The Peoria Rivermen announced today that the club will host 13 different teams at Carver Arena this season. The team remains in the Western Conference’s eight-team West Division and will open the 29th season of professional hockey in Peoria on Oct. 8 at the Peoria Civic Center.
The Rivermen will play 40 home and 40 road games and face each opponent an equal number of times at home and on the road. The full and complete 2010-11 Rivermen and American Hockey League schedule will be released next month.
They will face the other seven members of the West Division, including eight meetings with the new Oklahoma City Barons. Their most frequent rivals will be the Milwaukee Admirals and the Rockford IceHogs who they will play 10 times each. They will meet Chicago and San Antonio eight times each while they will see the Houston Aeros and defending Western Conference Champion Texas Stars six times.
They will also square off with six of the seven teams in the North Division, with the Rochester Americans as the lone exception for the second consecutive season. The Grand Rapids Griffins will have eight meetings scheduled against the Rivermen while the Abbotsford Heat, Manitoba Moose and Lake Erie Monsters will play four. The Rivermen will only see Hamilton and Toronto twice.
Earlier the team announced dates of five guaranteed home games for Peoria’s sixth season as members of the AHL, including opening night:
·Friday, Oct. 8, 2010 – opening night for entire AHL
