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AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Weekly: February 9th

February 9, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Upcoming Action

DAY DATE TIME OPPONENT

Wednesday February 11 7:00 p.m. vs. Rockford IceHogs

Friday February 13 7:30 p.m. @ Rockford IceHogs

Saturday February 14 7:00 p.m. vs. Chicago Wolves

Sunday February 15 3:00 p.m.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS

All Wednesday Games - Dollar Beer Nights and Pilot's House tickets to all Rivermen Wednesday home games are available for just $8 until the end of the season.

Wednesday, February 11 - Winning Wednesday! If the Rivermen win all fans in attendance will receive a free ticket to the game on Feb. 18.

Friday, February 13 - Peoria Rivermen Fan Night at the St. Louis Blues Game. Tickets are available exclusively to Rivermen fans for up to $70 off. Please visit http://rivermen.net/news/index.html?article_id=1819 for more information and an order form.

Saturday, February 14 - Season Ticket Holder Social prior to the game in the Lexus Club. Rivermen season ticket holders will get a chance to meet other season ticket holders as well as players before the game.

Sunday, February 15 - Comcast/Journal Star/Fun on the Run/Coke Family Day - Just $1 admission for kids 12 and under plus hot dogs, cokes and chips will be available for just $1 each for one hour prior to the game. Inflatable games, balloon art and face painting will be available. Fans can skate with the team after the game (please bring your own skates).

WEEK 18 IN REVIEW (1-2-0)

@ Chicago (2/4): Joey Crabb recorded a hat trick to propel the Chicago Wolves to a 5-1 win against the Peoria Rivermen on Wednesday night at Allstate Arena. Power-play goals paved the way for the Wolves, scoring on three of their eight chances, and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 30 Rivermen shots. Two of their power-play goals came during a five-on-three advantage and Peoria's only goal was scored by Trent Whitfield with his team down two men. Ben Bishop stopped 22 of 26 before Jordan LaVallee added an empty-netter with time running down.

@ Quad City (2/6): The Peoria Rivermen scored twice in the final five minutes of the third period to turn the game around and beat the Quad City Flames 3-2 on Friday night at the iWireless Center. Steve Regier's goal was his fifth game-winner of the season and came with just 1:29 left in regulation. He has six goals in as many games against the Flames this year. Trailing 2-1 following a Kyle Greentree power-play goal at 11:35 of the third, the Rivermen turned the momentum and started pressuring goaltender Leland Irving. After a flurry of chances for Jonathan Filewich and Charles Linglet at the goal-mouth, the puck bounced onto the stick of Nicholas Drazenovic. He fluttered a shot over the shoulder of Irving to tie the game at 2-2 with only 4:53 to go.

@ Milwaukee (2/8): Cal O'Reilly scored three times and assisted on a pair from Hugh Jessiman as the Milwaukee Admirals beat the Peoria Rivermen 5-4 at the Bradley Center on Sunday evening. Four different Rivermen scored to help Peoria pull back within one goal on four separate occasions but failed to complete the comeback before time expired. Trent Whitfield and Chris Conner, both assigned to the Rivermen before the game from the NHL, chipped in with a goal each but it was not enough as Milwaukee scored five times on 27 shots against Ben Bishop. It was the second time O'Reilly has accounted for at least three-points in a game against the Rivermen, following his three-assist night on Nov. 26. In total he has 13 points (5g, 8a) in seven games against Peoria this year.

TEAM LEADERS

THIS SEASON THIS WEEK

POINTS Regier - 36 Fletcher - 3

GOALS Regier - 17 Whitfield - 2

ASSISTS Regier - 19 Fletcher - 3

POWER PLAY 44-for-267, 16.5% 1-for-12, 8.3%

PENALTY KILL 209-for-258, 81.0% 14-for-20, 70.0%

NEWS AND NOTES

Where they stand...With 30 games left to play, the Peoria Rivermen sit in sixth place of the West Division, just three points out of a potential playoff spot. Their 52 points (25-23-1-1) are within three of Chicago and Houston. Milwaukee (70) and Rockford (58) are first and second in the division respectively with Iowa (57) claiming the third spot.

Home Cooking...Carver Arena was the site of just a single Rivermen game between Jan. 11 and Feb. 11 with Peoria playing eight of the last night games on the road. The Rivermen were 4-5-0 over that stretch and are now 12-9-1-1 at home and 13-14-0-0 on the road.

