ECHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Thump Johnstown at Home 6-2

Published on March 23, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, Ill. (March 23, 2005) – The Peoria Rivermen said goodbye to the Johnstown Chiefs after nine years of competition in the ECHL and hello to a possible playoff spot, beating the rival Chiefs 6-2 before a Wednesday-night crowd of 3,417 at Carver Arena.

The Rivermen finished their regular season ECHL tenure against Johnstown with a 38-17-7 record, while moving into a tie for fifth place in the eight-team North Division with the archrival Toledo Storm and moving within one point of the Wheeling Nailers for the fourth and final playoff spot. Peoria and Wheeling will battle Friday and Saturday at Carver Arena.

Peoria added its sixth goal of the game 3:14 into the final period of regulation. Brian McCullough maneuvered into the Chiefs end on right wing on a two-on-one break with Justin Maiser. McCullough fed Maiser breaking to the goal from the left circle. Maiser was initially stopped on his shot by a diving Scally, but the puck trickled toward the goal line, where two Johnstown defenders kicked it into the net. Maiser was credited with his second goal of the game, 20th of the season and fifth in the last five contests. He is currently on a three-game goal-scoring streak.

Johnstown registered its second goal right off a face-off in the left circle. Peter Trovato won the puck back to Joe Tallari, who was stationed behind Trovato to his right at the top of the face-off circle. Tallari wasted no time, quickly wristing his 29th marker of the season inside the right goal post.

Peoria (34-22-7, 75 points) has won a season-best eight in a row at home and improved to 21-7-5 at home. The Rivermen have held the opposition to two goals or less in 19 of their last 35 contests. Johnstown (20-30-14, 54 points) has lost three in a row and fell to 1-12-3 in its last 16 games.

Rivermen goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu (10-12-3) stopped 20 of 22 Johnstown chances in the victory. Chiefs goaltender David Cann (10-16-7) played just 20 minutes, stopping 17 of 20 chances, before Mark Scally relieved him for the final two sessions of play. Scally turned away 24 of 27 Rivermen shots in relief.

Peoria took a 1-0 lead just 2:05 into the game. Ryan Ramsay, in his second game on loan from the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Worcester IceCats, motored down the middle of the ice into the Johnstown zone, pushing his way to the front of the net by splitting two defensemen. Ramsay was stopped on the doorstep by Cann, but Jake Riddle was in the vicinity just off the right goal post. After gathering the puck, Riddle circled to the low slot and roofed his ninth goal of the season.

Ed Hill's fifth goal of the year, a fluke shot from the left point, gave the Rivermen a 2-0 advantage just 48 seconds later. Captain Trevor Baker sent the puck back to the point for Hill, whose wrist shot toward the upper left corner deflected off the blocker of Cann and in behind him into the upper right corner.

The Chiefs quickly got on the board 23 seconds later at 3:16 of the opening stanza. After an initial face-off in the left circle, the puck was pushed toward the Rivermen goal, where Beckford-Tseu stopped Dmitri Tarabrin on an initial chance. The rebound was collected by Chad Cavanagh, who – with his back to the goal – sent a no-look backhand shot inside the right goal post.

Peoria gave itself a 3-1 lead with 3:51 left in the first. Trevor Baker dug the puck out of the left-wing corner and chipped a backhand pass to Randy Rowe, who darted off the left-wing boards and slapped his 20th tally of the season into the near upper corner.

With the goal, Rowe became the fifth and final Rivermen ECHL player to amass 200 points, regular season and playoffs.

After a relentless second period, in which the Rivermen outshot the Chiefs 19-2, Peoria was rewarded with a power play goal at 18:08. Trevor Byrne took a knuckling wrist shot from left point that Justin Maiser, tied up with a Johnstown defenseman at the left hash marks, tipped down and past Scally. It was Maiser's 18th goal of the season.

The Rivermen gave themselves a 5-1 lead on a great individual effort by Ramsay with seven seconds remaining in the second. Ramsay took a feed at center ice from Randy Rowe, broke into the Johnstown zone on right wing, cut through the middle of the ice to the left side of low slot, eluded a poke check by a diving Scally, who ended up on his stomach, and slipped his first goal in a Rivermen uniform inside the left post. Ramsay earned No. 1 Star honors in the game.

On Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26, the Rivermen host the Wheeling Nailers in two in row at Carver Arena. Game times on Friday and Saturday are 7:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively.

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