PEORIA, Ill. – 369, thats the number of wins needed to become the all time winningest coach in SPHL History. That number was reached by head coach Jean-Guy Trudel on Saturday night, with a 4-1 victory for the Peoria Rivermen over the Pensacola Ice Flyers, in front of 3,825 fans at the Peoria Civic Center. Trudel, passed Jerome Bechard, who coached the now defunct SPHL Columbus team from 2004-2016, with win 369 and did so in dominate fashion for the second night in a row. After beating Pensacola the night before 5-0, the Rivermen put on a clinic on Saturday to help give Trudel his record. Before we get to the game recap here’s some numbers on Trudel.
Trudel is currently 369-129-64 with a .713 win rate. That win percentage is also a record for the highest in league history. Coach Trudel also has the most playoff victories 31- to Bechard’s 27- which means that Trudel is already the all-time league leader in coaching victories with the regular season and playoffs combined. Trudel has done all of this while coaching three less seasons than Bechard did.
The Rivermen and Ice Flyers skated through a scoreless first period with Pensacola outshooting Peoria 13-5. The second period would be a different story though as Peoria would outshoot the Ice Flyers 20-4 and score two goals on the powerplay. One by Cale List and the other by Rivermen Captain Alec Baer. The third period would see Peoria put seven more shots on goal and score on two of those shots. One was Jordan Ernst and the other a short handed tally by Michael McChesney. Ex Rivermen player and fan favorite Cayden Cahill would get the lone goal for Pensacola, to a loud cheer from the Rivermen faithful, on the powerplay with a little over four minutes left to play in the game. Rivermen goaltender Colby Muise would pick up the win again for the Rivermen while Pensacola backup Brody Claeys would take the loss.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Jeremie Allen, who was there to capture the action
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