PEORIA, Ill – A night after being embarrassed with their worst loss of the season, a 7-2 shellacking at the hands of the Oklahoma City Barons, the Rivermen took a chance to immediately redeem themselves against the same team and promptly squandered it, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Barons in Peoria on Friday night in front of 4947 fans.
The Rivermen can often be their own worst enemy, and Friday night was a case in point. The Barosn Colin McDonald slashed Peoria’s Graham Mink just over seven minutes into the game. Referee Ryan Fraser raised his hand and blew his whistle. Mink, however, after the play was dead, chased down McDonald and was subsequently called for roughing, eliminating a chanc for a Rivermen power play. On the esuing four-on-four, Oklahoma City scored the first goal of the game on a delayed penalty. Teemu Hartikainen was credited with the goal for the Barons, but it really set the tone for the evening.
In the second period, the Rivermen tied the game when Derek Nesbitt combined with Nathan Oystrick and TJ Hensick for the only Peoria goal of the night. While the Rivermen generated 34 shots on goal for the night, most of the best chances they had were when Nesbitt, Hensick and Oystrick were on the ice.
Milan Kytnar and Brayn Helmer scored for the Barons in the second period and Phillippe Cornet added the final nail in the coffin midway through the third period.
The Rivermen did better with their fists, and they had plenty of opportunity with three fights. Oystrick and Ben Ondrus had a first period tilt. Oystrick landed a several punches to Ondrus’ face before pulling Ondrus’ jersey over his head and the linesmen stepped in.
Ryan O’Mara and Tyler Shattock got tangled and fought later in the first period. Shattock didn’t fare well against the Baron’s O’Mara in what amounts to little more than a jersy-pulling contest.
The feature was a heavyweight bout between Peoria’s enforcer-elect Brennan Evans and Oklahoma City’s incumbant tough-guy, Alex Plante. Plante was seen abusing Graham Mink while they were both down on the ice, which Referee Fraser looked on but did nothing.
Moments later, Evans found Plante and the heavyweight bout commenced. It was a long fight – Evans is the clear winner with the best punch being a big uppercut that catches Plante on the chin.
The Rivermen must be glad to see the Barons leave. They’ll try again tomorrow night against a new opponent, the Texas Stars.
Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
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