Team to Face Two of Western Conference's Best Teams This Week
January 25, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Tuesday, January 24; Friday, January 27, RIVERMEN vs. Houston: After playing three of four games last week on the road, the Peoria Rivermen this week will host three home games and play a fourth contest away from Carver Arena. The opponent in Peoria's first two games this week will be the Houston Aeros. The Rivermen and the Aeros have tangled five times already this season, and Peoria has beaten Houston only once (1-4-0-0). These two teams last met just this past Saturday, when the Aeros prevailed 5-1 at the Toyota Center. The Aeros operate as the primary affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). Houston enters this week's action with the best record in the Western Conference, 32-10-1-1, and the club's 66 points rank second to only the 68 for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the entire American Hockey League (AHL). The Aeros will bring with them to Peoria the top two scorers in the AHL in center Erik Westrum (68 points in 44 games played) and right winger Kirby Law (64 points in 44 games played). Houston netminder Josh Harding now stands tied for ninth place in the League with a goals-against average of 2.63, and he also owns a record of 21-7-0, a save percentage of .923, and one shutout. The Aeros presently rank second in the AHL on the power play with a conversion rate of 21.3 percent. Their penalty-killing percentage of 85.7 is currently fifth-best in the League.
Saturday, January 28, RIVERMEN vs. Grand Rapids: The Grand Rapids Griffins come calling on the Rivermen this coming Saturday evening. To this point in the season, the Rivermen have encountered the Griffins only once, back on Friday, December 2, 2005. That contest turned out to be a barn-burner, as the Rivermen prevailed 7-4 at Carver Arena. The primary affiliate of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, the Griffins now sit atop the Western Conference's North Division with a 30-12-1-2 overall mark and 63 points. Center Jiri Hudler's team-leading 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists) in 41 outings place him third overall in the AHL. Jimmy Howard has put up good numbers in goal for the Griffins with an 11-3-1 record, a 3.18 goals-against average, an .890 save percentage, and one shutout thus far this season. Although Grand Rapids now claims the best power-play unit in the League with a conversion percentage of 21.4, the squad struggles on the penalty-kill with the AHL's 22nd-ranked kill ratio of 80.7.
Sunday, January 29, RIVERMEN @ Omaha: The Rivermen finish out their schedule for this week with a short trip over to Omaha to face the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights on Sunday. In five games against Omaha so far in 2005-06, Peoria has posted a record of 3-2-0-0. These two West Division rivals last met for a home-and-home series on January 13 and 14 that the Rivermen swept by scores of 4-1 and 2-1, respectively. The Omaha club serves as the main affiliate of the Calgary Flames of the NHL, and the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights are now tied for fifth place in the West Division with Chicago at 40 points on a record of 16-21-1-7. The tandem of center Carsen Germyn (19 goals, 15 assists) and defenseman Mark Giordano (9 goals, 25 assists) leads the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights in scoring at 34 points. Brent Krahn and Curtis McElhinney have rotated in goal for Omaha this season. Krahn shows a 9-12-6 record, a 2.80 goals-against average, and a .905 save percentage in 29 appearances. McElhinney, meanwhile, is 7-10-1 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage in 23 games played. The Omaha power-play unit is now converting opportunities at a clip of 15.8 percent to rank 17th in the League, while the team's penalty-killing percentage of 83.5 currently places Omaha in a tie for 12th in the AHL.
RIVERMEN ACTION LAST WEEK
Tuesday, January 17, RIVERMEN 4 @ San Antonio 3 (SO): After losing control of this game in the final minutes of regulation, the Peoria Rivermen escaped in the end with a 4-3 shootout victory over the San Antonio Rampage on Tuesday evening at the AT&T Center. The Rivermen established an early lead in this match when left wing Charles Linglet found the back of the San Antonio net just 1:14 into the game. The Rampage tied the tilt at 1-1, though, early on in the middle frame thanks to center Layne Ulmer's lamp-lighter at the 2:20 mark of the second period. Peoria then went out to a 3-1 lead on Linglet's second tally of the contest at 6:12 of the second and center Blake Evans' ninth goal of the season at the 11:11 mark of the middle period. As the game wound down toward the final minutes of regulation with the score still 3-1 in favor of Peoria, the Rivermen appeared headed toward a relatively uneventful win. San Antonio, however, pared the Peoria lead down to 3-2 at the 16:19 mark of the third period on the first goal of the season for left winger Doug Doull. Then Ulmer struck for the second time on the evening to tie the score at 3-3 for the Rampage at 17:57 of the third. When neither club scored in the final two minutes of regulation, the game entered sudden-death overtime tied at 3-3. Both squads then failed to score in overtime, and a shootout was employed to decide a winner. In the shootout, the first and third shooters for each team converted his attempt. For Peoria, that was right wing Mike Glumac and Linglet, and for San Antonio, that was center Mike Bishai and Ulmer. Rivermen right wing Jon DiSalvatore opened the final shootout round by beating Rampage goaltender David LeNeveu. Rivermen netminder Reinhard Divis then thwarted the shootout attempt of right wing Tim Jackman to clinch the 4-3 shootout win. Over the course of the entire game, Divis stopped 28 of San Antonio's 31 shots on goal. Peoria ended up out-shooting San Antonio by a count of 39-31. Neither the Rivermen nor the Rampage tallied a power-play goal in the game, and both teams finished zero for six with the man-advantage.
