Behind a great game by Marshall Gevers, who had two goals and two assists, the Peoria Mustangs defeated the St. Louis Jr. Blues, 9-3.
Gevers scored short handed at 16 seconds into the second period to make the score 4-1 Peoria and again while 8:05 into the third to make the score 7-2 Peoria.
St. Louis\’ power play was ineffective against Peoria\’s penalty kill, which allowed one goal while shorthanded.
The Mustangs racked up the penalties in the contest, and ended with 14 minors and two majors for 58 minutes in penalty time. Peoria surpassed its season average of 27.0 penalty minutes per game. The Mustangs forced the Jr. Blues\’ goalies to work all game long, totaling 37 shots and forcing 28 saves. Cooper Cothran made 17 stops and William Hindle made 11. Peoria bested its season scoring average. The Mustangs average 3.9 goals per game.
Peoria also got points from Chance Homerin, who also tallied one goal and two assists, Jason Hoehn, who also grabbed one goal and one assist, Austin Wisely, who also registered one goal and two assists, and Andrew Scofield, who also had one goal and one assist. Peoria also got a goal from Levi Armstrong as well. Other players who recorded assists for Peoria were Thomas Kolaz, who had two and Tyler Shures, Joe Power Wayvon, Kai Barber, Andrej Buchko, and Mark Candotti, who each chipped in one.
St. Louis forced its penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up 12 minors and one major for 39 minutes in penalty time. The total exceeded the 21.0 minutes per game the Jr. Blues had been spending in the box. St. Louis\’ penalty kill was spotless, allowing no goals on three Peoria power plays. The Jr. Blues forced Peoria goalie Marc Hayton to work between the pipes, taking 34 shots.
St. Louis was helped by Daniel Dunaway, who tallied one goal. Dunaway scored on the power play 14:34 into the first period to make the score 2-1 Peoria. The Jr. Blues had gained a power play chance when Marc Peters was whistled for interference. Sam Maddox assisted on the tally. Cameron Brown also scored for St. Louis. More assists for St. Louis came via Tommy Heinzman, Franky Melton, and Andrew Wingbermuehle, who contributed one each.
Marc Hayton made 31 saves for the Mustangs on 34 shots. For Peoria, Hoehn and Kolaz were ejected from the contest. For St. Louis, Maddox was ejected from the game.
