Rivermen Cruise Past Thunderbolts Saturday Night
Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen scored 40 seconds into the first period and held the Evansville Thunderbolts scoreless until the final 72 seconds as Peoria coasted to a 5-1 victory over the Thunderbolts at Carver Arena Saturday night. The win, Peoria’s first since November 24, improves the Rivermen to 10-1-3 on the season before tomorrow afternoon’s showdown with the Huntsville Havoc at Carver Arena.
The Rivermen started the scoring with a goal just 40 seconds into regulation. Rivermen winger Ben Blasko took a pass through the neutral zone and carried into the Evansville end, sending a cross-ice feed to teammate Austin Vieth. Vieth snapped a shot past Thunderbolts netminder Braeden Ostepchuk for the 1-0 Peoria lead with 19:20 remaining in the first period. A lengthy delay ensued as stuffed animals from Peoria’s annual Teddy Bear Toss were collected from the playing surface.
The Rivermen pulled away with a pair of goals in the middle stages of the second period. Rivermen center Joseph Widmar took a pass from Vieth into the left-wing circle of the Thunderbolts zone, and rilfled a wrister past Ostepchuk at 9:35 of the frame. Rivermen winger Mike Gurtler tipped a Nick Neville point drive over Ostepchuk’s shoulder for the 3-0 edge at 12:47 of the middle frame.
The Rivermen piled on and pulled away late in the third period with goals from Guillame Naud and Blasko to make it 5-0. Evansville broke up Peoria goaltender Storm Phaneuf’s shutout bid at 18:48 of the third for the 5-1 final score. Phaneuf stopped 13 of 14 shots faced in the game to earn the win in net. With the victory, Phaneuf improves to 3-0-1 on the season and earns his first regulation victory since November 17 at Evansville.
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