Friday, January 20, RIVERMEN 5 @ San Antonio 1: The Peoria Rivermen completed a sweep of their two-game weekend set against the San Antonio Rampage on Friday evening with a 5-1 victory. Right wing Colin Hemingway got the Rivermen on the scoreboard first with his seventh goal of the season at the 16:17 mark of the first period. Early in the middle frame, the Rampage drew even with the Rivermen at 1-1 on a tally by left wing Eric Chouinard just 2:09 into the second period. The Rivermen, however, then proceeded to reel off four unanswered goals to skate away with a lopsided victory. Right wing Mike Glumac notched the game-winning goal at 10:44 of the second period, when he put the Rivermen up 2-1. Center Jay McClement then followed suit shortly thereafter with a lamp-lighter at the 11:24 mark of the second. Just before the second frame ended, at 19:13, defenseman Mike Mottau staked Peoria to a 4-1 lead with his third marker of the year. Right winger Lee Stempniak finished things off by scoring at 9:32 of the third period to produce the final score of 5-1. Patrick Lalime was nearly flawless in goal for the Rivermen, turning aside 14 of the 15 shots that he faced on the night. Like the 5-1 final score, the final shot totals of 31 for Peoria and 15 for San Antonio were lopsided in favor of Peoria. The Rivermen scored twice on 10 power-play opportunities in the contest, while the Rampage failed to convert any of their six man-advantage chances.
Saturday, January 21, Houston 5 vs. RIVERMEN 1: Although the Peoria Rivermen came into this match-up with the Houston Aeros playing well and riding a four-game winning streak, their momentum came to a screeching halt against the current leaders of the West Division, and Houston beat Peoria by a count of 5-1. The Aeros established an early lead in this contest and never looked back. At 12:18 of the first period, left wing Roman Voloshenko put Houston on top 1-0. The Aeros then took control of the game in the middle frame. Houston defenseman Clayton Stoner notched the eventual game-winning goal at the 5:19 mark of the second period. Just about three minutes later, Voloshenko tallied his second goal of the game to give the Aeros a 3-0 advantage. Houston center Patrick O'Sullivan then extended the lead to 4-0 by denting the twine at 14:17. At that juncture, Peoria head coach Steve Pleau decided to replace starting goaltender Patrick Lalime with Reinhard Divis. The Rivermen finally got on the scoreboard thanks to right wing Lee Stempniak, who buried a rebound goal at 15:55 of the second. The Aeros capped off the scoring in this tilt when right wing Kirby Law lit the lamp at the 19:21 mark of the second period to produce the final score of 5-1. In over 34 minutes of action, Lalime made 16 saves on 20 shots. Divis faced six shots in more than 25 minutes in the Peoria net and turned aside five of them. Despite being out-scored 5-1, the Rivermen out-shot the Aeros on this night 36-26. Peoria failed to convert any of its four power plays, while Houston notched one power-play goal in three chances.
Sunday, January 22, RIVERMEN 4 vs. Manchester 1: In their first encounter so far this season with an opponent from the Eastern Conference of the AHL, the Peoria Rivermen fared quite well, defeating the Manchester Monarchs by a count of 4-1. The Rivermen took a 1-0 lead late in the first period when left wing Charles Linglet, positioned behind the goalline in the left corner of the Manchester zone, banked the puck into the Manchester goal off of the right skate of Monarchs goalie Adam Hauser. At the 3:16 mark of the second period, Rivermen right wing Mike Glumac scored what would ultimately become the game-winning goal of this contest. Midway through the game, the Monarchs got their only goal of the match on a nifty deflection from the slot by left wing Jeff Tambellini. Ahead 2-1 at the second intermission, the Rivermen extended their lead in the third period. Peoria right wing Lee Stempniak lit the lamp for the sixth time this season at 4:32 of the third and then collected an empty-net goal at 18:49 to clinch a 4-1 win. Patrick Lalime patrolled the Peoria crease in this outing, allowing only one goal to the Monarchs on 25 shots. Not only did the Rivermen out-score the Monarchs, but they also out-shot the Manchester squad, by a count of 32-25. Neither team converted a power-play opportunity, as the Rivermen went zero for three, and the Monarchs went zero for five.
HAT-TRICKLESS IN PEORIA
On Sunday against Manchester, right wing Lee Stempniak scored two goals in the third period. That two-goal game came soon after a similar two-goal output by left wing Charles Linglet one week ago today in San Antonio. So far this season, seven different Rivermen have accounted for 13 two-goal games. No member of the Rivermen, however, has thus far been able to notch a hat-trick over half-way through Peoria's inaugural AHL season.
