PEORIA, ILL – The 7082 school kids who attended a rare 10AM hockey game in Peoria on Tuesday morning during the “Field Trip Face-Off” can now answer these questions, confidently.
How many people live in Canada? (Over 33 million)
What temperature is the ice at Carver Arena? (a steady 24 degree Fahrenheit)
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? (Spongebob Squarepants – I think they knew that one already)
Who takes advantage of a bad penalty kill unit? (the Peoria Rivermen)
The Rivermen scored on two of their four power play chances and snapped up two points in the standings, beating the Milwaukee Admirals 6-3. Milwaukee is last in the AHL in penalty kill percentage.
Sustained pressure by Milwaukee lead to the first goal of the game. Jake Allen, the Rivermen goaltender, went to his knees for a save but Chris Mueller had enough time to lift the puck over Allen’s pads for the 1-0 lead. Kyle Wilson had the assist at 7:23 of the first period.
The Rivermen then exploited a season-long weakness of the Admirals when Danny Syvret tied the game on a power play goal. With goaltender Jeremy Smith screened by Brett Sterling, Syvret unloaded a feed from teammate Derek Nesbitt that skimmed the ice and hit the back of the net, untouched. TJ Hensick also had an assist at 16:55 of the first period to help knot the score at one, each.
Cade Fairchild cashed in on another Rivermen power play at 6:58 of the second period when he skated toward the slot, drawing the defense, before dumping the puck back to Phil McRae. McRae slapped the puck home, giving the Rivermen a lead they would not relinquish. Shaun Heska also assisted on the goal.
At 16:47 of the second period, a penalty on Sterling expired as Evgeny Grachev battled above the circle. Sterling entered the play and took the loose puck from Grachev and walked into the slot for a shot. Smith made a good pad save but Adam Cracknell was right there and flipped the puck over Smith for a 3-1 Rivermen lead.
At 4:42 of the third period Peoria did it again. In a replay of the second goal, the fourth goal involved Syvret taking a pass from Nesbitt, drawing the defense as he headed toward the slot before dumping a pass behind him. Hensick filled the net for the 4-1 lead.
At this point, the game was interrupted for a fight between Jeff Foss and Phil McRae. Both players machine-gunned shots to the face to each other for a solid minute before Foss threw McRae to the ice.
Later, with Syvret boxed for tripping, Milwaukee pressured Peoria hard. Allen lost his stick and play continued for several seconds as the puck came out from behind the net. Victor Bartley finally put the puck behind the stickless Allen at 12:43 of the period. Jonathon Blum and Juuso Puustinen pocketed assists on the play.
The scoring was done yet – not by a long shot. A neutral zone turnover benefited Cracknell, who skated the puck to the faceoff circle and let fly a shot at 13:43 of the third period. Jonathan Cheehoo was screening Smith and the shot clanked in off the corner post. The unassisted goal brought the score to 5-2.
Peoria let the Admirals back into the game at 17:54 when a defensive breakdown left an easy shot for Ryan Thang. Allen made the initial stop and stymied the first rebound attempt but had no defensive help as Thang lofted the second rebound over the well-positioned Allen, drawing the Admirals within two at 5-3.
On the following face off, Smith was pulled for an extra attacker. Cheechoo closed out the scoring with an empty net goal with 36 second to play. He was assisted by Fairchild, making the final tally 6-3 in favor of the home team.
Peoria took 40 SOG while Milwaukee snapped 30 attempts. The Admirals went one for five on the power play while, as mentioned above, the Rivermen went two for four. Smith stopped 34 of 39 shots while Allen stopped 30 of 27.
The Rivermen host Grand Rapids for a pair of games Friday and Saturday. Those game times are a more reasonable 7PM.
Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
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