Rivermen Battle Back Again, Beat Mayhem Saturday

Photo Credit: Dennis Sievers/Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Battle Back Again, Beat Mayhem Saturday

Phaneuf earns win in relief, Kalisz scores twice as Peoria finalizes record regular season

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen closed out the 2018-19 regular season in winning fashion Saturday, battling back to defeat the Macon Mayhem 5-3 at Carver Arena. The record-setting victory leaves Peoria with a 40-7-9 record heading into the SPHL Challenge Round beginning next week.

The Mayhem opened a two-goal lead and chased Rivermen goaltender Stephen Klein from the contest in the first 13:29 of the opening period. At 1:49 Macon’s Larry Smith sent a drive through traffic from the high slot and past Klein for 1-0, and Derek Sutliffe met up with a bouncing puck at the bottom of the left-wing circle of the Rivermen zone and roofed it over Klein’s shoulder for 2-0 at 13:29, chasing Klein from the game in favor of netmate Storm Phaneuf.

Peoria got on the board at the 17:10 mark of the first period while on the power-play. Rivermen winger Joe Kalisz took the puck out of the left-wing corner, banked it off Mayhem defender Jake Faiella and past goaltender Kevin Entmaa for 2-1.

Kalisz lit the lamp again in the second period, gathering the rebound of teammate Pijus Rulevicius’ wrister from the right point and finding the open net to tie the game at 2-2 at the 8:07 mark of the middle period.

Macon regained the lead on a power-play midway through the second period. Mayhem center Caleb Cameron took the puck in the low right wing of the Rivermen zone, whirled, and sent a pass to winger Jake Trask, who fired it past a sprawling Phaneuf for 3-2 at 10:58 of the frame.

Just 29 seconds before the second intermission, Rivermen forward Beau Walker took a feed from teammate Justin Greenberg and fired a shot from inside the right circle past Entmaa for to tie the game 3-3.

The third period sat scoreless until the 12:16 mark when Rivermen forward Ryan Siiro wristed a shot from the right circle through traffic. The shot squirted through new Macon netminder Ian Sylves for Siiro’s second goal in as many nights, giving Peoria their first lead of the game at 4-3. The Rivermen held Macon to just four shots on goal in the final 20 minutes and Austin Vieth added an empty-net goal for the 5-3 final score.

Phaneuf earned the win in relief for the Rivermen, stopping 12 of the 13 shots faced in the final 46:31 of regulation to improve to 14-2-4. Klein stopped 4 of 6 shots faced prior to his departure in the first period.

Notes: Peoria finishes the regular season with a 40-7-9 record, setting new SPHL marks for most wins (40), most points (89), fewest regulation losses at home (1) and overall (7), fewest goals allowed (123), best win percentage (.795), and tied the league mark for most home wins in a season (23)…Rivermen winger Ben Blasko wrapped up the season with 68 points, making him the first Rivermen player since Michel Mongeu won the 1989-90 IHL crown with 117 points…Kalisz netted two goals for the second straight night…Siiro netted his second game-winning goal in as many nights…Walker extended his person point streak to seven games…The Rivermen will determine their Challenge Round opponent Sunday during the Challenge Round Selection Show, streamed live online through the SPHL’s Facebook page beginning at 6:30 PM CDT at https://www.facebook.com/thesphl/

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 37th 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)