Rivermen Announce 2018-19 Hall of Fame Inductees

June 10, 2018 - 09:07 pm

Rivermen Announce 2018-19 Hall of Fame Inductees

Pekin native Kaebel, longtime voice Ulrich, to enter Rivermen Hall of Fame

 

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen announced today that the team plans to induct former IHL and ECHL Rivermen winger Karl “Butch” Kaebel into its Hall of Fame during the 2018-19 season. Additionally, longtime Rivermen broadcast voice Norm Ulrich, who passed away last October, will be posthumously inducted into the Hall’s Builders Wing.

 

Kaebel, a native of Pekin, spent parts of six seasons with the Rivermen, spanning the team’s IHL and ECHL eras. All told, Kaebel played in 258 regular-season and postseason games for Peoria, notching 67 goals and 77 assists. Kaebel, now 51, posted a career-year in 1996-97, Peoria’s first in the ECHL when he tallied 27 goals and assisted on 37 others over the course of 57 games playing for his hometown team.

 

“I'm just in shock, still can't get my mind around this and it probably will be until the ceremony before I can," Kaebel said. "It's such an honor for me. I was in the grandstand, watching the Rivermen’s first championship on (May 24, 1985) and I can remember every moment of it. Sellout crowd, Game 7, place going crazy. I knew in that moment I wanted to play on that ice someday, be part of that team.”

 

Kaebel wrapped up his playing career in 2001-02 with the CHL’s Tulsa Oilers, who he went on to coach from the 2003-04 season until the 2007-08 campaign when he was replaced by former Rivermen teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Dan Hodge.

 

Ulrich, meanwhile, will enter the Builders Wing of the Rivermen Hall of Fame after Peoria’s legendary play-by-play broadcaster spent 14 seasons calling Rivermen hockey, working for the Rivermen from 1988-92 and from 1995 until his retirement following the 2006-07 AHL season. Ulrich was perhaps best known to fans for his calls of Peoria’s IHL Turner Cup victory in 1991 and their double-overtime victory over Louisiana to clinch the 2000 ECHL Kelly Cup, as well as his coverage of the 1990-91 team’s pro hockey record 18-game winning streak. Ulrich’s enshrinement will mark just the second posthumous induction in the Rivermen Hall of Fame, following Bud Gingher’s 2002 induction.

 

Kaebel and Ulrich will go into the Rivermen Hall of Fame with a ceremony to be held at a TBD Rivermen home game during the 2018-19 season. More information on Peoria’s 2018-19 promotional calendar will be made available throughout the offseason.

 

Group and season tickets for Peoria's 37th season of professional hockey presented by Midwest Orthopaedic Center are on sale at the Toyota Box Office in the Peoria Civic Center, or by phone at the Rivermen office, located at 201 S.W. Jefferson Street, or over the phone at (309) 676-1040. For the latest Rivermen news and notes, follow online at www.rivermen.net or through Facebook (www.facebook.com/PeoriaRivermen) - Twitter(https://twitter.com/Peoria_Rivermen)