Rivermen drop Chicago, 5-2

PEORIA, Ill – The Peoria Rivermen rode the Cheechoo train to a 5-2 victory over

the Chicago Wolves on Sunday night in front of 3001 excited fans. Jonathon Cheechoo and Adam Cracknell both had a goal and two assists and TJ Hensick lit the lamp twice as the Rivermen won at home for the first time this season.
First goal for this game went to the Rivermen and Hensick. Brett Sterling and Derek Nesbitt broke in two-on-one against Chicago goaltender Eddie Lack. Sterling passed to Nesbitt but the shot was deflected behind the net. Sterling’s momentum carried him behind the net, as well, where he found the puck and passed it out front to a trailing Hensick. Hensick put it past the face-down Lack for the 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the opening period.
Just 43 seconds later, Kevin Connauton tossed in a lazy shot from the pointthat hit the crossbar and deflected behind Rivermen goalie Ben Bishop to tie the game. Jordan Schroeder and Victor Oreskovich were credited with assists as momentum seemed to shift.
At 12:09 of the first, Peoria’s Danny Syvret unloaded from the right point. The shot was blocked and Cheechoo was on the left side for the rebound. As he moved right, Cheechoo took the goalies attention and the defender with him, but couldn’t get to the puck. Instead, Cracknell charged in and filled the empty net for the 2-0 Peoria lead.
The first period did feature one heavyweight fight, as Peoria’s Kyle Hagel and Chicago’s Matt Clackson doffed their helmets and circled for a moment beforetrading blows. Trade blows they did. Both players grappled and switched hands well. Clackson dictated the terms but Hagel answered admirably. Clackson landed several punches to the back of Hagel’s head while Hagel worked the body of Clackson and landed several heavy blows to Clacksons face. Both players returned to the game after their five-minute penalty.
In the second period, Cracknell stole the puck in the neutral zone and did some nifty skating, charging Lack with Cheechoo and Cade Fairchild in tow. Fairchild drove the net pulling the defensive attention and Cheechoo backed off. Cracknell chose to dish to Cheechoo, who fired it in from the top of the slot for the 3-1 lead at 4:15 of the second period.
Just over two minutes later, on a face-off to Lack’s right, the puck came out to the blueline where Mark Cundari was waiting. Cundari lifted a hard shot that was locked by Lack. The puck slid to the right, along the goal line below the circle where Hensick lofted it back, over the stick of Lack and in for the 4-1 lead.
Chicago got one back at 10:32 of the period when Mark Mancari took a beautiful cross-ice pass from Dean Strong and caught Bishop looking the wrong direction. Bill Sweatt got the other assist on the play that pulled Chicago to within two of the Rivermen.
The only scoring in the third period came on a heads-up play by Cheechoo. With just over two minutes remaining, Cheechoo took the puck from his own blueline and headed into the zone against a lone defender. As he approached the net, the defender went down on the ice to block the anticipated shot. Instead, Cheechoo just gathered the puck and lifted it over the outstretched defender to a trailing Anthony Nigro, who buried for the 5-2 lead. Cracknell got the second assist.
Peoria out shot Chicago 37-29 and neither team scored on the power play. Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com