Peoria, IL – – The saga continued Friday night in Peoria as the Rivermen hosted the Evansville Thunderbolts but it would take a sequel to finish this epic.
Peoria goaltender Tyler Parks weathered six tough shots in the overtime period and 
then “Forced” away all four attempts in the shoot-out to seal a 5-4 overtime victory.
There was a great beginning. All of the action in the first period all happened within a 22-second span. John Scorcia’s power play goal gave Evansville a lead at 1:54 but that only lasted seventeen seconds.
Dakota Klecha’s pass from behind the net found Nick Migilo charging through the slot. The puck deflected of Miglio’s skate before he swept the puck in with his stick to tie the score.
Mike Economos and Dylan Clarke fought, briefly, after the goals. Economos landed several punches before losing his footing.
In the second period, the Thunderbolts scored twice as Scorcia completed his hat trick. Peoria’s offense seemed frozen in Carbonite and the outlook was dim for the hometown heroes.
The third period featured the return of the Rivermen offense. They rallied to tie on goals by Alec Hagaman and Dakota Klecha. Frank Schumaker put the ‘Bolts back in the lead, briefly until Cody Dion brought the team back to tie.
Jacob Barber and Ryan Siiro both were successful in the shootout.
Jonah Imoo took the shoot-out-loss allowing four goals on 35 shots. Tyler Parks heroics earned him the win as he shed 36 of 40 shots.
Peoria was scoreless in four power play opportunities while the Thunderbolts had six chances, capitalizing on two.
These two teams face off again tomorrow night in Evansville.
The Peoria RIvermen wore jerseys with a tribute to Darth Vader on them as 4,686 fans gathered for Star Wars night.
Contact the author at Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com or follow him on Twtter @SLBatPHN.
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