PEORIA — The largest crowd for a Peoria Rivermen game in five years celebrated Ben Zobrist and the Cubs World Series win Saturday, then nearly saw something else that might have been a once-in-108-years occurrence.

Zobrist was honored before the game, awarded the key to the City of Peoria, signed autographs during it, and visited both teams in their locker rooms after it while 8,396 sang Go Cubs Go on a festive, emotional night in Carver Arena.

They saw the Columbus Cottonmouths — who had two-thirds of their roster sidelined after the team bus crashed in Morton two days earlier — build a three-goal lead with a patchwork roster that included a retired goaltender and a defense tandem from a Senior Men's League and push the Rivermen to the brink of an incomprehensible disaster.

Then they saw the Rivermen wake up and play just enough in the third period to track down the last-place, banged and battered Columbus team and rally for a 5-4 win in sudden-death overtime on a dramatic, dazzling goal from defenseman Donald Olivieri.

What a night.

Zobrist joined the Rivermen for their postgame locker room victory dance, then addressed the team.

"Awesome comeback victory, you guys showed a lot of grit and determination," Zobrist said. "And of course in overtime, that goal was unbelievable. I don't get to come to your games. So one time (I'm here) and you guys put on a show. Thank you for that.

"I liked that celebration dance in here. We had a rule (with the Cubs) — celebrate hard for 30 minutes, lose hard for 30 minutes ... every guy on our team was a huge part of our success, everyone had their role. That's a winning attitude and you guys showed it tonight."

He then walked across the Rivermen logo embedded in the carpet in the middle of the room — and was promptly fined $5 for that infraction by the Rivermen players. Zobrist fished a $10 bill out of his wallet and grinned as he paid up.

Then he moved on down the hall to visit with the Columbus team, and took pictures on the ice with them.

"There was just a lot of emotion in this game after what happened to those guys on the Columbus team," said Olivieri, who also had a third-period goal. "In the back of your mind it's hard to push a team like that. It got us in trouble, and we have to learn to block that out, respect our opponent and not take it easy on them.

"This game had a big emotional toll on both sides."

Olivieri skated down the Columbus slot during three-on-three play in overtime, deked around a defender, turned him inside out, drew down exhausted goaltender Andrew Loewen and waited ... waited .. waited ... then buried a wrister from the bottom of the right circle across the net and into the top far corner.

The place erupted. Afterward, both teams met in front of the benches and shook hands, while the crowd delivered an ovation.

"(Rivermen coach) Jean-Guy Trudel has confidence in me, and that's appreciated," Olivieri said. "He told me to do whatever I had to do to score. I took a chance there, glad I made it because I didn't want to face him if I missed."

The huge crowd was bathed in Cubbie blue and gave Zobrist a standing ovation as he was introduced.

The start of the game was delayed 18 minutes for a terrific ceremony that honored Zobrist and also acknowledged the first responders who were at the scene of the Columbus team's bus crash on Thursday in Morton.

Both teams lined up along the blueline, a video of the Cubs World Series victory played, and Zobrist congratulated the first responders and joined them at center ice to drop a ceremonial puck.

The Cottonmouths received a nice ovation from the crowd, too. And Zobrist's wife, Julianna, waited in the wings to deliver a post-game Christian concert.

It made for a long, memorable night.

Then it was on to hockey against a Columbus team that had just 6 players able to answer the bell after their bus crash. The SPHL and Rivermen assisted Columbus in bringing in 12 retired players or free agents to re-fill the Cottonmouths roster.

For 40 minutes, they built a 4-1 lead toward an upset bid, until the Rivermen finally ran them down with four unanswered goals.

The Rivermen scratched back to within 4-3 on a five-on-three power play at 2:34 of the third period when Olivieri's drive from above the left circle zipped in over Loewen's left pad amid traffic on the doorstep.

Mike Colantone's shorthanded drive from the right circle beat Loewen for the tying goal at 16:04, and set the stage for Olivieri's winner in OT.

RIVER READINGS: The crowd was the largest for the Rivermen since 8,901 saw Milwaukee beat Peoria in the AHL at Carver Arena on March 24, 2012. ... There are videos of Ben Zobrist's locker room visit to the Rivermen, plus some of his on-ice ceremony, online with this story at pjstar.com. ... The Columbus replacement players included former SPHL Goaltender of the Year Andrew Loewen, veteran enforcer David Segal, forwards Tom Seravalli, Mike Henderson and Brett Wall, and defensemen David Watt, Eric Scovill, Nielsson Arcibal, Pierce Butler and Brandon Fehd. Scovill and Butler were Senior Men's League players from central Illinois.

Dave Eminian covers the Rivermen for the Journal Star. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Check out his videos on Tout and news items on Twitter @icetimecleve.