PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen improved their present and future for the 2023-24 season with a 3-0 shutout victory over rival Quad City on Sunday at Carver Arena.
With this win, the Rivermen closed the gap on first-place Birmingham to within one point, securing a top-four finish and home-ice advantage in the first round of the upcoming SPHL playoffs.
Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovic continued his strong streak with his second consecutive shutout, adding to his league-high seven shutouts. He finished the weekend with an unblemished 148-minute, 45-second shutout sequence.
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The Rivermen got two goals from Identity Line members Braydon Barker and JM Piotrowski.
Barker scored the game-winner on a power play at 5:03 of the second period.
Alec Baer scored his 20th goal at 5:24 of the third period, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the second time in three seasons.
Piotrowski put him out of scoring position on a wraparound power play at 11:01 of the third period.
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Peoria, which boasts a league-best 23-1-3 record on home ice, won its 12th straight game over the weekend at Carver Arena, which drew a crowd of 12,009 for two games.
The Rivermen upset the league's hottest team at Carver Arena late in the season. No. 1 Birmingham arrived in early March with a 9-1-1 record, and Peoria dominated Birmingham in its two games here. Fayetteville arrived in second place in mid-February, with the Rivermen taking three games from Fayetteville. Marksman lost 7 of 10 shots and never recovered. Quad City was 9-1-0 and on a seven-game winning streak, but failed to score in two games, losing 3-0 at Peoria.
Against these three teams, the Rivermen went 7-0-0 and outscored their opponents 22-6.
The Rivermen have six regular season games remaining, five of which are on the road. The final four games of the season will be a rematch against Quad-City.
Dave Eminian is a sports columnist for the Journal Star, covering Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes his sports column “Cleve In The Eve” for pjstar.com. Contact him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him at X.com @icetimecleve.
