AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Weekly

Published on January 2, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


WEEK 12 - RIVERMEN ACTION (3-2-0-0)

Sunday, December 31, RIVERMEN 3 vs. Hamilton: For the second straight game against the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Peoria Rivermen used three power-play goals to skate to victory, winning 3-2 in front of a New Year's Eve crowd of 3,604 on Sunday evening at Carver Arena. The Rivermen were 3-for-6 on the power play in this game and 3-for-5 on the man advantage in a 4-2 road win in Hamilton on October 21. And for the second time this week, the Rivermen were on the winning end of a game that featured all power-play goals. On Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Peoria won a 4-3 contest by going 4-for-9 with the man advantage. Peoria improved to 12-0-0-1 when leading after two periods this season and pushed its record to 17-4-0-0 when scoring three or more tallies in a contest. The Rivermen (18-12-1-2, 39 pts), who finished their five-games-in-six-nights streak with six points out of a possible 10, opened the scoring on the power play midway through the opening session. Defenseman Stephen Wood rifled a snap shot from the high slot that whistled just wide right of the Hamilton goal. The rebound popped off the end boards to center Trent Whitfield, who played a backhand bank shot in off the stomach of a down and prone Bulldogs goaltender Jaroslav Halak. It was Whitfield's 16th goal of the season and came at 9:14 of the first. Halak (11-7-0), the American Hockey League's leading netminder, turned away 32 of 35 chances in the loss. The Bulldogs (21-13-1-1, 44 pts) equalized with a power play goal of their own just less than four minutes later. Defenseman Mathieu Roy, stationed at the center point, took a pass from center Mikhail Grabovski and slapped a low shot on net that Rivermen goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu stopped with his right pad. The rebound, though, landed just off the left post for uncovered right wing Duncan Milroy, who popped the puck over Beckford-Tseu into the net at 13:12. It was Milroy's 15th tally of the year. Beckford-Tseu (4-3-1), who started his second straight game, stopped 30 shots in the win. Peoria potted another power-play marker at 7:34 of the second stanza for a 2-1 lead on left wing Jon DiSalvatore's ninth goal of the season and third in the last two games. At the bottom of the right face-off circle, Whitfield snapped a centering pass to the top of the goal crease, where DiSalvatore swooped in, laid his stick out and deflected the puck up under the crossbar. Whitfield had a hand in all three Rivermen tallies to extend his point streak to seven games with 13 points (5g, 8a). The Rivermen extended their advantage to two goals with another power-play marker a little more than five minutes later. Peoria quickly moved the puck from the left side of the zone to the right face-off circle, where left wing Peter Sejna howitzer-ed a puck inside the right post past an out-of-position Halak at 12:42 of the second. It was Sejna's 11th tally of the season. He extended his team-and season-best point streak to nine games with 17 points (7g, 10a). The Bulldogs got back within one 1:45 later on a 5-on-3 power play. Center Corey Locke, stationed at the right goal post, took a goal-mouth feed from Milroy, who was just off to the left of the goal, and snapped home his 10th of the year to make it 3-2 at 14:27 of the second. It was all the closer Hamilton would get as they failed to score with the extra attacker in the final 1:10 of the game.

