KNOXVILLE, TENN – A year ago, Chris Rebernik and Frank Furdero watched as the Knoxville Ice Bears swept their Jacksonville Barracudas to win the SPHL President’s Cup on the ice at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. This time around, they now know what that celebration felt like.
Paced by Rebernik’s two goals and two points each from Furdero and Shaun Norrie, Knoxville became the first SPHL team to win back-to-back championships by defeating the Fayetteville FireAntz 3-1 in game seven of this year’s finals. The win was extra sweet as Ice Bears’ goaltender Kirk Irving became the first SPHL player to win back-to-back playoff Most Valuable Player awards.
Photo by PC Ryan
“That’s why we wanted them (Rebernik and Furdero) here. We saw glimpses of brilliance from both those guys,” Knoxville coach Scott Hillman said. “Chris Rebernik was the first guy we wanted in the (Jacksonville) dispersal draft and when Frank Furdero became available from Huntsville, we jumped all over that because he makes Chris Rebernik an even better player. Those two play real well together.”
The opening moments of this game seven were tense with neither team wanting to make a mistake. Knoxville broke the ice on the scoreboard at 3:21 when the Ice Bears’ third line members Derek Pallardy and game six hero Bobby Joe Pelkey combined to set up Shaun Norrie. Fayetteville goalie Guy St. Vincent argued after the goal, saying that a Knoxville player was in the crease interfering with him but neither of the referees agreed and the goal stood.
Aided by a 1:53 five-on-three man advantage just past the midpoint of the period, the FireAntz began to get their offense moving only to have Irving turn them away. Finally, at the 15:05 mark, Fayetteville’s third line clicked when Mike Ruberto got the puck to Brett McConnachie who beat Irving for his first goal and point of the playoffs and knotting the game at one.
Just under three minutes later, Knoxville grabbed the momentum back when Furdero fed defenseman Kevin Harris who sent the puck to Rebernik. Rebernik made up for an ill-advised penalty late in game five by beating St. Vincent to put the Ice Bears back in front at 17:52, a lead that the home team took to the first intermission.
“You can’t win a series let alone a couple of games without a full three lines and six defensemen. You can’t just rely on one line,” Knoxville captain Kevin Swider said. “That’s how we’ve won it in the past. We’ve won it three years now and every single year we’ve had the depth and the guys who20step up and play up when needed to. That’s a tribute to everybody on our team including our goalies.”
Fayetteville needed to summon the passion and fire that led to victories in games four and five and with the assistance of some early power play time in the second period started to put pressure on Irving and the Knoxville defense. Irving held the fort, giving the Ice Bears’ offense time to find its legs. At 11:35, the tag team of Furdero and Rebernik stepped up and connected again as Rebernik lit the goal light for the second time, doubling the lead to 3-1 where it stayed into the second intermission.
“”We didn’t score on our opportunities. We out shot them, we worked hard, we hit a couple of posts,” Fayetteville coach Tommy Stewart said. “Our power play went zero for nine. That was the difference.”
Fayetteville had nothing to lose as the final regulation period of the SPHL season started. Helped by a Knoxville penalty, the FireAntz opened up with a barrage of shots. By the five minute mark into the stanza, they had ten shots on net but nothing to show for it as Irving was in a zone. In all, Irving stopped 16 shots in the final period and 39 for the game to cement his place in league history with his second consecutive MVP trophy.
“I can’t say enough about the way Kirk20responded in a must win, night after night situation,” Hillman said. “Even in the games he lost, he was a great, great goaltender for this hockey team.”
Photo by PC Ryan
Despite not completing the mission of winning a championship, Stewart was proud of what his team accomplished.
“We were in last place or second to last place with six weeks to go and here we are in game seven (of the finals),” he said.
Hillman was equally proud of the Fayetteville team and for that matter the level play throughout the league, noting that a three-peat will be very difficult to accomplish.
“I’m proud of this league. I’m proud of the Fayetteville FireAntz for the competition they brought to this league, the Huntsville Havoc the two teams we had to play in the playoffs. We’re real proud of how quickly this league is becoming better and better,” he said. “We’re just happy to be a part of it. Obviously our goal is to get to work to see if we can put together another group of guys that might be a contender in the future. It’s getting tougher and tougher no doubt but we sure love the track we’re on.”
Game notes…After starting off red hot, Fayetteville’s power play was non existent in the final two games, going a combined 0-for-14…Knoxville coach Hillman now has two titles under his belt in two seasons behind the Ice Bears’ bench…Fayetteville’s Rob Sich won the one-on-one scoring battle over Knoxville’s Swider but not by much. Sich recorded six goals and one assist while Swider had two goals and four assists…Swider did win the overall playoff scoring title with 15 points (4-11) with teammate Tim Vitek (8-6-14) and Fayetteville’s Emery Olauson (6-8-14) tied for second…’Antz goalie St. Vincent played in all 12 games Fayetteville played, posting a 2.74 goals against average that was bettered only by Irving’s 2.43 goals against in seven games played.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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