December 20, 2002
Kingfish drown Rivermen, 3-1
Baton Rouge Kingfish Press Release
The Baton Rouge Kingfish used a goal by Marquis Mathieu early in the third
period and 20 saves by Jeff Blair to down the Peoria Rivermen 3-1.
Peoria tallied their first and only goal of the game just four and a half
minutes into the opening stanza to take a 1-0 lead. Mike Stuart fired a shot
past Jeff Blair from the left point. Ryan Finnerty and Derek Booth added the
assists.
The Kingfish answered a little over two minutes later as Forrest Gore took a
centering pass from Joe Guenther and beat Duane Derksen over the shoulder to tie
the game at one. Bryan Richardson set up the goal on a good one man effort in
the left faceoff circle as he took the puck from a Peoria defenseman and slid it
to Guenther.
A scoreless second period was marred by penalties as the teams picked up 20
minutes in penalties.
Marquis Mathieu broke the 1-1 deadlock just six minutes into the third period as
he picked up a rebound in the slot and fired the puck past Derksen to give the
Kingfish the one goal advantage. Trevor Demmans and Ryan Trsek added the assists
on the goal.
Peoria pulled Derksen late in the period in favor of an extra attacker but it
was the Kingfish who added another. Jason Norrie cleared a loose puck off the
glass and down the length of the ice for the unassisted empty net goal. It sent
the fans in Peoria packing with just 43 seconds left in the contest.
The Kingfish were held off the scoreboard on the power play on three
opportunities. Jeff Blair made 20 saves as the Kingfish out shot the Rivermen
24-21.
The Kingfish battle the Rivermen again tomorrow night at the Peoria Civic Center
at 7:00 p.m. before heading to Toledo for an afternoon game on Sunday at 2:00
p.m. Catch all the action on Baton Rouge’s Best R & B, 104.5 WZRB beginning with
the Kingfish pre game show 15 minutes before the opening faceoff.
Rivermen Bow to Baton Rouge, 2-1
Posted on Friday, December 20 @ 22:00:02 CST by jmo27
Whoever said, "any given team can beat any given team on any given night," was
correct this evening. The Baton Rouge Kingfish came into Peoria on Friday night
with the third worst record in the East Coast Hockey League and beat the second
place Rivermen, 3-1, in front of 5172 fans at Carver Arena.
Peoria got off to a fast start. At 4:22 into the first period Rivermen
defensemen Mike Stuart put the Rivermen up 1-0 with his second goal of the year.
Ryan Finnerty and Derek Booth picked up assists on the play. From that point on
it was all Kingfish. Baton Rouge would answer quickly thanks to Forrest Gore's
tally just two minutes later. They would add two more goals in the third period
to put the game out of reach.
The highlight of the game for Peoria was a fight between Rivermen enforcer
Jeremy Yablonski and former Rivermen Michael Kiesman. Kiesman, who played three
games with Peoria earlier in the season, didn't last long and was sent to the
penalty box with a bloodied mouth.
The Rivermen saw their overall record fall to 16-9-2, while the Kingfish improve
to 10-17-4. Peoria will get a chance at redemption on Saturday night as the same
two teams battle again. Face off is set for 7pm at the Peoria Civic Center
DATE - 12/20/02 Baton Rouge ( 3) AT Peoria ( 1) SCORE BY PERIODS Baton Rouge 1 0 2--3 Peoria 1 0 0--1 FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Peoria-Stuart 2 (Finnerty; Booth) 4:22. 2, Baton Rouge-Gore 4 (Richardson; Guenther) 6:13. Penalties: None. SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Kiesman, BR (Hooking), 3:27. Yablonski, PEO (Fighting, Major), 5:27. Kiesman, BR (Fighting, Major), 5:27. Norrie, BR (Roughing), 5:30. Derksen, PEO served by Brooks (Interference), 8:49. Granato, PEO (Holding), 16:08. Lawmaster, PEO (Slashing), 17:30. THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Baton Rouge-Mathieu 5 (game winner) (Demmans; Trsek) 6:03. 4, Baton Rouge-Norrie 12 (empty net) (unassisted) 19:10. Penalties: Tucker, BR (Slashing, Roughing, Double minor), 8:09. Clark, PEO (Roughing, Double minor), 8:09. Finnerty, PEO (Roughing), 15:35. Gernander, BR (Roughing), 15:35. SHOTS ON GOAL Baton Rouge 7 10 7--24 Peoria 10 7 4--21 Power Play Conversions: Baton Rouge - 0 of 3, Peoria - 0 of 2. Goalies: Baton Rouge-Blair (21 shots, 20 saves; record: 5-10-3). Peoria-Derksen (23 shots, 21 saves; record: 7-7-1). A: 5172. Referee: Ernst. Linesmen: Kirkiewicz; Carrico.
Game Story PEORIA, Illinois (Ticker) -- Marquis Mathieu scored the game-winner and Jeff Blair stopped 20 shots to lead the Baton Rouge Kingfish past the Peoria Rivermen, 3-1. Mathieu, who snapped a 1-1 tie 6:03 into the third period, recorded his first winning tally of the season. Blair stopped all 11 shots he faced over the final two frames for the win. Forrest Gore and Jason Norrie each tallied for Baton Rouge, which improved to 2-1 on its seven-game road trip. Defenseman Mike Stuart scored his second goal in 18 games with Peoria, which had its three-game winning streak broken. Duane Derksen, who allowed two goals on 23 shots, took the loss to fall to 7-7-1.