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PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen scored four unanswered goals to rally to a lead and literally held it until the final fraction of a second Thursday in Game 1 of the best-of-3 first-round SPHL playoff series against Quad City.
After a wild sequence in the final moments of regulation, the Rivermen rebounded to win, 5-4, in sudden-death overtime on Jordan Ernst's second goal of the game at 4:48.
But what a journey on the way to overtime.
The Storm got a power play on a rare penalty call — a faceoff delay violation on Peoria center Alec Baer — and pulled goaltender Brent Moran to attack 6-on-4 in the final 65 seconds.
SPHL analysis: Can the Rivermen can beat their own history to reach the SPHL finals? Let's look at the path
They stayed alive when Storm scoring ace Leif Mattson camped on the backside of the play and fired the puck into an open net to tie the game, 4-4, as time expired. No red light came on, just the green lockout light that indicates time was expired. Officials huddled, awarded the goal and put :00.1 on the clock.
Replays showed the puck did cross the goal line in time. The game moved on into overtime.
The Rivermen lead the best-of-3 series 1-0. Game 2 is Friday in Quad City.
Quad City took a 1-0 lead at 5:45 of the first period when right wing Devin Sanders open shot from the left hashmarks rebounded into the low slot and went back to Sanders for his own putback.
The Rivermen fell behind 2-0 at 9:35 when Sanders put away an easy dunk from the right post off Mattson's pass out of the left corner through the doorstep.
Peoria drew a pair of power plays after that but could not finish against Quad City goaltender Moran.
Quad City extended its lead to 3-0 at 7:29 of the second period when Peoria couldn't clear the front of the net and Brodie Girod skated to the paint and batted in a loose puck that had rebounded off Latinovich.
But the Rivermen snapped out of it and turned the game with a pair of goals in 83 seconds midway through the period, and went on to tie it by the end of the session.
Ernst, who hit a post earlier, skated down the slot and unleashed a low shot inside the left post to make it 3-1 at 9:32.
The veteran 37-goal scorer skated back to the Rivermen bench, gesturing to his teammates with his hand as if to tell them to "get it going."
'Emotional moment': How the Peoria Rivermen helped a man on a journey to heal with hockey
They did, 83 seconds later, when defenseman Josh Martin's drive on the fly from the right circle caught Moran moving to make it 3-2.
Ernst nearly tied it a two minutes later when he walked down the slot and beat Moran, but his shot smacked off the left post and stayed out.
The Rivermen got a huge play from rookie defenseman Mike Ferrandino in the waning minutes of the period when Latinovich was caught out of the net during a scramble, and the defenseman blocked a shot to rob Quad City of a goal.
Peoria then completed its comeback to a 3-3 tie at 18:32 when Martin's shot from between the circles on a power play went wide left, smacked off the endboards, and ricocheted back toward the crease, where it bounced in off the back of the goaltender's right leg.
The Rivermen carried over a power play for 1:26 into the third period and got the go-ahead goal from Baer 55 seconds into the third period.
2025 SPHL playoffs: Pairings, schedule and players to watch
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: SPHL playoffs: Peoria Rivermen win wild Game 1 in overtime vs Quad City
Continue reading...
After a wild sequence in the final moments of regulation, the Rivermen rebounded to win, 5-4, in sudden-death overtime on Jordan Ernst's second goal of the game at 4:48.
But what a journey on the way to overtime.
The Storm got a power play on a rare penalty call — a faceoff delay violation on Peoria center Alec Baer — and pulled goaltender Brent Moran to attack 6-on-4 in the final 65 seconds.
SPHL analysis: Can the Rivermen can beat their own history to reach the SPHL finals? Let's look at the path
They stayed alive when Storm scoring ace Leif Mattson camped on the backside of the play and fired the puck into an open net to tie the game, 4-4, as time expired. No red light came on, just the green lockout light that indicates time was expired. Officials huddled, awarded the goal and put :00.1 on the clock.
Replays showed the puck did cross the goal line in time. The game moved on into overtime.
The Rivermen lead the best-of-3 series 1-0. Game 2 is Friday in Quad City.
Quad City took a 1-0 lead at 5:45 of the first period when right wing Devin Sanders open shot from the left hashmarks rebounded into the low slot and went back to Sanders for his own putback.
The Rivermen fell behind 2-0 at 9:35 when Sanders put away an easy dunk from the right post off Mattson's pass out of the left corner through the doorstep.
Peoria drew a pair of power plays after that but could not finish against Quad City goaltender Moran.
Quad City extended its lead to 3-0 at 7:29 of the second period when Peoria couldn't clear the front of the net and Brodie Girod skated to the paint and batted in a loose puck that had rebounded off Latinovich.
But the Rivermen snapped out of it and turned the game with a pair of goals in 83 seconds midway through the period, and went on to tie it by the end of the session.
Ernst, who hit a post earlier, skated down the slot and unleashed a low shot inside the left post to make it 3-1 at 9:32.
The veteran 37-goal scorer skated back to the Rivermen bench, gesturing to his teammates with his hand as if to tell them to "get it going."
'Emotional moment': How the Peoria Rivermen helped a man on a journey to heal with hockey
They did, 83 seconds later, when defenseman Josh Martin's drive on the fly from the right circle caught Moran moving to make it 3-2.
Ernst nearly tied it a two minutes later when he walked down the slot and beat Moran, but his shot smacked off the left post and stayed out.
The Rivermen got a huge play from rookie defenseman Mike Ferrandino in the waning minutes of the period when Latinovich was caught out of the net during a scramble, and the defenseman blocked a shot to rob Quad City of a goal.
Peoria then completed its comeback to a 3-3 tie at 18:32 when Martin's shot from between the circles on a power play went wide left, smacked off the endboards, and ricocheted back toward the crease, where it bounced in off the back of the goaltender's right leg.
The Rivermen carried over a power play for 1:26 into the third period and got the go-ahead goal from Baer 55 seconds into the third period.
2025 SPHL playoffs: Pairings, schedule and players to watch
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: SPHL playoffs: Peoria Rivermen win wild Game 1 in overtime vs Quad City
Continue reading...
