Rivermen stretch lead with win over Mayhem

Peoria, IL – – The Peoria Rivermen stretched their first place lead in the SPHL standings on Friday when they defeated the Macon Mayhem 2-1 in overtime. Coupled with Pensacola’s 4-1 loss against Evansville, Peoria’s six point lead with just six games left to play – the Ice Flyers have a game in hand – puts Peoria in the driver’s seat for the third regular season points championship in four years.

With 3109 fans rising to their feet, Alec Hagaman and Jordan Carvalho broke in with less than a minute remaining in the overtime period. Carvalho buried Hagaman’s past Macon goaltender Charlie Finn to send all those fans home happy.

Finn solved every other Rivermen shooter, Friday night. Carvalho scored both Peoria goals, with the first coming at 8:20 of the first period. Finn stopped 21 of 23 shots on the night.

Mason Pulde fared better, stopping 27 of 28 shots. He had a little luck, as Macon found iron three different times.

Only former Rivermen Jake Trask found the twine behind Pulde and that came at 6:32 of the second period.

Neither team scored on the power play, but the teams were reasonable well behaved, with Peoria only getting two opportunities and Macon, three.