Ice Bears Hang On For 2-1 Win in Peoria Friday

Photo Credit: Tim Lester

Ice Bears Hang On For 2-1 Win in Peoria Friday

Klecha’s lone goal not enough as Rivermen come up short

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen fell behind 2-0 and fought back within one, but could not come up with the equalizer Friday night, eventually falling 2-1 in regulation to the Knoxville Ice Bears Friday. With the loss, the Rivermen fall to 8-4-5 on the season before they play a home-and-home pair with Evansville next weekend.

The first period saw Knoxville grab a lead a little over halfway through the period. With Cole Hutchinson in the sin bin for slashing at 9:45 of the frame, the Ice Bears worked the puck to Jason Price at the top of the slot, and the Knoxville captain wound up and fired a slap shot from the blue line. The shot found its way through traffic and Knoxville winger Luke Sandler redirected it past Rivermen goaltender Tyler Parks at 11:17 of the opening frame for a 1-0 advantage. The Rivermen outshot the Ice Bears 13-7 in the period but went into the first intermission trailing 1-0.

Knoxville added to their lead midway through the second. Joseph Manno put a shot on goal from the right circle of the Rivermen zone that Parks kicked aside with his left pad. The puck found its way off Parks’ pad and onto the waiting stick of Sandler, who potted his second goal of the evening for the Ice Bears to make it 2-0 at 10:20 of the period.

The Rivermen would cut Knoxville’s lead in half at the 15:59 mark of the second period. Rivermen winger Cody Dion corralled a loose puck along the right-wing boards of the Peoria zone and sent a pass up ice to Dakota Klecha. Klecha received the puck and sped into the Knoxville, deked Ice Bears defenseman Jake Flegel, and wristed a laser beam past goaltender Brian Billet to cut the Knoxville lead to 2-1 heading into the second intermission. The score held at 2-1 throughout the third period, to give Knoxville the 2-1 regulation final.

Parks took the loss in goal, falling to 2-4-3 on the season after he stopped 25 of 27 shots faced. The loss is Parks’ first regulation defeat as a member of the Rivermen, and his first overall regular-time loss since November 11 at Roanoke as a member of the Evansville Thunderbolts.

Notes: With his assist in the second period, Dion has a 6-game point streak at Carver Arena dating back to 11/4 vs. Pensacola…The Rivermen went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, and are now scoreless in their last 28 power plays…The win is Knoxville’s first ever victory in Peoria…The Ice Bears also earned their first regulation victory over the Rivermen since January 3, 2015 in Knoxville…The Ice Bears’ only other regulation defeat of the Rivermen came November 20, 2014, also at Knoxville…With the loss, Parks is 0-1-2 in three starts at Carver Arena…The Rivermen return to action Friday December 16th when they travel to Evansville, IN to take on the Thunderbolts at 7:15 p.m….The game will be broadcast live, starting with a 7 o’clock pregame show, 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)