AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Start Three-Game Road Trip Tonight In Milwaukee

March 14, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


The Peoria Rivermen begin a three game weekend road trip tonight at 7 pm as they take on the Milwaukee Admirals at the Bradley Center with playoff crunch time approaching.

Milwaukee (75 points, 35-25-3-2) leads Peoria by three points in the division standings, where the Admirals occupy the fourth playoff spot in the division. The Rivermen (73 points, 32-24-4-4) have 16 games remaining while Milwaukee has 15, giving Peoria the chance to make up two points in the playoff race this weekend.

The West Division is packed from fourth place Milwaukee to the eighth place Iowa Stars (66 points). The suddenly-hot Houston Aeros won seven in a row before losing to Rockford last night, giving them 73 points and fifth place just in front of Peoria. Quad City and Iowa are just one point apart, with no team being truly out of the chase for a playoff spot at this point of the season.

Among the teams battling for playoff position, Houston has played the fewest games at 62. Peoria and Quad City have each played 64, with Milwaukee at 65 and Iowa 66. In the AHL's Western Conference, there is a "swing team" factor in that if a fifth place finisher in one division is stronger than the fourth place seed in the other, that fifth place team can "swing over" to the opposite division and play as if it were that division's fourth seed.

Peoria will still be without defensemen Roman Polak and Jeff Woywitka as well as forward Yan Stastny, with all three players in St. Louis with the Blues. The Rivermen goaltending situation received a boost earlier this week when highly-touted prospect and Blues draft pick Ben Bishop joined the team after his junior season at the University of Maine. The 6-foot-7 goalkeeper is expected to make his first professional start tonight against the Admirals.

With the division so tightly packed, Peoria's strong 18-9-2-1 road record will certainly bode well for them down the stretch. Tomorrow the team heads to Chicago to battle the Wolves at 7 pm, returning to Milwaukee Sunday for a 4 pm matinee with the Admirals.

If you can't make it to the games, you can still see them live via the B2 Networks video feed for just $6 per game. Available through www.rivermen.net, the video feed carries both the home and road audio feeds. Audio internet feeds are available free of charge. The game will be broadcast live on your Home for Rivermen Hockey, 96.5 ESPN Radio, with the Rivermen Pre-Game Show with Tom Callahan starting one half-hour before puck drop.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 14, 2008


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