Peoria, IL – The hockey season lives on for another week in Huntsville and Peoria.
Huntsville arrives by virtue of outscoring Mississippi 9-8 over the three-game first-round 
series. Peoria earned it’s berth with a two-game sweep of Knoxville, out-scoring their opponent by an aggregate of 9-2.
What will we see when the two most popular teams (based on average attendance) meet in Round Two ?
Huntsville dominated the regular season series with a 4-1-0 record. (Peoria was, officially, 1-3-1). That said, these games were all early in the season when Peoria was not fairing well against any team.
Still, that’s a feather in the cap for the Havoc.
Goaltending will feature prominently, now doubt.
Four of the top ten goalies in the regular season are featured in this series.
Peoria’s Storm Phaneuf led all goaltenders in the league this season with a 2.06 GAA.
Tyler Parks is listed as his backup, his 2.39 GAA good enough for fourth in the league.
Tyler Steel’s sixth place 2.68 GAA and Adam Courchaine’s 2.91 GAA at ninth place pair up between the pipes for Huntsville.
Both teams are middle of the pack when it comes to penalties, right in the middle of the league as is their ability to kill penalties. Huntsville does have a better power play percentage.
Peoria’s power play unit was horrible for the first part of the season but has rebounded, of late.
Huntsville was balanced, scoring 37 points both at home and on the road. Peoria is a little better than that at home and a little worse on the road. Peoria has home-ice advantage and would host a tie-breaking Game Three, if necessary.
The Rivermen lost a league-leading 11 games in overtime or shoot-out. This may be a non-factor, though, as playoff overtime is five-on-five and there is no shootout. It is still a disturbing trend for Peoria fans to consider.
Three keys for Huntsville will be limiting second and third chance shots (rebounds), screening the goaltender, and banging the boards with good, hard checks.
Peoria has a good chance of advancing if the can get scoring from their blueline, win the battles in the corners, and, where shots on goal is concerned, make it rain.
Who wins?
In a three -game series, a lucky bounce here and a bad break there can make all the difference. So, with that caveat, the Havoc were a much better team when they played the Rivermen five and six months ago – no doubt.
The Rivermen are not that same team, now, though. Peoria may still be looking for it’s peak. The Havoc have already given up eight goals in the playoffs – a 2.66 GAA – while Peoria sits with a GAA of exactly 1.00.
This will not be the cakewalk Knoxville was, but Peoria has a slight edge if the series goes three games.
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