'I chose happy': Peoria Rivermen player with military roots is earning hockey stripes

PEORIA — Andrew Durham continued to earn his stripes with the Peoria Rivermen, scoring a big goal Friday in a key game against the Evansville Thunderbolts.

The Rivermen scored three breakaway goals — including Durham's — on the way to a 5-1 victory in a game between two of the SPHL's top three teams.

The third-largest Rivermen crowd of the season at Carver Arena — 4,225 — saw Peoria move into a first-place tie with Roanoke in their 14th straight game without a regulation loss.

Durham was a big part of it. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound center comes from a military family, and he has served the Rivermen well since coming down from the ECHL.

"I love the military, respect service and our family knows it well," Durham said. "Both my grandfathers served. My grandfather, Tom Lotz, was a lieutenant colonel in the Korean war. My other grandfather, Bill Durham, was a first lieutenant. My mother (Jennifer) was born on a military base in Dresden, Germany."

Box score: Rivermen 5, Evansville 1 | Standings: 2022-23 SPHL

Coming out of junior hockey, the only NCAA Division-I team to offer Durham a chance to play was Army, via the U.S. Military Academy.

With his family background, it was an offer that felt quite comfortable. He signed on with Army but spent the 2016-17 season as a reserve player, never appearing in a game.

"I wanted to stay, I have no problem with serving," Durham said. "But I got a concussion in a boxing match. So the Academy agreed to a mutual separation and an honorable discharge. That doesn't happen often, that they let you go without serving. I was lucky on that."

Texas tough

Durham grew up in Plano, Texas, and found a path into the game through youth hockey and some neighbors well-established in the game.

"The Cotton family lived next door, and I played street hockey with those guys growing up," Durham said.

He was referring to David and Jason Cotton, the former an NHL Draft pick by Carolina, and the latter a free agent signing by Carolina. David Cotton plays for Coachella Valley in the AHL this season.

"I played with and against those guys my whole life," Durham said. "I was born in 1995, and the Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999-2000, so my age group showed up as a wave into the game at the youth level. I was part of that. We all were.

"I went from playing in the streets of Plano, Texas, to where we are today."

More:Here are 4 key players who could keep the Peoria Rivermen among hockey's elite

Durham played for the Dallas Stars Elite 18-under AAA team in Texas in 2013-14. And he had a teammate there named JM Piotrowski, and as kids they went to a national championship.

They are teammates again now with the Rivermen. And Piotrowski — who scored the President's Cup clinching goal in Peoria's championship win last spring — helped get Durham to Peoria, talking to him about the organization, the coaching, and the 41-year tradition of the game in central Illinois.

So Durham signed with the Rivermen over the summer and went to camp with ECHL Allen in the fall and made that team. He played 16 games and scored a goal there, and then came down to Peoria in the SPHL before Christmas. So far, he has two goals in three games with the Rivermen.

His journey before Peoria included that one season with Army, and then three seasons with NCAA Div-III University of Wisconsin-Superior.

A pro career delayed

Durham came out of college and turned pro with Norfolk in the ECHL at the end of the 2019-20 season, appearing in three games.

The following season he opened at SPHL Macon, suffered an injury after two games, and didn't play again. Then he sat out the 2021-22 season as well.

"I had an injury at Macon, and then with all the uncertainty about what was happening (with COVID) and all that, I just left the game and went to work," Durham said. "I was a third-party logistics freight broker in Texas.

"In May the economy dipped and I started thinking about it: I could make very little money not in hockey and be unhappy, or I could make (not enough) money playing hockey and be happy. I chose happy."

And so the kid who grew up idolizing Dallas star Jere Lehtinen made his way to Peoria.

How he helped the Rivermen win

The Rivermen broke up a scoreless tie at 17:45 of the first period Friday as Zach Wilkie's drive from the high slot was deflected in by captain Alec Hagaman as he skated left-to-right across the doorstep.

Evansville tied it at the end of a three-shot flurry on a power play, Cameron Cook finishing from below the left hashmarks 52 seconds into the second period.

The Rivermen notched three straight breakaway goals to take command.

Joe Drapluk scored a shorthanded goal at 4:19 of the second period when he raced to a free puck in the neutral zone and in for a breakaway, slipping a backhander between goaltender Zane Steeves pads for 2-1 and the game-winner.

More:Why the Peoria Rivermen played a game in front of 7,000 screaming schoolkids

Peoria rolled to a 3-1 lead at 13:35 of the second period when Durham stole the puck at the Evansville blueline and took off for a breakaway, heading in from the right side of the zone to beat Steeves short side.

Marcel Godbout put a wicked snap through Steeves on a breakaway 6:00 of the third period.

The Rivermen teased the big crowd by hitting the crossbar and posts (twice) with an empty net before Ben Assad eventually tacked on an empty-netter with 7.2 seconds left.

"Andrew Durham was the best player on the ice tonight," Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "I think he won 65% of his faceoffs, and that's a real defensive weapon for us.

"He's getting better and better every game."

Durham senses he's in the right place now and at the right time to get his career on track.

"I wanted to sign with a place that had a sense of an organization, where things were operated at a highly professional level," Durham said. "It's important to be part of that, get that coaching, be part of that tradition.

"I'm super-grateful to be here."

River Readings

The 4,225 in attendance Friday was the third-largest crowd of the season for the Rivermen at Carver Arena (5,087 opening night; 6,878 student day game). Post-Christmas through March is traditionally when attendance steps up big for pro hockey. … At some point during the game, the Civic Center concession stands were reportedly unable to sell soda because the distribution lines were frozen. … Rivermen defenseman Brendan St. Louis dressed but was fighting an injury and did not play. … Rivermen center Joe Drapluk played as a defenseman. … Peoria winger-defenseman Austin Wisely also spent shifts on the blueline. … The St. Patrick's grade school seventh-grade IESA state champion girls basketball team was on hand and honored on the ice in the first intermission.

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: Rivermen hockey player Andrew Durham 'chose happy' signing in Peoria