Rivermen Score Three Power-Play Goals, Coast to Eighth Straight

March 5, 2017 3:05 pm

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Photo Credit: Addison Blair

Rivermen Score Three Power-Play Goals, Coast to Eighth Straight

6-2 Sunday victory completes weekend sweep of Roanoke

 

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen scored three goals on the man advantage en route to a 6-2 win over the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Sunday at Carver Arena. The win, Peoria’s eighth straight, lifts the Rivermen into a second-place tie with idle Huntsville, four points behind first-place Macon in the SPHL standings.

 

The Rivermen opened the scoring early in the game’s opening period. The Rivermen rushed into the zone, and Peoria center Michael Colantone took a shot that was stopped by Roanoke goaltender Joey Ballmer. Colantone’s shot resulted in a rebound that was batted in out of midair by Rivermen winger Connor Gorman for a 1-0 Peoria lead at 1:46 of the first period.

 

The teams traded power-play goals in the middle portion of the first period. With Gorman in the sin bin for holding, the Rail Yard Dawgs worked the puck into the left wing of the Rivermen zone, and Roanoke center Steve Mele took a pass from the corner to the doorstep, where he snapped a shot past Rivermen goaltender Storm Phaneuf for a 1-1 tie at 9:36 of the period. Peoria retook the lead for good at 11:44 of the first with Roanoke winger Jeremy Beirnes in the box for cross-checking when a rebound off the end bourds came out past the post, and Rivermen winger Jeff Jones fought a second-effort past Ballmer for a 2-1 Rivermen lead.

 

The Rivermen build their lead with a pair of power-play tallies early in the second stanza.With Roanoke center Peter Gintoli boxed for interference at 19:29 of the first, Rivermen winger Adam Stuart worked the puck down the left wing boards, where Cody Dion picked it up, strolled down the goal line, and tucked a shot under the crossbar at 1:01 of the second. The Rivermen got another power-play tally from Dion at 5:22 of the second. After Roanoke center Zach Tatrn was sent to the penalty box for boarding, Dion muscled the puck into the slot and put a shot past Ballmer for a 4-1 Rivermen lead.

 

The Peoria advantage grew to 5-1 after the halfway point of the second. After Alec Hagaman came out of the box at the 10:06 mark, he carried the puck into the Roanoke zone 2-on-1 with Colantone, and Hagaman rifled a shot past Ballmer for a 5-1 Peoria lead at 10:31 of the period, chasing the Roanoke goaltender from the contest.

 

The Rail Yard Dawgs got a goal back while Peoria was on another man advantage later in the period. With Dawgs defenseman Mitchell Mueller boxed for high-sticking, Tatrn poked the puck out of his zone, ran off with a breakaway, and beat Phaneuf at 12:25 of the second for a 5-2 score.

 

The Rivermen pushed their lead back to four for good at 18:10 of the third with an even-strength tally. Rivermen defenseman Dave Pszenyczny took the puck from the left point, fed it to teammate Patrick Harrison in the left corner for the Roanoke zone, and Harrison slipped a pass through traffic across the slot to Dakota Klecha, who dunked it from the right post past new Roanoke netminder James Kruger for the eventual 6-2 final score.

 

Phaneuf stopped 31 of 33 shots faced between the pipes to earn his team-leading eighth win in a Rivermen uniform. The win is Phaneuf’s sixth consecutive personal victory to improve his record to 8-4-2 with Peoria.

 

Notes: Jones’ goal gives him six in his last three games, and a point or more in his last five contests…Dion recorded a pair of goals to improve his team-leading total to 21…Dion also notched the game-winning goal for his team-leading sixth…Peoria defenseman Brandon Greenside recorded three assists for the second time this season…Pszenyczny set a new SPHL career high with a three-assist performance…The Rivermen return to action when they begin the first of three consecutive road weekends next Saturday at Fayeteville at 6:30 central time…The broadcast of the game can be heard, starting with the pre-game show, at 6:15 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)