KNOXVILLE, TN – It took completion of the full 60 game regular season schedule for the Knoxville Ice Bears, who had claimed first place in the standings a week ago, to finally find out which team they would play in the first round of the Southern Professional Hockey League playoffs.
The Ice Bears will have home ice over the Huntsville Havoc in their best-of-five semi-final playoff series in the chase for the President’s Cup.
“I think it will be a great series. I think we’re well matched (with Huntsville),” Knoxville coach Scott Hillman said. “It’ll be physical and I expect it to go the distance.”
Hillman led Knoxville to an almost wire-to-wire finish in first place during the regular season, earning him Coach of the Year honors. The Ice Bears have been the most consistent team in the SPHL this season, repeating as the regular season champion to win the Coffey Trophy and looks to be in great position to repeat last season’s playoff championship. Based on their regular season performance against Huntsville they have to be an early favorite in their opening round series. In the fifteen games played between the teams in the regular season the Ice Bears won 10 games,eight in regulation and two in overtime.
Overall, Knoxville led the league in two important categories. First they netted 216 goals for an average of 3.60 goals per game. As a compliment to their scoring prowess the Ice Bears also=2 0led the league in fewest goals allowed giving up 171 goals for a goals against average of 2.85.
The goaltending tandem of Andrew Gallant and Irving Kirk virtually split playing time in the regular season. Gallant, who was named a first team all star, led the league with a goal against average of 2.61, a save percentage of .924 and a record 20-7-4-1 in 32 games. Irving finished third among SPHL goalie leaders with a goals against average of 2.88 and an overall record of 15-9-5-1 while appearing in 30 games. His save percentage was .917, good for second place behind Gallant.
The defensive corps for Knoxville had a solid season led by second year SPHL player Kevin Harris. He scored 36 points including eight goals while posting a plus/minus rating of +16. His level of play this year made him an easy choice for first team all star as well as being named the SPHL Defenseman of the Year. Brett Smith is another strong defender who played in all 60 games this year posting 24 points including eight goals with a plus minus rating of +10. Smith may have added incentive in the playoffs as he started last season with the Havoc before being picked up by Knoxville. Travis Martell, a rookie who played in 58 games this year, racked up 89 penalty minutes during an outstanding regular season. Martell was recognized for his play, being named to the league’s all-rookie squad.
The potent offense is led by perennial First Team All-Star Kevin Swider. He just won fifth consecutive scoring title having won each year since the league began operations. His 92 points included 37 goals. Forward Tim Vitek produced the fourth best scoring total in the SPHL combining 26 goals and 50 assists for 76 points. Swider at +28 and Vitek at +27 also played two-way hockey, contributing at both ends of the ice. Other offensive help is likely to come from forwards Mike Carter and Bobby Joe Pelkey who contributed 25 and 22 goals respectively this season.
Overall, Knoxville will be a hard team to beat based on their solid base of experienced players and the combination of their potent offense, strong defense and goaltending.
“We’ve got to continue to be the best defensive team in the league,” said Hillman. “We need solid goaltending to accomplish that. We’ve got to eliminate quality scoring chances. Special teams are always so big in the playoffs. It’s definitely what won us the championship last year. Our penalty kill was near perfect and the power play was up near 25 per cent. If we can focus on those areas again this year, we think that will be the difference.”
The Huntsville Havoc occupied first place for much of the early season and then, after a late-season tailspin, had to grit it out to win the final playoff spot. They were able to survive the SPHL dog fight despite20losing their last two games. The question for Havoc fans is can the players recapture the earlier part of the season performance in hockey’s second season?
The Havoc scored 204 goals this year for an average of 3.40 goals per game. They allowed the opposition to score 197 goals for average of 3.28 per game. One plus for the team is that their defense was the stingiest in the SPHL in allowing shots on goal. They are the only team in the SPHL to hold the opposition to under 30 shots per game. Additionally, the Havoc led the league with their power play, the only team to score over 20 percent of the time (20.6) while having the manpower advantage.
Travis Kauffeldt was the Havoc’s regular season offensive leader scoring 70 points including 37 goals. Kauffeldt’s team leading offensive performance was worthy of multipl e post season honors including the leagues’ MVP award and being named a First Team All-Star. He had a plus minus rating of +19 to lead his team in that important category. Latvian native Karlis Zirnis contributed 64 points including 21 goals to the cause and BJ Radovich registered 53 points in 55 games and a +11 plus minus rating to the offensive and defensive effort.
Meanwhile, Tim Haun, who joined the Havoc this season after spending last year with the now defunct Jacksonville Barracudas and played eight games with the Ft. Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League earlier this season, led the team in goaltending. He compiled a record of 15-7-2-0 and a goals against average of 2.62 appearing in 25 games. His save percentage was .908. His partner in goal, Ross Cherry, played in 32 regular season contests posting a record of 13-13-4-1 and a goals against average of 3.46. Haun is expected to get the bulk of the playoff work based on the fact that he started in eight of the Havoc’s last ten games down the stretch into the playoffs.
“Goaltending, obviously in the playoffs, is huge. We feel both our goaltenders are equally matched to any other two goaltenders in the league,” Huntsville coach Eric Soltys said.
Paul Falco, who joined the team in mid-season via a trade from Twin City, adds depth to the blue line cadre and rugged Bill McCreary, who spent some 177 minutes in the penalty box, has been a physical presence especially in front of the net. Lastly, Jeff Winchester a 6’3’ 220 lbs defenseman adds size, and durability at the point as he played in all 60 games this year for Huntsville.
W hile on paper Knoxville will be favored, Soltys is optimistic about his team’s chances if they play their game.
“We’ve had success all year when we work hard. When we try to be too fancy and make it look good, we’re not very good,” he said. “When we put our nose to the grindstone and play like a blue collar team and get pucks to the net and crash and bang and outmuscle and outwork, we have a lot of success.”
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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