aeros and ended up dropping a 5-3 decision to Houston. The Peoria loss eliminated the Rivermen from the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs and gave the Aeros a four-games-to-none sweep of the West Division Semifinals, Series "H." Houston jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just 2:33 into this tilt on the first playoff goal of the year for right wing Joey Tetarenko. Peoria responded at the 7:09 mark of the first, when right wing Brendan Brooks notched his first of the postseason. Six minutes and two seconds into the middle frame, Aeros center Patrick O'Sullivan lit the lamp to put his team up 2-1 on his first postseason goal of 2005-06. Then at the 14:56 mark of the second session, right wing Matt Foy scored to extend the Houston advantage to 3-1 with his fourth goal of these playoffs. The Rivermen began to mount a comeback 5:55 into the third period, when right winger Mike Glumac tallied his first playoff goal of the season to pare the Aeros' lead down to just one goal at 3-2. Midway through the period, at the 9:04 mark, Peoria left wing Peter Sejna tied things up at 3-3 on his third postseason strike of the campaign, but that would be the end of the Rivermen scoring for the evening. The Aeros went ahead again, this time at 4-3, as right wing Kirby Law potted his fourth goal of these playoffs at the 12:27 mark of the third. To cap things off in both the game and the series, Houston centerman Bryan Lundbohm recorded his third goal of the playoffs on a long shot from near center ice that went into an empty Rivermen net with 1:19 remaining in regulation. The empty-net goal gave the Aeros not only a 5-3 Game 4 victory, but also a four-games-to-none series win over the Rivermen. Chris Beckford-Tseu took the loss between the pipes for Peoria, turning aside 16 of the 20 shots that he faced. The shot count for the contest ended up at 40-21 in favor of the Rivermen. On the power play, Peoria scored only once in seven chances, while Houston scored twice in six opportunities.
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
By losing their West Division Semifinals series with the Houston Aeros four games to none, the Rivermen became the first team in American Hockey League (AHL) history to fail to win a playoff game after recording at least 100 points in the regular season. The Peoria squad accumulated exactly 100 points this season on a record of 46-26-3-5. Houston, however, finished ahead of Peoria in the standings with an even higher total of 106 points and a better record of 50-24-3-3.
PEORIA'S SPECIAL TEAMS WEREN'T AS SPECIAL IN THE PLAYOFFS
The Rivermen power-play and penalty-killing units did not operate as well during the playoffs as they had during the regular season. With the man-advantage during the regular season, Peoria scored at a rate of 19.96 percent (100 for 501). The team's postseason power-play conversion percentage, however, was only 11.11 (3 for 27). The Rivermen penalty-killing unit operated at an efficiency rate of 84.90 percent (433 for 510) in 2005-06, but the club's corresponding rate in the playoffs was a bit lower at 82.14 percent (23 for 28).
THE ALL-IMPORTANT FIRST GOAL
The Rivermen allowed the first goal to the Aeros in all four games of their first-round playoff series. During the 2005-06 regular season, Peoria allowed the first goal to its opponent 34 times and went 9-18-3-4 in those games. In 46 tilts when scoring the first goal this past season, the Rivermen compiled a 37-8-0-1 mark.
THAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO WIN!
The Rivermen either trailed or were tied with the Houston Aeros for most of the West Division Semifinals. The Rivermen, in fact, held a lead against the Aeros for only 25 minutes and 13 seconds of Game 1, from the 17:06 mark of the first period to the 2:19 mark of the third frame.
AN UNFORTUNATE REPEAT
Peoria's 6-1 loss to Houston in Game 3 at Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center matched the worst home loss of the 2005-06 regular season for the Rivermen. The Iowa Stars defeated the Rivermen by five goals, also by the final score of 6-1, back on Friday, March 3, at Carver Arena.
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