Ice Bears Come up Short in Hard Fought Game One
SPHL Knoxville Ice Bears

Ice Bears Come up Short in Hard Fought Game One

Published on April 17, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release


For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.

The Knoxville Ice Bears gave the SPHL regular season champs all they could handle in game one, but a late third period goal proved to be the difference as Knoxville fell to the Peoria Rivermen 6-3 in game one of the President's Cup semifinals in Illinois Friday night.

Game two is Saturday night in Peoria.

Connor Szmul put the Rivermen ahead for good when he broke a 3-3 tie with just 2:11 remaining in regulation. He carried the puck up the left wing side and fired from the left circle. His wrist shot hit the crossbar and went in. Griffin Fox and Michael McChesney scored empty net goals to conclude the game.

Knoxville got on the board early when Derek Osik deflected a breakout pass from behind the Peoria net. Kyle Soper intercepted the pass, threw the puck across the slot to Lucas Helland, who fed it back across the crease to Osik for a backdoor tap-in that gave the Ice Bears a 1-0 lead at 1:57 of the opening period.

Peoria tied the game when Mike Gelatt swept through the right circle and to the front of the crease before slipping his backhand underneath Stephen Mundinger at 18:44.

The Ice Bears retook the lead 20 seconds later when Jared Westcott scored his second goal of the postseason. Dawson McKinney dropped the puck to Jimmy Soper at the right circle and the Knoxville captain fired a pass across to the net front. Westcott's initial shot bounced off Nick Latinovich, but Westcott swatted at the puck from his knees and snuck it between Latinovich and the short side post with just 56 seconds remaining.

JM Piotrowski scored two goals ten minutes apart in the second period to give the Rivermen their first lead of the night. He stole the puck behind the net and scored on a wraparound at 4:36 and fired a slap shot from the slot on net to finish off a three-on-two at 14:23.

Jimmy Soper blocked a shot at the point and the puck deflected to the opposite wing for Tim Kent. Kent played a stretch pass up the right side back to Jimmy Soper, who created a two-on-one before backhanding a pass back to Kent in the left circle. Kent then sent the puck back to the right side to Jason Brancheau who was trailing the rush. Brancheau's wrist shot beat Latinovich to tie the game with a minute left in the second to tie the game at three goals apiece at the second intermission.

Mundinger finished with 36 saves. Latinovich stopped 26 shots.

Check out the Knoxville Ice Bears Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



SPHL Stories from April 17, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central