AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Blanked in Milwaukee 4-0

Published on April 15, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Milwaukee , WI. (April 15, 2007) - The Peoria Rivermen only needed to grab one point in the standings in order to make the playoffs, but they failed to record a goal for the seventh time this season, as they fell to the Milwaukee Admirals 4-0 in front of 7,658 at the Bradley Center.

Although the Grand Rapids Griffins lost in Toronto 5-1 this afternoon and dropped four of their final five games, they finished one point ahead of Peoria (37-33-2-8, 84 pts) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division. It was the second time in three years that the Rivermen have failed to make the playoffs.

Milwaukee (41-25-4-10, 96 pts) locked up the third seed in the West Division and will wait on the loser of the game in Chicago between the Wolves and Omaha to determine who they will play in the first round of the AHL playoffs.

Early in the first frame, forward Rocky Thompson tried to fire-up the Rivermen as he pummeled defenseman T.J. Reynolds with multiple left hooks.

Just six seconds after Peoria center Yan Stastny was sent to the penalty box for roughing, the Admirals notched the first goal of the tilt at 7:03 of the opening session. Center Rich Peverley won the face-off in the left circle, where he fired a pass to center Jason Guerriero just to the left of Rivermen goaltender Jason Bacashihua. Guerriero lost control of the puck, but Bacashihua had trouble freezing it, which allowed left wing Chris Durno to poke it past the right leg of the goalie.

Milwaukee doubled its lead to 2-0 as Peverley recorded his team-leading 30 th goal of the season at 6:08 of the middle period. Left wing John Laliberte grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and dumped it off to center point for Peverley, who skated to the top of the left circle, where he snapped a shot that beat Bacashihua stick-side.

The Admirals tallied their third goal of the game at 11:51 of the final stanza. Left wing Pat Leahy skated around the right-wing corner and sent a pass to defenseman Nolan Yonkman in the slot, where he swatted at the puck, but was unable to get a good shot on net. The puck trickled to left wing Ramzi Abid, who was parked along the right post, where he flipped a shot past a diving Bacashihua for his 19th marker of the year.

With 2:20 left in the contest, center Kim Staal capped off the scoring as he whipped a shot from along the right-wing boards in the neutral zone into the vacated Rivermen net.

Milwaukee netminder, Pekka Rinne, stopped all 23 Peoria shots to secure his fourth victory against the Rivermen. In five games against Peoria, Rinne registered a 1.36 goals-against-average with a 0.945 save-percentage.

The Rivermen finished the regular season 16-19-1-4 on the road and were only 2-6-1-1 against the Admirals this season.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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



American Hockey League Stories from April 15, 2007


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