AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Thrill Second-Largest Crowd Ever With Win Over Ads

January 26, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Jean-Guy Trudel scored the game-winning goal and set up another as the Peoria Rivermen downed the Milwaukee Admirals in dramatic fashion in front of the second-largest crowd in team history Saturday night.

Trudel drove to the net as Charles Linglet swung a shot in front of the net off the left pad of Pekka Rinne, depositing the rebound into the cage with just 2:55 remaining in the contest to send the Carver Arena crowd of 7,658 into frenzy.

The goal broke a 3-3 tie and Peoria held on for its twelfth win in the month of January - a month in which the team has gone from tied for seventh place in the eight-team West Division, to third place and five points out of the top spot occupied by the Rockford IceHogs.

Peoria roared out of the gate in front of the enthusiastic crowd and scored twice in a 44-second span to open up a 2-0 lead. Julian Talbot jammed home a loose puck for his 16th goal of the year at 3:59 with help from Jeff Woywitka and Martin Kariya, a power play marker.

Mike Glumac followed with a rocket from the slot on a Yan Stastny feed at 4:43, with his quick release beating Pekka Rinne for a two-goal advantage.

Milwaukee would take advantage of a break just 1:22 later when Mike Santorelli picked up an odd bounce off the endboards and sent it back past Chris Beckford-Tseu for a 2-1 score through 20 minutes of play.

After the Admirals tied the game at two with the lone goal of the second period and holding Peoria to just one shot, the Rivermen responded immediately in the third period as Chris Porter registered his seventh goal of the year just 33 seconds into the frame. Trudel and Alex Brooks set up the marker to bring the crowd back to life.

Josh Langfeld would tie the game back up at 3-3 with his 12th goal of the year from Janne Niskala at 11:22, setting the stage for Trudel's game winner.

Beckford-Tseu stopped 19 shots to earn his 15th win of the year, while Janne Niskala turned aside 23-of-27 shots to take his league-leading 16th loss.

Peoria finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play; Milwaukee went 0-for-5 after scoring seven power play goals in its last two games. Milwaukee has yet to register a power play goal in 22 tries against Peoria this season.

The Rivermen will now break for the AHL All-Star Classic to be held January 27 and 28th in Binghamton, NY. FSN Midwest will carry the All-Star Skills Competition on tape-delay at 1 pm CST on Monday, followed by the game live at 6 pm CST. The game will also be available via www.theahl.com, and on XM Radio Home Ice channel 204.

Peoria will get back to action Thursday night at 7 pm against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Tickets are on sale now for all remaining Rivermen home games via the Peoria Civic Center Box Office, all TicketMaster locations, on line at www.TicketMaster.com, or charge by phone at (309) 676-8700.




American Hockey League Stories from January 26, 2008


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