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Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Advance to President's Cup Finals with 4-0 Win Friday

April 23, 2016 - SPHL (SPHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL - The Peoria Rivermen got a record shutout from Kyle Rank and a pair of goals from Ben Power as they advanced to the SPHL President's Cup Finals with a 4-0 win over the Fayetteville FireAntz at Owens Center Friday. The win sets Peoria up to face the winner of Pensacola and Mississippi in the President's Cup Finals, with dates to be determined.

The Rivermen started the scoring at 6:13 of the post when Ben Power picked the puck up on the low right wing boards of the Fayetteville zone, walked down the goal line, and had his initial backhand attempt denied before putting his own rebound into an exposed net to make it 1-0.

Peoria doubled their lead at 16:50 of the first when Chris Wilson came into the left wing of the FireAntz zone and dropped to the top of the left circle for Connor Toomey, who slowed down before sniping past Fayetteville goaltender Parker Van Buskirk to make it 2-0.

The 2-0 Peoria lead held until the Rivermen added on at the midway point of the third period. With Fayetteville's Joseph Manno in the box for roughing, Peoria's Brandon Greenside took a drive from the top of the slot that was stopped by Van Buskirk. The rebound was powered into the Fayetteville goal by Power to give Peoria a 3-0 advantage.

Fayetteville pulled Van Buskirk for an extra skater with a late power-play, and after a battle along the left-wing boards of the Rivermen zone, Dan Bremner came away with the puck and slid it the length of the ice into the empty net for the 4-0 final score.

Rank stopped all 26 shots he faced in the game to earn his third shutout in four appearances in this postseason. The clean-slate is the fifth of Rank's playoff career.

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