AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Edge Omaha 4-3 in Overtime in Home Opener

October 6, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL - Peoria Rivermen right wing Jon DiSalvatore started and ended his team's scoring on Friday night with the latter goal proving to be the overtime winner, as the Rivermen skated past the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights 4-3 in front of an opening-night crowd of 6,229 at Carver Arena.

The game-winner came on the power play with just less than 10 seconds remaining in the overtime. DiSalvatore, stationed at the bottom of the left face-off circle, took a pass from right wing Mike Glumac and sneaked a wrist shot between Omaha goaltender Brent Krahn's right arm and the left post to decide the game.

DiSalvatore opened Peoria's scoring by tying the game 1-1 just 1:07 after Omaha had taken a 1-0 lead. Glumac and DiSalvatore played a quick game of catch at the bottom of the left face-off circle after DiSalvatore batted the puck down out of mid-air. Glumac quickly popped the puck back to DiSalvatore, who - while skating to the net - rifled in his first tally of the season from near the low slot just to the left of the net.

The Rivermen (1-0-0-0) improved to 11-12-2 all-time in home openers, as they commenced the 25th anniversary season for professional hockey in Central Illinois. Omaha (0-0-1-0) has now lost eight in a row to Peoria dating back to December 7, 2005.

The Knights opened the scoring on the first of two goals by right wing David Moss at 9:08 of the opening session. Moss took a pass from center Dustin Boyd in front of the Rivermen net, just to the left of the goal, and snapped a low shot that initially looked like Peoria goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu (1-0-0-0), who turned away 28 of 31 in the win, had stopped before it slipped through his legs and trickled across the line.

After DiSalvatore's game-tying tally, Omaha regained its one-goal lead on the power play with 4:15 left in the opening session. Boyd found Moss again but this time at the bottom of the right face-off circle near the slot for a one-time slap shot goal inside the left post that Beckford-Tseu could do little to stop.

In a scoreless second period, Rivermen backliner Zack Fitzgerald created some fireworks by instigating a fight with Brandon Prust at 11:50 of the stanza after Prust had checked Fitzgerald from behind deep in the Rivermen zone.

The Rivermen broke out early in the final session of regulation with two goals in just over a minute. Center Ryan Ramsay broke to the net from the bottom of the right face-off circle, skating in behind Krahn (0-0-1-0), who turned away 22 of 26 in the loss, to poke in a Trent Whitfield rebound for his first goal of the season at 3:19. Then at 4:19 of the third, rookie right wing David Backes pumped home a Cam Keith rebound in front of the goal to give the Rivermen their first lead of the game.

The lead was short-lived, as the Knights tied it 3-3 at 6:57 of the third. Prust dug the puck out of the right-wing corner and slipped a quick pass to defenseman Brad Ference, who barreled down right wing and squeezed in his first goal of the year from a bad angle.

The Rivermen host the rival Chicago Wolves tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. It is Maui Jim Sunglasses Night. Twenty-five (25) random winners will receive a free pair of Maui Jim Sunglasses.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from October 6, 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