PENSACOLA, FLA – On Saturday, December 1st at the Pensacola Bay Center, the Pensacola Ice Flyers hosted Knoxville in the Ice Bears lone trip to Florida. Despite getting out-shot by a large margin, Knoxville was able to parlay a two goal first period into a 4-1 road victory in front of 2,494 fans.
Knoxville was paced in the game by forward Berkley Scott who struck for two goals and an assist in the contest. Scott’s first tally came at the 7:11 mark of the opening period with the assists going to Eric Satim and Emery Olauson. A little over six minutes later, Tyler Fernandez doubled the Ice Bears lead with Satim and Scott earning helpers on the play.
Pensacola owned a sizeable advantage in the middle period, out-shooting the visitors by a 12-2 count. Knoxville goalie Connor Toomey was the star of the stanza, stopping every one of the Ice Flyers’ opportunities, adding to his 15-save performance from the first period. Despite having just those two shots on Pensacola goalie Steve Christie, the Ice Bears were able to extend their lead. It happened when Olauson set up Berkley for his second goal of the game eleven minutes into the period.
The margin grew to four late in the final stanza when Olauson scored an unassisted goal with just under four and a half minutes remaining in the game. With Toomey looking for the shutout, Pensacola put 20 shots on the Knoxville netminder who stood tall frustrating the Ice Flyers at every turn. The home team finally got onto the scoreboard with less than a minute left in the contest on a goal by Patrick Knowlton.
Knoxville%27s Matt Pierce (25%2C dark) tries to catch up to Pensacola%27s Patrick Knowlton.
Ice Bear goalie Connor Toomey focuses on the puck in traffic.
Ice Bear David Segal (28%2C dark) lines up a shot from the far boards.
Knoxville defenseman Mark VanVliet (9%2C dark) defends against Ice Flyer Patrick Knowlton (86).
Pensacola goalie Steve Christie (34%2C white) and defenseman Jeremy Gates foil a Knoxville scoring chance.
Ice Flyer John Dunbar (42%2C white) fights off two Knoxville defenders and goalie Connor Toomey.
Pensacola%27s Ryan Slavis (23%2C white) tries to get around Knoxville%27s Shawn Arvai (3%2C dark).
Ice Bear Matt Pierce (25%2C dark) reaches for the puck as teammate John Higgins (18) and Ice Flyer Ryan Slavis (23) look on.
Pensacola%27s Jordan Chong (9%2C white) and Knoxville%27s Connor Toomey follow the loose puck.
Contact the photographer at vanessa.johnson@prohockeynews.com
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