Rivermen Outlast Mayhem, Hold on for 5-4 Win Saturday

Photo Credit: Addison Blair/Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Outlast Mayhem, Hold on for 5-4 Win Saturday

Hagaman’s four-point night sends Rivermen past Macon

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen and Macon Mayhem fought back and forth for 60 grueling minutes Saturday night as the Rivermen hung on to take a one-goal triumph, 5-4 at Carver Arena. The win, Peoria’s second in a row, lifts the Rivermen into a third-place tie with Knoxville in the SPHL standings to conclude the weekend.

The Rivermen grabbed an early lead with a pair of goals in the first four minutes of the opening period. The scoring started when a blast from the blue line by Rivermen defenseman Rich Ledy was initially stopped by Mayhem goaltender Curtis Martinu. The puck fluttered in front of the net and was collected by Rivermen winger Alec Hagaman, who swatted another shot on goal, before his teammate Jeff Jones slipped the puck between Martinu’s pads at 2:09 of the first for a 1-0 lead. The Rivermen doubled their lead 1:35 later with Peoria on the power play with Stathis Soumelidis in the sin bin for slashing. Rivermen defenseman Brandon Greenside blasted a shot from the high slot that was tipped in front of the net and past Martinu by Rivermen winger Connor Gorman to push the Peoria lead to 2-0.

The Mayhem came back to tie the game with a goal in the first period and another at the midway point of the second. At the 11:26 mark of the first, Mayhem winger Dennis Sicard fought the puck out of the right corner of the Peoria zone, and his teammate, Matt Johnson, carried across the goalmouth and beat Rivermen netminder Tyler Parks for a 2-1 score. The Mayhem tied the game at 9:32 of the second on Stephen Pierog’s unassisted goal at 9:32 of the middle stanza.

The teams traded goals just past the midway point of the second. At 12:19 of the second, Rivermen defenseman Dave Pszenyczny took a pass from Hagaman between the circles and rifled a shot past Martinu to take a 3-2 lead. The Mayhem answered 1:08 later when Daniel Echeverri’s pass from the point found Soumelidis all alone on the doorstep, and he beat Parks from point-blank range to tie the game 3-3.

The Rivermen pulled ahead and took the lead for good with a pair of goals just before the second intermission. With Martinu trying to cover the puck, Hagaman jammed it under the Macon goaltender and into the net for a 4-3 lead at 16:30 of the second. 48 seconds later on the power play, Rivermen winger Cody Dion added to the Rivermen lead when he swatted a puck out of the air and into the back of the ne, giving the Rivermen a 5-3 lead that would stand until the third period.

Macon cut into the Rivermen lead early in the third period when Macon winger Joel Wetmore took a pass from Chris Joseph, and drove to the left circle, wristing a shot past Parks at 1:24 of the third period to pull the Mayhem within one. The Rivermen would hold their 5-4 the rest of the way, surviving 1:11 of Macon fielding an extra skater in leiu of a goalie.

Parks earned the win in goal for the Rivermen in his first action since December 23, stopping 26 of 30 shots faced. With the win, Parks improves to 5-4-4 on the season, and 5-1-2 since joining the Rivermen.

Notes:  Hagaman set a new career high with four points in a single game….Hagaman also tallied his first multi-point game since he had three points at Huntsville March 11 of last season…. For the second time this season, the Rivermen scored 2 power-play goals after they last did so November 4, vs Pensacola….Pszenyczny scored his first goal of the season in the second period…. Brandon Greenside had his first point of the season when he logged an assist on Gorman’s power-play goal in the first…. The Rivermen return to action Friday January 20th when the Columbus Cottonmouths make their only trip of the season to Carver area…The game will start at 7:05 p.m….The broadcast of the game can be heard, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 35th season of professional hockey presented by Midwest Orthopaedic Center are on sale at the Toyota Box Office in the Peoria Civic Center, or by phone at the Rivermen office, located at 201 S.W. Jefferson Street, or over the phone at (309) 676-1040. For the latest Rivermen news and notes, follow online at www.rivermen.net or through Facebook (www.facebook.com/PeoriaRivermen) - Twitter(https://twitter.com/Peoria_Rivermen)