ECHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Fall to Cincinnati 4-1 at Home

Published on January 30, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, Ill. (January 30, 2004) – The Peoria Rivermen scored the night's first goal but left the rest for the Cincinnati Cyclones, losing 4-1 before a Friday night crowd of 5,752 at Carver Arena.

Cincinnati pushed its lead to 3-1 with less than five minutes remaining in the game. Richard Naumann pulled up at the left face-off circle and fed a breaking Mark Concannon – who barreled down the slot and kicked the puck to his forehand for wicked slap shot just under the crossbar. It was Concannon's seventh goal of the year.

Tyler Deis sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 10 seconds remaining. Deis finished the night with three points (1g, 2a) to lead all scorers. He has five points (2g, 3a) in three games against Peoria.

Cincinnati goaltender Randy Petruk was stellar in net, turning away 35 of 36 shots – many of which came at point-blank range in the second period – in his 15th victory of the season (15-16-1).

Peoria (23-12-8, 53 points) fell to 9-8-3 on home ice, averaging just 1.09 goals per game over 11 loss, which includes three overtime losses. The Rivermen dropped to 6-4-0 on the year against the Cyclones. Cincinnati (20-22-2, 42 points) improved to 9-12-0 on the road.

Peoria's Levente Szuper stopped 22 of 25 chances in just his fifth regulation defeat of the season (9-5-1).

The Rivermen took a 1-0 lead at 8:02 of the opening period. Rookie defenseman George Halkidis netted his first professional goal by holding the puck in between the left point and the face-off circle, wristing the puck toward the Cincinnati goal. The shot deflected off a Cincinnati player and up over the glove of Petruk.

Cincinnati tied it 1-1 early in the second period. Deis, stationed at the right face-off circle along the boards, found a streaking Jason Maleyko in the slot. Maleyko pushed the puck toward Szuper, waited for him to go down and slipped a backhand in behind him. It was Maleyko's first tally of the season.

The Cyclones took a 2-1 lead on the power play after Peoria's Greg Black was assessed a five-minute major for boarding Maleyko. Josh Harrold carried the puck into the Rivermen zone on right wing, cutting in underneath the defense and getting a backhand shot off. Szuper stopped the shot, but Garrett Prosofsky was on the doorstep, lifting a backhand over Szuper. It was Prosofsky's 16th tally of the year.

Black, who dropped the gloves with Maleyko in the first period, decided to square off with Nick Cammarata at 2:17 of the third. Because it was his third major penalty of the game, Black was assessed an automatic game misconduct.

Tomorrow night – Saturday, January 31 – the Rivermen face off against the Cyclones for the second night in a row. Special game time is 7:30 p.m. at Carver Arena. The first 2,000 fans will receive a Rivermen hat, courtesy of OSF – St. Francis Medical Center.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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ECHL Stories from January 30, 2004


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