'Shut down everything': Peoria Rivermen ready to open SPHL semifinals series against Evansville

PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen look at the Evansville Thunderbolts and don't see a No. 8 seed.

They see a potential trap matchup in their best-of-3 SPHL semifinals series that starts Wednesday in Indiana.

"They beat No. 1 in the playoffs, so to me they are the No. 1 team in this thing now," Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "So we can't look at them as the No. 8 seed.

"We played each other enough during the season. We know how they play, and I think they know how we play, puck control and puck possession.

"When we play a heavy game we're a very good team, too."

No. 8 seed Evansville upset No. 1 Birmingham in the quarterfinals, clinching the first-round series with an overtime victory on the road.

It busted the SPHL playoff bracket, and now the No. 2-seed Rivermen have home-ice advantage the rest of the postseason.

More: Peoria Rivermen blow out Pensacola in Game 2 for series sweep, advance to SPHL semifinals

SPHL playoffs: Postseason statistics

They face an Evansville team against which Peoria went 9-4-1 during the regular-season.

But in a short series, it's likely to be all about the goaltending. The Rivermen offer Nick Latinovich, who led the SPHL in wins (27), shutouts (7), and goals-against average (1.93).

He is the presumptive favorite to be SPHL Goaltender of the Year.

Evansville counters with Cole Ceci, who was ranked fifth during the season with a 2.56 goals-against and .921 saves rate.

Ceci was away from Evansville for an extended amount of time while he served call-ups with ECHL Norfolk, Atlanta and Worcester.

He's the key piece for Evansville's team. Evansville is 15-8-1 with Ceci in its lineup. Without him, the Bolts are just 10-22-3.

"He changes that team quite a bit," Trudel said. "We have to get in front of his eyes. When he takes a team 15-8-1 with him, and 10-22-3 without him — that's an MVP candidate.

"For us, it's going to be about getting second and third shots on him, and playing defense the way we did in Game 2 against Pensacola, shut down everything."

The Hagaman file

Peoria-born captain Alec Hagaman has played 44 postseason games for the Rivermen in his long career.In playoff games in which he scores, the Rivermen are 12-3-1.

In playoff games in which he does not score, the Rivermen are 14-14.

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, who is in his final postseason before retirement, has 16 goals and 20 assists in 44 career playoff games with Peoria.

AI on the job

Ken Massey's computer system, which once was used for the NCAA's college football rankings, puts the Rivermen as the No. 1-ranked team in the SPHL.

The Massey algorithm projects the Rivermen with a 71% win probability over Evansville in the series.

Win the nets, win the series

Evansville goaltender Cole Ceci went 3-3-1 against the Rivermen during the season, with a 2.82 goals-against and a .924 saves rate.

He is one of only three goaltenders in the SPHL to beat the Rivermen three times this season.

The other two are Quad City goaltender Brent Moran (3-5-1) and Huntsville's Brian Wilson (3-1-0).

The SPHL semifinal schedule

Game 1 of the best-of-3 series is Wednesday at Ford Center in Evansville, puck drop 7 p.m. The Thunderbolts have announced all tickets for that game are free.

Game 2 is Friday in Carver Arena in Peoria, where the Rivermen are an SPHL-record 25-1-3 this season and won their last 14 games, and 20 of 21. That one is a 7:15 faceoff.

Game 3, if needed, is a 3:15 p.m. start on Sunday at Carver Arena.

Tickets for the semifinals at Peoria are $27 for glass seating; $22 for Premium lower bowl; $16 for Pilot House, and $15 Upper Bowl.

Individual playoff game tickets are on sale now by calling the Rivermen (676-1040) at their Carver Arena offices, or in person at the Civic Center box office (open only Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.) or 90 minutes prior to game time.

Rivermen (2) vs Thunderbolts (8)

SPHL Semifinals

Home-ice: Evansville, Ford Center (9,000). Rivermen, Carver Arena (9,919).

Records: Evansville 23-29-4, 50 pts, 8th in SPHL. Rivermen 37-14-5, 79 pts, 2nd in SPHL.

Season series: Rivermen, 9-4-1.

All-time series: Rivermen, 53-16-1.

Head coaches: Evansville, Jeff Bes (4th yr, 108-91-15). Rivermen, Jean-Guy Trudel (11th yr, 362-127-62).

President's Cup champions: Evansville, none. Rivermen, 2022.

Offense rank: Evansville 8th (2.66). Rivermen 4th (3.43).

Defense rank: Evansville 7th (3.16). Rivermen 2nd (2.48).

Power play: Evansville 10th (11.5%). Rivermen 1st (25.4%).

Penalty kill: Evansville 8th (.774). Rivermen 1st (.880).

On home ice: Evansville 13-13-2. Rivermen 24-1-3.

Top scorers: Evansville, Scott Kirton (17g, 19a); Matthew Hobbs (12g, 21a); Myles Abate (15g, 17a). Rivermen, Alec Baer (21g, 31a); Alec Hagaman (23g, 27a); JM Piotrowski (20g, 26a).

Goaltending: Evansville, Cole Ceci, 5th, 13-17-2, 2.56 gaa, .921 saves rate, 2 SO. Rivermen, Nick Latinovich, 1st, 27-7-1, 1.93gaa, .916 saves rate, 7 SO.

Watch: Live stream via FloHockey TV.

River Readings: The Rivermen refer to their penalty-kill unit as their "power-kill" because it led the SPHL with nine shorthanded goals. … Evansville roster includes former Rivermen left wing Myles Abbate and left wing Vadim Vasjonkin. ... The Rivermen are trying to reach the SPHL President's Cup Finals for the fifth time since 2016. ... There is a Rivermen Watch Party for Game 1, a viewing event that starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Raber Packing Co. (3000 W. Farmington Rd., West Peoria).

Computer win probability: Rivermen, 71%.

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 semifinals: Everything you need to know about Peoria Rivermen vs Evansville series