Saturday, December 30, RIVERMEN 4 @ Omaha 0: The Peoria Rivermen remain undefeated at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, as they are 7-0-0-0 in Omaha and have won 11 in a row against the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, dating back to last year, as Peoria won 4-0 on Saturday night in front of 5,033. The Knights (19-12-2-0, 40 pts) were unable to put the puck past Peoria goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu as he stopped all 19 shots that he faced. Tonight's shutout is the first of the 2006-07 campaign for any Rivermen netminder, and fourth of the season for Beckford-Tseu, with his first three coming with Peoria's ECHL affiliate Alaska Aces. The victory improved Beckford-Tseu's record to 3-3-0-1 with the Rivermen, while posting a 2.42 goals against average and stopping 89.5-percent of shots faced. The Rivermen (17-12-1-2, 37 pts) opened the scoring at 14:08 of the opening session as left wing Jon DiSalvatore netted only his third goal in his last 22 contests and seventh overall. Center Trent Whitfield skated up to the high slot and floated a shot that hit an Omaha defenseman and landed in the slot, where DiSalvatore, who had his back to the net and a defender all over him, somehow spun around while swinging his stick at the puck and managed to knock it past the Knights netminder Brent Krahn and bank it off of the right post and in. Late in the middle period, Peoria and DiSalvatore registered their second marker of the night on a delayed penalty call at 19:18. Whitfield was checked hard from behind in the left-wing corner, which was the cause for the penalty call, as the puck squirted to left wing Peter Sejna, who dished it off to the left face-off circle for DiSalvatore; he sent a wrist shot through a screen between the right arm and torso of Krahn for his eighth tally of the season. In four games against the Knights this year, DiSalvatore has tallied 7 points (4g, 3a). At 3:15 of the final frame, the Rivermen notched a power play goal to increase their lead to 3-0. Circling along the right-wing boards, Sejna was able to clear a passing lane to center point as he feathered a pass to defenseman Roman Polak, who one-timed a laser below the glove of Krahn for his third goal of the year. After going his first 15 games without scoring a point, Polak has now recorded seven points (3g, 4a) in his last seven games. Peoria added another goal at the 11:14 mark of the third period on left wing Charles Linglet's team-leading 17th tally of the season. Right wing Mike Glumac began a 2-on-1 breakaway after stealing the puck from an Omaha defenseman at the Knight blue line. Glumac skated up to the right face-off circle where he faked a shot to make Krahn commit then dished to Linglet skating alongside in the slot, where he was able to tap it into the vacated net.

Friday, December 29, RIVERMEN 3 vs. Chicago 6: The Peoria Rivermen and their home struggles against the Chicago Wolves continued for the third consecutive game, as the Rivermen fell 6-3 to the Wolves in front of 4,085 on Friday night at Carver Arena. The Rivermen have lost by scores of 5-0 (October 7), 10-5 (November 4) and 6-3 for a combined total of 21-8. The Wolves (25-7-1-2, 53 pts), who extended their point streak to nine games (7-0-0-2) with 16 out of 18 possible points, recorded the first marker of the game on the power play at 12:53 of the opening period. Right wing Darren Haydar, who extended his AHL-record point streak to 35 games, dished the puck from the top of the left face-off circle to the center point for defenseman Mark Popovic, who wound up and launched a slap shot between the left post and right arm of Rivermen goaltender Marek Schwarz. The goal was Popovic's fourth of the season. Chicago notched another man-advantage tally on a rare 4-on-3 opportunity at 18:37 of the first frame. Popovic held the kept the puck in the Rivermen zone at center point and fed Haydar, who was in the left face-off circle and wristed a shot above the right shoulder of Schwarz, clanking it off the bottom of the crossbar and in for his 21st marker of the year. The Wolves and Haydar did not slow down after the first intermission, as they scored again at 1:25 of the second stanza. Left wing Brett Sterling broke in along to the right face-off circle, dropped the puck off to Haydar, who faked a shot that sent a Rivermen defenseman to the ice and then lifted a shot into the top left corner of the net. The goal was Haydar's second of the game and 22nd of the season. It was the last shot Schwarz saw, as he was pulled in favor of Chris Beckford-Tseu. Unfortunately, the change of goalies could not slow down Chicago right away as it made the game 4-0 at 5:01 of the second. From the top of the right face-off circle, defenseman Jimmy Sharrow fired a pass to the left point for defenseman Nathan Oystrick, who blasted a shot into the top right corner of the net for his ninth tally of the 2006-07 campaign. The Rivermen (16-12-1-2, 35 pts) were able to get on board at 17:14 of the middle period, making 4-1. Defenseman Stephen Wood fired a shot from the left face-off dot that went off the glove of Wolves netminder Michael Garnett and landed at the top of the goal crease, where left wing Michal Birner was able to tap home for his third marker of the season. The Wolves regained a four-goal advantage with their third power play goal of the contest at 2:33 of the final frame. Defenseman Brian Fahey gathered the puck at the top of the left face-off circle and snapped a shot through traffic that snuck between the left post and Beckford-Tseu's right arm for his fifth marker of the season. Peoria made it 5-2 on left wing Peter Sejna's 10th tally of the year at 7:06 of the last period. Center Trent Whitfield attempted to slam the puck past Garnett several times from point-blank range. Finally, Whitfield was able to jam it behind a sprawled Garnett but not yet across the line. Sejna skated in from the left face-off circle and pushed the puck home, which gave him a season-high mark of seven straight games with at least a point. Chicago added another goal at 15:22 of the third. Larose wristed a shot from the right face-off circle that was stopped by Beckford-Tseu and the puck rested in the slot. A Rivermen defenseman whiffed on a clearing attempt to allow Sterling to skate in and send a backhand over Beckford-Tseu for his AHL-leading 34th goal of the year. The Rivermen notched a final goal on the man-advantage at 16:27 of the third. From the bottom of the right face-off circle, Sejna sent a pass to the goal mouth where Whitfield redirected the puck through the legs of Garnett for his 15th marker of the 2006-07 campaign. Sejna extended his point streak to a team, season-high seven games with 13 points.

