Knoxville Downed in Home Contest
March 14, 2025 - SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release
Michael McChesney broke the tie halfway through the third period and the Knoxville Ice Bears fell to the Peoria Rivermen 4-2 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Friday night.
The Rivermen went ahead for good when McChesney put back a rebound on the right side of the crease after Stephen Mundinger fought off a redirected shot from the point. Mike Gelatt scored on an empty net with 30 seconds remaining to seal the game for Peoria.
Knoxville took the lead when Mitch Atkins scored off a rebound at 16:10 of the opening period. Knoxville's forecheck kept the puck in the zone on the left wing with Tyler Rollo and Lucas Helland working it off the boards. Helland slipped a pass to Atkins in the circle, who dished it to Rollo. Rollo dropped a pass to Kodi Schwarz for a shot from the high slot that hit Colby Muise in the mask. Rollo tapped the rebound out of the slot to Atkins, who put the puck on net for his 11th goal of the season.
Peoria answered just over a minute later when Andrew Poulias fired a wrist shot past Mundinger from the left circle while on a two-on-one.
The Rivermen took the lead halfway through the second to make it 2-1. Michael McChesney kept the puck in the zone and fed it to Zach Wilkie up the left hash. Wilkie found Charles Farmer on the backdoor for the latter's first career goal at 9:52.
Derek Osik evened the score for Knoxville at 14:11. Tyler Williams won the puck behind the Peoria net and passed it to Scwharz at the right point. Schwarz's shot bounced off of Muise and Osik swatted it out of the air across the goal line to become the first Ice Bear to reach the 40-point plateau this season.
Mundinger finished with 25 saves. Muise made 26 stops for Peoria.
The two teams will square off again tomorrow night at the Civic Coliseum.
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