Summers scores two in Rivermen win

The SPHL leading Peoria Rivermen made the trip into Alabama and pulled off a split with the host Huntsville Havoc last weekend (March 13-14, 2015).

Rivermen took the first game with a 6-2 margin but the home side regrouped and pulled out a 3-1 edge in the getaway game.

The Havoc controlled the game to the tune of a 32-17 edge in shots but the Rivermen clearly made their shots count more, in particular on the powerplay where the visitors counted three goals.

The Rivermen grabbed a 3-0 first period lead with goals from Garrett Vermeersch, Jason Cohen and Alex Hudson and others by Josh Harris and Matt Summers had the visitors up 5-0 before the second period was 11 minutes old.

The Havoc countered with two goals, 12 seconds apart, late in the second, but if there were any thoughts of a rally, Summers nixed them with his second of the night just past the five minute mark of the final frame.

Kyle Rank picked up the win in goal for the Rivermen, stopping 30 of 32 Havoc shots.

In the Saturday game, teams wore out a path to the penalty box — in particular in the second period as three fights played a part in 48 minutes in penalties being doled out. The other two periods combined for just another 14 minutes though.

Teams were even at 1-1 heading to the third as Jacob Johnstone scored the lone goal of the first period for the Havoc and Harris countered for Peoria with the only goal in the middle frame.

Luke Grenier gave the Havoc another lead with 5:16 remaining and Jarred Mohr made it official with his empty netter eight seconds from the buzzer.

Peoria has just four games remaining on its schedule — all on the road and all in Mississippi against the Riverkings.