The St. Louis Blues have notified the Peoria Civic Center that they are shutting down the Peoria Rivermen at the end of the 2012-13 season.

Information is still coming in as to whether the team has been sold or are just being moved, but the Peoria Journal Star are reporting the following:

“It’s not legal and it’s not binding because it isn’t in ink on paper yet, but yes, they are gone,” Civic Center general manager Jim Wetherington said Friday afternoon. “They have emailed me what they are sending in writing. “The Rivermen are leaving. They are gone. That’s really all it says. The Blues have exercised their option in the lease to end the agreement.” The Blues own the AHL’s Rivermen. They were part of the sales package purchased by St. Louis beer distributor Tom Stillman last year when he bought the NHL’s Blues. The Blues had two more seasons left on their Rivermen lease with the Civic Center. They will pay a $90,000 penalty to the building to opt out early. “We look forward to hockey of some sort next season,” Wetherington said. “We need to get to work right away on what that will be.”

It has been rumored that the St. Louis Blues have been in talks with the Chicago Wolves and were looking to sell the Rivermen. While it is not yet known if the Blues have a buyer lined up to buy the Rivermen, it is clear that as of this moment the Blues are looking to make a major change to their system.

More as we have it.

LET’S GO BLUES!

-Alex Hodschayan

UPDATE:

From TrueHockey.com