Havoc rally for Game 1 win over Rivermen

Peoria, IL – – The Huntsville Havoc were down by two goals for two periods, and for a moment, three, against the best team in the SPHL regular season. The Peoria Rivermen had dominated the first period of play and had even stretched their lead to three goals at one point in the second period. The Havoc came storming back, scoring three goals in three minutes to take the lead in the third period and hold on to win Game 1 of the SPHL President Cup series 6-5 in front of a very disappointed crowd of 1889 at the Peoria Civic Center.

Christian Powers, Tyler Piacentini, Sy Nutkevich, and Justin Fox all scored third period goals to lead the dramatic comeback for the Havoc. Mike Gurtler tacked on a score late in the period with Peoria goaltender Tyler Parks pulled for an extra attacker, but the Rivermen could not close the gap.

Peoria’s Joe Kalisz started the scoring off with a power play goal just seven second into the first penalty of the game. He also scored later in the period.

Kalisz sandwiched his two first period goals around a power play goal by Huntsville’s Derek Perl. This tied the game for five minutes in the middle of the period.

Ben Oskroba roofed a shot from the top of the circle to close out the first period scoring and sending Peoria to the locker room with a 3-1 lead.

The teams traded goals in the second period, with Peoria’s Alex Hagaman scoring a breakaway goal before Powers returned the favor for Huntsville seven seconds later.

While Huntsville could not close the two-goal deficit, the momentum was certainly swinging by the end of the second period with the score 4-2 in favor of the home team.

Keegan Asmundsen pocketed the win, stopping 25 of thirty shots. Tyler Parks stopped 24 of thirty in the loss. Both teams scored once on the power play as each team had two opportunities.

The series now shifts to Huntsville on Friday, where the Havoc can close out the

RIvermen with a in there. A win for Peoria would bring the series back home for them for a deciding game three on Sunday.

Contact the author at Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com or follow him on Twtter @SLBatPHN.