Vermilion County was back at home for their second straight game after a dramatic weekend that saw them fall 9-3 Friday in Knoxville and lose the finale of the home-and-home on Saturday by a 3-2 score in extra time. The Bobcats have inched closer and closer to the win column game in, and game out, and seeing an inner-state rival in the Peoria Rivermen in front of another sell-out crowd gave the boys a fire as they knew they had something to prove.

The Bobcats had never gotten off to a true strong start in a game until tonight. They had surrendered the first goal in all but one outing and had only ever gone to the dressing room after twenty minutes tied once. While this matchup may have not been different in the equalized at 0 aside scoreboard, Vermilion County put on a show leading rush after rush to a 13-6 shot advantage at the end of one.

Peoria was able to crack the board first 4:03 into the second period when a feed from Alec Baer found Brandon Rumble, who’s shot from wide right fluttered in to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. It didn’t take long for the Bobcats to storm back with just under three minutes ticking away between tallies. For VC’s lone regulation goal of the evening, it was Mike Tish picking up the primary on a beauty from Justin Portillo beating Jack Berry high and clean to even things up 1-1 after forty.

Period 3 ticked by without much controversy, and both teams had opportunities to bury the game away but couldn’t converge. Heading into overtime for the second straight game, the Bobcats were poised to control the possession game of the extra time which they did, but just as Peoria couldn’t find the back of the net, neither could Nick Neidert’s side.

Corbin Kaczperski was rock solid turning aside both Nathan Chasteen and Alec Baer to start the skills competition that followed, and after Skyler Smutek was initially denied, Joey Strada put one in to set VC ahead 1-0. Borshchev and Gullo couldn’t score on their opportunities, but the goal from Strada and three more Kaczperski saves would be all the Bobcats would need enroute to claiming the 2-1 victory, and their first in team history.

The Bobcats are back in action this Saturday night as they’ll hop the bus to head to Quad City to take on the Storm at 7:10pm. You can catch all the action live on HockeyTV or vcbobcats.com, but don’t miss out on the next chance to see VC roar at home Saturday, December 4th vs Huntsville at 7pm. Visit the David S. Palmer Arena box office or visit our website to secure your seats today.