'He's pure Rivermen': Peoria-born player among three to sign with SPHL champs
PEORIA — Mitch McPherson grew up watching the Peoria Rivermen, and now he has decided to continue his pro career growth with them.
The Peoria-born winger has signed with Peoria for a return in its 2022-23 Southern Professional Hockey League title defense.
The Rivermen signed a pair of defensemen Monday as well, Eliott St-Pierre and Brendan St-Louis. But it was McPherson who joined already-signed returnees Alec Hagaman, Eric Levine and JM Piotrowski.
"Playing for the Rivermen was my dream," said McPherson, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound winger, on the day he earned his first call-up to the ECHL last November.
The son of former Rivermen enforcer Darwin McPherson, Mitch McPherson started playing in the Peoria Youth Hockey Association at age 6, and at every step of the way there were former Rivermen players guiding him.
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His father was his primary youth hockey coach. Former Rivermen winger and now Peoria Mustangs head coach Steve Ortman coached him in youth hockey, too.
McPherson played for the junior hockey Peoria Mustangs in 2009-10 and 2010-11 when they were in the CSHL, then returned at age 20 to play for them in the NA3HL under former Rivermen center Tyler Rennette in 2014-15.
He played for former Rivermen defenseman and captain Tony Curtale while at NAHL Texas. And of course, he played for former ECHL and AHL Rivermen winger and longtime Rivermen coach Trudel.
"He's a very smart player who understands his strengths and weaknesses," Trudel said. "That's a true skill, and he uses it to be very successful at the SPHL level."
About the newcomers
Eliott St-Pierre is a 5-foot-11, 201-pound defenseman with a high hockey pedigree. He played three seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Rimouski and Baie-Comeau Drakkar, notching eight assists in 53 games.
The 22-year-old Rimouski, Quebec native spent his rookie pro season with SPHL Huntsville (2 assists, plus-20 rating in 29 games) and Evansville. He earned an 11-game call-up to ECHL Trois-Rivières.
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"He has a motor and really plays hard," Trudel said. "He's a D-man I really liked last year when I saw him playing for Huntsville. He can play well in all three zones."
St-Louis is another former QMJHL product, having played two seasons for Baie-Comeau Drakkar (99 games, four goals, 13 assists). He started his rookie season in 2021-22 in the ECHL with Maine, where he played 29 games. The Rivermen got him for the stretch run last spring and he was exciting in his debut — notching an assist and plus-3 rating.
But he went home after that and didn't play again.
"He had to leave for family reasons, he loves the game and wants to play and is ready to go," Trudel said. "He played all those ECHL games as a rookie and we saw him in one. There's a lot of upside to his game.
"When he came to us (last spring) we loved what we saw."
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: Peoria-born player among 3 to sign with SPHL champs
