FAYETTEVILLE, NC – When the playoffs began, the defending SPHL champion Knoxville Ice Bears were established as the team to beat. As the final seconds of game five of the finals ticked away, they looked anything like it.
Playing on home ice for the final time this year, the Fayetteville FireAntz summoned yet another big defensive effort and timely scoring to defeat Knoxville 2-1 on Sunday, sending the series back to Knoxville on Wednesday with Fayetteville holding a three games to two lead in the best-of-seven match-up.
âOur penalty kill has been huge. It was last our of six teams during the regular season. Itâs number one in the playoffs with three short handed goals. The penalty killing has been awesome,â Fayetteville coach Tommy Stewart said. âOur power play is number one too so special teams have gotten us to the point weâre at right now.â
Knowing that the first team to score in each of the first four games has won, both squads knew that denting the scoreboard first was important. In the initial 2:50 of the period, the teams amassed more combined shots (5) than almost half of the first stanza a night before.
The Ice Bears were the ones to get that all important initial tally. At the 7:30 mark, Ryan Moore made a pinpoint pass to Chris Rebernik who in turn fed Frank Furdero who got loose and fired high to the blocker side of Fayetteville goalie Guy St. Vincent to put Knoxville out in front. It could have been much worse for the FireAntz as Knoxville much of the final seven minutes of the period on the power play. Thanks in part to a St. Vincent save on Bobby Joe Pelkey, Fayetteville was able to survive the short handed situations and only trailed by one at the break.
âWeâre generating lots of good, quality scoring chances. Weâre just a little snake bit right now,â Knoxville coach Scott Hillman said. âHopefully that luck will change on home ice.â
Buoyed by the penalty killing at the end of the first, the FireAntz had both confidence and the knowledge that they had been the dominant team in the second period throughout the series. 3:37 into the middle stanza, Knoxvilleâs Kevin Swider was called for tripping, setting up Fayettevilleâs power play. The âAntz put the pressure on and it worked as Sich found defenseman Lawne Snyder cutting into the slot and hit him with a pass. Snyder buried his shot into the back of the net at 4:29 to tie the game at one.
Yet another Ice Bears penalty kept Fayetteville working with the man advantage. This time the âAntz failed to score but as Derek Pallardy was coming out of the box, Chris Leveille fed Sich in the slot and Sich didnât miss, giving Fayetteville a 2-1 lead at the 6:40 mark.
Like Knoxville in the first, Fayetteville had several more chances with the man advantage, only to see the Ice Bears thwart each attempt. Along the way, Knoxville net minder Kirk Irving committed several acts of robbery as Matt Moreland, Chris Leveille and a couple of other âAntz forwards were left shaking their heads. In amongst all of that action, St. Vincent had a big stop of his own, denying Pallardy on a short handed break-in. When the buzzer sounded ending the second period, Fayetteville held a slim 2-1 lead.
Knoxville needed to storm the Fayetteville end in the third period and they came out flying. St. Vincent had to be on his toes as the Ice Bears were firing at will. In one sequence, St. Vincent made sparkling saves on Mike Carter and Tim Vitek to keep his team in front.
As time ticked down, Fayetteville clamped down with its defense keeping Knoxville from getting position in prime scoring range. The Ice Bearsâ final and maybe best chance came in the final two minutes when a flurry of penalties gave Knoxville a two man advantage for some 45 seconds. When Irving was pulled for an extra attacker, it was a six-on-three but somehow the FireAntz were able to limit the shots on St. Vincent and came away with the win.
Hillman said that in his opinion, the only adjustment his team needs to make is getting the scoring touch back because his team is confident about winning twice back at home.
âWeâre just going to work on getting our guys heated back up. Scoring so few goals but seeing the number of scoring chances weâre generating is just a bit frustrating,â he said. âWeâve got to find a way to crack the shell early and hopefully the flood gates will open a little bit for us. Then again, if anyone would have said back in October that two games in our building if you win them both you win the championship, I think weâd take it.â
As for Stewart, who is one game from the SPHL championship that has eluded him, he knows that winning in Knoxville will be difficult.
âThey say the hardest game to win is the last game so weâve still got our work cut out for us,â he said. âItâs going to be tough. Thatâs the toughest building to play in for the last five years. Weâll have our hands full.â
Game NotesâŠAttendance for the Easter Sunday game was 1,810…Knoxvilleâs power play continues to be a concern, going 0-7 in game five, dropping to 3-29 in the seriesâŠSichâs goal gives him five for the series and three in the last two games. He has a goal in four of the five games playedâŠFor the second straight game and third in the series, Knoxville put 40 or more shots on St. Vincent. They are 1-2 in those gamesâŠGame six is set for Wednesday at 7:35 P.M. at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. If needed, game seven is scheduled for Thursday night in Knoxville.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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