Wednesday, December 27, RIVERMEN 2 vs. Milwaukee 4: After an uneventful first half of the contest between the Peoria Rivermen and the Milwaukee Admirals, the Rivermen were left behind by the steaming Admirals, who struck for four goals en route to a 4-2 win in front of 3,525 on Wednesday night at Carver Arena. There was some excitement just 17 seconds after the opening face-off, when Peoria defenseman Doug Lynch and Milwaukee left wing Kelsey Wilson dropped the gloves. The Admirals registered the first goal of the game at 14:43 of the second stanza on center Jason Guerriero's seventh marker of the year. Right wing Rich Peverley barreled down the right wing in the Peoria zone, cut in underneath the Rivermen defense but was stopped by Peoria netminder Marek Schwarz. Schwarz, though, was unable to cover up the puck, which allowed Guerriero to dart in from the bottom of the right face-off circle to send a backhand over the outstretched left pad of the Peoria netminder. The Rivermen thought they had tied the game late in the middle session on a slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle from left wing Peter Sejna. Unfortunately for Peoria, there was inconclusive on-ice evidence to support a Peoria goal. Milwaukee increased its lead to 2-0 on some beautiful moves by center Kim Staal at 4:12 of the final frame. Center Cal O'Reilly fed the puck from the right-wing corner to Staal, who was at the right face-off dot. Staal skated toward the net and faked a wrist shot that sent Schwarz to the ice, allowing Staal to switch to his backhand to slide the puck into the vacated net. The goal was Staal's third marker of the season. The Admirals registered another goal at 8:56 of the third period on defenseman Mikko Lehtonen's third tally of the year. After taking a pass from O'Reilly, Lehtonen began at center point, skated to the top of the left face-off circle and launched a shot over the right shoulder of Schwarz. Less than two minutes later, Milwaukee went up 4-0 on a short-handed tally at 10:38 of the third session. Left wing Patrick Leahy took the puck from the neutral zone and skated down the right wing boards of the Peoria in behind the net, taking the lone Rivermen defender with him. Once on the left side of the goal, Leahy found a wide-open right wing Bracken Kearns in the right face-off circle for a one-time shot past Schwarz for his third marker of the 2006-07 campaign. The Rivermen were finally able to get on the board on a power play goal, their fifth in two games, at 11:25 of the third period. Defenseman Roman Polak began the play at the right point and fired a shot cross-ice to center Trent Whitfield at the top of the left face-off circle. Whitfield dished it to the right slot for left wing Charles Linglet, who tapped it over the left pad of Milwaukee goaltender Karl Goehring on the backhand. For Linglet, it was his 15th goal of the year. Peoria netted one last goal with an extra attacker at 18:37 of the final period. Left wing Peter Sejna, who extended his point streak to six games, blasted a shot from the right point that was redirected through the legs of Goehring by Linglet, who was camped in the slot. It was the second goal of the contest for Linglet, who has a team-leading 16 this season.

