PEORIA SPOILS THE REUNION PARTY WITH A 3-1 WIN

Rockford, Ill.- With the Peoria Rivermen coming to town and reuniting the Rockford IceHogs with former players Joe Fallon and Daryl Boyle, Peoria had the final say, taking the contest 3-1 on Friday night at the Rockford MetroCentre.

The combo was traded to the St. Louis Blues organization for Hannu Toivonen and Danny Richmond on March 1.

"Playing against your former team is always a special opportunity," Toivonen said, "Obviously a little disappointed that we didn't get the outcome that we wanted."

Ryan Reaves scored the first goal of the game at the 5:19 mark of the first period. Nate Guenin and Matt McIlvane were credited with the assists.

The IceHogs responded with a goal of their own by Rob Klinkhammer. Klinkhammer knocked home a Richard Petiot rebound at 13:10 of the first period on the power play. Matt Keith also figured in on the play to extend his point streak to eight games.

Former Hogs defenseman Daryl Boyle scored on his old team at 1:18 of the second period to give Peoria the lead. Boyle scored his sixth goal of the season, with assists from Adam Cracknell and Cam Paddock.

Then Pascal Pelletier scored his fourteenth goal of the season, an empty-net goal, at 19:51 of the third period to put the Rivermen ahead 3-1 and put the game away. Nate Guenin tallied his ninth assist of the season on the empty-net goal.

"We've got to fix a few things in our game and try to go back at it tomorrow," Toivonen said.

Former IceHogs goaltender Joe Fallon saved 28 of 29 shots in the win, while former Toivonen was tagged with the loss while turning away 29 of 31 shots.

Rockford went one for six on the man advantage, but held Peoria off the board on three power play opportunities.

Next Home Game: Saturday, March 20 vs. Texas Stars: Game time is 7:05 p.m. The first 5,000 fans to the big orange box will receive an IceHogs Car Flag from U.S. Cellular.