IT'S BEEN "ONE AND DONE" FOR LALIME
Rivermen goaltender Patrick Lalime once again allowed just one goal on Sunday against the Manchester Monarchs. That marked the fifth occasion in his last six starts on which Lalime has allowed only one goal. During this stretch, Lalime has posted a 4-1-0-1 record, a 1.59 goals-against average, and a .938 save percentage.
GAME-WINNING GLUMAC
Rivermen right winger Mike Glumac has notched the game-winning goal in two of Peoria's last three games. He is now tied for the AHL lead in game-winning tallies with six. Among all AHL players, Glumac also ranks tied for 11th in points with 45 and fifth in shots on goal with 151.
LIGHTS OUT AFTER TWO
The Rivermen are almost automatic winners when leading after two periods. So far this season, Peoria has held a lead at the second intermission on 20 occasions. In those 20 games, the Rivermen have gone 17-1-0-2 to earn 36 points and to post a winning percentage of .900.
RAGING RIVERMEN
D Mike Mottau has dished out 9 assists in the last 11 games...Last Friday night in San Antonio, Mottau collected a season-high 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)...D Mike Stuart has dished out 3 assists over the course of his last six outings...C Blake Evans has tallied 1 goal and 2 assists in his previous four contests...RW Mike Glumac has tallied 3 goals and 2 assists in his last seven games...C Trent Whitfield has recorded at least 2 points in five of the last seven games and collected 3 assists on Sunday versus Manchester...D Jeff Woywitka has collected 4 assists in his last seven outings...RW Lee Stempniak has scored 4 goals in the last three games...G Patrick Lalime has allowed just one goal in five of his last six starts (4-1-0-1).
RECENT RIVERMEN TRANSACTIONS
January 24, 2006 C Trent Whitfield recalled from his loan to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).
January 24, 2006 D T. J. Kemp released from his 25-game try-out contract.
January 23, 2006 F Cam Keith recalled from his loan to ECHL Alaska by AHL Peoria.
January 23, 2006 C Ryan Ramsay reassigned from the Alaska Aces (ECHL) to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).
January 23, 2006 D Patrick Wellar reassigned to AHL Peoria from ECHL Alaska by NHL St. Louis.
January 20, 2006 D T. J. Kemp signed to a 25-game professional try-out (PTO) contract by AHL Peoria.
January 18, 2006 RW Jon DiSalvatore recalled from his loan to AHL Peoria by NHL St. Louis.
January 18, 2006 C Jay McClement returned on loan to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) by the St. Louis Blues (NHL).
January 17, 2006 LW D. J. King reassigned by the St. Louis Blues (NHL) from the Alaska Aces (ECHL) to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL).
RIVERMEN ACTION THIS WEEK
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24
Houston Aeros @ PEORIA RIVERMEN
7:00 p.m., Carver Arena
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27
Houston Aeros @ PEORIA RIVERMEN
7:30 p.m., Carver Arena
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28
Grand Rapids Griffins @ PEORIA RIVERMEN
8:00 p.m., Carver Arena
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29
PEORIA RIVERMEN @ Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights
5:00 p.m., Omaha Civic Auditorium
Radio: All Rivermen games are broadcast LIVE on HOPE 98.5 (WPIA-FM), the flagship radio station of the Peoria Rivermen.
Internet Audio: LIVE streaming audio of all Rivermen games is available for no charge at www.rivermen.net.
Internet Video: LIVE streaming video with the accompanying audio feed is available at www.rivermen.net through the facilities of the b2 networks. The video Webcast of each game is available for a pay-per-view fee of $6.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2006
- Omaha Powers Past Barons, 4-2 - Cleveland Barons
- Knights Snap Streak, Beat Barons, 4-2 - Abbotsford Heat
- Monsters chase away the Rats, 3-2 - Albany Devils
- Griffins' 3-2 win caps off 5-1 homestand - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Admirals wallop Bears, 5-1 - Norfolk Admirals
- Sound Tigers Outlast Baby Pens 4-3 in SO - Bridgeport Islanders
- Griffins kill Rampage rally - San Antonio Rampage
- Bears stumble in Norfolk 5-1 - Hershey Bears
- Boston Returns Walter to Providence - Providence Bruins
- TV listings for 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic - Houston Aeros
- Sound Tigers Sign Boucher To PTO - Bridgeport Islanders
- Kings Send Petiot and Ryan To Manchester - Manchester Monarchs
- Team to Face Two of Western Conference's Best Teams This Week - Peoria Rivermen
- TD Canada Trust smiles on ice game to support McMaster Children's Hospital - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Gornick Reassigned to Dayton - Syracuse Crunch
- Knights' Blueline Gets A Boost - Abbotsford Heat
- Taco Bell Night Set For Friday, February 10 - Syracuse Crunch
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
- Crunch Announce New York State Lottery Night - Syracuse Crunch
- All-Star Game TV Listings - Iowa Chops
- Hershey kicks off two-game series tonight in Norfolk - Hershey Bears
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.
