PEORIA, ILL – Things are always a little crazy on New Year’s Eve. The Rockford Ice Hogs and Peoria Rivermen got together with 6226 of their best friends to usher out 2011 at Carver Arena on Saturday night. A wild time was had by all, as the Rivermen and Ice Hogs fought tooth-and-nail to a 3-2 Peoria victory.
The night featured 30 penalties and, at one point, 9 different players were in the penalty boxes at the same time. Three fights, a triple pair of Roughing penalties and three different misconducts, including one player and one coach excused from the game early.
With team captain Adam Cracknell in the penalty box, the Rivermen penalty kill unit came through in the first period. Cade Fairchild took the puck through neutral zone traffic with Brett Sonne by his side. Fairchild broke into the right face-off circle and dished to Sonne in the left circle. As Sonne attacked the net, Rockford goaltender Alec Richards went down to block and Sonne kept the puck, moving across the goalmouth and burying the puck behind Richards for the shorthanded goal, giving the Rivermen a 1-0 lead.
Rockford came out for the second period ready to play. In fact, they held the Rivermen without a shot on goal for the first 11:52 of the period. In all, the Ice Hogs racked up 20 shots during the period while holding the Rivermen to just six.
Rockford was able to cash in on one of those shots with a rare power play goal. The red light went off as the net came loose during a pileup around Rivermen goalie Ben Bishop. The officials conferred. Once the ice chips settled, Brandon Segal had been credited with a goal and Andrew Shaw and Chris DiDomenico had assists. That tied the game at 1-1 just 4:17 into the second period.
Momentum seemed to shift again after a fight just over 12 minutes into the period. Ice Hog enforcer Brandon Bollig (102 PIMs previously) fought recent Rivermen call-up Chris Bruton (no PIMs in the AHL this season). Bruton was able to hold his own against the more experienced Bollig, landing a few good shots and tying him up a bit. While Bollig won the fight, Bruton’s efforts were to be rewarded.
The Rivermen tanks Bruton with a power play goal of their own just minutes later. Fairchild attempted to pass the puck from along the boards on the right side to Sonne and Cracknell, who were camped in front of the crease. Neither player was able to get a stick on it though and instead, it struck a defenders skate and ricocheted past Richards for the 2-1 Rivermen lead. Fairchild was credited with the goal with helpers from Phil McRae and Jay Barriball.
The third period opened with a fight as Sonne and Ryan Stanton dropped the gloves just 22 seconds into the period. As they came together, Sonne landed a big overhand right to Stanton’s face and then proceeded to put Stanton on the ice and that was that.
On the ensuing face off, though, Rockford’s Brandon Pirri put a shot from the bottom of the left circle over the shoulder of Bishop to tie the score.
The chippy game would get even chippier. More fisticuffs were to be had as Ice Hog Andrew Shaw and Rivermen Brennan Evans squared off in a heavyweight bout. This one was a draw after a lot of swings but no direct hits. It got exciting though when Jeremy Morin decided to help Shaw as the linesmen stepped in. He received a game misconduct and was ejected for his actions.
Later on in the period, Ted Dent, head coach of the Ice Hogs, showed his frustration after a missed call by the referee by swinging a stick over the boards and breaking it. That sent him to the showers early, as well.
Overall the Rivermen special teams scored three times, two out of eight chances on the power play and the shorthanded goal. The Ice Hogs scored once in five power play chances. Officially, Bishop stopped 35 of 37 shots while Richards stopped 23 of 26. Rockford had 37 shots on goal, including an incredible 20 in the second period.
The Rivermen wind up the New Year’s weekend with a game in Milwaukee on Sunday night before returning home on Friday for a game against the Chicago Wolves in Peoria.
Contact Shaun.Bill@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.