Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen and Knoxville Ice Bears will face off in a first round series in the President Cup playoffs. Peoria has home-ice advantage and will host 
Game 1 in Peoria on Wednesday, April 12. Game two will be in Knoxville on Friday, April 14, and, if necessary, a deciding Game 3 will be back in Peoria Saturday night, April 15.
In the season series, both teams pocketed nine points in seven games. Peoria with a 3-1-3 record and Knoxville 4-2-1. The #3 seed Rivermen have home-ice advantage.
Knoxville had a neutral split home vs away while Peoria does tend to do better in front of the home crowd.
Both teams are proficient on the penalty kill, with the Ice Bear leading the pack in the SPHL while he Rivermen are listed as third in the ten team league.
While both teams are in the top half of the league in scoring – over three goals per game – Peoria has a distinct advantage in goals against, with Peoria averaging a half-goal fewer allowed per game than Knoxville. Peoria has made a habit of losing games in overtime, though, if the game is tied in regulation.
This goalie matchup for this series looks like a push-over for Peoria, on paper, in light of Knoxville goaltender Brian Billett arrest on DIU charges earlier this week after a car crash.
Dylan Wells and Storm Phaneuf are the starting goalies for Koxville and Peoria, respectively. Tyler Parks backs-up Phaneuf and is very capable. Greg Dodds is currently listed as backup for the Ice Bears and has just two appearances on the season.
Phaneuf was cut by Peoria after Week One and, discounting those two disastrous outings while paired with Shannon Szabados (remember her?) and he has a sub-1.85 GAA, including three shutouts. Wells has a shutout to his credit. Neither goalie has much pro experience
We really don’t know what to expect from Knoxville. How will they respond with the new goaltender? Sometimes
To win the series, the Ice Bears are going to want to keep it close, not fearing overtime. Knoxville defense will need to lock down the defensive zone in support of Wells. Finally, an aggressive opponent may draw Rivermen retaliation and, even if they do not, there still isn’t a whole lot to be nervous about when Peoria has a man-advantage.
Peoria needs to take advantage of home cooking and rain shots on the opposing goalie. Staying out of the penalty box is also a key that helps unlock that door to Round Two. An early lead wouldn’t hurt matter, either.
Anything can happen in the playoffs and a three-game series magnifies that. While how Wells responds to the sudden responsibility of being a playoff starter is important, how the Knoxville team, as a whole, responds is what matters. This is a gut for the entire organization.
Peoria is capable of dominating in a situation like this, though. Shots on goal matter.
Prediction: Rivermen in two.
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