AHL Peoria Rivermen

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April 20, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


The Peoria Rivermen (37-33-2-8) just missed the 2007 American Hockey League (AHL) Calder Cup playoffs, falling one point shy of crossing over to play as the fourth seed in the North Division and oust the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Rivermen went 1-1-0-2 in the final week of the 2006-07 AHL season, dropping critical 3-2 shootout losses at home to the Milwaukee Admirals on April 11 and the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights on April 14. Peoria finished 3-8 in shootouts on the season. Peoria was just one point out of contention for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North because the West Division has seven teams (one more than the North) and the fifth-place team in the West was able to jump over and compete in the North, if it finished with more points than the fourth-place team.

THREE IS FOR ME... USUALLY

Peoria was 34-10-0-4 (75.0 percent point-making percentage) when scoring three or more goals in a game. In games in which they score two goals or less, Peoria was 3-23-2-4 for an 18.8 percent point-making percentage.

BEST AND WORST AGAINST THE WEST

It was feast or famine for the Peoria Rivermen when it comes to taking on their fellow West Division opponents. Against the San Antonio Rampage (5-4-1-0), the Iowa Stars (6-4-0-0), the Houston Aeros (7-2-0-1) and the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (8-0-0-2), the Rivermen were a combined 26-10-1-3. Against the Chicago Wolves (2-7-0-1) and the Milwaukee Admirals (2-6-1-1), Peoria is 4-13-1-2 this year.

TWENTY-FIVE DRIVE

The Rivermen completed the 25th season of professional hockey in Central Illinois. The Peoria Prancers opened professional hockey play in Peoria in October 1982 in the now-defunct International Hockey League (IHL). After two seasons, the Peoria Civic Center assumed control of the franchise and it was renamed the Peoria Rivermen, which continued to compete in the IHL. The club won the IHL Turner Cup in 1985, the first year under the Rivermen moniker. The 1990-91 Rivermen captured the IHL Turner Cup and set a still-world-record, 18-game winning streak on November 22, 1990. In 1996-97, the Rivermen dropped down to the East Coast Hockey League (now, just ECHL) for a nine-year run in the Premier "AA" League. The ECHL Rivermen won the 2000 Kelly Cup. Last season, the Rivermen embarked on their first season in their third league - the American Hockey League. Peoria has an opportunity to become the first city to win championships at minor-league hockey's three highest levels (AHL, IHL & ECHL).

WE'RE NOT FROM AROUND HERE... SERIOUSLY

There were 13 Canadians from five different provinces (Ontario-7, Saskatchewan-2, British Columbia-2, Alberta-1, and Quebec-1) on the final Rivermen roster. There were 10 Americans from seven different states (Minnesota-3, New York-2, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Arizona and Missouri (St. Louis). And there were four players from the Czech Republic.

THE YOUNG AND THE OLD, er RESTLESS

The average age of Peoria's 2006-07 final AHL roster was 24 years and five months. Right wing Peter Ferraro (01/24/73), defenseman Jamie Rivers (03/16/1975), center Gavin Morgan (6/9/1976), center Trent Whitfield (6/7/1977) and right wing Rocky Thompson (8/8/1977) are the team's elder statesmen. Morgan is a veteran of six NHL games with the Dallas Stars and passed 1,500 regular-season, career penalty minutes (PIM). Thompson has played 25 games in the NHL with Calgary and Florida and eclipsed 2,000 regular-season, career PIM. Rookie defenseman Roman Polak was the team's most-junior member at age 20.

