Peoria, IL – – On Saturday night, 3101 fans piled into the Peoria Civic Center to see an amazing display of speed and athleticism.
There was also a hockey game…and that game ended with quite a bit of excitement, as well.
Peoria, without a loss in regulation this season, scored the game winning goal with 32 seconds left in overtime to run their record to 9-0-2. The Pensacola Ice Flyers held tough in regulation, though, picking up a point by forcing overtime.
Joe Kalisz held the puck in the defensive zone during the 3-on-3 overtime period with the clock ticking down. This allowed Peoria to change two players, bringing Ben Blasko and Justin Greenberg into the play. Kalisz passed up to Greenberg, who skated the puck into the zone. Kalisz raced in behind him. When Greenberg left a drop pass, Kalisz charged ahead and flipped the puck over Pensacola goaltender Andrew D’Agostini to set off the celebration.
Between periods, though, there were Wiener Dog Races. Over 20 Dachshunds squared off in four heats before the second period and a final before the third period. The Rivermen even wore special jerseys sponsored by Camp Bow Wow, a local “doggie daycare.”
A good power play is hard to find and both teams found that out in the second period. Ben Oskroba scored for Peoria early in the period only after they settled down and set up a proper power play passing regimen to set up a 1-0 Peoria lead.
John Scorcia scored for Pensacola right after time expired on a penalty. They had pressed Peoria hard and, although they did not have a shot during the actual man-advantage, the pressure continued well after the penalty time expired and resulted in tying the game up at 1-all.
The teams traded goals again in the third period. Carter Strothers big slapshot pulled the Ice Flyers ahead 2-1, briefly.
Peoria stormed back with a goal from Austin Vieth less than a minute later. The teams played dump-and-chase for the rest of the period and the game headed to overtime.
Peoria goaltender Storm Phaneuf is now 2-0 on the season, stopping 22 of 24 shots. D’Agostini falls to 3-4-1 and blocked 23 of 26 shots.
Peoria scored once in three tries on the power play while Pensacola wnt, officially, 0-5.
Peoria is next at home December 8 & 9 and have a 10:30am tilt with Quad Cities in Peoria on December 13.
Contact the author at Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com or follow him on Twtter @SLBatPHN. http://www.prohockeynews.com
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