Murphy, Havoc look for championship combo

HUNTSVILLE, AL – One season ago, the Huntsville Havoc brought in a new coach to build a team that everyone hoped would bring an SPHL championship to town. After a torrid start, the Havoc stumbled before making the playoffs and exiting in a thrilling five game first round series. Randy Murphy, who takes over as Huntsville’s newest head coach, doesn’t intend to let the same scenario happen again this year. And with the regular season just days away, he’s doing his best to combine the old with new to construct a roster that will get the job done. “We’ve got a good core group of guys returning from last year’s team and we’re

trying to mesh the guys that are new to the team,” Murphy said. “We’re trying to get them into our system and mesh the two personnel types together to hopefully form a good team.” Murphy, who came to Huntsville from the New Mexico Scorpions of the CHL, already has something of a working knowledge of the Havoc as several players from Huntsville have spent time in Mew Mexico under Murphy. In his short time working with the players, Murphy said he can see some differences in the level of play from what he saw in the CHL but that it is comparable to any other level jumps. “To be honest, it’s no different than going from the AHL to the CHL or the ECHL,” he said. “I think the biggest difference is that you’ve got to make sure your third line is as close to a talent level as your second or first line.” The core group that Murphy talks about starts with forward Travis Kauffeldt. Last year’s league MVP scored 37 goals to go along with 33 points for 70 points and a plus-19 rating. He originally was headed to the training camp of the Missouri Mavericks in the CHL but changed his mind and returned to Huntsville. Up front, Kauffeldt will have plenty of help with Ray Ortiz and BJ Radovich back with the Havoc. Ortiz tallied 21 goals and 51 points a year ago while Radovich chipped in 22 goals and 55 points. Joining the potent trio on the forward lines will be Mike Carter and newcomer Mike MacDonald. Carter played the past two season with the two-time defending champion Knoxville Ice Bears, spending  a lot of time on a line with Kevin Swider and Tim Vitek where he compiled 32 goals and 93 assists. MacDonald has two seasons of CHL experience under his belt including last season when he played for Murphy in New Mexico. Justin Rohr (7-4-11), Paul Falco (3-24-27) and newcomers Mike Olynyk and Nick Monroe could also play a role in the final roster selection Havoc fans will also be excited with the return of SPHL favorite Dennis Sicard. Sicard, who spent parts of two seasons with the Richmond Renegades and Tulsa of the CHL, finished last year in Huntsville where he provided added toughness to the lineup. While he has thrilled fans with his pugilistic skills, he can also put points on the board as proven by his six goals and seven assists in 38 games for Richmond during the 2007-2008 campaign. Back on the blue line, Murphy’s lynchpin is Billy McCreary. Entering his fourth year with the Havoc, McCreary posted career highs in goals (6), assists (28) and points (34) a year ago. He also showed that he fears no opposing player, racking up 177 penalty minutes in 55 games. Also back with the team is Martin Kubaliak who had 28 points in his second time around in a Havoc uniform. Newcomer Adam Lukacovic from the Czech Republic via the Western Hockey League has been impressive in camp according to Murphy. Dean Petiot has also been noticeable and could make the team. Murphy did admit that his defense might have been the most worrisome but that with some work, he feels that most of the pieces are there for a solid group. “We’ve got to make sure we simplify our game on the back end,” he said. “I think we’ve got the right people in place for the most part right now but we’re probably one or two pieces away on our back end.” The goaltending battle throughout training camp has been a three-way tussle between returning net minder Ross Cherry and newcomers Dan McWhinney and Mark Sibbald. Cherry, who filled in for Tim Haun last year, went 13-13-4 with a 3.46 goals against average. McWhinney impressed in Huntsville’s first exhibition game while Sibbald was expected to get his shot in the second preseason tilt with Columbus. One thing that Murphy has been stressing is camp is consistency. One of the first things he did was talk to the returning players about the difference between the first half and second half of last season and get their thoughts on how to even things out. “I think one of the things I told them was instead of winning eight in a row then losing five in a row that we just need to be consistent,” Murphy said. “They said that was a challenge last year as far as being able to obtain that. Hopefully I can pass that along.” After a week in camp, Murphy said that he has high expectations for the Havoc this year and he has the sense that the players both understand and share those hopes. “They know that the standard is high. They had a good year last year. They know what we expect out of them and where we expect to be in terms of the standings,” he said. “Hopefully the expectations follow suit in how they perform.” And if those expectations do turn into improved play on the ice, this may just be the year that Huntsville has been waiting for. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com