PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen signed a goaltending tandem and a pair of brothers Thursday as they continued assembling their roster for a President's Cup title defense in the 2024-25 SPHL season.
Peoria signed goaltender Ashton Abel, goaltender Troy Kobryn and his brother, big right wing Tyler Kobryn, the latter with extensive experience in the Double-A ECHL.
"One of the advantages we can offer goaltenders in Peoria is a full-time goaltending coach," Rivermen assistant coach and former elite SPHL goaltender Eric Levine said. "At the minor league level it's rare for players to have access to that. We're going to be competitive from Day 1. We want goaltenders who want to put on the Rivermen jersey, and both these guys are motivated."
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Troy Kobryn, 25, is a 6-foot, 185-pounder who has served several stints in the ECHL. He played three seasons at Merrimack College and then finished at American International College, turning pro in the spring of the 2022-23 season with ECHL Norfolk.
Kobryn played three games with SPHL Fayetteville last season, producing two wins, a 1.97 goals-against and a .942 saves rate. He went up to the ECHL with Adirondack and Tulsa, then returned to the SPHL for brief stints with Pensacola and Knoxville. The New Jersey native was named the 2017 high school hockey Player of the Year by nj.com and was a second-team All-USA pick by USA Today.
"He's going to start off at ECHL Tulsa camp," Levine said. "We told him he needs 20-30 games in Peoria and prove he can be a starting goaltender at the SPHL level so he can get that longer chance at ECHL. He needs to play.
"He does goaltender instruction back in New Jersey, and that's important because he'll understand coaching and how we can make him better."
He's not heavy, he's my …
The Rivermen signed another Kobryn on Wednesday night — goaltender Troy Kobryn's older brother, Tyler.
Tyler Kobryn, 27, is a 6-foot-3, 225-pound right wing from Hillsborough, N.J. with significant next-level experience in the ECHL. He'll start off in ECHL Tulsa's training camp in the fall.
Kobryn played four seasons for NCAA Div.-III Wesleyan University before turning pro in 2020-21 with class-AA ECHL Tulsa, where he played 33 games and scored three goals as a rookie.
He has been in the ECHL for all four of his pro seasons, including stops with Atlanta (twice, 72 games), Kalamazoo, Indy, Reading and Florida. He's played 127 ECHL games with 14 goals and 14 assists.
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"We saw him play against us in the SPHL last season and know what kind of player he can be," Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "He brings size and can score. But he has so much next-level experience in the ECHL, we can lean on him to be a leader here and a strong presence."
He came down last season to the SPHL and spent 43 games with Fayetteville, notching 14 goals with 13 assists and serving as an assistant captain. Kobryn knows the Rivermen dominance at Carver Arena — where they went 28-1-3 last season — quite well, as he was with Fayetteville for 1-0, 5-1 and 3-2 losses in Peoria.
Two makes a tandem
Ashton Abel, 24, is a 6-foot, 170-pound rookie goaltender from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. He appeared in 13 games over three seasons for Boston University, then finished up in Canada's collegiate system with 40 games over two seasons at Grant MacEwan University. He was 8-9-0 there last season, with a 3.63 goals-against and .900 saves rate.
As a freshman at Boston University in 2019-20, Abel opened unbeaten in his first five college starts (3-0-2). He finished with a 3.15 goals-against and .891 saves rate.
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"He was a backup at Boston University," said Levine, who was busy completing a move to central Illinois this week as he and his wife bought a home here. "He can play, he has a pretty good pedigree. Played in the CIS. He's very chill. Soft-spoken, measured guy who doesn't show emotion or body language in the net.
"He's excited to work with us, and we'll work every day together. He's hungry. His attitude is phenomenal."
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 X.com @icetimecleve.
