Stars Close 2007 Road Schedule with Win in Peoria

Published on December 31, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Iowa Chops News Release


THE STARS TELESCOPE - A LOOK AHEAD

Monday, Dec. 31 STARS vs. Houston Aeros

Wells Fargo Arena 5:05 PM

Friday, Jan. 4 STARS @ Houston Aeros

Toyota Center 7:35 PM

Broadcasts: Jim Erickson online and on B2 Video at iowastarshockey.com.

The Stars wrap up the 2007 calendar year with a divisional match-up with the Houston Aeros. The Stars are coming off a nice 3-2 road win yesterday at Peoria that improved their season record to 16-17-1-1 as they look to move up from eighth in the West Division. The Aeros' last game was a 6-1 loss at San Antonio on Saturday that snapped a four game winning streak. The Aeros are 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games and, at 17-13-1-2, stand in fourth place in the West Division. The stars are 2-1 versus the Aeros this season, although the Aeros came out on top 3-1 in the most recent meeting on December 21 at Wells Fargo Arena. After tonight, the Stars and Aeros will wrap up their eight game season series with four games in Houston, starting this weekend on Friday and Saturday.

Saturday, Jan. 5 STARS @ San Antonio Rampage

AT&T Center

7:00 p.m. CST

Broadcasts: Jim Erickson online and on B2 Video at iowastarshockey.com.

The Stars play their fourth and final game in San Antonio. The Stars have gone 1-2 in their first three at the AT&T Center and are 2-3-1-0 overall against the third place Rampage this season. The Rampage enter this week 19-11-2-3 with 43 points and are seven points behind division leading Rockford. They are coming off a 6-1 win over their in-state rival Houston on Saturday and are 6-3-1-0 in their last 10 games. All-time, the Stars are 15-9-1-1 against the Rampage while also posting a pretty impressive 9-3-0-1 mark in San Antonio. James Neal and Toby Petersen lead the Stars through the first six games of the teams' eight game season series with five points each. Neal has a goal and four assists while Petersen has five assists. Chris Durno and Joel Perrault pace the Rampage with six points apiece against the Stars this season. After Saturday, the Rampage and Stars will not see each other until they wrap up their season series at Wells Fargo Arena on April 8.

STARS RECAP

Sunday, December 30

Stars 3 Peoria 2 at Peoria

Marty Sertich scored the game winner and Tobias Stephan made 30 saves as the Iowa Stars rebounded from a lopsided loss to Peoria on Friday with a 3-2 win over the Rivermen in Peoria on Sunday. Janos Vas and BJ Crombeen also scored for the Stars who improved their season record to 16-17-1-1 and their season series record versus the Rivermen to 4-1. Peoria came out gunning in the first period, throwing 21 shots at Stephan, but Stephan held strong holding the opposition to just the one goal. Peoria ended up with a 21-4 shots edge, but had to settle for a 1-1 tie on the scoreboard after the first period. The Stars reversed the trend in the second period, holding the Rivermen to just one shot on goal while scoring two goals themselves on seven shots. Peoria scored the only goal of the third period to make the final 3-2.

Friday, December 28

Stars 3 Peoria 8 at Wells Fargo Arena

The Peoria Rivermen started slow but finished strong in route to an 8-3 victory over the Iowa Stars. Jean-Guy Trudel led the way for Peoria with four goals. Chris Beckford-Tseu got the win for the Rivermen, his seventh of the season, improving his record to 7-2-1 on the season. The game started with promise for the Stars as they played the Rivermen close to even in the first period. The lone goal in the opening period came from Charles Linglet 1:54 into the game. After the Linglet goal, Tobias Stephan stopped the next 14 shots for the Stars. The Rivermen got off to a quick start in the second period as well. They scored 50 seconds into the period and then again four minutes into the period. Trudel had both early second period goals for Peoria. Hans Benson added the fourth Rivermen goal with assists from Linglet and Micki DuPont. Chris Lee put the Stars on the board with less than two minutes to play in the second period. Lee's powerplay goal came on assists from Vojtech Polak and Toby Petersen. The third period started with a pair of goals from Peoria. Nikolay Lemtyugov scored the first and Trudel the second of the period. The Trudel goal was his third of the night. A pair of goals by Polak and James Neal pulled the Stars to within three, but two late goals by the Rivermen would put the game on ice.

Wednesday, December 26

Stars 4 Flames 1 at Wells Fargo Arena

Perttu Lindgren scored his first ever North American professional goal to give the Stars an early 2-0 lead, and added his second for insurance as the Stars defeated the Quad City Flames 4-1. Wednesday night's win was the first of the season for the Stars over their division rival, Quad City. James Neal started the scoring for the Stars. He notched his fourth of the season, a powerplay goal, 13:45 into the first period. The powerplay goal was only the 27th powerplay goal the Stars have scored this season. Neal's goal also marked the fourth straight time the Stars have scored first against the Flames. Lindgren, on a strong move to the front of the net, scored the Stars second goal, and his first ever AHL goal 5:05 into the second period. Lindgren received a pass from BJ Crombeen, side stepped one defender and then found the top shelf over Flames goaltender Kevin Lalande's right shoulder. Just minutes later the Flames cut into the deficit with a goal by Grant Stevenson. The Stars started the third period by once again finding the Crombeen-Lindgren connection. Crombeen found Lindgren camped in front of the Flames net, where Lindgren fired the puck into a nearly empty goal to give the Stars an insurance marker with just 2:45 gone in the third period. The goal came on Crombeen's second assist of the night, and was the first time this season the Stars'grinder managed a multi-point effort. Janos Vas would add a late goal to extend the Stars lead to 4-1. Vas found the empty net from 180 feet away and added his 11th goal of the season.

IN THE COMMUNITY: Out and Around Des Moines & Neighboring Communities

STARS PROMOTIONS/APPEARANCES:

Þ Wednesday, Jan. 2- Stars will practice at KGGO arena before departing for Houston on Thursday

Þ Monday, Jan. 14 - Iowa Stars players Marius Holtet, Phil Sauve, and Trevor Byrne will join morning show hosts on LAZER 103.3, KIOA 93.3 and STAR 102.5 FM beginning at 8:00 AM.

Þ Monday, Jan. 14 - Iowa Stars Weekly Radio Show begins at 7 PM on KRNT 1350 AM. The weekly show will broadcast live from Scooter & Babs Sports Bar and Grille and will feature players and coaches as guests.

Þ Tuesday, Jan. 15 - Jim Erickson, the voice of the Iowa Stars will speak at the South Des Moines Chamber of Commerce meeting at 11:30 AM.

Þ Wednesday, Jan. 16 - Iowa Stars players will visit Central Library in Downtown Des Moines at 4:00 PM. Players will tell their favorites stories and sign autographs.

Þ Thursday, Jan. 17 - Iowa Stars players will visit Forest Public Library in Des Moines at 4:00 PM. Players will tell their favorite stories and sign autographs.



American Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2007


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