Rivermen Conclude Historic Season with 5-1 Win Saturday
Published on April 9, 2016 under SPHL (SPHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Peoria, IL - The Peoria Rivermen put a stamp on the best regular season in Southern Professional Hockey League history with a 5-1 win over the Columbus Cottonmouths in the regular season finale Saturday night. The win gives Peoria a 39-12-5 regular season mark with the first round of the President's Cup Playoffs starting Wednesday night in Macon.
The Rivermen started the scoring early with a tally less than two minutes into the first period. Mike Gurtler carried into the Columbus zone and with 1:55 gone by in the game, he fired past the blocker of Columbus goaltender Andrew Loewen to give Peoria the 1-0 lead. The Rivermen doubled their lead at the 4:39 mark of the first when Mike Gurtler's long pass through neutral ice found the stick of Chris Wilson, who broke away into the Cottonmouths zone and flicked a forehand past Loewen to make it 2-0.
The Rivermen continued building their lead in the second period. With the teams skating four men aside, the puck came down to the right corner of the Columbus zone, where Adam Stuart carried it down the goal line and across the front of the Snakes crease before he slid a backhand around Loewen to make it 3-0. The Rivermen extended their lead to 4-0 at 18:55 of the second on a goal from Connor Toomey, assisted by Wilson and Gurtler to send the game into the second intermission at 4-0.
The Cottonmouths broke up Peoria goaltender Kyle Rank's blank slate at 9:08 of the third when Rusty Hafner entered into the zone and fired a wrist shot from the high slot past Rank to make it 4-1. Peoria answered back with a power-play marker at 15:14 of the third, from the top of the right circle Ben Power passed to Josh Harris in the left corner. Harris then fed to Cody Dion atop the Columbus crease and Dion buried it past Loewen for the 5-1 final score.
Rank stopped 31 of 32 shots he faced to earn his 21st victory between the pipes. Rank finishes the regular season with a league-best 2.15 goals against average.
SPHL Stories from April 9, 2016
- RiverKings Close Regular Season with Thriller... - Mississippi RiverKings
- Rivermen Conclude Historic Season with 5-1 Win Saturday - Peoria Rivermen
- Ice Flyers set round one playoff schedule after 4-3 OT loss to Mississippi - Pensacola Ice Flyers
- IceGators Dominate Ice Bears to End Regular Season - Louisiana IceGators
- Rivermen Game Notes vs Columbus - Peoria Rivermen
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