Peoria Rivermen season ticket holders will party the night away on July 21 and will now have even more company. Current Rivermen Assistant Coach Drake Berehowsky, Turner Cup Champion Head Coach Bob Plager, as well as former players Jean-Guy Trudel and Charles Linglet will all be in attendance at Jillian’s Sports Grille.
Berehowsky will enter his second season as the Rivermen assistant coach in October and will team up with Jared Bednar to guide the team. A first-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1990, Berehowsky enjoyed a 16-year-career in the National Hockey League with the Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks and Phoenix Coyotes.
Plager currently serves in a community relations role for the St. Louis Blues as well as radio personality on the game broadcasts. One of the original members of the Blues, Plager is best known in Peoria for leading the Rivermen to a Turner Cup championship in the 1990-91 season, his only season as head coach.
Trudel is one of the few players that have appeared with the Rivermen in multiple leagues. A member of the ECHL Rivermen from 1996-98, he returned for the AHL Rivermen for the 2007-08 season to lead the team in scoring. Trudel has spent the last two seasons playing for the ZSC Lions in Zurich, Switzerland where he won a championship.
Linglet, who recently signed a contract to play Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in Russia for 2010-11, spent parts of three seasons with the Rivermen from 2006-08. He was second on the team in points for both 2006-07 and 2007-08. He was traded to the Springfield Falcons in the middle of the 2008-09 season and posted a career-high 74 points last year.
Former players Luke Gruden, Tyler Rennette, Denis Cyr and Kevin Lune will also be in attendance.
All season ticket holders are invited to this event which will be held from 6-8 p.m. To ensure your spot you must RSVP by calling Katie Kerr at 309-680-3791 or emailing kkerr@rivermen.net. Not a season ticket holder yet? Just place a 25 percent deposit down on your seats to reserve your spot at the party.
