Peoria, IL – – There isn’t a Waffle House within 160 miles of Peoria, but the Knoxville Ice Bears were covered and smothered by the Peoria Rivermen Wednesday night during the first game of the SPHL semi-final between the two teams. Peoria dominated all facets of the game, to the delight of the 1108 fans in attendance, winning 6-1.
Peoria takes a 1-0 lead in the best of three series that now moves to Knoxville Friday 
night.
Winning all the battles, little and big, Peoria still found themselves in an 0-1 hole after the first period.
Then, the second period happened.
It started early, when Mike Gurtler’s extra-effort wrap-around attempt rebound found Christian Horn on the doorstep. Horn sent the puck under Ice Bear goalie Zoltan Hetenyi to tie the game at one-all just 1:32 into the second period.
Knoxville went on a power play at 8:33 of the second period, but that’s really when Peoria took control.
First, Alec Hagaman took a neutral zone turnover into the slot. He kept the puck and scored a shorthanded goal at 9:50 of the period making it 2-1.
The power play continued, though, and Gurtler burst into the offensive zone alone just as the penalty expired. His shot made it 3-1 at 10:36 of the second.
Four minutes later, Gurtler, again, found a loose puck and headed in along on Hetenyi. His shot went in-and-out of Hentenyi’s glove to make the score 4-1.
The lone score in the first period surprised everyone, but none more so than Rivermen goaltender Tyler Parks. Berkley Scott skated across the blueline and unloaded a heavy shot right down the middle of the slot. It found twine, untouched, at 11:58 of the first period.
Joe Widmar added a pair of goals in the third period to round off the scoring.
Parks was not overworked, stopping 22 of 23 shots. Hetenyi looked beat after the shorthanded goal but remained in the game. He faced 33 shots and allowed six goals.
Neither team gave up a power play goal. That wasn’t a surprise, considering both teams were near the top of the penalty kill rankings during the regular season. Peoria only had one opportunity. Knoxville had two and gave up the shortie in the process
NOTES: Cody Dion, who had three points during the challenge round series, was a scratch.
Contact the author at Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com or follow him on Twtter @SLBatPHN.
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