PEORIA, Ill – Shut out the night before, the Abbotsford Heat barely avoided repeating that act again on Saturday night, dropping a 3-1 contest to the Peoria Rivermen in front of a big crowd of 7,045 noisy fans at the Peoria Civic Center. Abbotsford, in Peoria since Tuesday, was able to muster only 4 shots in the first period while trying to weather Peoria’s punishing forecheck.
Throughout the game, though, the story was heavy checking. Dean Aresene lit up the crowd with a big open-ice check in the first period. By the second period, it seemed like the whole team was taking turns rattling the glass. Aresene had several more heavy checks and was joined by Ian Cole, Ryan Reaves, Tyler Shattock, and Jake Gannon. Although the stars of the game went to the goalie and the two Peoria scorers, it was Arsene and company that gave those scorers the room they needed.
With JD Watt in the box for roughing, the Rivermen took advanta
ge of when Dave Scratchard put a hard shot from the slot into the pads of Abbotsford goalie Leland Irving that popped out to his right. Brett Sonne, from behind the net, reached out and poked the loose puck between Irving’s skate and the post for a 1-0 Rivermen lead just four-and-a-half minutes into the game.
On the ensuing face-off, Watt, just out of the box, dropped the gloves with Nathan Oystrick. The clear winner here was Oystrick, who landed several punches, switched hands and then landed a few more. Watt couldn’t get himself untied long enough to land more than a couple of token punches.
Twenty seconds later Adam Cracknell put a sweet cross-ice pass right on the tape for Graham Mink, who one-timed it from the top of the right circle to put the Rivermen on top 2-0 with just over 15 minutes left to play in the opening period.
There was no scoring in the second period but about 7 minutes in Cracknell put a hard hit on Chris Breen. The referee immediately signaled a penalty for boarding but Breen decided he needed to take care of it himself. The two came back together and what followed was a jersey tugging competition. Breen did connect a couple of dozen times, but only with Cracknell’s helmet, so neither combatant took much damage.
Five minutes into the third period Abbotsford got on the board with a goal on a very delayed red light. Logan MacMillan gathered a Hugo Carpentier rebound and jammed it into Ben Bishop’s pads a couple of times before it slipped under. Bishop reached behind him and seemed to cover the puck with his glove but a tick of the clock later there was no whistle and the Heat players raised their sticks, referee Jarrod Ragusin pointed, and only then did the red light go off. After 5 days in Peoria and 105 minutes on the ice, the Heat were finally on the board against the Rivermen, cutting Peoria’s lead to 2-1.
Mink added an empty net goal with six second left to boost the final score to 3-1.
The game ended with the Rivermen officially holding a 25-22 shots on goal advantage. Most remarkable, however, is that the Rivermen generally stayed out of the penalty box, providing the Heat with just four power play opportunities and not allowing them to score during any of those. The Rivermen were 1-6 on the power play.
The Rivermen continue their homestand on Sunday against Rockford. Games between these two teams have turned into a blood-feud, of late. The puck drops at 3 p.m. Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com Photographs by Chris.Loudermilk@prohockeynews.com
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