PEORIA, IL – Five bad minutes of hockey was all it took.
The Fayetteville FireAntz took advantage of a five minute lapse by the Peoria Rivermen in 
the second period to pick up a 4-3 road win in front of 3,541 fans in Peoria. The loss was just the seventh the Rivermen have suffered at home this season.
Garret Vermeersch got Poeria off to a good start early in the first period. He took a feed from Dan Bremner at the top of the near circle and fired a shot that beat Fayetteville goalie Kevin Murdock at the 2:16 mark to open the scoring.
The FireAntz answered back four minutes later thanks in part to an on-ice distraction. As two players began to discuss dropping the gloves, Kristaps Nimanis collected the puck and surprised Rivermen netminder Kyle Rank with a bullet that found the back of the net to tie the score. Before the end of the frame, Peoria went back in front when defenseman Nick Schneider’s shot from the point was redirected by Alec Hagaman past Murdock. Hagaman was in the perfect position for the tip as he and teammate Alex Hudson created a shooting lane for Schneider who took a feed from Ben Oskroba and fired.
Things fell apart for Peoria in the middle frame. Fayetteville’s Kyle McNeil dumped the puck into the Rivermen end and somehow it fooled Rank and went in at the 5:25 mark to even the score. Less than four minutes later, Rank did not hold the post, allowing Corey Tamblyn to successfully complete a wraparound move at 9:04 to put the FireAntz in front.
After allowing two “soft” goals, Rank was pulled in favor of backup Dustin Carlson. Unfortunately for Carlson, his defenders allowed Matt Robinson o get loose for a power play tally to bump the lead to 4-2.
Peoria used its timeout to regroup and the plan worked. The Rivermen created an offensive surge that forced a Fayetteville penalty. On the ensuing man advantage, Josh Harris beat Murdock to trim the margin to 4-3. Despite Peoria recording 23 shots in the period, the FireAntz held the lead going into the third.
On two separate occasions in the final period, the Rivermen thought they had tied the score. The first one came during a power play eleven minutes in when a shot got past Murdock and created a loud clank. The red light came on a second later, sending the crowd and the team into a celebration. Replays showed that the puck did indeed cross the line and came out in the blink of an eye but the SPHL does not allow replay to be used. The on-ice officials got together and after a lengthy discussion, ruled the puck had not gone in.
Murdock held the fort the rest of the way, making 55 saves to earn first star honors. Carlson, who made 19 saves in relief, was tagged with the loss which dropped his record to 3-2. Rank finished his 29 minutes of play with 12 saves. Fayetteville went one-for-two on the power play while Peoria was one-for-four.
The two teams will meet again in Peoria Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
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