Ice Flyers Score Early, Often, Complete Weekend Sweep Sunday
February 12, 2017 4:05 pm
Pensacola Ice Flyers
Photo Credit: Addison Blair/Peoria Rivermen
Ice Flyers Score Early, Often, Complete Weekend Sweep Sunday
Pensacola clinches season series with Peoria via 4-0 shutout
Pensacola, FL – The Pensacola Ice Flyers scored 1:41 into the game and never lost the lead, cruising to a 4-0 win over the Peoria Rivermen in Pensacola Sunday. The loss, Peoria’s fourth in a row, leaves the Rivermen in fifth place in the SPHL standings before a three-game home weekend against Knoxville.
The Ice Flyers started the scoring with a power-play tally early in the first period. With Rivermen center Garrett Vermeersch in the box for tripping 56 seconds into the contest, Pensacola captain Corey Banfield put one past Peoria goaltender Tyler Green at for a 1-0 lead.
The Ice Flyers doubled their lead at 6:53 of the first. 30 seconds after a Pensacola penalty had expired, Banfield’s pass across the slot found former Rivermen center Josh Harris cruising through the right circle, and his wrist shot beat Green for a 2-0 Pensacola lead.
The Ice Flyers continued adding to their lead with a goal early in the second. At the 4:53 mark of the period, with the teams skating 5-on-5, Pensacola defenseman Nathan Bruyere’s shot from the top of the right circle found its way through traffic and past Green for a 3-0 Ice Flyers lead.
Pensacola extended the lead to four just past the game’s halfway point. At 10:39 of the second, a loose puck squirted to the left point of the Rivermen zone, where Ice Flyers forward Riley Spraggs corralled it, spun, and fired past Green for an unassisted tally to make it 4-0.
Green stopped 29 of 33 shots faced through the first two periods as he took his third consecutive loss between the pipes. Green was relieved by Storm Phaneuf after the second intermission, and Phaneuf stopped all five shots registered by the Ice Flyers in the final 20 minutes.
Notes: Sunday’s game was the 300th career SPHL game of Rivermen winger Adam Stuart, and the 150th professional game in the career of Peoria defenseman Ben Oskroba…Peoria has lost its last seven games in Pensacola, dating back to a Rivermen win January 31, 2015…Peoria has lost four straight games for the first time all season…The Rivermen return to action Friday night when they return home to Carver Arena to play the first of a three-game, three-night series with the Knoxville Ice Bears…Friday’s game starts at 7:05 Central Time…The broadcast of the game can be heard, starting 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)
