'A difference-maker': Rivermen sign a veteran ECHL center, add goaltender and defenseman
PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen signed ECHL veteran Joe Widmar on Tuesday, giving them perhaps the best one-two punch at the center position in the SPHL. Widmar joins former SPHL MVP Alec Baer in the middle, the latter signing last week.
The Rivermen also signed goaltender Brett Epp and defenseman Brody Duncan, the latter the son of an ex-NHLer. Epp played for SPHL Vermilion County and had ECHL call-ups last season, while Duncan played for SPHL champion Roanoke.
"I'm really happy we got Joe Widmar back," Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "He's a puck possession player and that's who we are in Peoria. I think with Widmar, Alec Baer, Hayden Hulton and more to come, we have by far the deepest roster at the center position in the SPHL.
"It's just a really big addition for our team. He's such a difference-maker."
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Widmar joined the Rivermen on Feb. 1 last season and played the final 24 regular-season games, notching seven goals with 15 assists and a plus-10 rating.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound center has played 154 ECHL games in five seasons with Fort Wayne, Greenville, Atlanta, Wichita, Iowa, Indy, Norfolk, Florida and Allen, and scored 24 goals with 53 assists.
He played his college hockey at UMass and turned pro with the Rivermen in 2017-18, piling up 40 points in 36 games on the way to SPHL All-Rookie Team honors. In parts of three seasons with Peoria, Widmar has played 75 regular-season games with 22 goals, 62 assists and a plus-39 rating. In 12 playoff games for the Rivermen, he has three goals and seven assists.
Brett Epp and the Vermilion County experience
Epp, 25, is 6-foot-1, 183 pounds and played two seasons for Nichols College and two more for Canada's Nipissing University. He has never really had a chance to play for a pro team that is good. Yes, he joined ECHL Newfoundland — a second-place team — for two games at the end of the 2021-22 season.
But in his first full pro season in 2022-23, he played for ECHL Atlanta and ECHL Norfolk (last place) — both of whom missed the playoffs. And in the SPHL, he was with seventh-place Fayetteville and last-place Vermilion County, the latter drawing national attention when it folded in spectacular fashion after 30 games.
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Epp went 2-14 for the 4-24-2 Vermilion County team, and managed a 4.10 goals-against and .890 saves rate. Those were surprisingly respectable numbers given the horrific situation playing out in front of him.
The Rivermen rescued goaltender Ben Churchfield from a five-win Vermilion County team in 2021-22, where he had a 4.48 goals-against and .884 save rate. In 2022-23, with Peoria, Churchfield was 7-2-0 with a 2.35 goals-against and a .907 saves rate.
So it will be interesting to see if playing behind an annual powerhouse Peoria team helps Epp as well.
Rivermen run on Duncan
Brody Duncan, 28, is a 5-11, 180-pound blueliner from Toledo. His father, Iain Duncan, was a left wing who played four seasons for the NHL's Winnipeg Jets. He finished his pro career in 1994-95 with a three-year stint at ECHL Toledo, which included a 50-game effort in which he scored 40 goals.
Brody Duncan's uncle, Scott Cameron, was a defenseman who played four seasons for the University of Notre Dame.
So, yeah, good hockey lineage.
Duncan played three seasons of junior hockey with NA3HL Toledo and later turned pro with the low-A Federal Hockey League, where he played three seasons with Mentor and Columbus. He broke through into the high-A SPHL in 2021-22, where he scored four goals and added 13 assists in 55 games with Birmingham.
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Last season, he played 23 games with Roanoke's title team, producing two assists. He was placed on 21-day IR in early January and did not play again.
He has 19 fights in 175 pro games. He was suspended the final 25 regular-season games and the playoffs in 2019-20 at FHL Mentor when he cranked a slapshot into the bench of the opposing Carolina team at the end of the game, sparking a melee.
River Readings
The Rivermen have scheduled a neutral site SPHL preseason game against the Huntsville Havoc. The game will be Oct. 13 at 7:15 p.m. in Clarksville, Tenn. F&M Bank Arena is hosting, and tickets are $35, $25 and $15. Rivermen season ticket holders can expect a special ticket offer for that game to be sent by the Peoria team. F&M Bank Arena just opened in July, a 6,000-seat, $115 million venue that is home to Austin Peay men's and women's basketball. The venue is committed to basketball, hockey and concerts. … Former Rivermen captain Dan Bremner, who coached Roanoke to the SPHL championship last season, has had his contract extended by the Dawgs through the 2025-26 season.
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: Peoria Rivermen sign a veteran ECHL center, two others, to bolster lineup
