PEORIA — There wasn’t much separating the No. 1 seed Peoria Rivermen and No. 7 seed Knoxville Ice Bears in Game 2 of the SPHL semifinals.
In fact, it was easily measured: 6-foot-8, 250 pounds.
That was Knoxville goaltender Stephen Mundinger, and the Rivermen couldn’t solve him Saturday in a 3-1 loss before 2,894 at Carver Arena.
That tied the best-of-5 series, 1-1. It shifts to Knoxville for the next two games.
“They had the best goaltender,” Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. “He was unbelievable. So were we. But he took the game over for them.
“We had probably 25 Grade-A quality chances at him. We just had to get our guys to go to the net more, and we didn’t do that enough.
“But I was thrilled with how we played this game. Now we’re going to see how we respond. Do we step it up or do we go away?”
Trudel lauded Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich, noting he’s allowed just six goals in four playoff games and his performance should have been enough to win.
But the Rivermen had some costly mistakes in their own zone for the second straight night, and it cost them the game-winner when Knoxville’s Eric Olson cruised into the slot and put an uncontested shot over Latinovich’s blocker shoulder.
The Ice Bears added an empty-netter from Derek Osik with 68 seconds left to seal it.
All things being equal
Knoxville jumped out to a 1-0 lead 7:08 after the opening faceoff when Blake Tosto, uncovered with a loose puck at the right post, flipped it in over Latinovich.
The Rivermen tied it at 17:55 of the period on captain Alec Baer’s first goal of the postseason, triggering an emotional celebration.
He skated to the right post and pounced on a rebound of a shot by defenseman Josh Martin, flipping it behind Mundinger and into the far side of the net.
“That felt good,” Baer said. “I think I was gripping the stick a little bit, and to get that one in there was huge for us.”
The missed chances
Mundinger was aggressive, and twice he got trapped out of the net and the Rivermen had the puck but couldn’t score.
At 8:30 of the first period the goaltender left his net to try to win a race to a free puck in the middle of the slot.
He lost. The puck ended up with SPHL goalscoring champion Mike McChesney in the left circle. But his shot was blocked by Knoxville defenseman Kyle Soper as he raced into the goalmouth to cover for Mundinger.
It happened again later in the game when Mundinger moved out into the right circle to play a puck dumped into the zone, and it hopped over his stick, leaving him stranded and the net empty.
The Rivermen could not cash in.
Martin played a terrific game for Peoria, delivering two big hits on one shift to energize the team and assisting on Baer’s goal, launching a drive that smashed off the crossbar and stayed out.
The Rivermen twice hit posts, as well. They had four power plays and moved the puck well but could not convert, and that unit now is 0 of 14 in the postseason.
“The puck is on my stick on the power play, so it’s my responsibility,” Baer said. “We had a couple bounces that didn’t go our way.
“We have to bear down. It’s not going to be easy, it doesn’t work that way in the playoffs.”
River Readings
Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich leads the SPHL playoffs with a 1.51 goals-against and .941 saves rate after starting all four games for Peoria. … The Rivermen activated key defenseman Tyler Ryder from injured reserve and dressed him for Game 2. … To clear roster room, Peoria released defenseman Trenten Heyde, who returned to college to finish work on his degree. … Rivermen captain Alec Baer had 7 shots in the game. Winger Jordan Ernst had 5 shots. … Rivermen defenseman Cory Dennis was -3. … No. 3 seed Roanoke beat No. 4 seed Evansville, 4-3, in Game 2 to tie their best-of-5 semifinal series, 1-1. The series shifts to Evansville.
(This story has been updated to add video)
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: How the Peoria Rivermen lost Game 2 of the SPHL semifinals to Knoxville
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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