On May 13, 2013, it was reported by the Peoria Journal Star that after being told the city would no longer have an AHL team, former Rivermen executives John Butler and Bart Rogers and former Rivermen owner Bruce Saurs announced that they had applied for admission into the Southern Professional Hockey League in an attempt to save hockey in Peoria. The SPHL is a low-minor hockey league with teams mostly based in the southeastern United States. Butler and Rogers' plan also included for the group to purchase the Bloomington Blaze of the struggling Central Hockey League and also move them to the SPHL. There was an SPHL Board of Governors and franchise general managers emergency conference call scheduled for the morning of May 14, 2013, to decide on the admission of the Rivermen and the Blaze.[4]
On May 15, 2013, it was officially announced that the team had been accepted into the SPHL, along with the newly named Bloomington Thunder, ending the uncertainty of whether Peoria would have a minor professional hockey team in the coming year. Both teams were owned by Illinois Pro Sports, LLC. The Thunder would be shut down after one season when another ownership group obtained an expansion team in the junior United States Hockey League for Bloomington,[5] isolating the Rivermen in the north.
In 2017, the majority ownership of the Rivermen was sold to CSH International Inc., the same owners of the Bloomington USHL franchise, with the former owners, Bart Rogers and John Butler, staying on with minority ownership.[6]
On May 3, 2022, the Rivermen beat the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs in game four of the President's Cup finals in overtime to win the franchise's first President's Cup.[7]
On April 7, 2023, the Rivermen and the Peoria Civic Center Authority (PCCA) made a joint announcement that, pending approval by the PCCA at their next scheduled meeting, the Rivermen would commit to playing the 2023-2024 season at the Civic Center, with a renewal option for the 2024-2025 season. The announcement came on the heels of the start of the Rivermen's playoff series to defend their President's Cup title in 2023. Bart Rogers, co-owner of the team, said “Being a part of the Peoria Hockey community is at the heart of the Peoria Rivermen culture and we’re excited to renew with the Peoria Civic Center, continue long-term discussions, and to defend our title.”[8]