Rivermen Hold off Storm for 2-1 Victory
March 29, 2024 - 10:40 pm
MOLINE, IL – The Peoria Rivermen held off the Quad City Storm on Friday night to secure a close 2-1 victory against their rivals at Vibrant Arena at the Mark in Moline.
The Rivermen were able to jump out to a 1-0 lead after Cayden Cahill corralled the puck at the side of the net and curled it into the slot. Seeing traffic in front of the net, Cahill picked his spot and fired a hard shot that sailed into the back of the net. Quad City answered with 65 seconds left in the period off of a point shot that produced a rebound at the side of the goal. But tied 1-1, captain Alec Hagaman led the charge to get the lead back. Hagaman skated up the left-wing side and fought off a check along the wall. With open ice, Hagaman slopped a pass to Jordan Ernst uncovered in the slot. Ernst rifled a hard wrist shot into the net past Quad City netminder Brent Moran to put the Rivermen back up 2-1.
After a scoreless second period, Peoria faced a critical penalty kill to start off the third period. The Rivermen stood tall in the third blocking shots and killing penalties to hold off the Quad City attack in the third. The most harrowing part came late in the third period when a short-angle shot rang off the cross-bar and most of the Storm players thought they had tied the game. But the officials waved off any potential goal and held the Rivermen lead.
Peoria secured their fourth straight victory against the Storm and first in the Quad Cities since December 26. The Rivermen will travel to take on the Storm again on Saturday night. Face-off is set for 7:10 pm.
