'It's a joy': How Rivermen defender fell in love with game

PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen have rocketed to the top of the Southern Professional Hockey League standings with all the pieces on display for a defending champion.

They have speed, skill, prolific scoring off a relentless forecheck, strong defense. And they have one more thing: an unofficial emotional barometer in defenseman Zach Wilkie.

His rise to the elite class of SPHL blueliners is not just marked by points and blocks and skill. His most important asset is pure joy.

And it was a joy to watch Wilkie and the Rivermen take apart a Huntsville team twice at Carver Arena, hammering them 10-3 on Friday and then 5-3 in a rematch Saturday before 3,298.

With that, the Rivermen took over first place in the SPHL standings Saturday, blitzing along on a 12-1-1 streak and now with a .781 pointsmaking percentage.

"My confidence is so high," Wilkie said. "I'm just trying to take everything in stride."

Box Score:Rivermen 5, Huntsville 3

That stride becomes a sprint − literally − as he leaps off the ice at the end of pre-game warmups and runs down the tunnel to the locker room.

Then he's the first man out at game-time, waiting to make sure every teammate is greeted on the way to the ice.

"I started doing that last season, I saw TJ Oshie run off the ice and to the locker room," Wilkie said. "I decided to steal a little bit of his thunder and do that. Playing this game, for me, it's a joy. I want everyone to feel that way."

Wilkie has three goals and 11 assists in 16 games. That matches his goal total in 50 games during last season's title run, and is nearly half way to his assist total.

He has a career year underway, second among all SPHL defenseman in points, trailing only teammate Nick Neville.

Rivermen in first:SPHL Standings

When the Rivermen faced a five-on-three Huntsville power play for 1:18 in the third period Saturday, Wilke stayed on the ice for all of the two-man portion. The Rivermen went on to clear both penalties.

"Two years ago I was sitting at home, not playing hockey, wondering if I should give up the game," Wilkie said. "Then I came to Peoria and joined this team and everything changed.

"I'm so excited to play the game. I want everyone around me to be excited."

Wilkie, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound native of Villa Park, earned call-ups to ECHL Allen and South Carolina last season, and was in an ECHL camp at Wheeling this fall.

"I walked away from the ECHL this year," Wilkie said. "I'm not interested in those call-ups. This is the place to be, I want to be part of this team.

"For me, it's all about walking into this building, those banners on the walls, putting on this jersey and being part of all that."

More:'Called up to Rivermen': How this scoring ace landed back with defending champ Peoria

A hat trick, and victory, in rematch

The Rivermen overcame a 1-0 deficit Saturday against Huntsville, getting a hat trick from Peoria-born winger Mitch McPherson.

Peoria center Alec Baer saw a seven-game goalscoring streak snapped, but he notched two assists to extend his league-high pointscoring streak to 10 games.

McPherson tied the game on a power play goal from the doorstep midway through the first period. That set off a cascade of stuffed animals onto the ice from the fans, who brought them for the annual Teddy Bear Toss night.Those stuffed animals were collected and presented to Salvation Army.

Veteran wing Jordan Ernst notched a power play goal at 4:40 of the second period for a 2-1 lead, and Peoria was on its way.

The Rivermen earned a five-on-three power play for 62 seconds late in the period -- with 21 seconds of it carrying over into the third period.

They cashed in just as the first penalty expired, taking a 3-1 lead 22 seconds into the third period when McPherson knocked in his second of the game from the top of the crease.

That Huntsville five-on-three power play followed, with key Peoria penalty killer JM Piotrowski in the box.

But the Rivermen erased it all, then a few second later extended their lead to 4-1, at 13:29, when defenseman Brendan St-Louis' drive from the left point beat goaltender Hunter Vorva through a screen set by Piotrowski.

That stood as the game-winner. Huntsville pulled Vorva early, with 2:29 left, for an extra attacker and McPherson finished his hat trick with an empty-netter.

Rivermen make a trade

The Rivermen took all four points from Huntsville over the weekend, then gave them a player afterward.

Peoria traded center-winger Kasey Kulczycki to Huntsville for future considerations on Sunday night.

Kulczycki, joined the Rivermen late last season and gave them a third-line presence and special teams contribution on their playoff run to the SPHL championship.

He had two goals and two assists with a -2 rating in 13 games this season. He was a healthy scratch in both games against Huntsville.

The Rivermen got Austin Wisely back from IR and Marcel Godbout down from the ECHL, and are expecting another potential move in the next few days. That combination pushed Kulczycki off the roster.

River Readings

Rivermen goaltender Eric Levine was on family leave Saturday and missed the game. … The Rivermen signed an emergency backup goaltender for Saturday's game, Ian Eberle. He's the son of former longtime Rivermen athletic trainer Greg Eberle. Ian Eberle played high school hockey at Pekin. … Rivermen winger JM Piotrowski had a second-period fight with Cole Reginato, the SPHL penalty minutes leader, in Saturday's 5-3 Peoria win. Piotrowski's jersey was up over his head, and Reginato refrained from throwing punches until the Rivermen player got his jersey squared away. Then the two got back at it. Respect. ... The Rivermen were dressed in Mighty Ducks themed jerseys, and auctioned them after the game. … Cathy Black-Crane handled the national anthem with a next-level rendition, as always.

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: How Peoria Rivermen defender fell in love with game