'Last ride together': Rivermen veteran core ready for SPHL title defense as playoffs open
PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen packed onto their team bus for a final trip to Florida this season that could also mark the beginning of one last ride.
The SPHL regular-season champions and defending President's Cup champions open the 2023 SPHL playoffs Thursday with Game 1 of a best-of-3 series against the Pensacola Ice Flyers in Florida.
This is the playoff run, the one last title defense, that a lot key Rivermen players signed up for last summer. They dream of a repeat title together.
"We want to appreciate the process and enjoy it," Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "Alec Hagaman, Nick Neville, Mitch McPherson, Eric Levine, other guys could be done after this, for them there might not be a next year. We know some of them will retire.
"We have to focus on taking that last ride together, make sure we enjoy it."
Indeed, there is a feeling the heart of this Rivermen team is on the clock. Peoria-born captain Alec Hagaman (age 33) announced over the weekend he will retire at the end of these playoffs.
Other veteran players, from defenseman Neville (age 29) to Peoria-born winger McPherson (age 28), goaltender Levine (age 34), winger Alex Carrier (age 32) could all follow.
Most of them came back to play with Hagaman and to wear the Rivermen jersey one more time, and do something no team in Peoria's 41-year franchise history has ever done — win consecutive championships.
"We talked about this together," Hagaman said. "It's a chance for us to leave our legacy, cement our names in this community and in Rivermen history.
"We want to be known as the greatest Rivermen teams the franchise ever had, and to do that would define our careers."
More: 'It's everything': How this Peoria native and Rivermen captain said goodbye to hockey
To do that will be no easy task. The No. 1 seed Rivermen finished 24 points ahead of No. 8 Pensacola during the season.
The final two games, last weekend, were both 4-1 Peoria wins, but both of those games were tied in the third period.
The history between these two teams is a different story than the standings tell this season. Pensacola is one of only two teams in the SPHL with a winning record all-time against Peoria.
The curse of the No. 1 seed
No. 1 seeds have a rough history in the SPHL.
Only six teams in 19 years have finished first during the regular season and gone on to win the President's Cup in the playoffs.
The last team to do it was Macon, which went on to beat the Rivermen in the finals in 2016-17.
The Rivermen have finished in first place six times. The first four times brought no titles. The fifth time, the 2019-20 COVID-halted season, there was no postseason. The sixth time is about to embark at Pensacola Bay Center in Florida.
"For us, year after year we're the targets, year after year we see everyone's best game," Trudel said. "It doesn't always work out our way, but we want to be that team that everyone wants to beat."
Only three times in SPHL history has a No. 1 seed been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by a bottom-seed opponent. It happened to Knoxville (2021-22), Peoria (2014-15) and Columbus (2006-07).
"We want to be the first team in Peoria's history to win back-to-back titles. But we have to concentrate on Game 1," Trudel said. "The history in this league is hard for No. 1 seeds, and it's tough because we always open on the road in these three-game series.
"You have to win that first game. You lose one, and you are up against it. Will it happen? There's nerves involved. I think that's good. We know what we have to do."
Health and ringers
The Rivermen head into this postseason title defense at less than full strength, with three top players missing.
Key center and penalty-killer Joe Drapluk suffered a torn ACL and is done. Likely SPHL Defenseman of the Year Zach Wilkie is on IR with a significant knee injury, and will probably need the Rivermen to reach the finals again if he is to recover enough to play. High-scoring winger Marcel Godbout has been out with an upper-body injury and is the closest to a return, and might play in this series.
More: Who did the Peoria Rivermen keep on their roster for the SPHL playoffs? Here's the list
Pensacola, meanwhile, shipped in a pair of ECHL players on the roster deadline day Sunday.
The Ice Flyers added center Weiland Parrish, whose uncle, Mark Parrish, was the former Minnesota Wild captain who played 722 NHL games. Weiland Parrish scored 10 goals and added 19 assists in 23 games early this season for Pensacola, then went up to play 21 ECHL games with Kalamazoo and Rapid City.
The Flyers also got right wing Steven Leonard on the final day, back from a 17-game stint with ECHL Iowa.
