Rivermen snap back to dominate Fayetteville 6-2

PEORIA, IL –  The Rivermen truly pulled out a magnifying glass on the Fayetteville Fire Antz.

The Antz were scorched 6-2 at Carver Arena on Sunday.  Most of the energy was unleashed in the second period when 3 goals were scored by the Rivermen. The game was extremely action packed with a total of 14 roughing calls. The Rivermen won the game in front of 3,812 fans.

An extremely choppy first period ended in a tie with two goals a piece. The Rivermen started off the action with a goal five minutes in. A feed from behind the net by Walker Wintoneak set up a one timer for Adam Stuart who sent the puck over the right shoulder of Fire Antz goalie Parker Van Buskirk.

The next goal was a counter by the Fire Antz. Kyle Gibbons walked into the zone, receiving a pass from Nicholas Rivait. Gibbons made a simple shot from the side hash mark ending in a goal to tie the game.

The Antz scored again on the powerplay to take the lead for the first time. Nick Lazorko walked right in to the front of the net from the corner and sent it to the back of the net with the help of a Rivermen screen.

Goal 4 came from the Rivermen with 15 seconds left in the period. A shot from Alec Hagaman was stopped and kicked to the side where Jack Callahan was flying in to make the tap into the open net.

The second period was Rivermen dominated. The first of the Rivermen goals this period was by Wintoneak. Another rebound given up by Van Buskirk resulted in the goal, granting the Rivermen the lead once again.

The Rivermen’s second goal of the period was rather unique. An air puck from the point was caught by Wintoneak who dropped it right in front of the open net and fired it home. The final goal was also rather interesting. A one time shot from Stuart rang off the post but came back – bounced off goalie Dustin Carlson – and slid into the net.

The third period was low-scoring, high-action. One goal was scored by the Rivermen. Terrence Wallin exploded onto a breakaway and scored the final goal of the game. Several scrums occurred during this period in particular and many penalties were called.

Despite having their SPHL record 14-game win streak snapped the night before, the comeback improved the Rivermen to 25-6-2.  Peoria leads the league by six games out in front of the Pensacola Ice Flyers.