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AHL Peoria Rivermen

Stars trip up Rivermen 4-3 in shootout

April 15, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL (April 14, 2006) - In a Good Friday match-up with their West Division-rival Iowa Stars in front of a crowd of 6,417 at Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center, the Peoria Rivermen suffered a 4-3 shootout loss. The fact that this game went to a shootout tied at 3-3 was nothing unusual because two Rivermen-Stars tilts earlier this season had done that as well. Friday evening's result, however, was unusual, considering that the Rivermen had prevailed in the two previous 4-3 shootout games between these teams.

Iowa's 4-3 shootout triumph on Friday night in Peoria marked the third 4-3 shootout game that the Rivermen and the Stars have combined to produce this season. The first such contest occurred back on Saturday, December 3, 2005, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The Rivermen took home the win on that evening on the strength of two shootout goals by left wing Peter Sejna and right wing Jon DiSalvatore, as well as four shootout saves by goalie Reinhard Divis. The Rivermen notched a second 4-3 shootout victory over the Stars on Sunday, February 12, this time at Carver Arena in Peoria. Despite converting only one of its shootout attempts in the game, that by left wing Charles Linglet, the Peoria squad got the win after Divis stymied all five of Iowa's shootout attempts. On Friday evening in Peoria, the Stars finally prevailed in a 4-3 shootout contest between these two squads. Left wing Loui Eriksson and center Jamie Johnson both tallied in the shootout tournament for Iowa, and netminder Mike Smith stopped all four Peoria shooters that he faced to help the Stars to the win.

Their shootout loss on Friday evening leaves the Rivermen with a record of 46-25-3-5 on the season and an even 100 standings points. At home in Carver Arena, the Rivermen finished this season with a mark of 25-12-0-3. The Stars, meanwhile, get their 40th win of the season and move to 40-30-1-7 overall. On the road, the Iowa side now owns a 20-17-0-3 record.

The Stars struck on an early power play to open the scoring in this game. Corralling the puck on the left side of the Peoria slot following a right-point shot by right wing Junior Lessard, Iowa defenseman Dan Jancevski found his centerman Toby Petersen at the bottom of the right circle with a nifty pass through traffic, and Petersen dented the twine with a quick, sweeping motion one-timer before Rivermen goaltender Gregg Naumenko could get back across the goalmouth. The 26th goal of the season for Petersen came just 3:38 into the game and staked the Stars to a 1-0 lead.

Exactly six minutes later, the Rivermen countered with a shorthanded tally that tied the match at 1-1. Picking up an Iowa turnover near the Stars' blueline, Peoria winger Cam Keith moved back into the Iowa zone on a two-on-one break with Sejna. As he neared the right face-off dot, Keith sent a pass over to his left to Sejna, who buried his 19th goal of the year from the left hash marks at the 9:38 mark of the first frame.

Rookie right winger David Backes gave Peoria its' first lead of the contest at 2-1 14 minutes and 44 seconds into the game. As Rivermen center Mike Zigomanis skated the puck from right to left behind the Stars' cage, Backes came down the slot unabated. Zigomanis then provided Backes with a nice centering pass, and Backes had plenty of time to get Smith down to the ice with a fake shot, pull the puck back, and then rifle it by Smith for the fifth marker of his young professional career.

The Stars knotted things up at 2-2 on the lone goal by either club during the second period. On a shot from the center point in the Rivermen end by Petersen, the puck hit someone in front and trickled toward the right post of the Peoria goal. Iowa's Eriksson then popped out from behind the goal and banged the puck past Naumenko at the 10:39 mark of the second to score for the 29th time in 2005-06.

The Rivermen went up again, this time at 3-2, early on in the third session. Stealing the puck along the right-wing boards in the Stars zone out near the blueline, Peoria center Gavin Morgan poked the puck up along the wall to DiSalvatore. DiSalvatore then carried it in on Smith and put a quick shot up into the top right corner of the net to record his 22nd goal of the campaign at 2:44 of the third.

Iowa was quick to respond, however, tying the game at 3-3 just 16 seconds later. Defenseman Nicklas Grossman tallied the third Stars goal of the contest, his second of the year, on a long shot from the left point in the Rivermen zone that eluded Naumenko as Iowa right wing Vojtech Polak skated right in front of him. The goal came at 3:00 of the third frame.

After closing out their 2005-06 regular season home schedule on Friday against the Stars, the Rivermen will now travel to Des Moines to finish off not only a weekend home-and-home series with the Iowa club, but also Peoria's 2005-06 regular season. Saturday's Rivermen-Stars match-up is set for a 7:00 p.m. (CDT) opening face-off at Wells Fargo Arena.

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