KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After five years of waiting, the Huntsville Havoc are heading toward the promised land – by ending a historic reign.
Captain Travis Kauffeldt lifted the Havoc to their first trip to the SPHL President’s Cup finals Friday night with two goals against the two-time defending champion Knoxville Ice Bears to sweep the semi-final series in two games. The 3-1 victory at the Knoxville Civic Center, usually a den of horrors for visiting teams, validated Huntsville’s emergence as a real contender when they face the Mississippi Surge in Game 1 of the championship series on Wednesday.
Coming into the game, both coaches were excited about the match up, but only one team seemed determined to win.
“The mood coming into the game was get the job done, finish them off, not give them any life,” Huntsville Head Coach Randy Murphy said.
Sometimes series are won more by what a team does not do rather than what they accomplish. For Huntsville, they did not allow Knoxville out of their zone. Huntsville goalie Dan McWhinney did not give Knoxville many rebound chances. The speed of the team did not give Knoxville a chance to get physical, the one thing Knoxville Head Coach Marc Rodgers counted on to get his team to the finals.
What Huntsville did, and did well, is manage the talented line of Kevin Swider, Tim Vitek and Bobby Joe Pelkey. Knoxville’s number one line was held to just 14 shots on goal in Game 2 and 21 shots the entire series. Of the 66 shots thrown at McWhinney in two games, only two made it past the rock-solid net minder.
“Their goalie stood on his head tonight like he did in the first game,” Rodgers said. “I believe he won the series for them.”
Murphy gave credit to a great effort by the entire team led by his goalie.
“[McWhinney] was obviously the difference,” Murphy said. “In the playoffs, ultimately, you need the other 17 guys playing well too.”
For Huntsville forward, and former Ice Bear, Mike Carter, the win offered a sense of relief and revenge. Carter was released from the Knoxville roster this year after being a part of the two previous championship seasons.
“We had it dead set in our mind that we weren’t going to go home with a loss,” Carter said. “Everyone battled and everyone worked hard and it was a great team effort.”
Knoxville struggled to get the puck out of their zone and suffered through three penalty kills in the first period, taxing an already short-manned team with three players currently serving suspensions. In addition to defenseman Darcy Rees and forward Taylor Hustead still sitting out, Kyle Bochek sat out the game due to a spearing match game misconduct call earned during the series opener on Wednesday in Huntsville. Still, the Ice Bears managed to hold on to a scoreless tie after one.
“We were a tired team,” Rodgers said. “It is very hard to win a series when you’re playing three men short.”
Huntsville’s Kauffeldt scored the first goal on a Knoxville turnover in front of Gallant at the 5:26 mark of the second period. Minutes later it appeared Huntsville had gotten more rubber past Gallant, but after consulting with the goal judge, referee Paul Depuydt waived off the play that would have given the Havoc a two goal lead. Going into the locker room for second intermission, momentum had shifted Knoxville’s way and the comeback kids had 20 minutes left to take back the game and any hope of going for a hat trick of championship seasons.
“I told the guys to keep playing. This is our building,” Rodgers said. “We made a few adjustments that I think we countered them on and we were all over them in the third. McWhinney did what he had to do to stop pucks.”
Knoxville’s best chance to tie the game came on a 5-on-3 opportunity six minutes into the third, but they were unable to get a shot on goal during the two-man advantage. Seconds after the successful penalty kill, Huntsville’s Mike MacDonald took a cross-ice pass from Bill McCreary and beat Gallant to bring the score to 2-0 at 8:49. Knoxville’s glimmer of hope came at 15:22 of the third when Swider went behind the net and found Pelkey’s stick just as McWhinney went down, allowing Pelkey to go top shelf and cut Huntsville’s lead in half.
As desperation set in, Knoxville pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, but McWhinney denied the Ice Bears a comeback. Kauffeldt dashed the hopes of a Game 3 with an empty netter at 19:09 of the third.
Now that the Havoc are moving into the finals, Murphy believes they have what it takes to win their first championship ever.
“We’re not going to change our style. We’ll tweak things when it comes down to what personnel match-ups we want, but that’s about it,” Murphy said. “We’ll just continue playing our game.”
Neither Huntsville nor Mississippi has ever played for the President’s Cup. Huntsville will have to continue to play their game for just three more wins, a definite possibility if McWhinney remains an impenetrable force in the net.
Game notes…Neither team’s power play had a good night as Huntsville went 0-for-6 while Knoxville went 0-for-3…Huntsville’s Jeff Winchester did not suit up for the game…Huntsville’s leading scorer Justin Rohr was held to no shots on goal for the evening…The game also marked the possible end of an era in the SPHL as Knoxville’s Swider unofficially announced his retirement from the league. Swider’s teammate Vitek had already announced that he would be ending his career following the season.
Kristina Shands is an intern for the Knoxville Ice Bears
Contact the author at kristina.shands@prohockeynews.com
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