PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen got a win on Saturday night and stayed alive to win the SPHL championship.
The Rivermen defeated the Huntsville Havoc 6-4 in Game 2 of the best-of-three Presidents Cup Finals series at Carver Arena.
The decisive Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday in Peoria at 5:15 p.m.
Rivermen captain Alec Hagaman, who will retire after this series, recorded his third playoff hat trick in the franchise's SPHL era, and veteran center Alec Baer had one goal and four assists to lead Peoria to victory. It took them to an all-out championship game.
“It was an absolute battle, two great warrior teams running into each other,” Hagaman said. “There were so many ups and downs in this game and our emotions were all over the place.
“But this is how the season should end, with these two teams going into the final game.”
The crowd was excited right from the start, and 4 minutes and 32 seconds after the opening faceoff, the Rivermen scored a goal when rookie winger Matthew Reding's shot from the left circle sailed over goaltender Mike Robinson's left pad and into the inside of the far post. The Rivermen cheered.
Moments later, Huntsville defenseman Matt Dolan's stick broke on a drive from the blue line, giving Peoria a penalty kill.
Rivermen center JM Piotrowski scooped up the puck and made a short-handed breakaway, but his drive from the right circle missed the goal with 6 minutes and 20 seconds left.
However, the Rivermen swarmed the Huntsville zone over the next seven minutes, taking nine unanswered shots and scoring twice to drive Huntsville into the ropes and send the crowd into a frenzy.
“get annoyed”:Peoria Rivermen open SPHL Championship with road loss to Huntsville
Captain Alec Hagaman broke through with a deft bank pass from veteran center Alec Baer over the sideboards from the defensive zone, sinking a pass near Robinson's left pad to make it 2-0 at 1:30 p.m.
And 66 seconds later, defenseman Zach Wilkie's wrister from the left point weaved through traffic and between Robinson's pads, increasing the lead to 3-0.
Huntsville got a power play in the closing seconds, with 3.5 seconds left in the period when right wing Eric Henderson took a deflection from the top of the crease and past Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich.
Psychologically, it was a big goal for Huntsville. The Rivermen probably could have scored five goals during this period, including two when Robinson was brought down but the puck was deflected, and once when the puck was carelessly blocked from going into the net by a Peoria player. Ta.
The Rivermen regained some of their momentum 58 seconds into the second period when Hagaman skated across the high slot, stepped up near the inside edge of the right circle and placed the puck into the top left corner of the net to make it 4-1.
Huntsville got one point back at 11:36 of the second game when former Rivermen center Jack Jaunich skated inside and beat Latinovic, cutting the lead against Peoria to 4-2.
Huntsville continued to put pressure on the Rivermen zone, cutting Peoria's lead to 4-3 at 14:16. That's when the puck veered into the air in the doorway, ricocheted downwards and hit either the Havoc's Cole Reginato or a Peoria defenseman.
Havok escaped with a 9-3 shooting spree for about eight minutes midway through the period, and by the time the third period arrived, it was a game for either team.
This story will be updated.
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.
