PEORIA — Zach Wilkie stepped onto the ice for a homecoming with the Peoria Rivermen on Friday and gave them the kind of play you’d expect from one of the most decorated defenseman in SPHL and team history.
Then he also gave them some words of wisdom after a poor outing left the Rivermen with a 5-2 loss to last-place Quad City in front of 4,438 at Carver Arena.
“I told them the truth,” Wilkie said, after the Rivermen rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to tie, fell behind 3-2 in the third period and then gave up two empty-net goals in the final minute as last-place Quad City snapped a four-game losing streak and won for the first time in a season series now five games old.
Wilkie, a two-time SPHL champion with the Rivermen, came out of retirement to sign a five-game tryout contract and help a shorthanded Peoria roster.
“It was emotional for me,” Wilkie said. “To be on that ice, to be in front of those fans again, to be in that starting lineup it was just fantastic. I had about 15 chances to score and I just wish I could have put one of those in.
“Not everyone gets to play here. Not everyone can play here. The Peoria Rivermen are not an easy team to play for because there is so much tradition, so much history going back (44 years). It’s a very high standard and you have to be willing to meet it every night.”
And that was his message to the team as he took over the locker room after the game and talked his teammates.
“Win or lose, it’s about bleeding these colors,” Wilkie said of the Rivermen uniform. “Even if things don’t go your way, you live the logo.
“I learned that from (retired Rivermen captain) Alec Hagaman when I came here. Anyone who plays here has to understand you work and play every day to make this organization proud, make the fans and the community proud.
“I wanted to make sure these guys heard that.”
Why he came back
The Rivermen needed some help as they lost two players to league suspensions this week and also shuffled four players on and off IR.
Wilkie, who retired last spring after the Rivermen playoff run ended in the second round, never left Peoria.
He’s engaged to a Peoria woman, has a full-time job in Peoria, is coaching a youth hockey team and is planning a life here.
But when his beloved Rivermen asked him for help, he signed a five-game tryout contract ready to step into the void.
He was in the starting lineup and got a huge ovation from the crowd, then played nearly as if he hadn’t missed a beat since last spring, shutting down Quad City threats, creating scoring chances, heading to the net and playing with his trademark passion.
It’s what you’d expect from the two-time SPHL Defenseman of the Year.
He wore an “A” for the SPHL’s elite team and piled up accolades during a four-year run with Peoria that included 203 regular-season games, 39 goals, 128 assists, 167 points and a +135 total rating.
He notched 8 game-winners and was the key piece in the league’s top-rated power play unit during his era.
He appeared in an additional 20 playoff games, with 3 goals and 8 assists and another game-winner.
Wilkie was at the heart of two Rivermen championships in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons.
He was twice named SPHL Defensive Player of the Year, in 2022-23 and 2024-25.
His trophy case also includes:
But the Rivermen just couldn’t get there with him Friday.
How 5-2 happened
The whole night just felt … off. Wilkie was a flashback to a great era. Head coach Jean-Guy Trudel was sitting out a league suspension while assistant coach Eric Levine took over the bench and ran the game.
Quad City started a goaltender with a 5.63 goals-against and .830 saves rate and he had the best night of his career.
A linesman got into a shoving thing with a Quad City player as he tried to get the latter into the penalty box.
Identical twins Dylan Massie (Rivermen) and Noah Massie (Quad City) tried to fight each other as the game ended.
Just uncomfortable all night.
The Rivermen tied the game at 17:48 of the first period when defenseman Nick Parody’s shot from the high slot beat goaltender Luke Lush through traffic and over his glove shoulder.
Quad City counter-punched, though, with 6 seconds left in the period on a goal from Brodie Girod.
The Rivermen tied it again, 2-2, when Mike Herrera cleaned up a loose puck on the right side of the doorstep at 4:50 of the second period.
The game turned when the Rivermen earned a five-minute major power play with 5:14 left in the second period, but could not score.
That all happened when Quad City defenseman Dmitri Toporowski speared Peoria defenseman Ben Lindberg in his chest, dropping the Rivermen player behind the Rivermen net.
A strange sequence followed, as Toporowski resisted linesman David Gora as the latter tried to skate him to the penalty box.
When they finally arrived at the box, Gora had to shove the player into the penalty box, after which Toporowski appeared to shove Gora back and make contact with the official. The player then fired several punches into the glass.
His spearing penalty came with an automatic ejection. It will be interesting to see if the league suspends the player for his conflict with the linesman.
Quad City’s league last-ranked power play got the game-winner from Girod at 7:17 of the third period.
They tacked on two empty-net goals in the final 48 seconds.
The longtime rivals will play again Saturday at Moline.
Repairing the roster
Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel (two games), left wing Tristan Trudel (seven games) and defenseman Ayodele Adeniye (two games) all began serving SPHL suspensions from a clash at Roanoke last weekend.
The Rail Yard Dawgs got out of that with far lighter punishment, especially head coach Dan Bremner, who received only one game for instigating a confrontation on the bench in which he fired a water bottle and towel over the partition at Trudel and launched a verbal assault for which both coaches were ejected.
Trudel’s suspension was later reported by the league as being based on when his son took a major penalty on a faceoff at 5:25 of the first period, implying the coach sent the player onto the ice to confront a Roanoke opponent.
Trudel was not ejected for that, but rather, he went with Bremner for bench conduct a minute later. The Rivermen organization was upset with the uneven suspensions.
In the wake of all that the Rivermen made some roster moves ahead of the Friday-Saturday home-away series with rival Quad City.
Peoria top-6 forward Mike Gelatt and top defenseman Josh Martin were both activated from IR to make their season debuts.
Peoria winger Frank Trazzera and rookie defenseman Laz Kaebel were both placed on 14-day IR.
The Rivermen plan to bring in a free agent on Saturday morning for the rematch at Quad City, and someone will have to depart the roster in a corresponding move.
River Readings
Rivermen veteran defenseman Zach Wilkie, by plan, will not be the with team in road rematch Saturday at Quad City. He will continue on his five-game tryout contract next weekend when Evansville visits Carver Arena for a pair. … Quad City veteran scorer Leif Mattson had two assists Friday. He now has 19 goals and 26 assists with a -9 rating and four game-winners in 44 career games against the Rivermen.
(This story was updated to add pictures, video and more information)
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: ‘Live the logo’: Decorated Rivermen hero comes back from retirement, addresses team after loss
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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