AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Weekly

Published on November 20, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


WEEK SIX - RIVERMEN ACTION (2-0-0-1)

Sunday, November 19, RIVERMEN 2 @ Chicago 3 (Shootout): Playing in their third game in three days, the Peoria Rivermen stayed strong throughout the contest, but couldn't quite knock home a winning tally, as they fell to the Chicago Wolves 3-2 in a shootout in front of 7,010 at the Allstate Arena late Sunday afternoon. Despite losing the shot battle 27-21, the Rivermen had numerous opportunities to score, but the puck just didn't bounce their way as they hit four posts in the game. The Wolves (12-4-1-0, 25 pts) got on the board first on left wing Brett Sterling's 12th goal of the year at 9:42 of the opening period. Center Jason Krog, who prior to today's tilt registered 11 points (6g, 5a) in two games against the Rivermen this season, attempted a wrap-around shot that was kicked away by Peoria goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu. However, the rebound was picked up by Sterling in the slot where he poked the puck into the net. Peoria (8-6-1-2, 19 pts) responded to tie the game at 16:40 of the first frame. After a Chicago turnover in its own zone, center Ryan Ramsay, who controlled the puck in the near corner, fired a pass to right wing Konstantin Zakharov in the slot, where he blasted a one-timer past Wolves netminder Fred Brathwaite. The goal was Zakharov's second marker on the year. The Rivermen grabbed a lead for the first time in all eight periods played against the Wolves so far this year at 2:37 of the second stanza. Ramsay gathered the puck in the left wing corner on a dump-in, where he fired a shot on net that was initially saved by Brathwaite; however, he could not locate the rebound, which landed in front of the crease where left wing D.J. King tapped a backhander into the empty net for his first tally of the season. Chicago evened the score at two apiece on a 5-on-3 power play at 16:24 of the middle period. Right wing Alex Bourret threw the puck toward the goal mouth and Sterling managed to slide it over the goal line as he was being pushed to the ice for his second score of game and 13th of the 2006-07 campaign. The Wolves won the shootout 2-1, as center Kevin Doell notched the eventual game-winner with some nifty moves to send Beckford-Tseu to the ice, allowing him to chip the puck into the net.

Saturday, November 18, RIVERMEN 5 vs. Milwaukee 4 (Overtime): Trailing after two periods for the second game in a row, the Peoria Rivermen went to work on the American Hockey League's (AHL) No. 1-ranked penalty-killing unit by tallying three early-session, power-play tallies, and then scored on the only shot in overtime on a deflection to beat the visiting Milwaukee Admirals 5-4 on Saturday night in front of 4,193 at Carver Arena. Peoria prevailed at 2:41 of the overtime session on the only shot taken. Defenseman Tomas Mojzis snapped a shot from the top of the right face-off circle and the puck hit the skate of right wing David Backes, who was streaking toward the net in the slot, and popped up over the right pad of Milwaukee goaltender Karl Goehring. The goal was the eighth of the year for Backes, tying him for the team lead. Coming into tonight's contest, the Admirals had killed off 51 of 55 opposition power play opportunities for a 92.7 percent efficiency rating. Peoria (8-6-1-1, 18 pts) tied the game 2-2 on the power play at 6:02 of the third. Left wing Charles Linglet held the puck in the zone along the left wing boards, skated around an Admirals defenseman into the left face-off circle, faked a pass to the right post and then lifted a backhand shot into the top right corner of the net over Goehring's left shoulder. The goal, the first of two with the man advantage in the period for Linglet, was his seventh of the year. The Rivermen grabbed their second lead of the night on another man-advantage marker at 8:17 of the third. Right wing Jon DiSalvatore, who was in the deep slot, fed Mojzis at the top of the left face-off circle, where he fired the puck cross-ice at the right face-off dot to center Trent Whitfield, who snapped a shot between the right post and left arm of Goehring. It was Whitfield's eighth goal of the year and second of two on the night. The Rivermen, who outshot the Admirals 18-4 in the third period, added another power play goal 3:24 later while on a two-man advantage. Mojzis launched a shot on net from the top of the left face-off circle that Goehring initially turned away, but the rebound fell directly to Linglet at the right side of the net where he was able to slam it home. The goal, which came at 11:41, was Linglet's second of the game and eighth of the season. The Admirals (5-6-2-0, 12 pts) cut the lead to 4-3 at 12:46 on left wing Kelsey Wilson's first professional tally. Right wing Rich Peverley shot the puck from just above the goal line at the right side of the net and was stopped by Rivermen rookie netminder Marek Schwarz, but the rebound fell in front of the crease where Wilson was able to poke it home. Just 30 seconds later, Milwaukee tied the game when defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, who was in the right face-off circle, found left wing Patrick Leahy alone at the left side of the net for an easy tap-in past a diving Schwarz. It was his fourth goal of the year. The Rivermen opened the scoring on their first shot on net just 35 seconds into the first period. Whitfield stole the puck in the neutral zone and was all alone on Goehring. Whitfield skated into the slot, where he wristed a shot that slipped between the right post and left arm of Goehring for his seventh marker of the year and first of two on the night. Left wing D.J. King induced defenseman Nolan Yonkman into a fight at 6:18 of the first frame. After spinning in a few circles, King body-slammed Yonkman to the ice. The Admirals tied the game 1-1 on Brookbank's third goal of the season at 3:43 of the second stanza. Center Kim Staal fired a pass from behind the net into the right face-off circle for Brookbank, who blasted a one-timer between the legs of Schwarz. Milwaukee took the lead just over two minutes later at 5:55 of the second. Staal took a pass from center Jason Guerriero in the neutral zone and skated down the right wing boards, and once Staal reached the blue line, he dished the puck cross-ice to Peverley. He maneuvered into the slot, deked Schwarz and sent him to the ground, and was then able to slide the puck past the outstretched left leg of the Peoria goaltender. The tally was the fourth of the year for Peverley. The Rivermen were outshot 14-2 in the second period.

