Knoxville, TN (March 8, 2019) Newcomer Blake O’Neill scored at 13:04 of the third to put Knoxville up for good and the Ice Bears held off the Peoria Rivermen 5-3 on Friday at the Civic Coliseum.
Bryce Nielsen, Stefan Brucato, Lonnie Clary and Marcus Ortiz also scored for Knoxville. Cody Porter made 29 saves in his first home game in Knoxville.
Peoria opened the scoring on the power play when Ben Oskroba hit a low one-timer from the high slot that found its way through traffic and past the right pad of Porter at 7:34 of the first. The Rivermen increased the lead after a scramble for the puck in the crease eventually resulted in Justin Greenberg poking it into the net seven minutes later.
Knoxville answered late in the period with Nielsen’s rebound goal with less than two minutes remaining in the opening frame. Stanislav Dzakhov fired a shot from the left corner that bounced off the pad of Stephen Klein. The puck bounced out toward the left circle and Nielsen sent it by Klein’s glove to cut the deficit in half.
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Article/photo credit: Knoxville Ice Bears
