AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Lose to Marlies 4-2

Published on November 12, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL (November 11, 2005) - In the first-ever meeting between the Peoria Rivermen and the Toronto Marlies, the Marlies skated out of Peoria with a 4-2 win. Toronto forwards Bates Battaglia and John Pohl starred with one goal and one assist each.

The Rivermen and the Marlies were more evenly matched in this contest than the final score of 4-2 might indicate. First of all, both squads ended up with 27 shots on the night. The visiting Marlies recorded eight shots in the first period, 10 in the second, and then nine in the third frame to reach 27 shots in total. The Rivermen, on the other hand, had shot totals of seven, nine, and 11 in the game's three periods for their 27. Both teams also incurred six infractions for a total of 18 minutes in penalties. As a result of those penalties, the Rivermen and the Marlies each went one for four on the power play. Despite this symmetry, the Marlies came out with a 4-2 advantage in the one category that matters, goals scored.

With the victory, Toronto reaches the .500 mark at 6-6-0-0 overall, 3-3-0-0 on the road, and 3-3-0-0 at home. The Rivermen are now 9-4-0-0 overall, with a home record of 5-3-0-0.

Midway through the opening period, Toronto scored the game's first goal when forward Kris Newbury threw a shot on net from the right-wing boards. The shot made it to the front of the goal, where right winger Ben Ondrus got his stick on the puck to deflect it up over the left shoulder of Rivermen goaltender Jason Bacashihua at 10:05.

Right wing Colin Hemingway tied it up at 1-1 for Peoria soon thereafter. Taking a nice feed out of the right corner from center Trent Whitfield, Hemingway found himself alone in the slot, directly in front of the goal, and one-timed a slapper past one Toronto defender and by Marlies goalie Jean-Francois Racine. The goal came at the 13:29 mark of the first period.

Early in the second period, Toronto broke out on top again. Skating down the left wing, forward Martin Sagat accepted a nifty pass from his linemate Roman Kukumberg and quickly slipped the puck into the goal to Bacashihua's right to give the Marlies a 2-1 lead at 2:43.

Toronto then built on its lead thanks to center John Pohl, who got in behind the Peoria defense and beat Bacashihua one-on-one with a nice lateral stickhandle. The lamp-lighter gave the Marlies a 3-1 lead at 8:23 of the middle frame.

Marlies left wing Bates Battaglia put his team up by three goals about five minutes later. On a pretty passing play that was started by Pohl, Brad Leeb got the puck near the top of the crease but made a back-hand pass to Battaglia at the bottom of the right circle. From that position, Battaglia rifled the puck past Bacashihua before the goalie could make it across the goalmouth. That made the score 4-1 in favor of Toronto at 13:47 of the second, and Peoria at that point called a time-out and pulled Bacashihua in favor of Chris Beckford-Tseu.

After Bacashihua returned to the Peoria net for the start of the third period, left winger Peter Sejna pared the Toronto lead down to two goals at 9:07. Stationed inside the left hash marks, Sejna took a pass out of the left wing boards from center Gavin Morgan and slapped a one-timer inside the left post to make the score 4-2 in favor of Toronto.

Peoria pulled Bacashihua again in the waning minutes of the game in favor of a sixth attacker, but the Rivermen were unable to mount any more offense. Peoria will now try to end its current two-game losing streak at Iowa this coming Sunday.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 12, 2005


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