Rivermen goaltender wins SPHL honors
Rivermen goaltender Jack Berry was named SPHL Player of the Week on Tuesday after leading Peoria to its sixth regular-season championship last weekend. Berry posted a 3-0-0 record, 1.34 goals against average, and a 0.932 save percentage as Peoria clinched the William B. Coffey Trophy as regular season champions.
River Readings
Rivermen captain Alec Hagaman finished the season with 24 goals and 37 assists for a league fifth-best 61 points. He became the first player in SPHL history to reach 400 games and 400 points in his career. … Pensacola captain Garrett Milan had 26 goals and 43 assists, third-best in assists and second in scoring overall in the SPHL. … Milan was second in power play goals with 13. Peoria winger Mitch McPherson was fifth with nine. … Milan led all SPHL players with 34 power play points. Hagaman was fourth with 23. … Rivermen trio Zach Wilkie, JM Piotrowski and Nick Neville finished first, third and fourth, respectively, among all SPHL players in plus-minus rating. … Hagaman tied for the league lead in game-winners with seven. … Pensacola goaltender Brad Arvanitis was ranked sixth with a 2.71 goals-against and .919 saves rate. … Rivermen goaltender Eric Levine was second at 17-8-3 with a 2.30 goals-against and .915 saves rate. … Rivermen goaltender Jack Berry was 10-4-0 with a 2.00 goals-against and .911 saves rate. That would be No. 1 in the SPHL, but he fell short of the minutes needed to qualify. … Pensacola beat the Rivermen for the 2015-16 President's Cup championship when it won Game 3 in Pensacola 5-4 on May 6, 2016, with a goal by Josh Cousineau with one-tenth of one second left in the game. … The Rivermen swept Pensascola 4-1 and 4-1 in a regular-season finale last weekend to clinch the Coffey Trophy as SPHL regular-season champions. … The Rivermen are 8-7 all-time in Game 1 of an SPHL playoff series, including three overtime losses. … The Rivermen won Game 1 in their first-round series against Pensacola last season, 6-3, at a neutral site in Birmingham. Peoria goaltender Eric Levine started and went the distance. Pensacola drove out Levine in the third period of a 6-4 Game 2 win at Peoria, and Jack Berry took over. Berry led the Rivermen to a championship and earned SPHL Playoff MVP honors.
1 Peoria Rivermen vs. 8 Pensacola Ice Flyers
SPHL quarterfinals, best-of-3
Schedule: Game 1 — 7:05 p.m. Thursday, Pensacola Bay Center; Game 2 — 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Carver Arena, Peoria; Game 3 (if needed) — 4:15 p.m. Sunday, Carver Arena, Peoria
Listen: Live online via Rivermen Radio Network.
Watch: Live stream on SPHL Hockey TV.
Watch party: Game 1 at Pensacola shown at Bullpen Bar & Grill (3325 N. Dries Lane, Peoria), 7 p.m. Drink specials and $5 off large pizzas.
Records: Rivermen 39-14-4, 82 pts, 1st in SPHL. Pensacola, 26-25-6, 58 pts, 8th.
2022-23 series: Peoria, 3-1-0.
All-time series: Peoria 16-18-6.
Playoff meetings: Peoria L President's Cup Finals 3-0 to Pensacola, 2015-16. Peoria W 1st-round, 2-1 in 2021-22.
Coaches: Rivermen, Jean-Guy Trudel, 10th yr (325-113-57. Pensacola, Rod Aldoff, 9th yr (237-154-54.
President's Cups: Peoria, 2022. Pensacola, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021.
Offense: Rivermen 3.81 gpg (2nd). Pensacola 3.21 (6th).
Defense: Rivermen 2.40 gpg (1st). Pensacola 3.33 (8th).
Power play: Rivermen 25.2% (3rd). Pensacola 28.6% (1st).
Penalty-kill: Rivermen 82.9% (1st). Pensacola 79.2% (5th).
Coach Jean-Guy Trudel says: "It's time to make one more run together."
Tickets: First-round individual playoff tickets are $24 for glass seating, $20 for premium sections, $14 for Pilot House locations and $13 for upper bowl seats. Tickets can be purchased through the Rivermen team offices in person (open 8 a.m.-4 p.m.) or by calling the team at (309) 676-1040. They can also be purchased online via Ticketmaster.
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: 'Last ride together': Rivermen veteran core ready for SPHL title run
