'Belief': Peoria Rivermen sweep SPHL first-round playoff series from Macon
The Peoria Rivermen delivered a big third period to beat Macon, 4-1, in Game 2 and sweep them from the SPHL playoff first round series.
PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen found what they were looking for Saturday in Game 2 of their best-of-3 SPHL first-round playoff series. "We came in after that second period, so much had happened to us," Rivermen veteran left wing Griffen Fox said. "We looked around at each other.
What we saw was belief. A lot of belief. And we knew we had what we needed to get the job done.
" The Rivermen absorbed several momentum bombs in the first 40 minutes but stormed out in the third period to blow up a tie game and go on to a 4-1 victory over the Macon Mayhem before 2,562 at Carver Arena. Fox, Mike Gelatt and Kylar Fenton scored third-period goals, the latter two 73 seconds apart in the first 1:44 of the period. Veteran Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich, who led Peoria to an SPHL President's Cup championship in 2023-24, stopped a breakaway and weathered a five-on-three Macon power play for 1:45 to hold his team in a 1-1 game.
That was enough to clinch the series and send Peoria to the league semifinals, where they will face No. 7 seed Knoxville thanks to an upset by that team over No. 2 Huntsville.
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