Bob Hunt Photographer

The Peoria Rivermen franchise ended Sunday night at Carver Arena before 4,302 loyal fans after 31 continuous years. The team received a standing ovation the final minute of the game against the Milwaukee Admirals. Longtime P.A. announcer B.J. Stone announced “One minute remaining in Peoria Rivermen hockey,” to the crowd. Long lines waited for over two hours after the game to meet the players, get autographs, take pictures and visit one last time with there favorite team.

-Bob

The Charlotte Checkers went 2-for-2 on the power play in the first period on their way to a 5-0 win over the Peoria Rivermen on Saturday night at Carver Arena in front of 6,899 fans. The Rivermen season will conclude on Sunday when they host the Milwaukee Admirals at 5:05 p.m. Charlotte opened the scoring at 11:19 of the first on Justin Shugg‘s seventh goal of the year. Matt Beca fired a shot from the point that deflected off the leg of Shugg and past Paul Karpowich. Later in the period, the Checkers had another successful power play. Brett Sutter threw the puck into the crease, where Zac Dalpe redirected the puck into the back of the net for his 19th goal of the season at 17:03 to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead. Ryan Murphy was also credited with an assist on the goal. In the second period, the Checkers scored two goals within 35 seconds of  each other. Dalpe passed the puck to Zach Boychuk, who scored his 23rd goal of the season from the left circle at 10:56 to push their lead to 3-0. Justin Krueger also assisted on the goal. Afterwards, Matt Marquardt sent a pass to Jeremy Welsh. Welsh hit a one-timer past Karpowich for his 15th goal of the year at 11:31 to give Charlotte a 4-0 advantage. Shugg earned his second point of the game with an assist on the goal. After the Rivermen were unable to convert on multiple power plays in the third period, Sutter danced around the Rivermen defense for his 19th goal this season at 11:52. Left winger Chris Terry assisted on the final goal of the game, which gave Charlotte it’s 5-0 win. Goal keeper Rob Madore stopped all 35 Rivermen shot’s on goal for the shutout.

-Bob

In his final game with the Peoria Rivermen on a conditioning assignment, goaltender Brian Elliott shutout the Lake Erie Monsters in a 2-0 win Saturday evening at Carver Arena in front of 7,660 fans. Elliott stopped 27 shots and finished his two-game stint in Peoria with a 0.946 save percentage. The Rivermen were the first team to score after both teams missed out on power-play opportunities in the first period. Jani Hakanpaa slapped a backdoor pass from the blue line to a wide-open Derek Nesbitt. Nesbitt deflected the pass past Calvin Pickard into the back of the net for his 25th goal of the year at 12:24. The goal for Nesbitt was the 200th American Hockey League point of his career and the assist for Hakanpaa was his first point in the AHL. The Rivermen went 0-for-3 on the power play, while Lake Erie was 0-for-2. Peoria outshot the Monsters 35-27.

-Bob

The Texas Stars excelled on special teams going 3-for-3 on the power play and also scoring a shorthanded goal in Saturday’s 8-4 win against the Peoria Rivermen in Carver Arena before 6,501 fans. After the Rivermen took an early 2-0 lead, Texas scored seven of the next eight goals. The Rivermen opened up the scoring in the game when Andrew Murray skated up to a deflected puck by the right circle and shot it past Richard Bachman, who was in goal for the first time this season for the Stars. Phil McRae and Evgeny Grachev assisted on Murray’s goal. In a one-goal game heading into the third period, Texas scored three goals in the first five minutes. Justin Dowling scored his first goal of the season when he skated down the right side only 53 seconds in the frame. 1:23 later, Toby Petersen scored his fourth goal of the season. Next, Maxime Fortunus had his shot deflected off of two players and it went past Jake Allen, who replaced Mike McKenna in net. The Stars scored their final goal of the night when Tomas Vincour slapped in a rebound.

-Bob

Bradley University junior guard Walt Lemon Jr. scored a game-high 20 points, including a banked 3-pointer at the buzzer, lifting the Braves (12-7, 4-3) to a 69-66 Missouri Valley Conference victory versus Missouri State (5-14, 3-4 MVC) Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena before 7,756 fans. Bradley never trailed in the game and led by as many as 16, but Anthony Downing’s layup with 4.3 seconds left forged the game’s only tie, 66-66.  Following a timeout, Lemon took the inbounds pass near the Bears bench, then weaved his way through traffic to the right wing, where he launched a 25-foot runner at the horn for Bradley’s first buzzer-beating basket since Chris Roberts’ 75-footer to beat Oakland March 23, 2009 in the second round of the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Bradley will play three of its next four games on the road, starting with a Wednesday night trip to Evansville. The Braves will visit Wichita State Jan. 26, before returning home to host Interstate 74 rival Illinois State Jan. 29 at Carver Arena. Click here for final game stats.

-Bob