'Barely have words': How the Peoria Rivermen said goodbye to a beloved player
PEORIA — Ben Oskroba came back for the retirement he always dreamed of and left with a legacy established with the Peoria Rivermen in an unforgettable moment Sunday at Carver Arena.
The 32-year-old defenseman, who was a charter member of Peoria's SPHL team back in 2013-14, came out of retirement after nearly three years, and skated three games over the weekend with the Rivermen so he could get to this special moment.
A proper finish to a lifetime in hockey.
The Rivermen didn't leave the ice when the game ended, staying to give Oskroba a curtain call, a goodbye he deserved after playing 332 games for the franchise.
"I barely have any words right now," said Oskroba, eyes red from tears after an emotional goodbye at center ice. "One last game, a chance to wear this Rivermen uniform, play in this building in front of my family, these fans.
"I feel like I skated into a place in Rivermen history."
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Oskroba had planned to retire after the 2019-20 season ended, part of a then first-place Rivermen team that was a championship contender. But the pandemic hit, and the season was stopped and then canceled while the team was in Fayetteville, waiting to play a road series.
"This brought that trip back for me," said veteran Rivermen goaltender Eric Levine, a teammate and friend to Oskroba all these years. "That day in Fayetteville when the season suddenly ended. We just got on a bus and went home. No one ever had a chance to say goodbye to Ben.
"It was not the way anyone wanted to see his career end. So this was for him. He deserved this."
The Rivermen took two of three games over the weekend from Knoxville, and Oskroba played all of them.
When the horn sounded on a 6-2 win Sunday, the team stayed on the ice for Oskroba to be honored as the star of the game. Longtime captain and friend Alec Hagaman grabbed Oskroba and hugged him, and the rest of the players followed in an emotional sendoff.
"We're brothers," Hagaman said. "That's for life. We lived together and played together for years here. I'm so happy for him, he got to leave the game the right way.
"Ben Oskroba gave everything to the Peoria Rivermen, held nothing back. So we gave him the goodbye he wanted."
A fan had a sign on the glass that, using his uniform number, which read "24 forever."
Goodbye, Ben.
A natural conclusion
Sunday was an entertaining game in the trilogy series, won by the Rivermen 6-2.
Rivermen winger Jordan Ernst buried three goals in a span of 10:44 in the third period as part of six unanswered Peoria goals in a rally to victory.
Ernst's goals came uninterrupted in the same period — a natural hat trick.
"I've never scored a natural hat trick as a pro player," Ernst said. "It's awesome. They (Knoxville) were really chirping at me in the second game (Saturday night) when I scored a goal and it was waved off. So I said, 'I'm gonna score.' "
And score he did, the final part of this three-pack celebrated with a long slide on knee across the Rivermen logo at center ice, posed as if to shoot an arrow from a bow.
Fun stuff. Knoxville melted down, as tough guy Ryan Devine twice drew 10-minute misconducts for verbal abuse of officials, left the ice flapping his arms like a chicken and jawed with fans at the tunnel.
Ice Bears goaltender Bailey MacBurnie also drew a 10-minute misconduct for verbal abuse of officials, and so did the Knoxville bench, leaving the Rivermen at one point on a 5-on-3 power play for two minutes.
Nolan Slachetka was ejected with a major penalty for slew-footing, too.
All of that followed a dazzling goal by Rivermen winger Mitch McPherson, who pulled Peoria into a tie when, parked at the right edge of the crease with his back to the goal, he backhanded the puck between his own legs and past MacBurnie.
With the goal horns going off six times in the last 34 minutes, Carver Arena was an unbearable place for Knoxville to be. That's usually the case, as the Rivermen are a league-best 10-3-2 on home ice.
Levine with milestone 86th win
Veteran Rivermen goaltender Eric Levine reached a milestone on Sunday when he notched his 86th victory in the net for the Peoria franchise. That passed Geoff Sarjeant (IHL era) for second-most victories by a goaltender in Rivermen history.
"When you play over the years you don't really stop to reflect on it," Levine said. "But then all of a sudden you are at 86, and you think about what a storied franchise this is, the (NHLers) who have played in goal here for the Rivermen.
"I've been fortunate to play for Peoria and it's humbling to be part of such a great history. It's 86 wins more than 10-year-old Eric Levine ever thought he could get some day as a pro goaltender."
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Between the pipes
Levine's milestone was a feel-good moment that was needed after the weekend opened with a rocky outing between the pipes for both the veteran goaltender and his partner, Ben Churchfield.
Both played in Friday's 6-4 loss to Knoxville, and both struggled in that game.
Both came back to play well, Churchfield with a 22-save effort in a 5-2 win Saturday, then Levine with a 24-save effort in the 6-2 win Sunday.
"We got beaten at the goaltending position," Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said, frustrated after Friday's loss. "It's becoming a concern. We had 25 quality scoring chances tonight, and they come down and score four times on initial shots. We gave up four really bad goals and it's deflating. We kept trying to come back …"
Message received. Pro sports is a results business, and no one gets spared.
"I wasn't playing up to my standard," Levine said. "The worst thing that I could do is to not believe in myself. I hold myself to high accountability, and when you play you have to be good.
"At this level of the game, you have to make that initial stop."
A trade for a goaltender
The Rivermen made changes in their goaltending position on Tuesday, with the release of one player and a trade to bring in another.
Peoria released goaltender Ben Churchfield, and acquired goaltender Josh Benson in a trade with Macon for future considerations.
Churchfield played 11 games for the Rivermen, building a 7-2-0 record with a 2.35 goals-against and a .907 saves rate.
Benson, 25, is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound native of Stillwater, Minn. He played the last four seasons for NCAA Sacred Heart University, appearing in 86 games and compiling a 41-27-8 record with a 2.66 goals-against and .900 saves rate.
He earned Atlantic Conference All-Rookie Team honors and third-team all-Atlantic Conference honors during the course of his college career.
He suffered at last-place Macon, where he was 1-8-2 with a 4.36 goals-against and an .875 saves rate.
Bye-bye Barrow
The Rivermen were rocked on Monday when high-scoring wing Tyler Barrow — the SPHL's leading rookie scorer — abruptly left for Europe. He signed with Manchester of the EIHL in Great Britain.
Barrow had 11 goals and 19 assists in 25 games for Peoria and was ninth in the overall league scoring race.
River Readings
One of hockey's renowned old-school enforcers, Gino Odjick, died at age 52 on Sunday from Amyloidosis — a disease that attacked his heart. Odjick played more than 600 NHL games and was a renowned fighter, with more than 2,000 penalty minutes for Vancouver. His very first pro fight? It was in the IHL, for Milwaukee, against the Peoria Rivermen and another legendary fighter, Tony Twist, in the 1990-91 season. … The Rivermen host Vermilion County on Sunday, their only home game over the next 32 days at Carver Arena. … The Rivermen left the weekend in second place in the SPHL.
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: Peoria Rivermen hockey analysis: Team says goodbye to beloved player
