PEORIA, Ill. – The Cup will be staying in Evansville.
The Evansville Thunderbolts won their second straight SPHL President’s Cup at Carver Arena on Saturday night, by defeating the Peoria Rivermen, 6-4, in the deciding Game 5 of the series.
Rivermen captain Alec Baer opened the scoring by putting one in the back of the net at 7:01 of the 1st period. It was the only lead of the night for Peoria, and it did not last long, as Evansville’s Isaac Chapman scored 39 seconds later to tie it up. The Thunderbolts grabbed the lead late in the period on Cameron MacPhee’s goal at 17:07.
Peoria tied it up early in the 2nd period, on a goal by Jordan Ernst at 2:56 of the period. But Evansville struck back quickly again, with Scott Kirton scoring at 4:14 and Matthew Hobbs at 4:52.
Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich was pulled after four goals, replaced by Jack Bostedt. Evansville kept scoring, with Isaac Chapman’s second goal of the game making it 5-2 at 10:18.
Peoria made a comeback in the 3rd period, with Mike Gelatt scoring at 5:46, and Jordan Ernst scoring his second of the game at 14:54 on the power play. But that was the last goal Peoria would score, with Evansville’s Derek Contessa scoring at 18:02 to put the game away.
Baer says he was proud of the team’s fight to climb back into the game.
“I was so proud of our group in the 3rd period,” Baer said. “Just the way we play like that, and when we play that way, no one can skate with us. We just didn’t string it together for 60 minutes.”
Baer says it was “incredible” for the team to be in the Cup Finals after a slow start to the year, and credits Latinovich and Bostedt for helping the Rivermen get there. He says one of the biggest takeaways from the season was having players come back to form a core group that could compete together in the future.
Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel was also proud of the team’s fight in the end.
“That’s so impressive for me that 3rd period, down 5-2, the other team didn’t touch the puck, and we had our chance to come back,” Trudel said.
Trudel says it was a “heck of a year” for the Rivermen, making the Cup Finals after a slow start. He says one theme for the season was loyalty, referring to former players coming back to make a run for a title.
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