MOLINE, Ill. – On Friday, the Quad City Storm were shut out for the seventh time this season as the visiting Peoria Rivermen swept the weekend with a 5-0 decision. The Storm looked dead in the water on Baby Shark Night, with special teams and even strength having no fight to speak of. 

“[Tonight was] Disappointing, in the fact that we seem like we are looking for somebody else to do it, right, instead of having a leader step up and lead the team, obviously.” said Storm Head Coach Dave Pszenyczny. “Very disappointing, you know. Obviously, losing [Taylor] Pryce hurts and that was maybe not even two hours before game time. Obviously, losing [Patrick] Gazich [to ECHL Indy Fuel] and then all those guys but still. With what we had from last night, we were just missing the [defense] and the forwards, well actually two defense tonight. Nonetheless, it’s no excuse for the horrendous effort that we put forward.”

The Rivermen struck early in the first period, with Alec Hagaman lighting the lamp behind Kevin Resop with help from Braydon Barker and Nigel Slade. Eight minutes later, the Rivermen scored again following a scrum in Resop’s crease. Resop was lying on his side just outside the crease as the scrum pushed him over, leaving the net wide open for Cayden Cahill to bat the puck in. Alexandre Carrier and Joseph Drapluk assisted on the second goal, which was followed by a third a few minutes later. 

Pszenyczny called time-out immediately following the second goal. The Storm looked invigorated after the timeout, playing a hard game for two minutes. During those two minutes, the Storm fought hard for the puck and looked like a fresh team. However, that energy didn’t last long.

The Storm went on their first penalty kill of the night at 12:07 of the first period after Michael Moran was called for elbowing. Thirty-five seconds later, the Rivermen scored on the man advantage, thanks to Drapluk. This goal chased Resop out of the net, to be replaced by Ryan Edquist. Hagaman and Cahill picked up the assists on the power-play goal. Drapluk then went on hat-trick watch with his second goal of the night 40 seconds later, beating Edquist on the first shot he faced. Cahill once again made it on the scoresheet with an assist, Cale List being added to the list of those with a point in the night as well with the second assist. 

The second period was uneventful for most of the frame, the Storm only registering nine shots on goal the entire stretch. Logan Nelson nearly had a goal a few minutes into the frame but couldn’t get a handle on the puck in front of the gaping net after a pass. With just under six minutes remaining in the period, the Rivermen went on another penalty kill. As it was winding down, the Storm gave up a two-on-zero opportunity to Hagaman and Zach Wilkie. Wilkie went bar-down after taking the pass from Hagaman, giving the Rivermen the 5-0 lead on their 28th shot on net.

The third period saw no additions to the scoresheet, as there was no reason for the Rivermen to continue running up the score. Quad City offered no fight in the game, looking uncoordinated and uncommunicative throughout the game. Though they were missing their captain, as Pryce was put on the 21-day IR list just two hours before the game, no one else stepped up to fill his role. There was a distinct lack of effort from the team. 

The Storm is now in ninth place in the league, two points out of the final playoff spot. Though a fall to tenth place seems unlikely due to the 18-point gap between the spots, first and eighth places are separated by only 12 points. They will be on the road for three games, taking on the Vermilion County Bobcats to finish the three-games-in-three-days stretch before traveling to Alabama to face the Birmingham Bulls next weekend.

In the interim, the coaching staff is focused on the future and potential silver linings:

“Well definitely long, long practices coming up, but we may get some bodies back next week,” said Pszenyczny. “I don’t know, you never know. You know what, maybe it’s going to be a good bonding experience for everyone.”

The Storm will return to Vibrant Arena at The MARK for a pair of back-to-back games against the Bobcats on February 3rd and 4th.