PENSACOLA, FLA – When you are the defending champions, everyone is gunning for you, wanting to be the one that knocked the top dog off the mountain. The 2011 SPHL President’s Cup winners got a taste of the Friday night and now have to fight to survive.
Goalie Steve Christie stopped 30 of 31 shots and his teammates scored two special teams goals as the Pensacola Ice Flyers beat the Mississippi Surge 4-1 in game one of their best-of-three playoff series at the Pensacola Civic Center. The Ice Flyers can sweep the series with a win in game two at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi Saturday night.
The first 17 minutes of the opening period between the teams made it clear that goals would be at a premium. Christie, who had recently returned from a call-up to the CHL, was on his game. His best save of the period came when mid way through the stanza, he stoned Mississippi’s Tyler Ruel on a point-black shot. Down at the other end, the Surge’s Kiefer Smiley, who was named co-Rookie of the Year with Pensacola’s Jordan Chong, was racking up the saves as well.
The game stayed scoreless until late in the period when the Ice Flyers broke on top. Chris Wilson got the puck to Casey Mignone who beat Smiley with just over two minutes left before the intermission to put his team ahead.
Early in the second period, the Surge were hit with a cross checking penalty, giving Pensacola a power play opportunity. Chong, playing in his first professional playoff game, took a feed from Wilson and deposited the puck in the back of the net, doubling the lead and making most of the 2,596 in attendance happy.
The teams went back-and-forth for much of the period, each getting pressure and shots on the other’s net. With just over six minutes remaining in the period, Mississippi finally broke through on Christie. Shawn Skelly got a shot on net that was knocked down but the rebound came out to Nicholas Kuqali. Without stopping to think much, Kuqali snapped the puck back at the net and it went in, cutting the Pensacola lead to 2-1.
Knowing how important a game one win would be to advancing to the next round, the Ice Flyers came out firing in the third. They pumped five of the stanza’s first eight shots on Smiley who turned them away to keep his team within striking distance. The Surge needed chances to tie the game and got them in the form of two Pensacola penalties that produced power plays. They produced four shots during the man advantage but Christie managed to stop all of them.
Seconds after the second Mississippi extra man situation expired, the Ice Flyers put the game away thanks to a great individual effort. Forward Jeff Sapieha got loose for a shot before he was sent to the ice. Smiley made the save but couldn’t control the rebound before Sapieha was able to turn his body and whacked the puck with enough force to propel it into the net.
Sapieha’s tally took most of the remaining steam out of the Surge. They mustered just three shots on Christie in the final six minutes. Tyler Soehner added an empty net goal in the final minute while Pensacola was killing a penalty to produce the final score.
Game Notes: Sapieha finished the night with two points, adding an assist on Soehner’s goal…In suffering the loss, Smiley stopped 31 of 34 shots he faced…Neither team was very proficient on the power play as Mississippi was 0-for-6 while Pensacola went 1-for-8…If a game three is necessary, it will be played back in Pensacola on Sunday at 5:05 pm central time.
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