WEEK 28 - RIVERMEN ACTION (1-1-0-2)

Sunday, April 15, RIVERMEN 0 @ Milwaukee 4: The Peoria Rivermen only needed to grab one point in the standings in order to make the playoffs, but they failed to record a goal for the seventh time this season, as they fell to the Milwaukee Admirals 4-0 in front of 7,658 at the Bradley Center. Although the Grand Rapids Griffins lost in Toronto 5-1 this afternoon and dropped four of their final five games, they finished one point ahead of Peoria (37-33-2-8, 84 pts) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division. It was the second time in three years that the Rivermen have failed to make the playoffs. Milwaukee (41-25-4-10, 96 pts) locked up the third seed in the West Division and will wait on the loser of the game in Chicago between the Wolves and Omaha to determine who they will play in the first round of the AHL playoffs. Early in the first frame, forward Rocky Thompson tried to fire-up the Rivermen as he pummeled defenseman T.J. Reynolds with multiple left hooks. Just six seconds after Peoria center Yan Stastny was sent to the penalty box for roughing, the Admirals notched the first goal of the tilt at 7:03 of the opening session. Center Rich Peverley won the face-off in the left circle, where he fired a pass to center Jason Guerriero just to the left of Rivermen goaltender Jason Bacashihua. Guerriero lost control of the puck, but Bacashihua had trouble freezing it, which allowed left wing Chris Durno to poke it past the right leg of the goalie. Milwaukee doubled its lead to 2-0 as Peverley recorded his team-leading 30th goal of the season at 6:08 of the middle period. Left wing John Laliberte grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and dumped it off to center point for Peverley, who skated to the top of the left circle, where he snapped a shot that beat Bacashihua stick-side. The Admirals tallied their third goal of the game at 11:51 of the final stanza. Left wing Pat Leahy skated around the right-wing corner and sent a pass to defenseman Nolan Yonkman in the slot, where he swatted at the puck, but was unable to get a good shot on net. The puck trickled to left wing Ramzi Abid, who was parked along the right post, where he flipped a shot past a diving Bacashihua for his 19th marker of the year. With 2:20 left in the contest, center Kim Staal capped off the scoring as he whipped a shot from along the right-wing boards in the neutral zone into the vacated Rivermen net. Milwaukee netminder, Pekka Rinne, stopped all 23 Peoria shots to secure his fourth victory against the Rivermen. In five games against Peoria, Rinne registered a 1.36 goals-against-average with a 0.945 save-percentage.

Saturday, April 14, RIVERMEN 2 vs. Omaha 3 Shootout: Just like the game on Wednesday versus the Milwaukee Admirals, the Peoria Rivermen took a lead into the final period only to fall 3-2 in a shootout against the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights in front of a crowd of 6,458 on Saturday night at Carver Arena. With Grand Rapids loss tonight, the Rivermen (37-32-2-8, 84 pts) moved to within one point of the Grand Rapids Griffins for the final playoff spot in the North Division with one game to play for both teams. The Griffins must lose their game tomorrow in Toronto, either in regulation or in an extra session, while Peoria would need to win to get into the Calder Cup playoffs. The Rivermen could also sneak in if they lose in overtime or a shootout as long as Grand Rapids loses in regulation. That would give both teams 85 points and 37 wins, pushing the playoff decision to the second tiebreaker, which is points in the season series; Peoria owns that tiebreaker with nine points. Omaha (48-25-5-1, 102 pts) battles Chicago on the road tomorrow afternoon to see who wins the West Division and home ice throughout the Western Conference playoffs. After a scoreless opening frame, the Rivermen got on the board at 9:39 of the second session. Defenseman Tomas Mojzis held the puck in the zone in the deep slot and dished it to center Gavin Morgan, who was in the right face-off circle. Morgan chipped a pass over the stick of Omaha netminder Curtis McElhinney to right wing Peter Ferraro located at the doorstep, where he swatted the puck into the net for his 13th goal of the year and first point since returning from injury. A little less than six minutes later, the Knights responded with a power play tally in their fifth opportunity. Left wing Cam Cunning began the play from behind the net and sent a pass to the top of the right face-off circle for right wing Tomi Maki, who found defenseman Adam Pardy cutting toward the left post, where he easily tapped the puck past Rivermen goaltender Jason Bacashihua. Omaha went 1-for-5 with the man advantage, while Peoria was 0-for-2. Peoria regained the lead as center Yan Stastny deposited his 14th goal of the season at 17:59 of the middle frame. Morgan controlled the puck in the right circle and skated to his left into the slot, where he fired a shot that was stopped by McElhinney. The rebound kicked back out to the slot for Stastny, who flung it over the blocker of the Knights goalie. With 3:35 left in the game, Omaha evened the score 2-2 on Cunning's 12th marker of the 2006-07 campaign. Defenseman Tim Ramholt launched a shot from the left face-off circle that was blocked by a Peoria defenseman. Unfortunately, the puck caromed right to Cunning in the slot, where he blasted a shot past a diving Bacashihua, who had committed to Ramholt's shot. In the extra session, the Rivermen mustered the only shot, but it was saved by McElhinney to force a shootout. The score was tied 1-1 in the shootout at the seventh round, when center Andrei Taratukhin skated through the slot, faked left to send Bacashihua to the ice and then slid the puck around the left leg of Bacashihua.

