AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rockford Gets Revenge in 5-2 Win Over Rivermen

November 29, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Rockford, Il - Just one night after the Peoria Rivermen beat the Rockford IceHogs for the third time this season, the IceHogs returned the favor with a 5-2 decision over the Rivermen on Saturday night at the MetroCentre.

Josh Soares scored for the second straight game and assisted on another to give him five points (two goals, three assists) in six games since joining the club from Alaska (ECHL).

The IceHogs accounted for the only goal of the first period as Evan Brophey converted a feed from Jake Dowell at 15:57. Rob Klinkhammer sent Dowell down the wall and he was able to slide a pass through the slot to a streaking Brophey for the tap in.

Rockford scored four times in the second period to build their lead up to 5-1 heading into the third. First, Jack Skille banked a wrist shot in off the arm of Ben Bishop just 3:13 into the period.

Mike Radja added his first, of two on the night, at 6:50. While he worked in on a two-on-one, his pass deflected off the defender's stick and into the net to make it 3-0. Pascal Pelletier tipped a Danny Grioux shot home at 9:53 to build the IceHogs lead to 4-0.

All of the ‘Hogs goals came even-strength as the Rivermen held Rockford 0-for-4 on the man advantage. Peoria finished 1-for-4.

Soares broke through with Peoria's first goal at 15:14 while on the power play. After Ivan Vishnevskiy put the puck on goal, Jeff Cowan kept the play alive by digging it out from under Annti Niemi. Soares was waiting at the side of the goal to backhand home the loose puck.

Radja's second of the game came at 17:28 on a slap shot from the bottom of the left circle. Pete MacArthur and Petri Kontiola were given assists on the play.

Following the period, Bishop was replaced in goal by Marek Schwarz. Bishop finished with 24 saves on 29 shots while Schwarz came in and stopped all five in relief.

Ryan Reaves was responsible for the lone third-period goal at 12:21. It was Soares again putting the puck on net and Reaves deflected it through Niemi for his third of the season. Jim Jackson was credited with a secondary assist.

Penalty minutes marred the game as Sean McMorrow of the IceHogs was whistled for 47 penalty minutes. He was called for three fighting majors, all against Eric Neilson, two separate 10-minute misconducts and a game misconduct. There were a total of five fights as Curtis Fraser dropped the gloves with Bryan Bickell and Nikolay Lemtyugov squared off with Brophey.

The Rivermen still hold a 3-2-0 season series advantage over the IceHogs but the two teams will not meet again until February 11. The loss kept Peoria (11-9-1) in a tie for fourth place, still just five points behind first place Chicago.

Peoria will be on the road on Wednesday to take on the Chicago Wolves at Allstate Arena. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on Hippie Radio 101.1 FM as well as online through www.rivermen.net.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 29, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central