Rivermen Shut Out by Ice Bears Saturday

Photo Credit: Dennis Sievers/Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Shut Out by Ice Bears Saturday

Peoria suffers season’s first home regulation loss in 2-0 defeat

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen out-shot the Knoxville Ice Bears 38-18 but fell 2-0 to the Knoxville Ice Bears Saturday night at Carver Arena. Peoria’s second consecutive loss, and first regulation loss on home ice this season, drops them to 34-5-6 on the season before tomorrow afternoon’s weekend finale against the Quad City Storm.

The Ice Bears opened the scoring at 2:57 of the first period. Knoxville winger Lucas Bombardier’s shot from the right circle careened off Rivermen goaltender Stephen Klein’s blocker to Knoxville’s Stefan Brucato, who one-timed it into the Rivermen net, putting the Ice Bears ahead 1-0.

Knoxville doubled their lead just over five minutes into the second period. Knoxville winger Roberts Locans took a pass from teammate Scott Cuthrell and elevated a wrister from just inside the right circle past Klein for the 2-0 score.

The Rivermen produced several flurries of scoring chances in the final period, out-shooting Knoxville 13-6 in the final frame and 38-18 for the contest, but the Ice Bears and goaltender Cody Porter held off an extra-attacker surge for the final 90 seconds of the third period, earning Porter his first pro shutout. The shutout is the first clean-sheet against the Rivermen in 126 regular-season home games, dating back to a 3-0 loss to Pensacola November 29, 2014.

Notes: The Rivermen were shut out for the first time since a 4-0 loss at Pensacola February 12, 2017, a span of 122 regular-season games…The loss is Peoria’s first regular-season regulation defeat home since a 3-1 loss to Roanoke April 7 of last season…The Rivermen return to action tomorrow afternoon when they face the Quad City Storm at Carver Arena…Sunday is the season’s final Family Fun Kids Day of the 2018-19 schedule, presented by the Peoria Park District and the Peoria Journal Star…The Rivermen will have a pregame fan fest behind section 1 at Carver Arena beginning at 2:05 PM with inflatables provided by Fun On The Run, face painting by Wild Style Design, and balloon art by Unique Twist…Puck drop is set for 3:05…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 2:45 at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

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)