Photo: Jeremie Allen
Peoria, IL – The Peoria Mustangs welcomed the Oregon Tradesmen back to Peoria this weekend, the first time since the Fraser Cup Playoffs this past March. Friday night the Mustangs had their way with the Tradesmen, Saturday was a different story. The Mustangs prevailed Friday night 4-1 and couldn’t find the back of the net suffering a 3-0 loss on home ice. With the weekend split the Mustangs sit 3-1-0 with 6 standings points and sitting in second place in the central division.
Friday: PEO 4 – ORE 1
Friday night the Mustangs opened the scoring for the first time all season, Oregon tied the game, but the Mustangs kept their foot on the throttle and got great goaltending from Joe Ambroffi as they cruised to a 4-1 victory at the Owens Center in Peoria.
The Mustangs kicked off the scoring early as Caleb Bross took a feed from Josh Chesney and danced from the left circle into the right circle. Bross sent a backhander towards the net that rode up the arm of Oregon goaltender Tyler Fromolz and into the back of the net at 2:29 of the opening period and 1-0 Mustangs lead.
Oregon evened the score late in the first period when Michael Golosinski found Jordan Larkee who chipped the puck past Mustangs netminder Joe Ambroffi at 14:42 of the first period and a 1-1 tie.
Peoria regained the lead for good just 1:21 into the middle frame when Tyler Perkins rifled the puck towards the net, the puck deflected off bodies to a streaking Chris Kondiles who caught the puck on the backhand. Kondiles cut across the slot with the puck on his backhand and slipped a pass to Massimo Polistina who was stationed at the right post. Polistina slam dunked the puck past Fromolz into the back of the net for the eventual game winner and a 2-1 Mustangs edge.
Peoria tallied two more goals in the middle frame, both coming from Ethan Chesney. Chesney’s first of the period came at the 6:37 mark assisted by Bross, the second was a power play tally in the closing minutes of the middle period assisted by Kondiles and Lagatuz for the eventual 4-1 final score.
Joe Ambroffi earned the win between the pipes Friday night stopping 31 of 32 shots in the contest. The win, Ambroffi’s second consecutive improves the Plainfield, IL native to 2-0-0 on the season.
Saturday: PEO 0 – ORE 3
Saturday night the two teams skated a scoreless opening 20 minutes before Oregon opened the scoring in the middle period, and never looked back as the Mustangs suffered their first loss of the season.
Oregon opened the scoring just prior to the midway point of the middle frame when Josh Christofferson found the back of the net, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead at 7:40 of the second period.
The Tradesmen doubled their lead just 4:16 later when Dillon Schmidt lit the lamp while skating on the power play. Oregon goaltender AJ Adelmen picked up an assist on the tally that gave the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Oregon capped off the scoring in the third period netting their second power play tally of the night, Carter Watters took a feed from Larke and sent it past Mustangs netminder Cam Pendleton for the eventual 3-0 final at 13:36 of the middle period.
Cam Pendleton took the loss between the pipes for the Mustangs stopping 39 of 42 shots faced, the loss, Pendletons first of the season drops the netminder to 1-1-0 of the campaign.
Stable Notes:
-With his first period goal Friday night Caleb Bross collected his first NA3HL goal.
-Peoria had 4 skaters earn their first career points in Friday nights contest, Bross, Tyler Perkins, Donovan Knuckles, and Sam Truxaw.
-Joe Ambroffi begins the season with back-to-back wins heading into this weekend’s road series.
-Saturday night, Josh Chesney delighted the crowd with his first career fight, Chesney tussled near the midway point of the middle period.
What’s Ahead:
The Mustangs hit the road for the first time in the 2022/23 campaign as they head up to West Bend, WI. To square off against the Milwaukee Power at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center. The games are Friday September 23rd and Saturday September 24th. Both games are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. CST face off. All games can be viewed on HockeyTV…
