Fayetteville, NC – The Peoria Rivermen got a first-period goal by Adam Stuart and held on to take a 1-0 win over the Fayetteville FireAntz in Game 1 of the SPHL President’s Cup semi-finals. The win puts Peoria ahead 1-0 with the Best-of-3 series returning to Peoria for Game 2 Friday night.
The Rivermen took the lead with a power-play goal late in the first period. With Graeme Strukoff in the box for cross-checking, the puck was played from behind the Fayetteville net to Adam Stuart between the hash marks, and he ripped a shot top-shelf past FireAntz netminder Parker Van Buskirk to make it 1-0 Peoria.
The 1-0 Peoria lead held through the rest of the game, as the Rivermen were out-shot 8-6 in the second period before out-shooting the FireAntz 6-3 in the third. Fayetteville pulled Van Buskirk for an extra skater at 18:42 of the third period. The FireAntz were unable to muster a shot on goal with the extra attacker, and the Rivermen held on for the one-goal win.
Rank stopped all 19 shots he faced in the game to earn his second shutout in three appearances in this postseason. The clean-slate is the third of Rank’s playoff career.
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