AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen weekly

Published on April 3, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


RIVERMEN ACTION LAST WEEK

Tuesday, March 28, RIVERMEN 8 vs. Houston Aeros 2: Last Tuesday at home in Carver Arena, the Peoria Rivermen enjoyed one of their best games of the season, routing the Houston Aeros by the score of 8-2. After one period of play, this tilt appeared to be another tight game between two of the West Division's best teams, as the Rivermen led just 1-0 on a goal by center Ryan Ramsay at 5:47 of the first. Peoria, however, blew the game wide open in the middle frame with four goals. Ramsay started the onslaught with his 13th tally of the year at the 4:42 mark of the second period. Center Gavin Morgan then took over from there, potting his 14th and 15th goals of the campaign at 6:04 and 7:16 of the second, respectively, to put the Rivermen up 4-0. Rookie right wing David Backes capped off Peoria's second-period scoring by denting the twine at the 9:15 mark. Leading 5-0 at the second intermission, the Rivermen jumped on the Aeros for three more goals early in the third session. Just 1:16 into the period, defenseman Tomas Mojzis netted his first goal with Peoria, and he followed that up with his seventh goal of the season at the 4:11 mark of the third to give the Rivermen a 7-0 advantage. The eighth and final Rivermen goal of the contest came off of the stick of right wing Brendan Brooks at 5:05 of the third. Houston got two goals from center Patrick O'Sullivan and left wing Peter Olvecky at 14:17 and 18:28 of the third, respectively, but they were way too little, way too late, and Peoria won 8-2. Goaltender Gregg Naumenko picked up his third win with the Rivermen after making 21 saves on the night. Peoria out-shot Houston by the wide margin of 42-23. The Rivermen went five for seven on the power play, while the Aeros failed to convert any of their six man-advantages.

Friday, March 31, RIVERMEN 2 @ San Antonio Rampage 1: Last Friday night in the "Alamo City," the Peoria Rivermen took a close 2-1 victory over the San Antonio Rampage at the AT&T Center. The Rivermen jumped out on top of the Rampage 1-0 just 1:57 into the contest when left wing D. J. King deflected the puck past Rampage netminder Scott Stirling for the rugged forward's fifth goal of the season. San Antonio then evened things up at 1-1 on center Mike Bishai's 12th score of the year at the 9:31 mark of the first period. Midway through the game, at 10:56 of the second, center Mike Zigomanis netted what proved to be the game-winning goal for Peoria to give his team a 2-1 lead and himself a total of 10 goals on the season. Chris Beckford-Tseu started in goal for the Rivermen and made 19 saves against 20 shots on goal to pick up his fourth career American Hockey League (AHL) victory. The Peoria squad squeezed off 40 shots on goal compared to only 20 from the San Antonio side. Neither team converted on the power play, as the Rivermen had six chances, and the Rampage had five opportunities.

Saturday, April 1, Houston Aeros 5 vs. RIVERMEN 0: This past Saturday night, the Peoria Rivermen absorbed just their third shutout loss of the season, 5-0 at the hands of the Houston Aeros. The Aeros scored their first goal of the tilt about midway through the opening frame, as right wing Kirby Law struck for the 39th time this year at the 10:30 mark of the period. Houston defenseman Scott Ferguson followed that up with his fifth goal of the campaign at 12:57 of the first to stake his team to a 2-0 lead over Peoria. The Aeros then kept right on extending their advantage in the second period. At the 6:06 mark of the middle frame, right wing Joel Ward dented the twine to give Houston a 3-0 lead on his fifth goal of 2005-06. Law then collected his second goal of the game and his 40th goal of the season 8:50 into the second to put Peoria in a 4-0 hole. Houston right winger Matt Foy's 11th marker of the year at 11:25 of the middle session capped off the scoring in the game at five goals for the Aeros and zero goals for the Rivermen. Chris Beckford-Tseu started in net for Peoria but was replaced after yielding all five Houston goals on 20 shots in slightly more than 31 minutes of action. Scott Reid came on in relief and stopped all seven shots that he faced. Although they ended up losing the game, the Rivermen did outshoot the Aeros 36-27. Both teams went scoreless with the man-advantage, as Peoria missed on six opportunities, and Houston botched eight chances.

