Peoria Falls 4-3 to Storm Despite Valiant Effort
April 5, 2024 - 10:40 pm
MOLINE, IL – Despite a valiant effort by some key Rivermen veterans and a new rookie forward, the Peoria Rivermen fell to the Quad City Storm 4-3 on Friday night at Vibrant Arena at the Mark in the final road game of the regular season.
Quad City netted the first goal of the game early in the first period, ending an eight-game streak of Peoria netting the first goal of the game. The Rivermen nearly had the equalizer with less than a minute left in the first period, but rookie Mathew Rehding’s first professional goal was waved off due to a Peoria player in the crease. Thus the Rivermen trailed 1-0 after the first period.
Undeterred by his first goal being waved off, Rehding redoubled his efforts in the second period. A nifty pass from Mike Gelatt found Rehding alone in the slot and the rookie from Brampton, Ontario made no mistake as he rifled a shot into the net to tie the game 1-1. About four minutes later Rehding struck again in the aftermath of a Rivermen two-on-one. Alec Baer was able to feed a pass across the ice to Alec Hagaman who sent a few shots on net from the side of the net. The puck deflected off of goaltender Brent Moran into the slot where Rehding got two whacks at the rebound. Rehding was able to find the net again on his second look at the puck to put the Rivermen up 2-1.
But the Storm found daylight with three goals in the third period to erase the 2-1 Rivermen lead and go up 4-2. Peoria was able to get one back courtesy of Alec Baer who was able to deposit a rebound off of a point shot in front. Despite that, the Rivermen could not find the equalizer and fell to the Storm 4-3. Despite the loss, Peoria out-shot the Storm 47-21 over the course of the game and played most of the game in the Storm zone.
Peoria will host the regular season finale at Carver Arena on Saturday night against the Quad City Storm in the final contest before playoffs. Face-off is set for 7:15 pm.
Photo: Tim Lester - Field Pass Hockey
