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AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Weekly

March 30, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


WEEK 25 IN REVIEW (3-0-0)

DAY DATE OPPONENT RESULT RIVERMEN GOALS RIVERMEN GOALIE (GA/SV)

Tues. 3/24 @ Iowa 3-2 W Paddock, Stastny, Regier Manny Legace (2/29)

Fri. 3/27 vs. Milwaukee 4-3 w Corazzini, Talbot (2), Regier Manny Legace (3/23)

Sat. 3/28 vs. Houston 5-2 W Regier, Stastny (2), Talbot, Porter

Manny Legace (2/26)

@ Iowa (3/24): The Peoria Rivermen jumped back into third place with a 3-2 victory over the Iowa Chops on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena. Steve Regier's goal to open the third period broke a 2-2 tie and snapped a personal 22-game goal drought. It was his sixth game-winning goal of the season. Read More...

vs. Milwaukee (3/27): After a five-game road trip, the Peoria Rivermen returned home and beat the Milwaukee Admirals 4-3 on Friday night at Carver Arena. It was their franchise-best seventh consecutive win on home ice and their 20th overall home victory. Julian Talbot scored two goals in the second period to help the Rivermen defeat the first-place Admirals. Read More...

vs. Houston (3/28): The Peoria Rivermen scored the final five goals of the game to defeat the Houston Aeros 5-2 on Saturday night at Carver Arena. Yan Stastny scored twice while Chris Porter, Trent Whitfield and Justin Fletcher all collected two points to help the Rivermen win their eighth straight home game and finish the month of March with a 10-2-2 record. Read More...

TEAM LEADERS

THIS SEASON THIS WEEK

POINTS Whitfield - 48 Talbot/Fletcher/Regier - 4

GOALS Whitfield/Regier - 20 Regier/Stastny/Talbot - 3

ASSISTS Whitfield - 28 Fletcher - 4

POWER PLAY 58-for-362, 16.1% 3-for-11, 27.3%

PENALTY KILL 294-for-355, 82.8% 8-for-10, 80.0%

NEWS AND NOTES

Where they stand...With 6 games left to play, the Peoria Rivermen have forced themselves into a second-place tie with their potential playoff opponent, the Houston Aeros. Their 82 points (39-31-2-2) have them tied with the Aeros who have played one fewer game than the Rivermen. Rockford (80) is within striking distance of Peoria and Chicago (77) and Iowa (77) trying to claw their way back into a playoff position. Milwaukee clinched the West Division crown on Sunday.

On the March...Peoria concluded the month of march with 22 points in 14 games, surpassing their previous high of wins (8) and points (17) this season set in December with an 8-6-1 record. The Rivermen's 10-2-2 record marked just the third time in the AHL-era (four seasons) that the Rivermen reached 10 or more wins in a single month. The 13-2-2 mark posted in January 2008 and the 10-3-2 record in March 2006 are the only other occurrences.

Go Fletch...Justin Fletcher had more points during the month of March than any other player on the Rivermen roster. His 15 points (3g, 12a) nearly doubled his point production from the previous five months of the season (5g, 11a, 16pts). He had at least one point in 12 of the 14 games and had multiple points in three games. The only two games that Fletcher did not have a point in (Mar. 13 and 21) were the only two games the Rivermen lost in regulation. He currently has assists in four-straight games and six-straight home games.

Carving the Competition...The Rivermen continued their hot stretch on home ice by winning their seventh and eighth straight home games over the weekend. Already an AHL-franchise record, the Rivermen have not lost at home since falling 3-1 to Chicago on February 21. After starting the season with an 11-3-1 at Carver Arena, the Rivermen struggled going 1-9-1 over their next 11 home games. Since Feb. 18, the Rivermen have turned things back around by winning nine of their last 10 home games.

History in the making...The Rivermen have won eight consecutive home games for the first time since joining the American Hockey League prior to the 2005-06 season. Their previous high was five straight wins between Dec. 18, 2005 - Jan. 14, 2006. This season they have set both the longest home winning (current) and losing (Jan. 7 - Feb. 15, six games) streaks in their history.

23+11+25=GOALS ...When Trent Whitfield, Yan Stastny, and Chris Porter were put on the same line they immediately became the biggest offensive threat for the Rivermen. Since March 15 (when they all had a three-point night), the line has combined for 11 of the team's 24 total goals over the stretch of eight games.

Milestones...Steve Regier scored his 80th AHL goal on Sunday. He is seven points away from his 200th AHL point and just three points away from collecting his 200th as a professional. Carl Corazzini's goal on Sunday was the 300th goal of his professional career. Trent Whitfield needs 14 more points to become a member of the AHL's exclusive 500 point club. He needs four more goals for 200 and 10 more assists for 300 during his AHL career.

Power Play...For the second Sunday in a row, the Rivermen scored multiple power-play goals against the Houston Aeros. The Rivermen are four-for-six against Houston over their last two games. They are now five for their last 12 overall (41.7%).

Penalty Kill...The Rivermen have killed off 69 of the last 78 (88.5%) power plays against them and 88 of the last 99 (88.8%), dating back to Feb. 8. Peoria has only allowed multiple power-play goals once (Mar. 22 @ HOU) since February 6 and have allowed none in 14 of their 24 games since then. They lead the league in SHG with 15 (one better than Philadelphia and Iowa).

WEEK 26 PREVIEW

Chicago Wolves

National Hockey League Parent Club

Atlanta Thrashers

Record 36-33-3-2

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 77 (-5)

West Division Standing t5th

Rivermen Record Against 5-4-0

Leading Scorer Jeff Hamilton (16g, 37a, 53pts)

Starting Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (18-18-2, 2.58 GAA, .913 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 23rd - 15.6%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 21st - 81.9%

Houston Aeros

National Hockey League Parent Club

Minnesota Wild

Record 36-27-1-9

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 82 (--)

West Division Standing t2nd

Rivermen Record Against 3-2-2

Leading Scorer Corey Locke (24g, 47a, 71pts)

Starting Goaltender Nolan Schaefer (26-17-5, 2.52 GAA, .903 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 3rd - 20.5%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 5th - 85.3%

Quad City Flames

National Hockey League Parent Club

Calgary Flames

Record 31-30-6-7

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen)

75 (-7)

West Division Standing

7th

Rivermen Record Against

8-1-0

Leading Scorer Kyle Greentree (36g, 32a, 68pts)

Starting Goaltender

Leland Irving (20-17-2, 2.32 GAA, .909 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank

16th - 16.3%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank

t8th - 84.2%

*All statistics as of 3/30/09

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

03/18/2009 Jori Lehtera (C) ADD Signed to ATO

03/17/2009 James Livingston (RW) ADD Signed to ATO

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American Hockey League Stories from March 30, 2009


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