Peoria, Ill. – The Evansville Thunderbolts came into the Peoria Civic Center riding a three game win streak but that didn’t matter to the Peoria Rivermen as they took down the Bolts 3-2 in front of 3,514 fans at the Peoria Civic Center.
Peoria’s two keys to the game were to play 60 minutes of hockey and stay out of the penalty box, as Peoria coming into the game, had seen more time in the sin bin than any other team in the league. For the most part they accomplished both of those keys as Peoria only committed three penalties in the game and played a pretty complete game compared to the previous couple of games.
Zach Nazzarett got the Rivermen on the board midway through the first period with a perfect pass from Mike Gelatt on a two on one breakaway, it would be Nazzarett’s third goal in two games for the Rivermen. Before the period was over though the Thunderbolts would answer with a rebound goal by Bolts captain Matthew Hobbs at 18:04 of the first period, with Scott Kirton assisting.
The second period, thus far into the season, is where Peoria didn’t play the 60 full minutes of hockey as teams seemed to get back into or pull ahead in the second frame, but that’s not how things went on Friday night. Cale List would send a shot from the point that would be deflected into the net by Carlos Fornaris to put the Rivermen back in front 1:56 seconds into the second period. The Rivermen would then play the shut down defense that has become a staple in Peoria as they didnt allow the Bolts to muster up any sort of attack. The Rivermen then added to their lead with a little over two min left to play in the second on the power play with a goal by Michael McChesney. Rivermen captain Alec Baer and Co Captain Zach Wilkie would add an assist on the goal and thats all Peoria would need to seal the victory.
Evansville would add another goal in the third period, by Jordan Simoneau, but it was again the Rivermen defense that would show up big as the Bolts would eventually pull their goalie but not be able to capitalize. Goaltender Colby Muise would pick up the victory stopping 23 of the 25 shots he faced.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Jeremie Allen, who was there to capture the action
