Gulls Blow Another Lead, Fall to Peoria : Hockey: Hoover sparks Rivermen with a third-period hat trick, spoiling Kvartalnov’s big night.

PEORIA, Ill. —  For the second time in as many nights, the Gulls wasted a lead and lost a game.

The Gulls, playing the second of three road games in three days at three different cities, fell, 6-4, Saturday to the Peoria Rivermen in front of 8,691 at the Peoria Civic Center.

“I can’t use (weariness) as an excuse,” said Coach Don Waddell, whose team blew a two-goal lead Friday and a three-goal lead against Peoria. “They outworked us. I pride myself and my team as being able to hold onto a lead. I guess I’ll have to start working them harder.

“We tried to sit on a 3-0 lead for 40 minutes.”

The Gulls finish their trip at 3 p.m. today at Milwaukee (XEK-AM 950).

Entering the game tied with the Rivermen for second place in the International Hockey League West Division, the Gulls led 3-0 after the first period and 4-2 midway through the second. But their bid to snap a two-game losing streak was swept away by Ron Hoover and his three third-period goals.

Hoover’s first goal at 12:37 tied the game, 4-4. His second came at 17:33, and his third was an empty-net goal with one second left. All three scores were assisted by Richard Pion.

Gull goalie Rick Knickle (13-7-1) lost his third consecutive decision, and Peoria’s J.C. Bergeron (2-3) stopped 29 shots en route to victory. The Rivermen, who outshot the Gulls, 33-29, pelted Knickle with 15 shots in the final period.

“The second period we came out and stood around,” Waddell said. “In the third period, we weren’t bad, but we were just hanging on. When we got up 3-0, we got comfortable. We thought it was going to be easy.”

Right wing Dmitri Kvartalnov added to his IHL-leading goal total, scoring the first two Gull goals. Kvartalnov, who also had an assist, scored 51 seconds into the game and the Gulls were off and running. He scored again at 9:43, then Darcy Norton scored unassisted 26 seconds later to make it 3-0.

Kvartalnov, who has 30 goals and 30 assists, leads the IHL in points with 60 in 34 games. Both of his goals were assisted by center Len Hachborn, who took over the league lead in assists with 37.

After Kevin Miehm and Dave Mackey scored to make it 3-2 early in the second period, the third member of the Hachborn line--left wing Robbie Nichols--scored his 14th to make it 4-2. That’s when the Gulls’ highlights stopped and the Peoria onslaught started.

Yves Heroux beat Knickle with 21 seconds left in the period, then Hoover, who had four points, devoured the Gulls in the final 20 minutes.

The Gulls fell to third place at 20-15-2 (42 points), while Peoria improved to 20-14-4 (44 points). Milwaukee, today’s opponent, was a 5-4 winner Saturday over Salt Lake, but the Admirals are 1-10-1 lifetime against the Gulls, 0-5-1 at the Bradley Center.