Eli Rivers: Making Waves in Rookie Year

Rivers Flourishing With Rockers in Rookie Campaign.

Words By Brady Beedon

Fraser Mich. - Usually when you advance to a higher level in anything, whether it’s school, career, or athletics, especially, there is an acclimation period.

While Motor City Rocker rookie Eli Rivers is still adjusting to certain aspects of the professional ranks, he is doing so while having one of his best seasons at any level of hockey.

However, Rivers didn’t join the Rockers with the expectation he would lead the team in scoring as a rookie.

A Vermont native, Rivers spent time with two different college programs. Originally he went to Nichols College, a Division III school in Massachusetts. But due to complications with the Covid-19 pandemic, and coaching changes, Rivers spent just one year there, and only played two games for the Bison during the 2020-21 season.

Rivers would find a home two seasons later, landing at Alvernia University, a Division III school in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Although he found a spot to play, Rivers would only amass 11 points in 42 games over a two season span for Alvernia.

“College is just a whole different environment,” Rivers said. “My first year at school we had 30 guys on the roster. You’re competing with a lot of different guys. There’s a lot of, you know, backdoor promises for ice time. I just found myself on the wrong side of that for a couple of years in a row.”

Although Rivers still had one season of eligibility left, he turned his eyes to the pros after the 2023-24 college season ended.

“It was kind of a long journey,” Rivers said on turning pro. “Last year, originally I was going to play for Port Huron. Which is kind of funny that I ended up here after all of it, but I accidentally sent their coach the wrong phone number.”

After waiting for a call that never came, (or might have, just not to his phone) he readied for the 2024-25 season.

The 25-year-old went to camp with another member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League, the Columbus River Dragons.

“A lot of guys were considering retirement at the time,” Rivers said of his decision to go to camp in Columbus. “So a lot of guys were up in the air there.”

But by the time Rivers had signed, and made his way to camp, most of the veterans on the River Dragons decided against retirement.

“I kind of ran out of real estate there,” Rivers said. “They handled it well. They were nice and they were like, ‘We're gonna find you a good spot’. Obviously, it ended up being Motor City. I didn't know a whole lot about it, but just plugged in Big Boy [Arena] into my GPS and drove up here.”

Motor City fans are glad he found his way to Fraser, as Rivers made an instant impact in the purple and black.

On the opening weekend of the season, Rivers scored twice, while recording an assist, helping the Rockers to an opening night victory in Danbury against the Hat Tricks.

Head coach Jameson Milam was appreciative of inheriting a young player that was contributing right away.

“We were in need of [scoring] early on,” Milam said. “It's nice to not have to really overcoach a young guy or worry about how he's doing or whatever because the success that he had was consistent. So I could kind of worry about other things or systems or helping the defensemen or whatever. So just having a consistent guy, knowing that every day he might get three or four really good chances, probably get a couple points.”

After last season, the Rockers top three scorers - Scott Coash, Pavel Svintsov, and TJ Delaney - were no longer on the team. With a void left, there was an opportunity for new blood to step in.

“I was getting more ice time than I’d seen in years,” Rivers said. “So it was just really good to have that confidence kind of drilled into me from somebody else saying like, here we trust you and we want you to get out there. So I was getting power play time. I I playing top minutes and it was just good to kind of be back in that role again.”

Milam knew there would be big skates to fill, and it didn’t take him long to realize Rivers was up to the task.

“At the beginning of the year, it was obvious that his speed and skill was going to be an asset for the team,” Milam said. “Losing the high scoring guys like we had last season, we needed somebody to step in that role, and he did right away. We kind of rode that and that line with him, [Carson] Baptiste, and [TJ] Sneath was clearly our strongest group through that period of time when they were all together.”

But the help he had wouldn’t be around forever. On Dec. 30, 2024, Baptiste was placed inactive, and got the call to play for the Peoria Rivermen of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Then on Jan. 16, Sneath would be placed on injured reserve, still yet to be activated.

But the production didn’t slow down for Rivers, and it wasn’t hard to see why from his coaches perspective.

“He’s a playmaker, I find it difficult to play against him,” said Milam, who also plays for Motor City and serves as their head coach. “As a veteran defenseman, there shouldn't be many guys that can, you know, get me, get me. But I can see that he knows how to put defensemen in a position where they're reaching or where they're caught in between, between picking between, ‘do I go for the puck, do I go for the body, or do I have to defend the pass?’ So he's good at finding, you know, those situations where he can make a defenseman kind of look stupid.”

Milam’s experience hasn’t been lost on Rivers, the forward cites his coach as a pillar he’s leaned on during his transition to the professional ranks.

“I definitely look to [Milam] for that, he’s a guy that has experience,” Rivers said.. “It's gonna be off the ice stuff, or on the ice stuff. He's always got good stuff to say. So I try to take whatever he says into account and obviously look to him just to, you know, watch how he does things and watch how he operates every day because if he's been able to do it this long, he's obviously doing something right.”

Milam made his professional debut for the Fort Wayne Komets during the 2005-06 season. Rivers was 6 years old.

After his first 37 games in Motor City, Rivers has netted 16 goals, and notched 20 assists. Both of which lead the team.

Rivers is happy with the start he’s had to his pro career, but wants to take the game to the next level.

“I want to definitely improve in the summer and try to put on some weight,” Rivers said. “That's a big thing I'm learning in the pro game. There's some big boys out here. So I'm trying to adjust to that as much as I can. I'd love to work on that, the size, the speed, that sort of thing this summer, some of the intangible stuff. I think if I focus on that, I can definitely make a good run at it. I'd love to come back here. I like the group of guys we got here and obviously if we got [coach Milam] behind the helm, that would help.”

His coach believes he has all the tools to thrive.

“He's one of those guys that expects a lot from himself,” said Milam. “The things you look for in a young player is, yeah, you go make a mistake, but you gotta be willing to work to get it back, and he's one of those guys that is gonna have a successful future in the sport because he's willing to put in the work and he wants to get better. He's certainly got all the skill. Just maybe he's gotta put a couple pounds on to be able to battle himself in those corners. But with the speed that he has right now, he's capable of getting away with it.”