Sunday, April 2, RIVERMEN 3 @ Houston Aeros 1: In Sunday's rematch with the Houston Aeros, once again at the Toyota Center, the Peoria Rivermen prevailed by the count of 3-1. After being shut out by Houston the night before, the Peoria skaters got right to work on Sunday, going out on top 1-0 just 1:37 into this tilt thanks to right wing David Backes and his third career professional goal. The Aeros, though, responded to the early first-period tally by the Rivermen with a goal early on in the second, at the 3:00 mark, from left wing Greg Mauldin, who now has potted 13 goals on the season. Soon thereafter, at the 3:51 mark of the middle frame, Rivermen center Mike Zigomanis notched his 11th goal of 2005-06 to give his team the lead once again at 2-1. Defenseman Trevor Byrne then got an insurance goal for Peoria at the 1:15 mark of the third period, and the Rivermen held on for a 3-1 win, their first victory in five tries in Houston this season. With the road triumph, the Rivermen completed their 10-game 2005-06 regular season series versus the Aeros with a record of 4-6-0-0. Goaltender Scott Reid allowed only one goal on 33 shots and earned the win in becoming the seventh man to appear in net for Peoria so far this season. The Aeros lost the game but did outshoot the Rivermen 33-21. Peoria ended up one for five on the power play and stymied all nine shorthanded situations that the squad faced against Houston.

WE MADE IT!

On Sunday in Houston, the Rivermen completed a long, 14-game stretch during which they played only three home contests at Carver Arena from Sunday, March 5, in Omaha to this past Sunday, April 2, in Houston. Along the way, the Peoria club compiled a 10-2-2-0 mark and earned 22 out of a possible 28 standings points.

RIVERMEN HAVE BEEN GREAT ON THE ROAD SINCE JANUARY

Since snapping their season-worst nine-game road winless skid (0-7-1-1 from December 9 to January 7) with a victory on January 13, the Rivermen have posted an exceptional 14-4-2-1 mark in their last 21 contests away from Carver Arena. Peoria's season-best four-game road winning streak was set earlier in the year from October 21 to November 13, 2005.

SHUTOUT-O-METER

Their shutout loss last Saturday in Houston was only the third time all season that the Rivermen have failed to score any goals in a game. The first shutout loss in AHL Peoria Rivermen franchise history came back on Saturday, November 26, 2005, when goalie Mike Smith made 29 saves to help the Iowa Stars blank the Rivermen 2-0 at Carver Arena. On Saturday, March 18, in Syracuse, goaltender Martin Prusek stoned Peoria on 32 shots as the Syracuse Crunch dealt the Rivermen their second shutout set-back of the year, again by the score of 2-0. Then came the Aeros' 5-0 blanking of the Rivermen this past Saturday evening on the strength of a 36-save effort from goaltender Seamus Kotyk.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Although the Rivermen have suffered only three shutout losses all year, two of them have occurred in Peoria's last seven tilts. The Peoria club went 49 games between its first and second shutout defeats of 2005-06, but only four outings between its latest two shutout losses on Saturday, March 18, and Saturday, April 1.

PUT ME IN, COACH! I CAN PLAY GOAL!

On Sunday, Scott Reid became the seventh goaltender to see action for the Rivermen so far this season. In addition to Reid (2 GP, 1-0-0), Peoria has employed in goal Jason Bacashihua (15 GP, 9-4-0), Chris Beckford-Tseu (13 GP, 4-4-1), Reinhard Divis (31 GP, 16-10-2), Patrick Lalime (14 GP, 6-6-1), Gregg Naumenko (4 GP, 3-1-0), and Curtis Sanford (6 GP, 4-2-0). Interestingly, the total of seven goalies used by the Rivermen thus far this season is not the highest in the AHL. The Providence Bruins have used eight different netminders so far this season. The Rivermen, though, may take the prize for using the most goaltenders in the League this year if one counts goalies who have suited up but not actually played in a game. In that case, the number of netminders used by the Rivermen so far in 2005-06 would balloon to 12 and include Bill Conger, Rob Galatiuk, Jody Green, Bill Muller, and Matt Underhill.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 3, 2006


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