Rivermen Drop Bulls 3-1 Saturday Night, Surge into First

Photo Credit: Dennis Sievers/Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Drop Bulls 3-1 Saturday Night, Surge into First

Santaguida shines in home debut, earns first pro victory

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen rallied for the second straight night to defeat the Birmingham Bulls 3-1 before 4,407 Saturday night. The win, Peoria’s second straight, lifts the Rivermen to first place in the SPHL standings early in the season.

The Bulls opened the scoring in the first period with a power play goal. While Rivermen winger Connor Gorman sat in the sin bin for slashing, Bulls defenseman Jon Rey received a pass in the slot from teammate Brandon Fehd, and one-timed a shot over sprawled Rivermen goaltender Mike Santaguida for a 1-0 Birmingham edge at 8:44 of the period.

The Rivermen evened the score when they got on the board late in the second period. Rivermen winger Cody Dion circled behind the Bulls net, came out of the right-wing corner and misfired on a backhanded wraparound attempt. The puck found Rivermen winger Mike Gurtler in the right circle, where he snapped the puck under the crossbar and over the glove of Bulls goaltender Charlie Millen to knot the score 1-1 at 14:57 of the middle frame.

The Rivermen grabbed the lead for good with a power-play tally late in the second stanza. With four seconds remaining on Bulls winger Alexander Taulien’s slashing penalty, Peoria defenseman Ben Oskroba entered the right wing of the Birmingham zone, and fed a pass to the slot, where Dion blasted a one-timer past Millen for a 2-1 lead at the 18:42 mark of the period.

Peoria sealed the victory late in the final period, with new Birmingham’s netminder on the bench in favor of an extra skater. Rivermen winger Alec Hagaman collected a loose puck in the Rivermen zone and skated up ice in tandem with Gurtler. Hagaman slid a pass to Gurtler entering the right wing of the Bulls zone, and the Rochester, NY native shot the puck into the unprotected net at 19:13 of the third for the 3-1 final score.

The Santaguida stopped 15 of the 16 shots he saw to earn his first professional victory between the pipes. The win comes in his second professional start, after Santaguida suffered a loss Tuesday morning at Evansville.

Notes: Dion recorded his first multipoint game of the season…Pszenyczny has collected a point in two straight games…Gurtler has scored three goals in his last two games, and notched an empty netter for the second straight night…Millen was ejected at the 7:00 mark of the third period and issued a five-minute major penalty for spearing…The Rivermen return to action next Friday and Saturday night at Carver Arena when they welcome the Pensacola Ice Flyers to Peoria…Face off for each games is scheduled for 7:15…The broadcast of each game can be heard, starting with the pre-game show, at 6:55 p.m. at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 36th 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)