AUGUSTA, GA – A year ago, the expansion Augusta RiverHawks announced their arrival by marching to the SPHL finals only to be swept by the Mississippi Surge. The loss hurt coach Brad Ralph and the players – so much so that they felt a bit of unfinished business coming into the 2011-2012 season.
They parlayed that feeling into a William Coffey trophy as regular season champions and the top seed in the President’s Cup playoffs. The next step on the road to redemption begins Wednesday when the RiverHawks take on the eighth-seeded Huntsville Havoc in game one of their best-of-three series at the James Brown Arena. Game two is scheduled for Friday in Huntsville with game three back in Augusta on Saturday if necessary.
After his team’s success last season, Ralph had a tough act to follow. He faced several of the same issues including numerous call-ups. His goaltending took a hit when immigration issues forced Peter Skoggard to head back to Europe for a month. Through it all, Ralph was able to find players who filled the holes and kept the team in first place.
One of last season’s surprises, forward Jim Gehring, turned in a career season with 41 goals and 24 assists for 65 points and a plus-26 rating to earn a spot on the All-SPHL first team. Team captain and All-SPHL second team member Matt Auffrey was right behind Gehring with 63 points and a plus-16 rating. Defenseman Ed Snetsinger earned his way onto the All-SPHL first team by picking up 48 points while being an astonishing plus-36. Winger Neil Graham also went over the 40-poin plateau, scoring 17 goals and adding 26 assists.
Once the goaltending situation settled down, Skoggard and running mate Jon Olthuis were once again solid. Olthuis posted a 15-6-3 record with a 2.83 goals against average while Skoggard went 12-5-3 while recording a 2.65 goals against mark.
Two seasons removed from its first President’s Cup title, this season was nothing close to what was expected in Huntsville. During the off-season, one-time playoff MVP Dan McWhinney and defenseman Billy McCreary defected to the FHL. Then starting goalie Mark Sibbald had a falling out with coach Randy Murphy and ending up suspended for quite a while. Murphy never found the answer in net which led to Sibbald’s reinstatement to the active roster. He even tried bringing back fan favorite Dennis Sicard to try to spark the team
In the end, the team’s poor play on the ice led to Murphy’s resignation from behind the bench. In his place, veteran defenseman and at the time the team’s leading point producer Glenn Detulleo retired and took over as the interim bench boss.
Offensively, the Havoc did have five players who put up 35 or more points in the regular season. Winger Justin Fox scored 22 goals and added 24 assists for 46 points, putting him second behind Detulleo’s 53 points. Mike MacDonald (16-28) chipped in with a solid 44 points and steady Ray Ortiz added 38 points including 16 goals. Forward Ryan Kretzer put up 40 points but his season was ended early when an injury forced him to the injured reserved list on March 20th.
Sibbald ended up seeing the most action between the pipes but seemed to be a shadow of his former self. He posted a pedestrian 7-12-3 record with a 3.18 goals against average with one shutout and a .907 save percentage.
Augusta and Huntsville met seven times during the season. The RiverHawks won five of the meetings including an overtime thriller at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville and a lopsided eight-goal win at home. The Havoc won the first and last meetings, the last of which came in OT.
The RiverHawks were clearly better on special teams in the head-to-head games. Augusta’s power play hit pay dirt six times in 38 chances for a 15.8 success percentage. Huntsville’s man advantage units scored just twice in 37 opportunities against the RiverHawks for a success rate of just 5.4 percent. The shots on net differential was a mere six (215-209) in favor of Augusta but the RiverHawks outscored the Havoc 26-17.
Neither team comes in with a lot of momentum. Both went just 2-2-1 in their final five games. Augusta was slightly better in its final ten contests, going 5-4-1 in that stretch while Huntsville was just 3-5-2.
Augusta’s Gehring led the offense against Huntsville, scoring five goals and adding three assists for eight points. Snetsinger put up seven points on two goals and five assists against the Havoc while Auffrey had three goals and three helpers for six points.
Olthuis and Skoggard only played once each against the Havoc thanks to the visa issues for Skoggard and call-ups for Olthuis. Olthuis won his outing, giving up just two goals while Skoggard allowed three in an overtime loss.
Losing Kretzer to injury and Detulleo to coaching takes away the top two Huntsville threats against the RiverHawks. The pair combined for six goals and 14 points – almost a third of both totals. MacDonald was the next highest scorer with three goals and two assists for five points while defenseman Omar Pacha had four points while playing in just three of the seven games.
Sibbald was between the pipes in two contests against Augusta. He posted a 1-1 record but his 2.53 goals against average and .926 save percentage showed that he could perform against the RiverHawks.
Editor’s Pick: On paper, Augusta has the much better offense, special teams and goaltending. They are also highly motivated to win. Huntsville is still finding its way through a tough year with a rookie coach leading the way. Augusta takes this series in a two-game sweep.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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