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Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Knock Off Rockford 4-3 in a Shootout

January 17, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


PEORIA, Ill. - Derek Armstrong scored twice and Ryan Reaves fought twice in a 4-3 shootout win for the Peoria Rivermen over the Rockford IceHogs, Saturday night at Carver Arena. Peoria battled back from down 2-0 and 3-1 to take their first lead of the game in the fifth round of the shootout.

Meeting for the first time since Oct. 24, the renewed their rivalry with two fights in the opening three minutes of the game. Reaves energized the crowd of 5,355 just 2:48 into the game as he squared off with Jake Dowell. Following a big hit by Nicholas Drazenovic, Adam Cracknell dropped the gloves with Danny Bois just 15 seconds later. Peoria registered 18 of their total 25 penalty minutes in the first period but the physical play continued throughout the game.

It was penalties that led to the IceHogs 2-0 lead as the Rivermen surrendered two power-play goals in a six minute stretch of the first frame. Bracken Kearns tapped a rebound past Hannu Toivonen at 10:33 and Matt Keith finished off a pretty setup from Pete MacArthur at 15:55. It was the ninth of the season for both players.

Armstrong, who returned to the Rivermen lineup for the first time since being recalled by St. Louis on Dec. 30, scored at 19:00 of the period to cut the Rockford lead in half. After Tyson Strachan led the charge on a4-on-2 break, Jonas Junland's blocked shot came to Armstrong in the slot. His wrist shot beat Corey Crawford for his seventh of the season.

Rockford expanded their lead at 6:01 of the second period when Evan Brophey snapped a shot through a screen and into the net for his eighth of the year.

The rest of the second period belonged to Peoria. After being outshot 14-7 in the first, the Rivermen responded with 20 shots of their own in the second. Yan Stastny scored a power-play goal at 11:33 from Justin Fletcher and Lars Eller to close the gap. Armstrong scored his second of the night at 16:01 to complete the comeback. Pascal Pelletier and Julian Talbot setup Armstrong at the side of the goal for first multi-goal game in the American Hockey League since he scored a hat trick with the Manchester Monarchs during the 2002-03 season.

Shortly after tying the game, Reaves picked up his ninth fighting major of the season when he dropped the gloves at center ice with Akim Aliu. His fight, hits and blocked shots combined to earn him the No. 1 star of the game despite being held pointless.

Toivonen registered his most impressive save of the game with 3:10 remaining in the third. The Rivermen netminder was caught out of his net and had to make a head-first dive across the crease to stop Brophey from breaking the 3-3 tie. He finished with 31 saves through regulation and overtime but needed four more for the win.

In the shootout, Drazenovic and Aliu were the only two players to score through the first four shooters. Pelletier scored for the Rivermen and Toivonen stopped Keith to earn the victory.

Peoria is now 4-0-1 against the IceHogs this season and will play them twice over the next four games. The Rivermen are 0-3-1 against the Chicago Wolves and will face them on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. The game from Allstate Arena will be broadcast live on Hippie Radio 101.1FM and online through www.rivermen.net.

The Rivermen return home on Friday for a 7 p.m. faceoff with the Rockford IceHogs. The ZOOperstars! will make an appearance at the game. Tickets are available at the Rivermen office, on the phone at 309-676-1040 or online at www.rivermen.net/tickets.

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