Posted Monday, Dec. 21 4:27pm
Pre-Christmas Games
DAVENPORT—The Quad City Ice Eagle Bantam hockey team snapped its five-game losing streak and got their offense back on track, during the weekend which saw them split four games. The Eagles posted big conference wins over the Peoria Rivermen, winning Saturday at Peoria 10-2, and Sunday at Davenport, by a score of 11-4. However, the Eagles lost their Saturday matchup with Pekin 8-3, and lost a non-league game to Peoria on Sunday, 5-4. Game summaries follow.
The Eagles had two CIHL games Saturday, with the first one at Peoria, featuring a revamped line-up, with David Warta again playing right wing on the Moon-Busch line, and Chad Dotterer on the blue line paired with Kevin Dow. The Eagles were without Adam Oppendike, out with a broken finger, but were strengthened by the unexpected return of Drew Carlson, playing despite a cracked rib, suffered the week before against Springfield.
After spotting the Rivermen a quick lead, Adam Derrick and Drew Carlson scored midway through the first period to give the Eagles the lead. The Busch-Moon-Warta line had a tremendous game, scoring six goals, and totally frustrating the Peoria defense. John Carr added a goal for the Eagles, beating the defense and deking the Peoria goalie with a neat backhander. The game marked a big breakout for the Eagle offense, which had been struggling to light the lamp over the past five games.
With at least a split assured for the day, the Eagles took their mini-streak a few miles down the interstate to Pekin to battle the first-place Flyers, who had already chalked up four wins against Quad Cities earlier in the season. The game started out with great promise as Austin Busch buried a slap shot on the Eagles’ first rush into the Pekin zone to put the Eagles on top 1-0. Unfortunately, Busch’s goal seemed to wake up the Flyers, and they immediately took control of the game. Utilizing their defensemen at the points and with pinpoint passing, the Flyers soon had the Eagles chasing the puck, instead of playing their positions, and before the period ended, Pekin had raced to a 5-1 lead.
With the result all but assured, the Eagles got back to playing their positions, and as a result, they were able to battle Pekin fairly evenly the rest of the game. David Warta and Ryne Takacs added Q-C goals, as the Flyers prevailed by a final of 8-3.
The Eagles returned to action on Sunday with a pair of home games against the Rivermen. In the opener, which counted in the CIHL standings, the two teams battled evenly through the first period, with Q-C goals by Warta and Moon offset by tallies by Peoria’s Hayles and Cheatham. Ryne Takacs gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead just 30 seconds into the second period with the first of his two goals. Grant Reuter, in his first weekend back following a broken bone in his wrist, and David Warta scored for the Eagles, but those were countered by Peoria’s Ryan Swanson who scored twice for the Rivermen. With the Eagles leading by one in the closing seconds of the period, Ryne Takacs raced the length of the ice on a breakaway, and tucked in a backhander with just 4 seconds left in the period to give the Eagles a two-goal lead.
The third period was all Quad Cities. Eagle goals were coming so fast that there seemed to be some confusion on the part of the officials, as to who scored them. Grant Reuter, originally credited with four goals, had two, while Austin Busch registered his first hat trick of the season, with all goals coming in the third period. Drew Carlson scored the final Eagle goal, as the Q-C finished off the 11-4 win.
When the two teams took the ice for the second game, it appeared the Eagles would run off with another big win, as Busch and John Carr both scored within the first four minutes of the game. But Peoria struck back with goals by Swanson and Cheatham midway through the first period to tie the game at two. Brad Kneip gave Peoria the lead midway through the second, but Dave Warta tied the game three minutes later. The Eagles see-sawed ahead in the period’s last minute when Chad Dotterer scored his first goal of the season from the right point with 26 seconds left. But Peoria was not done, as the Rivermen scored twice in the first minute of the third period, one by Cheatham and the other by Kneip, to give them a 5-4 lead. Both teams battled hard, and the Peoria goaltender was outstanding in keeping the puck out of his net, despite relentless pressure during the last five minutes, and Peoria salvaged the last of the three-game set.
By winning two of the three league contests, the Eagles moved the CIHL record to 4-4, and their overall record moved to 12-12-0 for the season. The Eagles now have a couple of weeks off, before resuming their schedule in early January.
INJURY UPDATE: As chronicled here, it has been a tough, tough season for the Eagles, injury wise. Brian Moriarty had to undergo surgery on his injured leg this week, when it was determined the injury was not mending as anticipated. Will Hegwein is improving, and was at Sunday’s game. Other less serious injuries (Oppendike, broken finger; Carlson, cracked rib; and Derrick, back problems) will hopefully have time to heal over the Christmas break.
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Email: jasoncorcoran@hotmail.com