Rivermen and Ice Gators renew ECHL playoff rivalry in SPHL

PEORIA, ILL – History has an interesting way of repeating itself.

The SPHL playoffs get underway this week and it brings the Louisiana Ice Gators and the Peoria Rivermen battle together in a first-round, best of three clash. For old time hockey fans, this matchup is a rerun of sorts.

Hockey teams from these two cities have skirmished in 1997 in an epic battle for the rights to appear in the ECHL Championship series. The Ice Gators would eventually win that series that had several games got into multiple overtimes.The two teams met again in 2000 in the Championship series and Peoria staged an epic comeback to win the Kelly Cup.

It is now 2015 and the two teams are set to face off again, this time as part of the SPHL.

Peoria won the regular season points championship by five points over 2^nd place Columbus. Louisiana skates in with the sixth (and final) playoff spot with a cushy 12-point differential over 7^th place Fayetteville. Thirteen points separated these top and bottom seeds.

What can we expect from this best-of-three series? Probably closer games than you might expect when top and bottom seeded teams play. Both teams are great with the special teams, both with a man advantage and killing penalties.

Peoria may be a bit more balanced in their scoring attack. Just about anyone on skates can carry the team on any given night. Concentrate the defense on Garret Vermeersch and Josh Harris and Alex Hagaman and Dan Bremner will have a big night. Goaltender Kyle Rank and the defense can carry the team, too.

On the other end, the Ice Gators counter with the league’s best power play and Marco Di Fillippo between the pipes. Wait. Who’s the new guy? Scott Diebold has been lights out in the four games he players…and he wasn’t even the regular starter for his college team, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

What to watch for:

Watch Peoria pour on the shots. They led the league in SOG during the regular season and the Ice Gators were in the bottom half of the league in SOG allowed. Di Filippo and Diebold will be busy.
Louisiana power play is tops in the SPHL and Peoria led the league in minor penalties during the regular season. That should worry Rivermen fans.
Intensity. A letdown by either team for even a shift could lead to an early tee-time. A short-series like this can turn on a bad line change. You will have to play a full sixty minutes. If history is a judge, it could be 80+ minutes in these games. Don’t blink.

The Keys of the Series:

For Louisiana, they need to make the Cajundome loud, come out with an intense but clean game. Take advantage of every power play.

For Peoria, the number one key is to stay out of the penalty box. They also need to rain shots and play at full speed for the entire game.

Prediction: This is the bane of sportswriting. It is even worse with a three-game series that starts on the road for the #1 seed. I predict overtime. I predict questionable referee call (and non-calls). I predict a grudge that carries over into next season. I predict I will submit this article without picking a winner.

By the numbers…

Louisiana Ice Gators
27-21-8
Sixth Place, SPHL
Home: 15-10-3
Road: 12-11-5
Last 10: 6-3-1
Avg Attendance: 2336

Peoria Rivermen
36-17-3
First Place, SPHL
Home: 19-8-1
Road: 17-9-2
Last 10: 7-3-0
Avg Attendance: 4061

Head-to-Head
LOU 2-1-3
PIA 4-1-1

Minor Penalties
LOU – 269 or 4.8/game
PIA – 326 or 5.8/game

Power Play % (League Rank)
LOU 20% (1)
PIA 19% (2)

Penalty Kill %
LOU 84.0% (3)
PIA 86.9% (1)

Shots For
LOU 1569 (8) 28/gm
PIA 1971 (1) 35/gm

Shots Against
LOU 1757 (5)
PIA 1619 (1)