What the Peoria Rivermen said after a Game 3 loss to Knoxville in SPHL semifinals

But Knoxville scored 13 seconds after the opening faceoff, ran up a 4-0 lead in the first 33 minutes of the game, and got a hat trick from Tim Kent that included two regrettable goals on the short side.

"You have a team over there in Knoxville that is super energized, really hungry," Trudel said. "Our D-men just can't make a play against them. They go the extra miles, fly around, force play on the walls … We're just slow, slow to react, look like we panic."

How 4-2 happened

The Peoria Rivermen celebrate a late third-period goal, but it was disallowed when officials whistled the loose puck in the crease dead prematurely during a 4-2 loss to Knoxville in Game 3 of the SPHL Semifinals at Knoxville Civic Coliseum on Thursday, April 23, 2026.

Knoxville defenseman Kyle Soper's pass from the left circle into traffic on the doorstep was tapped in between Bostedt's pads by Kent from the right side of the crease 13 seconds after the puck dropped.

The Ice Bears opened a 2-0 lead at 8:43 of the first period from captain Jimmy Soper, who buried a doorstep rebound of Brendan Dowler's shot from the top of the right circle.

The Rivermen looked unable to deal with Knoxville's fast-paced game in the first period and beyond, allowing numerous odd-man breaks.

They tried to regroup in the second period but gave up another pair of goals to Kent as he completed a hat trick in a span of 3:39.

Kent powered down along the right boards through winger/defenseman Braydon Barker and headed to the right post, where he planted a shot short side into the top right corner of the net at 10:42 for 3-0.

Then Kent put the Rivermen in a 4-0 hole when he beat Bostedt short side again 12:57.

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The Rivermen got on the board when Wiesner took a cross-zone feed from Garrett Devine at the right post and put it past 6-foot-8, 250-pound Knoxville goaltender Stephen Mundinger at 18:21 of the second.

Baer cut to the middle of the high slot and fired a shot through traffic past Mundinger with 76 seconds left in the period to cut the deficit to 4-2.

The Rivermen pulled Bostedt for an extra attacker with 3:09 left in the third period but could not cut into their deficit.

Special teams were irrelevant, as the Rivermen were awarded one power play in the game, which lasted for just 8 seconds. Peoria is 0 of 15 on the power play in the 2026 playoffs.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Facing elimination: How Rivermen reacted after Game 3 SPHL semis loss to Knoxville