Friday, November 17, RIVERMEN 3 @ Grand Rapids 1: The Peoria Rivermen scored all three of their goals in a span of 7:22 in the first half of the third period to come back and hand the Grand Rapids Griffins their sixth loss in a row in front of 3,717 at the Van Andel Arena on Friday night. The star of the game for the Rivermen was left wing Peter Sejna, as he registered the primary assist on all three Peoria goals. Prior to tonight's game, Sejna had recorded three assists in 13 games. Peoria (7-6-1-1, 16pts) began the come-back win at 2:15 of the third period on the team-leading sixth power play goal by right wing David Backes. Center Trent Whitfield, who was in the right face-off circle, dished the puck to Sejna below the goal line. Sejna crossed the line and fired a shot that bounced off of the right pad of Grand Rapids netminder Jimmy Howard directly to Backes in the slot, where he was able to poke it into the empty net. The Rivermen took the lead a little more than four minutes later at 6:31 of the third. Left wing Charles Linglet had the puck behind the net, then skated across the goal line on the left side, spun around in the left face-off circle to keep the puck on his forehand side, and snapped it between the legs of Howard for his sixth goal of the 2006-07 campaign. Peoria increased its lead to 3-1 at 9:37 of the third on center Konstantin Zakharov's first goal of the season. Sejna launched a slap shot from the left point that hit off of a Griffins defenseman and fell to the ice in the crease behind Howard. Neither the defenseman nor Howard could locate the puck, so Zakharov was able to skate in from his position in the left face-off circle and tap it into the net. The Griffins (6-8-2-1, 15pts) tallied their first and only goal of the night at 13:48 of the first frame. Center Krys Kolanos took a pass from defenseman Brad Norton in the neutral zone and skated down the right wing boards. Once Kolanos reached the right face-off dot, he flicked a shot that slid between the legs of Peoria goaltender Marek Schwarz for his sixth goal of the year.

IT'S A PEORIA POINT STREAK

By going unbeaten in regulation over the weekend with a 3-1 road win over Grand Rapids (Friday), a 5-4 overtime home victory over Milwaukee (Saturday) and a 3-2 road shootout loss to Chicago (Sunday), the Rivermen have points in their last four games with six out of a possible eight for a 2-0-1-1 mark. It has been Peoria's best stretch of hockey this season and has pushed it into fourth place in the West Division.

STILL WORLD-RECORD WINNERS

Wednesday, November 22 marks the 16th Anniversary of the Peoria's still-world-record, 18-game winning streak, established November 22, 1990, that still sets the bar at any level of professional hockey. The International Hockey League (IHL) Rivermen set the mark that the Philadelphia Phantoms were within one win of tying two seasons ago, setting the AHL record for consecutive wins (17) on November 27, 2004.

