Photo Credit:Noah Markunas
Mustangs blank, then double up Jr. Blues at Owens Center
Peoria, IL – For the second straight weekend the Mustangs earned a weekend sweep, this time on home ice at the Owens Center. Friday night the Mustangs and Jr. Blues skated a scoreless opening 20 minutes before the Mustangs netted a trio of goals in the middle frame and capped off the scoring in the third with a single goal. Saturday night, the teams traded goals before the Mustangs pulled away and prevail by a 6-3 final score. With the pair of victories, Peoria has now won 4-straight and sit in a second place tie with 18 points and a 9-5-0 record.
Friday: PEO 4 – STL 0
The teams opened the game skating a scoreless opening period before the Mustangs broke the scoreless tie early in the middle frame. Ethan Chesney raced into the Peoria attacking end and found Jaycob Bland streaking across the left circle, Bland received the pass and snapped the puck net ward, Chesney deflected the puck past the outstretched glove of St. Louis netminder Jordan Behnen for the 1-0 Mustangs advantage at 4:19 of the middle frame.
Peoria tacked on a pair of goals, in the ladder stages of the middle frame, the first while skating with a 5-on-3 power play. Tristan Trudel took a feed from E. Chesney and whistled the puck past Behnen and into the back of the net at 15:28 and a 2-0 Mustangs edge.
Trudel Netted his second tally of the game just a minute twenty-eight later when SP Merck found the forward streaking above the right circle, Trudel took the pass and hammer a shot that sailed past Behnen, lighting the lamp at 16:40, for the 3-0 Mustangs lead.
The Mustangs capped off the scoring just prior to the midway point of the final period when Beckett Doyle found the puck twirling in the right circle, corralled it, and wristed it past Behnen for the eventual 4-0 final at 8:04 of the final period.
Mustangs goaltender Joe Ambroffi picked up with shutout victory between the pipes stopping all 17 shots faced in the contest. The shutout is the first of the season for Ambroffi who improved to 4-1-0 on the season.
Saturday: PEO 6 – STL 3
Saturday night the Mustangs opened the scoring in the first period and the teams battled back and forth in a game that saw 3 ties before the Mustangs pulled away in the second period and reigned victorious by a 6-3 final score.
Peoria opened the scoring early in the first period when Perry Lagatuz pulled the puck from the right-wing boards and slipped a pass to Tristan Trudel in the right circle, Trudel accepted the pass and whipped a shot towards the goal that whizzed past St. Louis goaltender Jordan Behnen for the 1-0 Lead at 4:32 of the opening period.
The Jr. Blues tied the game just before the midway point of the period when Anthony Bagnole netted his first goal of the campaign at 9:32, knotting the game at 1 a side.
The Mustangs regained their lead late in the period when Justin Hubble sent the puck the length of the ice in a clearing attempt, Ethan Chesney raced down the ice and caught the puck and Behnen out of position and poked the puck into the back of the net for a 2-1 Mustangs edge at 13:13 of the opening period.
St. Louis once again tied the game, just seconds after Peoria regained the lead when Sean Bohem tapped the puck from the right post past Kason Yamada at 13:49, and a 2-2 tie game.
Peoria regained the lead and never looked back in the late stages of the middle period while skating on the penalty kill. JD Duenwald picked the puck up along the right-wing boards and chipped the puck towards neutral ice off the glass, Joey Rancilio chased the puck down and corralled it in neutral ice, sped through the neutral zone, calmed the puck, and cut below the hash marks and shoveled the puck past Behnen and into the back of the net for the 3-2 Mustangs advantage at 14:36 of the middle frame.
The Mustangs added to their lead less than two minutes later when Massimo Polistina found Trudel skating up the ice while on the power play. Trudel broke into the attacking zone and snapped a shot from between the circles that sailed past Behnen and into the back of the net for the power play goal and 4-2 lead at 16:19 of the second period.
St. Louis cut into the Mustangs lead in the closing minutes of the game when Connor Westbrock stuffed the puck past Yamada at 17:28 and a 4-3 Mustangs lead.
The final frame saw the Mustangs add a pair of goals, Rancilio netted his second shorthanded tally of the game at 12:01 and Perry Lagatuz put the game on ice at 16:43 with his 3rd goal of the season and eventual 6-3 final score.
Kason Yamada picked up the victory between the pipes, stopping 18 of 21 shots faced for his third straight win. With the win, the Bloomington, IL native improves to 3-0-0 on the season.
Stable Notes:
-Joey Rancilio collected a pair of shorthanded goals in Saturday night’s 6-3 victory, the first holding up as the game winner for the Ballwin, MO native. Rancilio also collected his first career multi-goal game Saturday night.
-With an assist on Friday and Saturday, forward Jaycob Bland now has collected at least a point in 6-straight outings dating back to 10/7 vs. Granite City.
-Ethan Chesney had 4 total points on the weekend and points in 4 straight dating back to 10/21 at Oregon. In that span, the Elgin, IL native has collected 5 goals and added 5 helpers.
-JD Duenwald earned his first multi-point game of his career with a trio of assists. Duenwald has also collected at least a point in 4-straight games.
-Tristan Trudel has collected a point in 8 of his last 9 outings, include back-to-back 2 goal games this past weekend.
-Joe Ambroffi earned his 5th career shutout in Friday night’s win, his 4th on home ice and second career against St. Louis.
-Saturday night, Kason Yamada picked up his first victory between the pipes at the Owens Center stopping 18 of 21 shots faced.
What’s Ahead:
The Mustangs have a weekend off before hitting the road to Wausau, WI for a pair of games the 11th and 12th of November, both games with a 7:10 p.m. scheduled face off. It will be the first pair of meetings between the two teams this season. If you can’t make it up to Wisconsin, you can catch all of the action on HockeyTV or by following along on Mustangs social media platforms.
