PEORIA, IL – Welcome to Peoria, Chris Rawlings.
The journeyman goaltender got his first start for the Peoria Rivermen on Saturday, introducing himself to his new team and 3,974 fans by shutting out the high octane scoring lines of the Pensacola Ice Flyers. Rawlings stopped all 30 shots he faced, as the Rivermen offense tallied four goals in the victory.
Walker Wintoneak had a goal and an assist to lead the offensive attack for Peoria.
Peoria Captain Dan Bremner opened the scoring one a two-on-one break-in at 7:25 of the first period. Pensacola goaltender Matt Zenzola was cheating a bit to his left, and Bremner shoveled the puck to the goalie’s right, lighting the lamp.
With the first period winding down, Wintoneak worked the puck through traffic and into the slot. Three defenders kept him from a shot, so he backhanded a pass to Timmy Hall, who was trailing. Hall blasted the puck past Zenzola to put the Rivermen up two-to-zip with just twenty seconds left to play in the opening period.
There was no scoring in the second period, but Bremner was ejected and assessed a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing. This is likely to lead to league action.
In the third period, Wintoneak was chasing a loose puck and could not get it. Filip Bjork went behind the net to push it up the ice. Wintoneak, standing at the corner of the crease, looked a bit surprised but lifted it with a backhand into the net for the 3-0 lead. Zenzola never had a chance on the officially unassisted goal.
Mike Gurtler added an empty net goal at the end, when the Ice Flyers pulled Zenola in an attempt to break the shutout. Zenola stopped 25 of 28 shots in the loss. Neither team scored on the power play.
The RIvermen are now off for almost two weeks, not playing until a tilt on November 3 in Southaven, MS. They will return home for a game against Knoxville on November 14.
Contact the author at Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
Follow him on Twitter @SLBatPHN .
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