AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen stop Rampage 5-1

January 20, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


San Antonio, TX (January 20, 2006) - A well-known adage in hockey is "You'll never score if you don't shoot." On Friday evening in San Antonio, the Peoria Rivermen and the San Antonio Rampage proved that adage to be true in a game that was won by the Rivermen. The Peoria club racked up a healthy total of 31 shots on goal in the contest and came away with five goals. San Antonio, on the other hand, mustered only 15 shots on goal and tallied a correspondingly low goal total of only one.

In beating the Rampage 5-1 on Friday night, the Rivermen registered more than twice as many shots as their opponent. Peoria recorded exactly twice as many shots as did San Antonio in the first period, when the Rivermen out-shot the Rampage by a count of 8-4. The two teams' shot totals in the second frame were more divergent than those in any other period, as the Rivermen squeezed off 14 shots to the Rampage's five. Although San Antonio's third-period total of six shots was the team's highest shot output in any one period in this game, it still fell short of the nine third-period shots registered by Peoria. The lopsided 31-15 shot advantage of the Rivermen in this game ultimately led to a lopsided 5-1 victory for Peoria.

The Rivermen bettered their overall record with the win to 21-15-1-2. On the road, the Rivermen now own a record of 9-9-1-1. The Rampage drop to 12-26-1-2 overall with the loss, and the squad's home mark presently stands at 7-14-1-1.

The Rivermen got on the scoreboard first in this contest. From along the left-wing boards in the Rampage zone, Peoria center Trent Whitfield hit right wing Colin Hemingway with a pass to the bottom of the left circle. Hemingway then wheeled around and jammed the puck at the left post, and San Antonio netminder Karl Goehring blocked it. With another jab, Hemingway got the puck to squirt into the goal at the 16:17 mark of the first period.

The Rampage evened things up at 1-1 early in the second period. On a shot from the right point by San Antonio defenseman Ed Hill, Rivermen goalie Patrick Lalime made a save but sent a rebound behind the net and to the right. The puck then bounded across the back of the goal, and left winger Eric Chouinard picked it up behind the goalline, stepped out in front at the left post, and roofed a shot up over Lalime to tie the score at 2:09 of the middle frame.

The Rivermen used a power-play opportunity to take a 2-1 lead midway through the game. Collecting the puck just inside the blueline at the left-wing boards in the Rampage zone, Peoria defenseman Mike Mottau sent a pass to right wing Mike Glumac at the center point. Glumac then wound up and unleashed a heavy slap shot that hit Goehring in the right shoulder and powered on into the goal for Glumac's 21st score of the season at the 10:44 mark of the second period.

Shortly thereafter, Peoria extended its lead. Carrying the puck down the right-wing boards of the San Antonio zone while fending off a Rampage defender, Rivermen center Jay McClement cut to the net and forced the puck at the right post. Although Goehring was right there to thwart the attempt, the puck barely got between his skate and the right post and crossed the goalline to put Peoria up 3-1 at 11:24 of the second.

The Rivermen notched their third goal of the second period on another power play. Taking a pass from left wing Peter Sejna, Mottau sent a simple wrist shot in on goal from the center point, and the shot found its way into the Rampage cage through a crowd in front. Mottau's third tally of the season came at 19:13 of the second frame and staked Peoria to a 4-1 lead.

Peoria capped off the scoring in the game with a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play. From the top of the right circle, center Blake Evans wired a pass to Hemingway below the left circle. Hemingway then one-timed a pass back across the goalmouth to winger Lee Stempniak, who buried an easy tap-in goal at the right post to put the Rivermen up 5-1 at the 9:32 mark of the third period.

The Rivermen will now venture to the Texas Gulf Coast to take on the West Division-leading Houston Aeros on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Toyota Center.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2006


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