AHL Peoria Rivermen

Wolves defeat Rivermen, 11-5

Published on December 31, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Chicago, IL (December 30, 2005) - Their performance in the second period did in the Peoria Rivermen on Friday evening against the Chicago Wolves. In both the first and third periods of this game, the Rivermen and the Wolves each scored two goals. In the second period, however, Chicago scored seven goals to Peoria's one, and that period proved to be the difference in the Wolves' 11-5 victory over the Rivermen.

Early in the second period, the Wolves caught the Rivermen on a line-change and scored to go up 3-2. Stationed along the right-wing boards near the blueline, right wing Stephen Baby saucered a pass to left wing Karl Stewart skating down the slot, and Stewart tucked the puck up over Beckford-Tseu's stick side at 2:21 of the second.

Defenseman Travis Roche made it 4-2 in favor of the Wolves with a power-play goal at the 6:08 mark of the middle period. On a pass out of the right corner of the Rivermen zone from Abid, Roche beat Beckford-Tseu with a slap shot from the left point.

Rivermen right wing Mike Glumac pared the Wolves' lead down to one goal at 4-3 with a power-play tally at 7:51 of the second period. Taking a shot from within the left circle in the Chicago zone, Glumac threaded the puck through a small opening between Tarkki's body and his right arm. Following that goal, the Wolves replaced Tarkki in net with Adam Berkhoel.

Right wing Justin Morrison continued the Chicago onslaught at 8:47 of the second period. Working a nice give-and-go play with center Kip Miller, who was positioned below the goal line to the left of the Peoria net, Morrison buried a return pass as he skated through the low slot area to give Chicago a 5-3 lead.

The Wolves' lead grew to 6-3 thanks to winger Billy Tibbetts. When the Peoria defenders laid back from Tibbetts as he entered their zone with the puck along the left wing, Tibbetts carried it to the left face-off dot and then put a high, hard wrister past Beckford-Tseu at the 14:52 mark of the second.

Defenseman Mark Popovic joined in the scoring for the Wolves with a goal on the power play. On a pass by Morrison out of the left corner in the Rivermen zone, Popovic took the feed in the slot at the inner right hash marks and got off a one-timer that dented the twine at the 16:25 mark of the middle period for a 7-3 Wolves advantage.

Chicago then got yet another power-play goal from right wing Pat Dwyer at 16:47 of the second frame. Center Jared Ross first drove to the Peoria net with the puck, and Beckford-Tseu thwarted his charge. The puck, however, was left sitting precariously in the crease, and Dwyer swooped in and banged it into the goal to put his squad up 8-3. Following that score, the Rivermen elected to put Lalime back in goal to relieve Beckford-Tseu.

Left winger Brian Maloney capped off the second-period scoring for Chicago at 18:46. During another power play for the Wolves, left wing Colin Stuart fired a shot that Lalime got his glove on and popped up into the air. Skating behind Lalime through the crease, Maloney was then able to deflect the puck out of mid-air and into the goal for a 9-3 Chicago lead.

The loss drops the overall Rivermen record to 16-14-1-1. The Peoria club now stands 6-8-1-0 away from its Carver Arena home. The Wolves, meanwhile, improve to 12-12-2-5 overall and to 7-6-2-0 at home in Allstate Arena.

The Rivermen lit up the scoreboard first in this contest on an early power play. Rivermen right winger Mike Glumac made the play, getting a pass from the left-wing boards to center Trent Whitfield at the top of the crease. Battling with some Wolves defenders, Whitfield redirected the puck into the Chicago goal just 1:42 into the game.

About three minutes later, center Gavin Morgan put Peoria up 2-0. After accepting an outlet pass from within the Peoria zone from defenseman Zack Fitzgerald, Morgan carried the puck through the neutral zone before unleashing a hard shot from the center of the rink, just outside the Chicago blueline. The long shot then sailed into the upper portion of the net over the left shoulder of Wolves goalie Tuomas Tarkki, who was perhaps screened on the play at the 4:09 mark of the first.

Left wing Colin Stuart got the Wolves on the board about midway through the opening frame. Intercepting a clearing pass around the boards at the far right hash marks in the Rivermen zone, Stuart shot the puck through some traffic in front of the Peoria goal and by Rivermen goaltender Patrick Lalime at 10:53 of the first.

The Wolves tied the contest at 2-2 on the power play. Taking a long outlet pass from within the Chicago zone by defenseman Braydon Coburn, winger Ramzi Abid carried the puck into the Peoria zone and fired a shot from the top of the left circle that eluded Lalime after being deflected by the stick of a Rivermen defenseman. The goal came at 14:35 of the first and led to the replacement of Lalime in the Peoria goal by Chris Beckford-Tseu.

Right wing Jon DiSalvatore opened the scoring in the third period for Peoria. Accepting a nice pass from center Trent Whitfield at the Chicago blueline, DiSalvatore skated unabated down the right side of the slot and snapped a quick shot up over Berkhoel into the right corner of the net 5:50 into the third period to make the score 9-4 in favor of Chicago.

The Wolves responded, however, about three minutes later. Using a Rivermen defenseman as a screen, Abid recorded his second goal of the tilt with a shot from the inside left hash marks at 8:43 of the third period to put Chicago up 10-4.

Glumac then registered his second goal of the game less than one minute later on another good pass by Whitfield during a Peoria power play. After receiving the puck down low near the top of the crease, Glumac deftly tucked it up under the crossbar to make the score 10-5 in favor of Chicago at the 9:30 mark of the third frame.

At 10:49 of the third, Tibbetts scored the 16th goal of the contest, the Wolves' 11th tally, and his second marker of the evening. After Morrison sent a bouncing shot from the right point toward the Rivermen goal, Tibbetts got to it in the low slot and tipped it past Lalime for the final score of 11-5 in favor of Chicago.

Next up for the Rivermen is a meeting with the Hamilton Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday at Carver Arena.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2005


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