PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen added a centerpiece to their offense Monday by signing veteran right wing Mike McChesney.
McChesney is the SPHL defending goalscoring champion, and the Dickinson, N.D., native returns for a third season with Peoria in 2026-27.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound right wing played 54 regular-season games in 2025-26 and piled up 33 goals with 12 assists and +14 rating.
He had 20 goals and 21 assists with a +19 rating in his first year with the Rivermen in 2024-25.
He spent his rookie pro year at SPHL Macon, and overall in his pro career has 70 goals and 48 assists in 146 games.
The last two of those seasons are with the Rivermen, for whom he has scored 53 goals and notched 33 assists in 100 regular-season games.
He has added another four goals and an assist in 14 playoff games with Peoria.
McChesney is one of the most dangerous players in the league on special teams. He has 14 power play goals, five shorthanded goals and piled up 17 game-winners with the Rivermen.
He turned in a career-year in 2025-26, netting an SPHL-best 33 goals and a league-high 11 game-winners. His 10 power play goals last season were second-most in the league.
His presence on Peoria’s penalty-kill unit has led to 12 shorthanded goals scored by the Rivermen in the last two seasons, leading Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel to dub his kill unit as “the power-kill.”
“He is a major threat in our attack, and on our power play and penalty-kill units,” Trudel said. “Mike is a unique, elite player in this league, and he makes big plays at big moments. He’s a must-have veteran presence for us, and we’re thrilled to have him back.
“He makes us a contender.”
Peoria Rivermen star Mike McChesney is from a sports family, and hockey is his passion
McChesney grew up in a hockey family, but he was a talented multi-sport athlete, too.
He earned North Dakota all-state honors as a hockey player in high school, and also was all-state in baseball (center fielder) and football (receiver).
“We were a busy family growing up,” McChesney said, grinning, in a Journal Star story in November of 2025. “A sports family. I really loved baseball, but it’s slow and strategic, although it really helped my hand-eye coordination. Football I liked but I didn’t want to get beat up too much and have it effect my hockey.
“Then I finally got a (recruiting) call from a couple of hockey coaches and I was on my way.”
That path included four years at NCAA Div.-III St. Norbert College, where he scored 31 goals with 39 assists in 79 career games.
He was selected to play for Team USA in the 2022-23 World University Games. The event was hosted at Lake Placid, N.Y., the site of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team’s Miracle on Ice and coach Herb Brooks’ famous speech. It was the first time the World University Games were at Lake Placid since 1972.
The Rivermen have hired Peoria native Keegan Murphy as an account executive in their business office.
Murphy went to Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, Iowa), where he played baseball and graduated with a degree in business analytics.
He worked as a group sales intern for the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders, and became an account executive there in September of 2025.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports editor. Follow him on X @icetimecleve or contact by email at deminian@pjstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: How the Peoria Rivermen landed an elite goalscorer for the 2026-27 SPHL season
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