'I'm in': Peoria Rivermen sign a veteran winger who plays with a sharp edge
PEORIA — David Nippard thought he was going to be a fireman off the ice this fall.
Instead, he's putting off retirement to put out fires — and likely stir up a few — on the ice with the Peoria Rivermen in the SPHL.
The defending SPHL regular-season champions signed the veteran winger on Monday night, adding experience and a player who brings a sharp edge to his game.
"I was ready to start the next chapter, put my skates up," said Nippard, talking from Lewisporte, Newfoundland, a place 3,800 miles away, 42 hours to drive and in a time zone 2 1/2 hours ahead of Peoria. "(Former Rivermen captain and now associate head coach) Alec Hagaman is moving on to coaching. I'm not getting any younger. I still feel good, feel young. I want to come play for a team where you're always in the mix, playing for something.
"It was quite the surprise, actually. A month ago, my phone rings and it's Hags. We had a little chat and he threw a bug in my ear. I called him back and said, 'I'm in.' "
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He backs down from no one
Nippard is fearless, an agitator opponents do not like to face. Only 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, the now 35-year-old has had 18 fights in the SPHL over the last two seasons and 30 in a four-year pro career that includes 160 games.
He can play. He has 19 goals, 40 assists and 304 penalty minutes in 119 career SPHL games.
"He's smart and he's tough," Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "He's very hard to play against. He's a great teammate, has a lot of experience and knows how to play the game. We're excited to have him join us."
Nippard was on a Macon team that came into Peoria for a three-games, three-nights series in mid-February last season. Peoria swept the Mayhem. But Nippard came away with something. A reminder.
He had made the powerhouse Rivermen team as a rookie in 2019-20, and played on opening night, a 3-2 win over Quad City in which he fought the Storm's Tommy Tsicos. He left after that and went on to play in the low-A FPHL for Carolina and Port Huron, earned a call-up to ECHL Jacksonville, and established himself in the high-A SPHL with Huntsville, Birmingham and Macon.
But he never forgot Peoria. Nor did the Rivermen forget him.
"I've been trying to become a firefighter, it's a very difficult process now for two years in Canada," Nippard said. "So now I'm coming back to Peoria. Lot of ups and downs in Macon last year, I was watching (coach) Nick Niedert make his decisions behind closed doors. We had conversations about me maybe helping.
"Then we came back to Peoria to play that three-game series, it didn't feel foreign at all. Felt like home. Kind of had that sense. Peoria is where it all started for me. So it feels right that Peoria is the place to be for it to end."
List makes the Rivermen roster
The Rivermen also signed defenseman Cale List, a steady, reliable defender who was part of the team's blueline unit last season.
The third-year pro is a native of Petawawa, Ontario. He played four years of college hockey, split between the University of Massachusetts-Lowell at the NCAA Div.-I level, and then another two years with Norwich University at the NCAA Div.-III level.
List turned pro with SPHL Knoxville during the 2021-22 season. He played 18 games last season with Fayetteville, and the Rivermen then acquired him.
In 33 games played with Peoria in 2022-23, List garnered seven points and was a plus-15.
Building a contender
The Rivermen have won the Coffey Trophy six times (counting the 2019-20 season in which they were in first place when the pandemic ended the season in March) under coach Trudel and then-captain Hagaman.
It's a track record not lost on Nippard and other free agents. So far in this offseason, Peoria has re-signed center Alec Baer (former SPHL MVP), center-winger Andrew Durham, wingers Mike Gelatt and Cayden Cahill, center Joe Widmar and defensemen Zach Wilkie and Cale List from last season's team.
They've traded for an established goaltender and signed SPHL veteran Evansville captain and center Hayden Hulton. More top-tier players will be signed soon.
"Looking at the Rivermen roster, I see an absolute powerhouse," Nippard said. "With Jean-Guy and Hags, they are like a double-headed monster putting together a team."
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 Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Rivermen get 35-year-old veteran with an edge to choose Peoria