Friday, April 13, RIVERMEN 4 @ Omaha 0: Peoria Rivermen used their third shutout of the season and the first for goaltender Jason Bacashihua to earn a 4-0 road victory over the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights and keep their playoff hopes alive before a Friday-night crowd of 5,794 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. It was Peoria's second shutout of Omaha this year. The win, which came after a 3-2 home shootout loss to Milwaukee on Wednesday, coupled with a Grand Rapids 3-1 road loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs moved the Rivermen to within two points of the Griffins for the North Division's fourth and final playoff spot, which is available to the West Division's fifth place team by virtue of an extra club in the West. The victory also gave Peoria a 10-0-0-0 lifetime AHL record in Omaha. The Rivermen own an 8-0-0-1 mark against the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (47-25-5-1, 100 pts) this season with tomorrow's game at Carver Arena between the clubs concluding the season series. Bacashihua stopped all 26 Omaha shots in the shutout, including 10 in the second period, for his fourth win of the season. Rookie Marek Schwarz and Chris Beckford-Tseu each have the other Rivermen shutouts on the year. The Rivermen (37-32-2-7, 83 pts) opened the scoring just 2:57 into the game. Peoria pushed the puck across the Omaha blue line on left wing, and just inside the blue line, center Trent Whitfield chipped the puck down the boards for right wing David Backes. Backes caught up to the puck, carried it out of the corner and moved toward the net before circling back up the wall to the left-wing circle, where he wristed the puck into the upper right corner from near the left side of the slot. The tally was Backes' 10th of the season with the Rivermen; he also had 10 goals in 49 games while on call-up with the Blues. With a little more than three minutes remaining the first, Rivermen right wing veteran Rocky Thompson absolutely manhandled Omaha left wing Brandon Prust after both had left the penalty box following coincidental unsportsmanlike conduct penalties a couple of minutes earlier. Peoria doubled its lead, making it 2-0, with just less than 27 seconds remaining in the opening period. Center Gavin Morgan corralled his own rebound near the left face-off dot and threw a backhand chance on goal that Omaha netminder Brent Krahn stopped. The rebound, though, fell right in front of Krahn, where left wing D.J. King chopped at the puck several times before popping it in past a down and prone Omaha goaltender. It was King's 4th marker of the season. The Rivermen made it 3-0 at 1:35 of the third. Center Yan Stastny poked the puck by an Omaha defender up the left-wing boards just outside of the Omaha blue line and then sidestepped him to move in on a breakaway. Stastny, cutting down the left side of the zone, pulled up as he was crossing the low slot, pulling Krahn to the right post and snapping the puck inside the left. It was his 13th tally of the season. King completed the scoring with just nine seconds left with Omaha's net empty for his second tally of the night and fifth of the season.

