PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen have added another player with NHL roots.
The second-place team in the SPHL claimed center Tyson Gilmore off waivers from Fayetteville. They plan to sign him on Friday.
Gilmore is the son of former NHL star Doug Gilmore, who played 435 games over five seasons with the St. Louis Blues when they were the Rivermen's parent club and became a Hockey Hall of Fame center.
Gilmore had 166 goals and 243 assists with the Blues and went on to play 20 seasons in the NHL, amassing 1,656 career games (26th all-time), 510 goals (67th all-time) and 1,092 assists (15th all-time). He has 1,602 points (21st all-time). He played in St. Louis, Calgary (1989 Stanley Cup winner), Toronto, New Jersey, Chicago, Buffalo and Montreal.
The Rivermen understand second-generation professional players, as they have rookie winger Tristan Trudel, the son of Rivermen coach and former NHLer Jean-Guy Trudel.
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Tyson Gilmore is a 6-foot-2, 185-pound center. The 25-year-old just finished a five-season collegiate career at New York State Geneseo, where he scored 31 goals and added 62 assists in 103 games. The Rivermen hope to face him on Friday in Evansville, where they will open a two-game weekend road swing. Gilmore made his professional debut in Fayetteville earlier this month and appeared in three games.
Rivermen roster whirlwind
With six games remaining in the regular season and the start of a five-game road trip, the Rivermen continued to make roster changes this week as they look for upgrades in role players and depth for the playoffs. Veteran winger Mitch McPherson will be on IR for 14 days with a hand injury.
Peoria made the following moves.
• Signed left winger Ty Ens to a full SPHL contract. He is a 6-foot tall, 195-pound player who has appeared in 29 games in the ECHL this season with Kansas City, Rapid City and Iowa.
• Signed defenseman Nick Aromatario to an SPHL tryout contract. The 6-foot, 185-pounder spent the past four seasons at NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He appeared in 87 collegiate games, recording eight goals and 24 assists, and came to Peoria to make his professional debut.
●Right winger Jacob Durham, who played in two games with the Rivermen, was released.
• Released defenseman Matt Clark, who played in one game against the Rivermen.
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• Released goaltender Daisen Skinner, who played the past four seasons at NCAA Div-III Wisconsin River Falls and did not play in the game against Peoria.
• Right wing Quinn Green was suspended by the team in order to preserve the Rivermen's SPHL rights to the player. Green, who played the past three seasons at NCAA Div-III Wisconsin-Eau Claire, wanted to return to college to finish work on his degree. He made his professional debut last week and played in two games here.
• Signed Gavin Abric, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound goaltender who played the past four seasons at Army (including the canceled 2020-21 coronavirus season). He has a 22-40-9 record with seven shutouts at Army and is awaiting his professional debut.
magic number
The Rivermen will play five consecutive games on the road and conclude the regular season with a home game on April 6th. The last four of his remaining six games will be against rival Quad City.
Peoria enters the weekend with a one-point lead over first-place Birmingham. Both teams have six games left.
The second-place Rivermen can shut out Fayetteville and aim for a top-three finish with a win tonight at Evansville or a point earned after regulation. They can shut out Roanoke and clinch a top-two finish with a combination of a Peoria win and some type of Roanoke loss, or a Peoria loss after regulation and a Roanoke loss in regulation.
The math shows that the Rivermen will most likely face either Pensacola or Evansville in the first round of the playoffs. The Rivermen are 11-5-1 against these two teams.
river reading
rivermen goalie Nick Latinovich They enter the weekend with a shutout game of 148 minutes and 45 seconds, including back-to-back 3-0 wins against Quad-City last week. He is the No. 1 goaltender in the SPHL, posting a 1.95 goals against, a .913 save percentage, and a league-high seven shutouts. … Rivermen defenseman zach wilkie He leads all SPHL players with a plus-32 rating. … Riverman winger JM Piotrowski Teammates score SPHL-leading four goals in shorthanded goals. Joe Draplook Next are two. … zach wilkie He leads all SPHL defensemen with 39 points. …The Rivermen’s power play unit and penalty kill unit are both ranked No. 1 in the SPHL.
Dave Eminian is a sports columnist for the Journal Star, covering Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes his sports column “Cleve In The Eve” for pjstar.com. Contact him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him at X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared in the Journal Star: Peoria Rivermen welcome Tyson Gilmore, son of NHL Hall of Famer Doug Gilmore
