PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen kept the faith Thursday in Game 1 of the SPHL President’s Cup Finals against the Evansville Thunderbolts.
The No. 1 seeded Rivermen were looking for a playoff hero, and they found him in overtime via rookie defenseman Tyler Ryder, whose first pro playoff goal was perhaps the biggest goal of his life in leading his team to a 2-1 victory before 2,178 at Carver Arena.
Ryder delivered a memorable game-winner, was mobbed by the Rivermen along the boards near the left corner, then knelt in prayer at center ice to give thanks for the moment.
“Tyler is a hugely religious kid, and it makes him so strong mentally,” Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said in a jubilant Peoria locker room. “He’s strong-minded, always composed. Nothing phases him.
“I asked him once, ‘Doesn’t it say in the Bible to be a warrior?’ He says, ‘It sure does, and I’m going to be that guy for this team.’ “
There are no shortage of story lines in a championship series, and no margin for error, either.
Ryder, a defenseman who joined the Rivermen late in the season after finishing his collegiate career at Wisconsin-Superior, found himself with the puck between the circles 88 seconds into overtime.
He drifted a little bit to the left and turned loose a shot from the left circle that rattled off someone or something on the doorstep and bounced in between the pads of goaltender Kristian Stead.
The Rivermen charged after Ryder and caught him at the glass, surrounding him in a celebration. That included his brother, Terry Ryder, a defenseman and teammate.
The high ground in the SPHL President’s Cup Finals is a big thing. The team to win Game 1 of the finals has gone on to win the championship in 19 of 20 seasons.
The Rivermen host Evansville in Game 2 at Carver Arena in a 7:15 p.m. rematch Friday.
“I was just so happy, happy to get it done,” Ryder said. “We came out for overtime and I was just hoping someone on our team could win this.
“The puck just happened to end up on my stick there. Guys were crashing, doing their job, creating chaos in front. It took a funny bounce. I was coming off the bench, and I was kind of leaning on my winger and the puck just jumped off my way and I got to it first and made sure the puck got to the net.”
They looked great early
The Rivermen broke open the scoreless tie at 13:38 of the first period when captain Alec Baer skated through the left side of the zone, reached the endline, one-handed the puck into the crease and it was knocked in by Griffen Fox from the doorstep, slipping past Stead and inside the right post.
That gave Peoria a 10-3 shots lead as it continued to dominate the opening period. That shots advantage swelled to 22-8 in the second period, and the Rivermen carried their lead for more than 51 minutes.
“We were on the gas in the first period,” Baer said. “We got on our heels a little bit after that, but now we kind of know the recipe, know how to win it. We didn’t really say anything in the room before the overtime. We just were ready, we were fine. I feel like something we do in Peoria is we practice a lot harder than most teams. We are in really good shape, when it goes into OT we’re always going to be ready.”
Peoria didn’t quite skate as intensely in the latter two periods as it did in the first, and it cost them in the deep stretch as Evansville found momentum and tied it.
“We let up until we got scored on,” Trudel said. “I thought we were going to try to win 1-0 there for a while. But after we got tied, we just took off, started playing again, dominated through those last seven minutes.”
Making up for a mistake
Evansville scored its goal when a Rivermen defenseman got out of position and made a system mistake in the third period.
It was Ryder.
“He still wanted to be out there,” Trudel said. “He still wanted the puck. No margin for error, we know that, and that’s how it’s going to be against Evansville.”
Evansville tied it 1-1 with 11:46 left in the third period when Evan Miller, uncovered below the right faceoff circle dot, turned and fired a shot over Peoria goaltender Nick Latinovich.
“The goal they scored, I should have been out harder on my man, so I thought about that and took it upon myself and I feel so lucky to get that one back for our guys,” Ryder said. “I’m a rookie on this team, and I don’t want to let anyone down.
“This game is going to be a top memory for me. It’s so special to be here, playing with my brother, and for this whole organization.”
A memorable series start
The Rivermen are 4-0 now in playoff overtime games at Carver Arena since COVID.
They have no shortage of big finishes home or away in postseason play.
“You remember goals like that,” Baer said. “There’s a few you always remember, JM Piotrowski in overtime to win the Cup at Roanoke, Jordan Ernst in OT against Quad City. It’s awesome man. Congrats to Rydes, he deserves it.”
River Readings
Latinovich saw a playoff shutout sequence end at 189 minutes, 35 seconds over parts of four games. … Rivermen winger Daniel Chartrand, parked in front of the net, was hit by a deflected puck in the face off friendly fire with 2:35 left in the second period, and headed to the bench for medical attention. He returned, and played, in the third period. … SPHL commissioner Doug Price was on hand and will track the series. … The winner of Game 1 of the President’s Cup Finals has gone on to win the championship series in 19 of 20 years. … The lone exception: The Rivermen lost Game 1 against Huntsville in the 2023-24 Finals and came back to win the championship in Peoria.
(This story has been updated to add pictures, video and more reaction)
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: Peoria Rivermen win in overtime to take series lead in SPHL Finals
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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