Tuesday, December 26, RIVERMEN 4 @ Grand Rapids 3: Tuesday night's contest could be dubbed as an instructional video of "How to Score on the Power Play," as all seven goals were scored on the man-advantage, with a season-high four power play goals scored by the Peoria Rivermen, in their 4-3 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins in front of 4,650 at Van Andel Arena. Prior to tonight's game, the Rivermen capitalized on 32 of 164 opportunities, while the Griffins man-advantage unit were only 26 for 184, ranking the teams eighth and 23rd in the AHL, respectively. Following the contest, in which Peoria went four for nine on the power play, the Rivermen vaulted to fifth in the league with a 20.8-percent efficiency mark (36 for 173). Tonight also marked the fifth straight game in which left wing Peter Sejna collected two points; he has collected four goals and six assists during this stretch, and has tied Trent Whitfield for the team-lead in points with 26. After a scoreless first period, Grand Rapids (13-15-3-2, 31 pts) netted the first goal of the game at 3:33 of the second stanza on a two-man advantage. Right wing Ryan Keller slid a pass from the right point to the left point for defenseman Jonathon Ericsson, who fired the puck to the right slot for center Kip Miller. Miller wristed a shot above the left shoulder of Rivermen goaltender Marek Schwarz, who wasn't able to scramble back in time to make the save, for his 12th tally of the season. Peoria (16-10-1-2, 35 pts) responded with a power play goal of its own at 8:43 of the middle period. After the Griffins failed to clear the puck from their zone, right wing Mike Glumac controlled it at the left-wing boards then skated up to the left face-off dot, where he wound-up and blasted a shot into the upper right corner of the net, past Grand Rapids netminder Stefan Liv, who appeared to be screened on the play. The goal was the ninth of the year for Glumac. The Rivermen took the lead on a 5-on-3 power play at 16:01 of the second session. Left wing Peter Sejna sent what was thought to be a pass through the goal crease from the bottom of the right face-off circle to center Trent Whitfield, who was streaking into the slot, but the puck did not need any help as it made its way past the outstretched right leg of Liv. It was Sejna's ninth of the season. Peoria increased the lead to 3-1 on Whitfield's second two-man advantage marker of the game at 3:45 of the final frame. Glumac began a 2-on-1 opportunity at the neutral zone with Whitfield as Glumac raced down the right-wing boards and abruptly stopped at the right face-off circle, dished the puck to Whitfield, who was flying through the slot and redirected the pass on net that somehow sneaked between the legs of Liv. The goal was Whitfield's 14th of the 2006-07 campaign. Grand Rapids cut their deficit to 3-2 as Miller registered his second 5-on-3 power play goal of the contest at 10:12 of the third period. From the bottom of the left face-off circle, right wing Josh Langfeld threw a cross-ice pass in the right face-off circle for Miller, who simply slid the puck into the vacated net for his 13th goal and team-leading 34th point of the season. The Rivermen regained a two-goal advantage while scoring their season-high fourth power play goal of the night to take the lead for good, at 16:11 of the final period. Defenseman Roman Polak stole the puck in the neutral zone, knocked it off the left-wing boards around a Griffins defender and then skated one-on-one with Liv. Once Polak reached the slot, he faked right and chipped the puck between the left post and right arm of Liv for his second marker of the year. The Griffins capped off the scoring with their third man-advantage tally of the game at 18:54 of the third period. Ericsson blasted a shot from center point that was redirected through the legs of Schwarz from the left slot by center Matt Hussey for his seventh goal of the season.

THREE IS DEFINITELY KEY

The Rivermen have won more than 80 percent (17-4-0-0) of their games when scoring three or more goals in a contest. With its first shutout of the year last Saturday, Peoria improved to 12-0-1-0 when allowing two or less tallies by the opposition in a game. The Rivermen are 1-8-1-2 when they score two or fewer goals in a contest this year. Peoria is 4-11-0-2 when allowing three or more goals in a game.

NO MORE WEARY WEEK WORK

While the Rivermen have seven four-games-in-five-nights stretches this season, their five-games-in-six-nights haul this week after Christmas (December 26-31) against five different opponents was the only such stretch all season long; the Rivermen earned six of a possible 10 points in the week.

OMAHAPPY

With Saturday night's 4-0 road victory over the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, the Rivermen improved to 7-0-0-0 lifetime in two seasons at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. The win also pushed Peoria to an 11-0-0-0 mark over the last 11 meetings between the teams.

HARRIED HOCKEY HALFWAY DONE

Peoria played nine total games in a 17-day span from December 15 through December 31; seven of those contests were at home. Add to that another seven games, four of them on the road, in 13 days to begin the New Year, and the Rivermen play 16 games in 30 days from December 15-January 13.

HIS PLAY SEJNA'S A LOT

Left wing Peter Sejna, who has been converted to center at times with the team's lack of depth up the middle, has 17 points (6g, 9a) in a team season-high, nine-game point streak with 33 shots. The 26-year-old native of Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia, has 23 points (8g, 15a) his last 14 games. He ranks first on the team in assists (22) and second in points (33).

FIELDING NO COMPLAINTS

Veteran center Trent Whitfield, who spent last week getting called up to and sent back from the St. Louis Blues twice each, has collected points in his last seven Rivermen games. Excluding the team's December 22 home game against Grand Rapids that he missed, the 5-foot-11, 204-pound native of Estevan, Saskatchewan, has 13 points (5g, 8a) over the stretch. The ninth-year professional leads the team in points (34) and power-play goals (12), and is second in goals (16).

