'Leave nothing to chance': What to know as the Peoria Rivermen start SPHL playoff journey
PEORIA — Jean-Guy Trudel hopes the Peoria Rivermen go back in time against the Pensacola Ice Flyers when their best-of-3 SPHL quarterfinal playoff series starts at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.
Well, not too far back. The Ice Flyers did, after all, sweep the Rivermen out of the league championship series with a championship-clinching goal with two-tenths of a second left in 2015-16. But 2021-22 would be the desired stop on memory lane, because the current Rivermen team reminds him a bit of that one.
"This team does remind me of those guys we won the President's Cup with two years ago," Trudel said. "Not as talented. But when they buy into the way we play, they are just phenomenal away from the puck.
"We have a lot of guys who, when the puck is dropped, they do everything needed for their teammates. It's all about stepping up in the right moments. We did that two years ago, we skated back defensively, we blocked shots like there was no tomorrow, we battled for pucks relentlessly.
"We do that, we win games."
The Rivermen will face Pensacola in the first round for the third straight postseason. Peoria won the first two series. This third one is a matchup of the No. 2-seeded Rivermen against No. 7 Pensacola. But the teams played much closer than that during the season, when the Rivermen went 3-2-0 in the series.
A final run
Peoria-born Rivermen captain Alec Hagaman is heading into his final postseason as a professional hockey player. He will move his family to Wisconsin later this summer, and call it a career.
"We want to take Hags out of his career as a champion," Rivermen defenseman Zach Wilkie said. "You never know when you will reach that time when you won't play again. Or when you won't play again with the guys around you.
"I look around and I see a group of guys hungry to win for each other. We need to leave nothing to chance."
Really, here's all you need to know about Hagaman's career:
• He has played 42 postseason games for the Rivermen.
• In playoff games in which he scores, the Rivermen are 11-3-1.
• In playoff games in which he does not score, the Rivermen are 13-14.
Those three regulation playoff losses in games Hagaman netted a goal were Game 2 of the finals against Huntsville in 2017-18; Game 3 of the finals against Roanoke in 2021-22; and Game 2 against Roanoke in the semifinals of 2022-23.
All told, Hagaman has 15 goals and 19 assists in 42 career playoff games with Peoria. Big player, big moments.
Numerology
The Rivermen finished at or near the top of the SPHL in scoring, defense, power play and penalty kill, led the league in shorthanded goals, and they had the league's No. 1-ranked goaltender and shutouts leader. The Rivermen finished an SPHL-record 24-1-3 this season at home and won their last 13 games, and 19 of 20.
"We're all zeroes now," Trudel said. "No. 1 in this, No. 1 in that, none of that matters now. The guys know what they have to do.
"We'll see how the leadership group on this team responds. It's all up to them."
Computer fun
Ken Massey's team ranking computer system, which once was used as part of the NCAA's college football rankings, puts the Rivermen as the No. 1-ranked team in the SPHL and Birmingham No. 2. It was the other way around in the actual regular season. Quad City is ranked No. 3 (the Storm finished sixth) and Pensacola is eighth. The Massey algorithm projects the Rivermen with a 68% win probability over Pensacola in the series.
SPHL quarterfinals: 2 Peoria Rivermen vs. 7 Pensacola Ice Flyers
SCHEDULE
Game 1: 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Pensacola Bay Center
Game 2: 7:15 p.m. Friday at Carver Arena in Peoria
Game 3: 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Carver Arena
WHAT TO KNOW
Home-ice: Pensacola, Pensacola Bay Center (8,150). Rivermen, Carver Arena (9,919).
Records: Pensacola 25-27-4, 55 pts, 7th in SPHL. Rivermen 37-14-5, 79 pts, 2nd in SPHL.
Coaches: Pensacola, Gary Graham (2nd yr, 58-45-9). Rivermen, Jean-Guy Trudel (11th yr, 362-127-62).
President's Cup championships: Pensacola, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021. Rivermen, 2022.
Offense rank: Pensacola 7th (3.04). Rivermen 4th (3.43).
Defense rank: Pensacola 8th (3.18). Rivermen 2nd (2.48).
Power play: Pensacola 7th (17.4%). Rivermen 1st (25.4%).
Penalty kill: Pensacola 2nd (.835). Rivermen 1st (.880).
On home ice: Pensacola 17-9-2. Rivermen 24-1-3.
Top scorers: Pensacola, Ivan Bodarenko (15g, 36a); Garrett Milan (14g, 36a). Rivermen, Alec Baer (21g, 31a); Alec Hagaman (23g, 27a); JM Piotrowski (20g, 26a).
Goaltending: Pensacola, Stephen Mundinger, 4th, 16-15-1, 2.55gaa, .909 saves rate, 3 SO. Rivermen, Nick Latinovich, 1st, 27-7-1, 1.93gaa, .916 saves rate, 7 SO.
Watch: Live stream via FloHockey TV.
Notable: The Rivermen refer to their penalty-kill unit as their "power-kill" because it led the SPHL with nine shorthanded goals. … Pensacola roster includes former Rivermen Andrew Durham, Dale Deon, Spencer Kennedy. … Rivermen roster includes former Ice Flyers Dante Zapata, Eric Dop, Meirs Moore.
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: SPHL playoff preview: Peoria Rivermen vs. Pensacola Ice Flyers
