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Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Extend SPHL Lead over Ice Bears

February 19, 2015 - SPHL (SPHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


PEORIA - The Peoria Rivermen lit the lamp three times in each of the first two periods to increase their Southern Professional Hockey League lead to six points with a 6-3 victory over the Knoxville Ice Bears on Thursday night at Carver Arena.

The Rivermen tallied first just 4:09 into the game when a rebound was chipped to the right point to Christian Weidauer, who buried the slap shot on assists from Matt Summers and Dan Bremner. Ryan Salvis tied the game 6:58 in with a shorthanded unassisted goal after capitalizing on a turnover at the Peoria line. The Rivermen regained a 2-1 lead with 6:51 showing on the first period clock when Steve Morra weaved through the slot and scored from the doorstep after Alex Hudson and Bremner won the puck back near the Knoxville blue line. The Rivermen set the first intermission score at 3-1 in favor of the hosts on a power play goal by Jake Trask from the left circle dot, assisted by Josh Harris and Bremner.

Peoria built the advantage to 4-1 with 3:17 elapsed in the middle chapter when Morra eluded defenders behind the net and fed Jason Cohen, who tallied from the top of the right circle with the second assist given to Cole Ruwe. Morra scored again on a shorthanded tally by taking a feed from Ben Oskroba and again walking to the top of the crease for the goal to end the night for Ice Bears goalie Bryan Hince with 9:12 remaining in the second period and the Rivermen leading 5-1. Bremner crashed a rebound of a Hudson shot at the top of the crease to give the Rivermen a 6-1 with 3:24 left in the second period.

The Ice Bears cut the deficit to 6-2 2:59 into the third period on an Eric Satim wrister from the right circle on assists from Robbie Donahoe and Jason Price. Francis Drolet cut the Rivermen lead in half to 6-3 with a successful penalty shot while shorthanded with 3:44 remaining.

Kyle Rank earned the win in goal with 29 saves. Hince sustained the loss with 20 stops. The Rivermen were 1-for-5 on power plays while the Ice Bears did not score on three man advantages.

The Rivermen now lead the Ice Bears and the rest of the Southern Professional Hockey League by 6 points with a record of 28-13-3 for 59 points. Peoria has now won 9 of the 11 meetings with Knoxville this season. The Ice Bears remain in second place with a mark of 25-15-3 for 53 points.

The Rivermen conclude the brief series with a rematch on Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Carver Arena. The first 1,250 fans receive a Bruce Saurs commemorative bobblehead courtesy of UnityPoint Health Methodist/Proctor. The game can be heard in Carver Arena on 93.7 FM and anywhere online at www.rivermen.net, and viewed via subscription at SPHLLive.com.

Single game tickets for Peoria's 33rd season of professional hockey are on sale weekdays at the Peoria Civic Center. Season ticket packages and group ticket options for the 2014-15 campaign are on sale now through the Rivermen office, located at 201 S.W. Jefferson Street, or over the phone at (309) 676-1040. For the latest Rivermen news and notes, follow online at www.rivermen.net or through Facebook ( www.facebook.com/PeoriaRivermen) and Twitter ( https://twitter.com/Peoria_Rivermen).

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