POLAK PERKING UP

Rookie defenseman Roman Polak is currently in the midst of a five-game point streak with six points (2g, 4a) and has points in seven of his last eight contests with eight (3g, 5a).

RECENT RIVERMEN TRANSACTIONS

December 24, 2006 C Trent Whitfield returned on loan from the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

December 23, 2006 RW Ryan MacMurchy recalled from loan to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

December 22, 2006 C Trent Whitfield recalled from loan under emergency conditions by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

December 21, 2006 C Trent Whitfield returned on loan from the St. Louis Blues.

December 20, 2006 C Trent Whitfield recalled from loan under emergency conditions by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

December 19, 2006 RW David Backes recalled from loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

December 14, 2006 G Marek Schwarz returned on loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

December 12, 2006 G Steffan Braunlich released from professional try-out agreement.

December 11, 2006 D Stephen Wood recalled from loan to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

December 7, 2006 G Steffan Braunlich signed to a professional try-out agreement.

December 6, 2006 G Marek Schwarz recalled from loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) under emergency conditions.

December 5, 2006 D Stephen Wood, RW Ryan MacMurchy returned on loan to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

December 5, 2006 C Gavin Morgan signed to an American Hockey League (AHL) contract.

December 3, 2006 G Chris Beckford-Tseu reassigned to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) from the Alaska Aces (ECHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

December 2, 2006 G Jason Bacashihua recalled from loan by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) under emergency conditions.

RIVERMEN ACTION THIS WEEK

Home Games in BOLD; all times are local

DAY DATE TIME OPPONENT

Wednesday January 3, 2007 7:00 PM Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights

Thursday January 4, 2007 7:05 PM @ Houston Aeros

Saturday January 6, 2007 7:00 PM @ San Antonio Rampage

RIVERMEN PROMOTIONS THIS WEEK

Wednesday, January 3

- NESQUIK Wacky Wednesday - Receive a Buy One, Get One Free Upper Bowl Ticket offer for the game when presenting a Nesquik cap or UPC at the Carver Arena Box Office

- U.S. Cellular's 25 Greatest Rivermen of All-time continues with Michel Mongeau cards to the first 2,500 fans

Radio: The Rivermen will be broadcast LIVE on Thursday, January 4 and Saturday, January 6 and broadcast TAPE DELAY on Wednesday, January 3 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 Web cast 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: 20-12-2-0

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen): 42 (+3)

Western Conference Standing: 5th Place

West Division Standing: 2nd Place

Rivermen Record vs. Knights: 4-0-0-0

Leading Scorer: C Dustin Boyd (28 GP, 12 G, 18 A, 30 PTS)

Number-1 Goaltender: Curtis McElhinney (20 GP, 11-6-0, 2.18 GAA, .917 SV PCT., 3 SO)

AHL Power-play Ranking Entering This Week: 21st (15.3%)

AHL Penalty-kill Ranking Entering This Week: 5th (86.3%)

SCOUTING THE AEROS

National Hockey League Parent Club: Minnesota Wild

Record Entering This Week: 14-17-0-3

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen): 31 (-8)

Western Conference Standing: 11th Place

West Division Standing: 6th Place

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

Leading Scorer: RW Matt Foy (28 GP, 15 G, 12 A, 27 PTS)

Number-1 Goaltender: Josh Harding (30 GP, 13-13-3, 2.49 GAA, .919 SV PCT., 1 SO)

AHL Power-play Ranking Entering This Week: 26th (12.9%)

AHL Penalty-kill Ranking Entering This Week: 3rd (87.2%)

SCOUTING THE RAMPAGE

National Hockey League Parent Club: Phoenix Coyotes

Record Entering This Week: 12-20-1-1

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen): 26 (-13)

Western Conference Standing: 12th Place

West Division Standing: 7th Place

Rivermen Record vs. Rampage: 3-0-0-0

Leading Scorer: C Yanick Lehoux (32 GP, 15 G, 20 A, 35 PTS)

Number-1 Goaltender: Josh Tordjman (13 GP, 6-6-1, 2.50 GAA, .925 SV PCT.)

AHL Power-play Ranking Entering This Week: T-11th (17.4%)

AHL Penalty-kill Ranking Entering This Week: 19th (80.7%)

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2007


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