HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Six years is a long time to wait for anything, especially if you work or play for a pro sports team and the wait is for a league championship.
Saturday night, the long wait for the Huntsville Havoc hockey fans and family finally came to an end as the Havoc got out to a lead and hung on for a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of the SPHL President’s Cup finals against the Mississippi Surge.
2009-2010 SPHL champion Huntsville Havoc (photo courtesy of Huntsville Havoc).
“Obviously the front lines are the players but that’s the stuff I see every day. I’ve been on the other side of it in terms of the front office and those guys deserve it more than anybody, as much as the fans and the players, and to be able to give them that,” Huntsville coach Randy Murphy said. “I remember watching at the end of the game – having the sense to kick back and watch guys like Ashley Balch (V.P. of Business Ops) and Kevin Walker (Team President) be able to take it in because I know they’ve worked as hard as anybody, if not harder and longer. Of course, Keith (Jeffries, Team Owner) has meant a tremendous amount to the league and personally to myself and my family to take us in the way he has. You want to play for a guy like that. You want to coach for a guy like that and as long as I have a job here, I’ll put forth the same effort that he expects.”
The Havoc wanted to get off to a good start in front of their home fans but it was the Surge that had the early pressure. Andrew Boudreau had an early break in that Havoc goalie Dan McWhinney stopped. It did however provide Mississippi with a power play when Brett Liscomb was called for slashing. The Surge did their best, pressuring Huntsville but McWhinney held the fort.
When Huntsville got its chance with the man advantage, they cashed in. With Ryan Bartle off in the box already, Mississippi’s Jeff Grant was tagged for tripping, giving the Havoc a two-man advantage. With just nineteen seconds left in that opportunity, Vladimir Hartinger’s shot found its way through traffic in front and past Surge goalie Bill Zaniboni to give the Havoc a 1-0 lead at the 7:56 mark of the first.
It would prove to be the only goal of the period as McWhinney and Zaniboni, as they had all series, put up brick walls in front of their respective nets. McWhinney had to be especially sharp on a short-handed break-in by Matthew Larke and on a drive by Matt Zultek with just under two minutes left in the stanza. The shots on net came out even at 10-10 on the board but Huntsville had the 1-0 lead where it counted.
Zaniboni was simply spectacular in the second period, keeping Mississippi within shouting distance. Early in the period, he went side-to-side to get his blocker glove on a shot by Andrew Schembri and moments later was tested by a shot from Chris Myers. The slim lead stood until the 14:19 point on the clock when Schembri popped his fifth playoff goal of the year past Zaniboni to double the margin to 2-0.
“We had three, four rookies on defense all year and Billy’s been there allowing us to make mistakes,” Mississippi coach Steffon Walby said. “You get into a deciding game like this and your guys are going to make some mistakes. Billy was there to be the rock.”
Mississippi started the final period with a left over power play from late in the second. They pressed hard, coming close when a Zultek shot clanged off the iron, but failed to capitalize. In between, Zaniboni was making the saves he needed to make, allowing the defense to be more involved in the offense.
Huntsville thought they had the game wrapped up tightly when Mike MacDonald made a great individual play to beat Zaniboni with 8:23 left in regulation. The Havoc goal seemed to inspire the Surge, who began to pick up the pace. With 4:17 to go, Nick Klaren worked his way in front and beat the previously perfect McWhinney to cut the lead to 3-1. 35 seconds later, Tim Velemirovich poked a loose puck home to slice the lead to 3-2 and Mississippi was smelling a comeback.
“I knew when we were down 3-0 that if we got one, two, the other team would pucker up and tense up and sure enough. The time out that he (Murphy) took was timely. I could have called it that he was going to take that time out,” Walby said. “They played well. They really did. I didn’t think that they would play that hard for this third game knowing that they had two games (at home) to win it but they did and hats off to them.”
That time out, taken by Murphy right after the Velemirovich score, was designed to calm his team down. Staying calm was a key as Mississippi threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Havoc in the closing minutes. The Surge had several chances that went wide or hit bodies in front. When they did get through, McWhinney was there to knock them away, leading to the crowd counting down the final seconds to a celebration on the ice six years in the making.
Afterwards, Murphy, who had come from the ruins of the New Mexico Scorpions franchise to Huntsville, gave credit to the entire team for bringing the President’s Cup title home to the Havoc.
“You look at Hartinger and Schembri, two pretty key additions down the stretch. You look at the guys who assisted on the goals, (Justin) Rohr our leading scorer, (Travis) Kauffeldt our captain, Mike Carter, a guy who’s won three championships, Bill McCreary who’s been an anchor on the back end and of course Mike MacDonald. That’s a pretty good builder there,” he said.
Through his disappointment, Walby said that the loss already has him beginning to think about next season and trying again to win the President’s Cup.
“I’ve never been on the losing end in the finals in my career. It’s a learning experience,” he said. “As I sit here and think about the pieces of the puzzle that we’re going to need to replace and / or need to work for next year, I’m already thinking about next year which means that in my mind I’ve still got something to prove.”
For now, however, the Havoc and their fans can bask in the glow of a mission finally accomplished.
Game notes…Former Huntsville goalie Matt Carmichael dropped the ceremonial opening puck…The 4,541 in attendance included a large contingent of Surge fans who took a charter bus from Biloxi to Huntsville…Mississippi’s power play went 0-for-5 in the game, bringing its finals total to 1-for-21. Huntsville was 1-for-4 on the night for a three game total of 4-for-14…Huntsville Justin Rohr and Mississippi’s Chris Greene led their respective teams in playoff scoring with two goals and seven assists apiece…McWhinney posted a 7-1 post-season record with a sterling 1.96 goals against average in the post season for the Havoc while his counterpart, the Surge’s Zaniboni was 3-4 with an equally fine 2.76 goals against mark…Early word out of Huntsville was that a victory celebration will be held Tuesday at the Von Braun Center.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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