12 moments: Captain returns, a father-son, a brawl and a record crowd part of Peoria Rivermen season so far

PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen reached second place in the SPHL standings over the weekend and added to a season that has had a wealth of storylines.

The 42-year franchise started in the fall with a major change on its roster when veteran Alec Hagaman, the Peoria-born longtime captain, announced he was delaying his retirement by one season. Hagaman had been announced over the summer as an associate head coach for the Rivermen, joining longtime coach and GM Jean-Guy Trudel on the bench.

But a change in Hagaman's future — he and his wife, Emily, are moving to Wisconsin after the 2023-24 season — meant a change in their Rivermen family as well. Hagaman dropped plans to coach and instead opted to spend his final year in Peoria as a player, returning to the Rivermen captaincy. His curtain call on the ice has seen him produce 18 goals and 17 assists in 31 games, eighth on the SPHL scoring list.

That storyline and many others have filled this 2023-24 season for Peoria's hockey team. There will be more to come, as the Rivermen finish the regular season with 11 of their last 16 games in Carver Arena.

• Hagaman's return to the ice left a void on the Rivermen coaching staff, and they hired retired goaltender Eric Levine as an assistant coach.

• Trudel reduced his workload by staying back in Peoria while sending the team out on some road trips with Levine heading up the operation.

• Trudel signed his son, Tristan Trudel, and the 6-foot-5, 240-pound rookie has been terrific, notching 12 goals in 30 games and punishing opponents in some fights. He scored his first two pro goals in his Carver Arena debut in Peoria's home opener win Oct. 27.

"It was the coolest thing of my life," Tristan Trudel said afterward. "I grew up watching Rivermen games here from the time I was a little boy. Being in this building, scoring my first goal here, for this team … there's no words."

His first pro fight happened on the road in Pensacola on Dec. 2, in which he rag-dolled Sean Gulka. His second fight, a week later, saw him hammer an Evansville winger to the ice with one punch.

• The Trudels became the first father-son combination working in the SPHL, one as coach, the other as player. And they are the fourth father-son combination to play for the Rivermen.

• A six-player trade with Pensacola on New Year's Day meant the departure of longtime Rivermen center Joe Widmar and triggered a makeover of Peoria's roster. The Rivermen made another deal, a three-player swap with Macon, on Tuesday. All told, the Rivermen roster over the weekend included just 12 players from opening night.

• On Feb. 1, the Rivermen headed to a road game at SPHL defending champion Roanoke and won it, 4-3, with a rarity. JM Piotrowski and Joe Drapluk scored shorthanded goals 40 seconds apart during the same Roanoke power play.

• On Dec. 14, the Rivermen staged their annual Education Day game for area school kids. The result was 8,701 packed into Carver Arena — a record crowd for Peoria's SPHL era — and a 2-0 win over Quad City.

• The Rivermen picked up their one-year option on a lease with the Peoria Civic Center to keep them at Carver Arena through the 2024-25 season. That move came just a few days after the Double-A ECHL announced an expansion team for Bloomington.

• The Rivermen announced they will re-brand as the Peoria Penicillin for their game on March 9.

• Jan. 12 saw the Rivermen beat Huntsville, 5-2, in Carver Arena in a game that was filled with fights and ejections. Dan Huntington III, in just his second game as an SPHL referee, took 22 minutes to sort out penalties after a melee created 25 penalties, 134 minutes and three ejections late in the first period. The two teams — playing each other five straight times — clashed again the next day, and by Monday five players had been suspended by the league.

• Veteran center Joe Drapluk — who suffered an ACL tear in late March — made his return for the 2023-24 season in a road game at Roanoke on Feb. 1 at Berglund Center. A top penalty killer, he scored a shorthanded goal 12:56 into the first period, and assisted on two more Rivermen goals in a win.

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 X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria Rivermen hockey midseason season analysis, recap for 2023-24