Rivermen Set Attendance Record in Win
March 6, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
PEORIA, IL - A 15-year-old attendance record fell on Saturday night as the 10,129 fans watched the Peoria Rivermen defeat the Lake Erie Monsters 3-1 at Carver Arena. The previous attendance record for professional hockey in Peoria was 9,427 set back on March 4, 1995.
Lars Eller had a hand in all three Rivermen goals, as he scored the first and assisted on the final two. He now has five points (two goals, three assists) in the last two games for Peoria and now leads the team with 41 points. Derek Armstrong (one goal, one assist) and Tyson Strachan (two assists) also had multi-point nights.
Rivermen goaltender Ben Bishop helped weather the storm in the first period as the Monsters outshot Peoria 7-1 to open the game. He finished with 22 saves and came within 16 minutes of his first shutout of the season.
The first goal came at 16:38 with Pascal Pelletier creating the 11th of the season for Eller. He raced into the offensive zone, split the defense and slid a backhand pass to Eller crashing the goal. His wrist shot beat John Grahame below the blocker to put the Rivermen in front.
Derek Armstrong tipped home Peoria's second goal after an elongated Monsters power play. With Jonas Junland already boxed for holding, Strachan was called for a high-sticking double-minor. The Rivermen were able to kill off all 5:15, including 45 seconds of five-on-three. Just 39 seconds later, with only 16 seconds remaining in the period, Armstrong deflected Strachan's shot past Grahame for his 15th of the year.
Lake Erie's power play finally cashed in, 4:43 into the third. Bishop thought he had the rebound of Brian Fahey's shot tucked in his pads but it rolled out to the circle and Justin Mercier was there to cut the Rivermen lead in half.
With less than 2 minutes remaining, Grahame went to the bench for an extra attacker but Pascal Dupuis was whistled for interference at 18:48. After three missed chances, Junland found the open net to secure the win for the Rivermen.
Peoria is now 5-0-0-0 against Lake Erie all-time at Carver Arena.
All fans in attendance for tonight's game received two hot dogs, one bag of chips, one 12 oz. Coke product and one Hostess Twinkie for free. The Rivermen also hosted a Legends Game in which 14 former ECHL and IHL Rivermen took on the local firefighters in a pregame exhibition.
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