Peoria, IL – After The Huntsville Havoc forced overtime and then forced a Game 3 in this best of three series, the Peoria Rivermen Came out strong, hung on through a tough second period, and sent the Havoc packing for home and an early tee time with a 7-3 victory Saturday night in front of 1,324 relieved fans.
Photo by Shaun Bill
Call it a rout if you want, but the victory featured a balanced attack Only three Peoria players, Cody Weidauer, Nick Neille and backup goaltender Tyler Parks, did not tally a goal or assist in the game.
Huntsville did a great job early of clogging Peoria’s passing lanes. The Rivermen adjusted by cycling pucks and players out to the blue line. It paid off when Alec Hagaman loosed a shot on his cycle that rang the bell. Michael Colantone and Dan Bremner had touches prior to the goal that stakes the Rivermen to a 1-0 lead just 3:18 into the game.
Very early in the game, Havoc Mike Piluso had snagged a rebound in front of Rivermen goaltender Storm Phaneuf and missed an empty net from point blank range. When a similar situation presented itself at 4:11 of the first period, he did not miss. Jordan Wood had the intial shot and Blake Hietala also had an assist on the goal that brought things even at 1-all.
Eric Witzel made a great move in traffic, first deking and ducking his defender before drawing Havoc goaltender Tyler Steel to the ice. With the goalie doing the splits, Witzel dished to Cody Dion in the slot. Dion fired high and true and the Rivermen had regained the lead at 13:02 of the opening frame. Connor Gorman also tallied a point on the play.
On the ensuing faceoff, Juston Tateson what whistled for a high stick penalty and the Rivermen went on the power play. Some very nice passing ended with Dave Pszenyczny and Hagaman putting the puck on the stick of Brandon Greenside. A hard slapper from just inside the blue line lit the lamp and extended the Peoria lead to two at 14:11 of the first period.
Little by little, momentum shifted in the second period. At 16:16 Nolan Kaiser ended a scramble by putting the puck past Phaneuf to draw the Havoc within a goal, 3-2. Wood and Hieatala were, again, credited with assists.
The big blow came at 7:34 of the third period, Adam Stuart and Bremner collided with a Hunstville puck carrier deep in the neutral zone. Bremner emerged with the puck and proceeded into the attacking zone with Stuart trailing. The lone remaining defenseman stayed with Bremner while Stuart went wide. The d-man covered the possible pass but Bremner kept the puck and use him as a screen, firing a low, hard shot past Steel for a 4-2 lead. Hagaman was also in on the play.
Playing prevent defense with a two-goal cushion, Peoria saw an opportunity and pressured Steel once more. Pszenyczny fired a shot on a feed from Ben Oskroba and Gorman tipped it in for the three goal lead to seal the deal.
Garbage goals at the end included Huntsville’s Kyle Sharkey with the extra attacker at 18:27. Dakota Klecha added an empty net goal 13 seconds later, with an assist to Phaneuf. Jeff Jones also posted an empty net goal with just 41 seconds left on the clock to pad the scoring.
Phaneuf stopped 29 of 32 shots in the win. Steel suffered the loss, stopping only 14 of 19 shots on goal.
Peoria, with one power play, score with that opportunity. Huntsville was 0-3
Game 1 of the President Cup Final is Friday, April 28 in Peoria.
Contact the author at Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com or followhim on Twitter @SLBatPHN
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