Manny Being Manny... St. Louis Blues goaltender Manny Legace cleared waivers this weekend and was assigned to the Rivermen. An NHL all-star last year, Legace is currently playing in his 15th professional season. He is expected to start Wednesday in his first AHL action since he played two games for the Grand Rapids Griffins during the 2005-06 season as part of a rehab assignment. He began his professional career in the AHL with the Springfield Falconsby going 12-17-6 with a 3.54 GAA in 39 appearance during the 1994-95 season.

Regier Wins It...Steve Regier has scored the game-winning goal in each of the last two regulation wins for the Rivermen. His goal with 1:29 to play on Friday in Quad City was his fifth game winning goal this season. He now has six goals in six games against the Flames.

Picking up the pace...Regier also has five goals in his last six games and leads the Rivermen in goals (17), assists (19), points (36), and plus/minus (+9).

Quick start...Julian Talbot's goal just 56 seconds into the third period on Sunday marked the 35th time this season that the Rivermen scored a goal in the opening five minutes of the period.

An early lead... The Rivermen are 18-5-2 when scoring the first goal of a game and just 7-18-0 when having to play from behind.

Hats Off...Peoria was on the wrong side of two hat tricks over their three games this week as Joey Crabb (Chicago) and Cal O'Reilly (Milwaukee) each scored three times. They are the only two times the Rivermen have allowed a hat trick this season.

Welcome Back Conner...Despite only playing in 26 games this year, Chris Conner ranks third on the team in points with 26 (14g, 12a). Sunday was his first game back from his third trip to the NHL's Dallas Stars and Conner chipped in with a goal and an assist. His most recent trip to Dallas lasted 37 days and saw him add a goal and assist in eight games with the Stars.

No Rest for Ben...Ben Bishop may finally get a break with Manny Legace joining the roster and it might have come at the perfect time. Bishop has started 11 of the last 12 games for the Rivermen dating all the way back to January 7. In those 11 starts, Bishop was 4-7-0 with a GAA of 3.05 and a .898 save percentage.

Special Teams...The Rivermen special teams have taken a hit as of late with the power play dropping 19.8 percent (ranked 5th in AHL) on Dec. 27 to 16.5 percent (ranked 17th). The penalty-kill has been on a much steeper decline as of late as they have allowed 14 goals on their last 48 chances (70.8 percent). Since Jan. 23 the Rivermen penalty-kill has dropped from 83.3 percent to 81.2 over the last seven games.

WEEK 19 PREVIEW

Rockford IceHogs

National Hockey League Parent Club Chicago Blackhawks

Record 33-13-2-2

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 58 (+6)

West Division Standing 2nd

Rivermen Record Against 3-2-0

Leading Scorer Petri Kontiola (11g, 32a, 43pts)

Starting Goaltender Corey Crawford (15-9-2, 2.60 GAA, .916 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 22nd - 15.6%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank t-28th - 79.3%

Chicago Wolves

National Hockey League Parent Club Atlanta Thrashers

Record 26-24-2-1

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 55 (+3)

West Division Standing t-4th

Rivermen Record Against 3-2-0

Leading Scorer Jeff Hamilton (12g, 32a, 44pts)

Starting Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (9-9-1, 2.52 GAA, .913 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 25th - 14.9%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 27th - 79.6%

Rochester Americans

National Hockey League Parent Club Florida Panthers

Record 17-29-0-4

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 38 (n/a)

NORTH Division Standing 7th

Rivermen Record Against 1-0-0

Leading Scorer Michal Repik (11g, 14a, 25pts)

Starting Goaltender Mike Brodeur (13-5-2, 2.16 GAA, .931 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 29th - 13.9%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank t-28th - 79.3%

*All statistics as of 2/9/09

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

02/08/2009 Steve Erbstein (G) DEL Released from PTO

02/08/2009 Trent Whitfield (C) ADD Returned on loan from St. Louis (NHL)

02/07/2009 Chris Conner (RW) ADD Returned on loan from Dallas (NHL)

02/07/2009 Manny Legace (G) ADD Loaned from St. Louis (NHL)

02/07/2009 Steve Wagner (D) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)

02/06/2009 Chris Holt (G) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)

02/06/2009 Steve Erbstein (G) ADD Signed to PTO

02/05/2009 Trent Whitfield (C) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)

02/04/2009 Andy Wozniewski (D) ADD Returned on loan from St. Louis (NHL)

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