PEORIA, Ill – Manny Legace beat a ferocious attack for forty minutes Saturday night in front of a vocal crowd of 3,882 at Peoria’s Carver Arena. Legace’s play led his team to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Houston Aeros. Legace stopped 24 of 25 shots by Houston in the first two periods to keep his Peoria Rivermen in the game until the third period, when the rest of the team caught fire. “Manny was holding the fort for us for the first 40 minutes,” said Rivermen head coach Davis Payne. “Houston was clearly the better team (during the first two periods).” The first period ended with the scored tied up at zero, but it was anything but even. Houston outshot Peoria 13-5 and the Rivermen were only able to seriously pressure Houston goalie Anton Khudobin and the Aeros defense once. Meanwhile, the Aeros forced Legace to come up big time and time again. A classic example came at 7:49 into the first period when Houston’s Krys Kolanos skated in unmolested and Legace stopped him cold. The second period would be much like the first. The Rivermen missed a golden opportunity less than two minutes in when Trent Whitfield fanned during a three-on-two rush. Peoria would not threaten again until tipped in a pass from Chris Porter to tie the game at 1-1 with a minute and a half left in the period. In between was all Houston, with the Aeros outshooting the RIvermen 12-6 for the period. Again Legace kept Houston off the boards until, with Jori Lehtera boxed for hooking, Corey Locke threw a pass across the crease. Matt Beaudoin drew a sliding Legace to the ice before roofing a shot over Legace’s blocker to draw first blood. “Somber,” said Legace. Describing the Peoria locker room during the second intermission. “Having ten of the first twelve minutes of the third period with a man advantage picked our spirits up. We stayed with our game plan and did what we came to do, tonight, force a game seven.” The Rivermen started off the third period killing off the last 35 seconds of a Houston power play. The rest of the first seven minutes of the game would be spent with the Rivermen having a man advantage. The Aeros were able to kill of back to back penalties, but momentum had turned. Just after the second advantage expired, Jonathan Filewich lifted the puck over the stick of Khudobin during a scramble to put the Rivermen ahead. Immediately the Aeros were whistled again. Peoria had a goal waived off, but seconds later, Houston’s Robbie Earl was boxed for boarding for the fourth Houston penalty of the period. By the time all four penalties had expired, the Rivermen were ahead by one and burned ten minutes off the third period clock. Both teams would bring pressure the rest of the way. Legace turned away Earl at 15:25 with a big save that drew loud applause from the home crowd. With 2:05 left in the period, Peoria’s Jeff Cowan laid a heavy check on Houston’s Locke. Locke retaliated, drawing a double-minor and a game misconduct forcing Houston played short-handed the rest of the way. After the game, both teams were looking forward to Monday night and game seven. “Game seven should be fun,” said Houston head coach Kevin Constantine. “There’s nothing more exciting. In a way, you could have predicted this. These teams played close during the season and this series has been back-and forth.” Payne agreed. “There is such a finality to a game seven. It is gut-wrenching but it is an awesome situation to be in.” Payne does not believe the Rivermen have the momentum going into Game Seven after winning Game Six. “I have a different viewpoint on momentum than some,” said Payne. “I don’t think any team sleeps on momentum. Once the game is over, it is over. You start again when they drop the puck for the next game.” They will drop that puck at 7:05pm in Peoria on Monday, April 27 for the right to play the Milwaukee Admirals in the Division Finals.
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