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Rivermen Turn in Hall of Fame Performance, Dismiss Marksmen 7-3

February 18, 2018 - SPHL (SPHL) - Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL - The Peoria Rivermen and Fayetteville Marksmen met for the second time in as many nights Saturday at Carver Arena, and on an evening in which they inducted Darren Clark into the Rivermen Hockey Hall of Fame, they put up a Hall-worthy effort to trounce the Fayetteville Marksmen 7-3. The win, Peoria's third in a row, lifts the Rivermen to a league-leading 26-10-3 on the season before tomorrow's series finale with the Marksmen.

The Rivermen broke the scoreless tie in the opening minutes of the first period. Rivermen winger Keegan Bruce carried the puck from the right-wing boards of the Fayetteville zone, and across the front of the Marksmen net. Bruce fed a pass across the top of the crease to an open Michael Economos, who one-timed the puck past Fayetteville netminder Patrick Spano for the quick 1-0 Rivermen edge at 2:22 of the opening frame.

Peoria doubled their lead late in the first period. Peoria winger Will Smith carried the puck down the left-wing wall of the Marksmen zone and slipped a pass from below the Fayetteville goal line to teammate Joseph Widmar, who snapped a one-timer over Spano for the 2-0 Rivermen lead at 16:22 of the opening period.

The Marksmen erased the Rivermen lead with a pair of goals late in the first period. With Bruce in the sin bin for high sticking, Fayetteville center Jake Hauswirth carried into the left-wing circle of the Rivermen zone and sent a pass across the goalmouth to teammate Dakota Klecha who popped the puck over Rivermen goaltender Peter Di Salvo's outstretched left pad to cut the Rivermen lead to 2-1 at 18:05 of the first period. Fayetteville tied the contest at two just 20 second later, when Klecha took a long pass from Marksmen winger Kyle McNeil and raced down the left-wing boards into the Rivermen zone, cut across the left circle and across the front of the crease, where he slipped the puck around Di Salvo to tie the game at 2-2 at 18:25 of the first period.

The Rivermen regained the lead for good with a goal just before the final minute of the first period. Widmar raced down the right-wing boards into the Marksmen zone, and fired a shot from the bottom of the right circle that was then deflected by winger Alec Hagaman over the right shoulder of Spano, into the back of the net for and the 3-2 Rivermen lead at 18:59 of the first period.

Peoria doubled their lead just before the midway point of the second period. Rivermen defenseman Dave Pszenyczny sent a puck behind the Marksmen net, where Economos corralled it and carried the puck out of the left corner into the circle, where he fired the puck over the Spano's glove and into the back of the net for the 4-2 Rivermen lead at 8:14 of the middle period.

The Marksmen cut into the Rivermen lead near the midway point of the middle frame when defenseman Ludlow Harris Jr. found Jesse Faccini coming off the bench with a long pass. Faccini corralled the pass and raced into the Rivermen zone, through the slot, and sent a wrister over a sprawling Di Salvo to cut the Rivermen lead to 4-3 at 10:21 of the second period.

The Rivermen built their lead late in the second period while on the power play. With Klecha in the penalty box for diving, Widmar took a pass from Pszenyczny atop the left-wing circle, and fired a one-timer netward. Spano made the initial save, but Hagaman stuffed the rebound into the back of the net for the 5-3 Rivermen advantage at 16:24 of the second period.

Peoria pulled away with a pair of goals in the third period. With Peoria on an extended power-play after Klecha was assessed a spearing major at the end of the second period, Rivermen defenseman Cody Smith took the puck through the high slot of the Marksmen zone and fired a wrister through traffic over Spano and into the back of the net for the 6-3 Rivermen advantage at 2:25 of the third period. Later in the frame, Hagaman took a pass from teammate Will Smith and carried up the left-wing boards of the Fayetteville zone, down the blue line, and into the slot, where he rifled a wrister past Spano for the 7-3 Rivermen advantage at 9:36 of the final frame.

Di Salvo earned the victory between the pipes, stopping 21 of 24 shots faced. With the win, the Oakville, Ontario native improves to 10-8-4 on the season, and 5-1-1 since joining the Rivermen.

Notes: With his three goals in the contest, Hagaman collected his first professional hat trick...Economos notched his second multi-point and multi-goal game of the season after he notched a pair of markers January 26th against Evansville...Gurtler logged an assist and currently has a four-game point streak dating back to February 10th at Birmingham..Will Smith notched three assists to set career highs in assists and points for a single game...Widmar notched his third three-point outing of the season, and his first since January 26...The Rivermen return to action Sunday afternoon for the third game of the weekend's 3-game series with Fayetteville at 3:05 p.m....Sunday's game is Sunday Family Funday presented by PNC, with $3 tickets (12 and under) and dollar Raber hotdogs throughout the game...There will be a pregame fun fest in the Civic Center Great Hall beginning at 2 o'clock with inflatables, face painting, and balloon animals...Sunday's game also features a post-game skate with the Rivermen on the Carver Arena ice....The broadcast of each game can be heard, starting with the pre-game show, at 2:45 p.m. at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 36th season of professional hockey presented by Midwest Orthopaedic Center are on sale at the Toyota Box Office in the Peoria Civic Center, or by phone at 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).


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