Wednesday, April 11, RIVERMEN 2 vs. Milwaukee 3 Shootout: For just the third time in 27 contests, the Peoria Rivermen had the lead going into the final period, only to come away without a win as Peoria fell to the Milwaukee Admirals 3-2 in a shootout in front of 3,618 on Wednesday night at Carver Arena. Tonight's loss, coupled with wins by the Iowa Stars and the Grand Rapids Griffins, set Peoria's playoff hopes back a big step. The Rivermen (36-32-2-7, 81 pts) are now four points behind Grand Rapids and five points behind Iowa (with a game in hand) with three games left to play. Iowa's magic number is one (1), and Grand Rapids' is three; any combination of points earned by the opposition or lost by Peoria moves them into or that much closer to the playoffs. Peoria fell to 3-7 in shootouts on the season. The Rivermen opened the scoring with a power play tally at 4:49 of the first frame. Center Trent Whitfield won the face-off in the left circle of the Milwaukee zone, where he slid the puck to defenseman Jamie Rivers and the left point. Rivers launched a rocket that was redirected in the slot by Whitfield through the legs of Milwaukee goaltender Pekka Rinne. The goal was Whitfield's team-leading 33rd goal of the season. Peoria added another marker similar to the first as defenseman Tomas Mojzis tallied his second goal of the year. Center Ryan Ramsay won the face-off in the left face-off circle and kicked the puck back to Mojzis, who was located at the left point and fired a low shot that slipped between the left post and right pad of Rinne. The goal came at 9:03 of the opening stanza. Milwaukee (40-25-4-9, 93 pts) got on the board with goal on the man advantage at 3:56 of the second session. From the right point, defenseman Sheldon Brookbank dumped the puck into the left-wing corner, where center Cal O'Reilly dished it to the slot for center Kim Staal, who chipped a shot over the right shoulder of Rivermen netminder Jason Bacashihua. The Admirals tied the game 2-2 with their second power play marker of the night at 9:53 of the final frame. Center Rich Peverley controlled the puck in the left corner and found a wide open Brookbank in the right face-off circle, where he rifled a slap shot that sneaked between the legs of Bacashihua. It was the 15th goal of the year for Brookbank, who earlier in the day was named the AHL's Most Outstanding Defenseman. Both teams had a great chance to close out the contest with a 5-on-3 power play opportunity. In the last few minutes of the third period, the Admirals had a full 1:27 of a two-man advantage, but Bacashihua made several fantastic saves to send the game into overtime. The Rivermen had the last 1:01 of the overtime session with two extra men, but Rinne stopped a couple chances to take the game into a shootout. The Admirals finished the game 2-for-10 on the power play, while Peoria was 1-for-8. Peoria had a 1-0 advantage in the shootout until Milwaukee's final shooter, right wing Brandon Segal, roofed a goal to send it to sudden death. Right wing Mike Glumac failed to score on his chance, while Peverley skated down the left-wing boards and veered into the slot, before popping a goal over the right shoulder of Bacashihua to win the game.

RECENT RIVERMEN TRANSACTIONS

April 9, 2007 LW D.J. King returned on loan from the St. Louis Blues.

April 9, 2007 RW David Backes returned on loan from the St. Louis Blues.

April 9, 2007 D Roman Polak returned on loan from the St. Louis Blues.

April 9, 2007 G Jason Bacashihua returned on loan from the St. Louis Blues (NHL) upon termination of emergency conditions.

April 8, 2007 RW Hans Benson released from professional try-out agreement.

April 8, 2007 RW Ryan MacMurchy returned on loan to the Alaska Aces (ECHL).

April 8, 2007 D Stephen Wood returned on loan to the Alaska Aces (ECHL) from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL).

April 8, 2007 D Patrick Wellar reassigned to the Alaska Aces (ECHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).

April 7, 2007 F Josh Soares signed to amateur try-out contract.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from April 20, 2007


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