The Vermilion County Bobcats wrapped up their three game road trip with a visit to Peoria to take on the Rivermen Friday night. It is the first game in the calendar year for the team in 2023. And the crowd went home stunned after a 4-2 victory at Carver Arena.

The Bobcats got on the board first, just like they did when they last played Peoria on the road. At the 12:00 mark, PJ DiMartino fed a beautiful pass in front of starting goalie Eric Levine and Sullivan Shortreed buried a one-timer pass the goalies glove for a 1-0 lead. Then later in the period, DiMartino took a shot from the right point, and Matt O’Shaughnessy picked up the rebound and found the back of the net for his 4^th goal of the season. Austin Albrecht picks up his 15 assist of the year, his 6^th game out of seven that he has a point in a game. After the second goal, the Rivermen pulled Levine for Ben Churchfield. Peoria outshout Peoria in the first period 14-6

In the second period, Marcel Godbout helped Peoria tie the game up with two goals, one on the power play and one even strength. Brett Epp made a spectacular save on a 2-1 after Peoria scored their first goal to keep the game 2-1.

Vermilion County took the lead for good at 5:29 of the third period when Tyler Dill created a turnover in the Peoria zone and found Ryan Widmar, just signed to the team yesterday, took his first shot that was blocked, but then picked the puck back up and fired a backhander past Churchfield for his first ever goal in the SPHL. Sam Turner also picked up his first assist of the season. With less than three minutes left in the game, Vermilion County has to kill off their fourth penalty of the night. The Rivermen pulled Churchfield with less than two minutes left, giving them a two man advantage on the powerplay. The team not only killed off the penalty, but Sam Turner found an open lane and scored his first goal of the season. That goal not only gave the Bobcats their 4^th win of the season, but it was the first empty net goal scored in franchise history.

Brett Epp made 31 saves in the victory. He now has two wins on the season.



The next game for the Bobcats is Sunday, January 8^th as they host Peoria at the David S. Palmer arena in Danville. Game time is 4 PM and you can catch the First Financial Bank Pre-Game Show starting at 3:45 on HockeyTV, with an audio stream of the game on the home page via the Mixlr app.