SCORE THREE & WE'RE FREE... FOR THE MOST PART

With Peoria's 5-4 overtime win over the Milwaukee Admirals this past Saturday night and its 3-1 road win on Friday night over Grand Rapids, the Peoria Rivermen improved to 8-2-0-0 when scoring three or more goals in a contest. Conversely, the Rivermen are 0-4-1-2 when scoring two or less goals in a game. On Sunday, the Rivermen were held to two goals in a 3-2 shootout loss to Chicago.

HAS HIS WHITS ABOUT HIM

Ninth-year center Trent Whitfield has points in 11 of the team's last 14 games with 18 (8g, 10a). He owns the team season-high point streak for the year at six games, which was broken on November 10 in a 3-1 home loss to Albany. The 5-foot-11, 204-pound native of Estevan, Saskatchewan, leads the team in goals (T-8) in assists (10) and points (18), and is second in power-play goals (5). Last season, the 29-year-old pivot posted 53 points (19g, 34a) in 41 games for Peoria and played 30 NHL games with the St. Louis Blues, notching seven points (2g, 5a).

NOVEMBER NINE

Peoria will skate in nine November games, five of which come at home; but from mid-October, which included a season-long, six-game road trip, the Rivermen play 10 of 15 games on the road (currently 3-3-1-2), finishing out the month of November. The Rivermen opened November with three straight at home against the Chicago Wolves (Saturday, November 4), the Iowa Stars (Sunday, November 5) and the Albany River Rats (Friday, November 10). Peoria now plays four of the remaining six contests on the road by traveling to play the Milwaukee Admirals (Saturday, November 11), the Grand Rapids Griffins (Friday, November 17), Chicago (Sunday, November 19) and the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (Saturday, November 25). The Rivermen will also enjoy home games against Milwaukee (Saturday, November 18) and Omaha (Friday, November 24; as part of a home-and-home set).

DIVISION DANCE

Seven of Peoria's nine November games are against West Division foes. Seventy-five (75) percent of their 2006-07 AHL Schedule (60 of 80) is against the West.

RECENT RIVERMEN TRANSACTIONS

November 18, 2006 RW Mike Glumac, D Jeff Woywitka loaned by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL).

November 15, 2006 G Chris Beckford-Tseu reassigned to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) from the Alaska Aces (ECHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

November 15, 2006 G Jason Bacashihua recalled from loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

November 15, 2006 D Stephen Wood, RW Kevin Croxton recalled from loan to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

November 12, 2006 RW Mike Glumac, D Jeff Woywitka recalled from loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

November 11, 2006 RW Mike Glumac returned on loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL).

November 10, 2006 RW Mike Glumac recalled from loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

November 6, 2006 C Joel Perrault recalled from conditioning loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

November 5, 2006 D Barret Jackman recalled from conditioning loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

November 4, 2006 D Roman Polak loaned by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL).

November 3, 2006 D Barret Jackman and C Joel Perrault loaned by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) for conditioning purposes.

November 2, 2006 D Stephen Wood loaned to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

RIVERMEN ACTION THIS WEEK

DAY DATE TIME OPPONENT

Friday November 24, 2006 7:30 PM Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights

Saturday November 25, 2006 7:00 PM @ Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights

Radio: The Rivermen will be broadcast TAPE DELAYED on Friday, November 24 and Saturday, November 25 on Classic Country 1290 AM (WIRL-AM), the flagship radio station of the Rivermen.

Internet Audio: LIVE streaming audio of all Rivermen games is available for no charge at www.rivermen.net.

Internet Video: LIVE streaming video with the accompanying audio feed is available at www.rivermen.net through the facilities of the b2 networks. The video Webcast of each game is available for a pay-per-view fee of $6.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS

National Hockey League Parent Club: Calgary Flames

Record Entering This Week: 12-4-1-0

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen): 25 (+6)

Western Conference Standing: T-2nd Place

West Division Standing: T-1st Place

Rivermen Record vs. Omaha: 1-0-0-0

Leading Scorer: C Dustin Boyd (15 GP, 10 G, 12 A, 22 PTS)

Number-1 Goaltender: Brent Krahn (10 GP, 7-3-0, 2.30 GAA, .903 SV PCT., 1 SO)

AHL Power-play Ranking Entering This Week: 16th (15.5%)

AHL Penalty-kill Ranking Entering This Week: 4th (88.1%)

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from November 20, 2006


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