8 things to watch for as Peoria Rivermen begin defense of their SPHL championship

PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen will open the 2022-23 season this weekend as something they haven't been for 22 years.

Defending champions.

After a storybook spring, in which the Rivermen finally reached their quest of a Southern Professional Hockey League championship, and a summer of celebration that saw the President's Cup tour central Illinois, the 41-year-old franchise starts its title defense on Friday.

There are plenty of things to know as the team embarks on a new script.

More:Here are 5 big reasons Peoria Rivermen hockey could repeat as champions of the SPHL

• Veteran Peoria-born captain Alec Hagaman is sixth all-time in franchise history with 383 games played (including playoffs) for Peoria. With 51 more games, he'll pass Grant Rezansoff, Dan Hodge, Richard Pion and Ron Hoover for second all-time. No one will ever catch the leader, Doug Evans, at 700.

• Can the Rivermen repeat as champions? If they do, Hagaman will have been part of three consecutive championship teams, including Pensacola's 2020-21 winner.

• Veteran Rivermen goaltender Eric Levine, in his age 34 season, has a chance to become the SPHL all-time leader in victories. He has 79 SPHL wins — including 29 last season for the Rivermen. The career record is 105, held by former Rivermen and Quad City goaltender Peter Di Salvo.

• Rivermen coach and Hall of Fame member Jean-Guy Trudel needs just 14 wins to reach 300 regular-season victories at Peoria's helm.

• The Rivermen enter the 2022-23 season with a rare franchise hat trick. They have won championships in three pro leagues at all three minor-league levels. That includes titles in the old class-AAA International Hockey League (1985 and 1991), the class-AA ECHL (2000) and the class-A SPHL (2022). It's possible that Peoria is the only city in pro hockey history to have a championship team at all three levels of the minors.

• Don't miss home opening night Saturday at Carver Arena. There is a pre-game championship celebration planned. Think spotlights, a championship banner descending from the rafters, 11 players on the ice from last spring's title team, receiving their championship rings, and captain Alec Hagaman skating the President's Cup for the fans.

Charge up your phones for some can't-miss video.

• The Rivermen will play a home game in Bloomington this season, on Saturday, March 4.

The Rivermen have reached the SPHL President's Cup Finals in four of the last six seasons in which they've participated. There was no league postseason held in 2019-20 because of the pandemic. And Peoria stayed dormant in 2020-21 because of pandemic operating restrictions in Illinois.

• There is ample precedent for repeat champions in the 18-year history of the SPHL. Knoxville did it first in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Then Pensacola, in 2012-13 and 2013-14. And Huntsville did it in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Pensacola and Huntsville each beat the Rivermen in the finals for one of their titles.

"It's always tough in our league at the outset, you have maybe a week of camp to get everyone ready," Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "We know we'll get better as we go along. We know there will be changes, and challenges and adversity. It's all part of it.

"We're going to celebrate with our fans on Opening Night, it's important to do that. Then we're going to get to work on a new season and a new mission. Because once you win a championship, the only thought we're going to have is, 'Let's win it again.' "

More:Here's a look at the Peoria Rivermen SPHL championship ring — and the story it tells

Title defenses in the past

How did the Rivermen franchise do in its past title defense seasons?

The team won the IHL's Turner Cup in 1984-85 under Pat Kelly. The next season, they finished third in the West Division at 46-31-5 and lost in the second round of the playoffs.

The Rivermen won the Turner Cup again in 1990-91 under Bobby Plager. The next season, Harold Snepsts came in as coach and Peoria finished second in the West Division at 48-25-3 and lost in the second round of the playoffs.

The Rivermen won the Kelly Cup in the ECHL in 1999-2000 under Don Granato. Their title defense, under Jason Christie, saw them win the Northwest Division crown at 45-17-10 and reach the fourth round — the conference finals.

Meet the team

The Rivermen roster is always fluid at the outset of the season.

Coach Jean-Guy Trudel made his second trade this week, getting Tyler Barrow from Fayetteville in exchange for future considerations. The 5-foot-9 forward played four seasons at NCAA Division-III Wilkes University.

Trudel also signed center/right wing Ben Assad, a rookie who captained the University of Windsor, and forward Austin Morgan, from the University of New England.

More:'Not hanging it up': Rivermen captain and Peoria native back for SPHL title defense

Two players already in camp, Tyson Kirkby and Andrew Barber, left camp mid-week and are off the roster.

An exciting late get is Braydon Barker, a right-handed shooting defenseman who went right from college to the ECHL for his rookie season last year. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder played 50 games for ECHL Orlando, with three goals and five assists.

Here is the Rivermen roster as they head into the season opener Friday at Quad City (player's uniform number included):

Goaltenders: 3 Eric Levine, 1 Ben Churchfield.

Forwards: 15 Brendan Soucie, 28 Austin Wisely, 17 Alec Hagaman, 40 JM Piotrowski, 16 Mitch McPherson, 71 Cayden Cahill, 13 Kasey Kulczycki, 12 Austin Morgan, 91 Alec Baer, 7 Joseph Drapluck, 39 Ben Assad, 8 Tyler Barrow.

Defensemen: 44 Brendan St-Louis, 4 Dale Deon, 19 Zach Wilkie, 18 Braydon Barker, 25 Nick Neville, 27 Eliott St-Pierre.

More:16 special jerseys, replica rings and more: Inside the Peoria Rivermen fan promotions

River Readings

The Rivermen are 19-11-8-1 (a true tie) in all-time road openers, as they head to Quad City for their season and road opener Friday. … Peoria is 19-17-3 all-time in season openers, and 19-15-4-1 all-time in home openers.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star 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 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Eight things to watch for as Rivermen begin SPHL title defense