Ice Bears take Surge to limit

KNOXVILLE, TN – If consistency and discipline win championships, then sheer determination is enough to win a critical fourth game in a best-of-five series. At least it was enough Saturday night as the Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Mississippi Surge 4-2 to force a game five Sunday night back in Mississippi.
Knoxville’s Eric Slais, who was called for the delay of game penalty that created the two-man advantage in overtime that helped the Surge win Friday night, scored two goals – including one on a penalty shot – to pace the Ice Bears.

Slais’ performance made a winner out of Knoxville goalie Bryan Hince who once again faced more than 40 shots from Mississippi’s high-octane offense.   Saturday’s match-up turned out to be less about the special teams and more about spectacular goaltending by Knoxville’s Hince and Mississippi’s Bill Zaniboni. With the exception of the game two blowout win by the Surge, the two net minders had been engaged in a brilliant battle and early on in game four that script continued.
Both goalies were tested in the opening minutes, first Hince who had to stop four shots in the first seven minutes while Zaniboni looked at three in the same period of time. Zaniboni then faced the Knoxville power play and stoned sniper Rob Sich on back-to-back shots.
Mississippi’s power play got its first chance not too long after the midway point of the period. One second after the man advantage expired, Matt Zultek struck off of a pass from Jeff Winchester at the 11:53 mark of the first period to give Mississippi a 1-0.
The key moments of the game came in the final two minutes of the stanza. With 1:27 to go before the intermission, Jim Jensen went to the penalty box, giving the Surge the man advantage. Seconds later, David Segal was called for delay of game, putting Mississippi up five-on-three for a full minute prior to the break and 33 more seconds at the start of the second. The Knoxville penalty killers allowed just two shots that Hince handled in that final minute to keep the score at 1-0 Mississippi heading to the second.
Still down two men to begin the middle stanza, the Ice Bears knew they had to kill off that time in order to gain momentum. They aggressively pushed at the Mississippi power play unit, keeping them from getting any shots on net. Not only did the Ice Bears kill the time, they got a score themselves.
As the penalty to Jensen expired, he exited the penalty box and returned to the ice as the fourth skater. Mike Bulawka got hold of the puck and sent a pass to Jensen, creating a break-in. Jensen’s shot was stopped by Zaniboni but Jon Higgins was able to grab the rebound and get one past the Mississippi goaltender to tie the game at one with Knoxville’s first short-handed goal of the series.
Over the next seven minutes following Higgins’ score, the game went wide open as the teams flew up and down the ice. The shots were coming fast and furious but both goalies were perfect through the stretch, keeping the score tied and increasing the anxiety levels of the fans with each save.
Another power play for the visiting Surge came with 11:47 left in the second but for the second time in the game it was the Ice Bears that cashed in. Seconds after the start of the Surge man advantage, Slais broke in alone but was hooked by Michael Richard from behind, resulting in a penalty shot. Slais slyly approached Zaniboni, crossed in front of the crease and slipped the puck through the five hole to give Knoxville a 2-1 lead. Mississippi pressed hard over the closing minutes of the period but Hince held to fort to keep Knoxville up by one after two.
Mississippi kept charging at the start of the final period looking for the tying goal. Hince however was in a zone of sorts and kept blocking everything sent his way. Slais got his second goal of the game at the 8:16 mark to extend the margin to 3-1 and sending many in the crowd of 2,213 into a state of nervous joy.   The Surge are a team that never gives up easily and Saturday was no exception. They turned up the heat on the Ice Bears’ defense, piling up shots along the way. When Mississippi’s Michael Richard scored after being set up by Zultek and Greg Moore, the Surge trailed 3-2 with 5:01 left in regulation.   The Ice Bears needed to circle the wagons against the Surge and they did just that, keeping the visitors from getting good scoring opportunities on Hince. Knoxville allowed just one Mississippi shot down the stretch, completely frustrating the Surge at every point. Jason Weeks finished off the scoring, depositing the puck into an empty net with 1:29 remaining to secure the win and setting up one more bus ride to Biloxi on Sunday.
Game Notes: Hince made 43 saves to post the win and has now given up 13 goals on 185 shots faced in four games. His counterpart Zaniboni made 29 saves on 32 shots and has given up 11 goals on 110 shots faced in the series…Mississippi’s power play went 0-for-5 in the game while Knoxville’s was 0-for-1. Through four games, the Surge have been successful on nine of 28 chances while the Ice Bears have scored three goals in 17 chances.
Kristina Shands is a media consultant with the Knoxville Ice Bears and contributing writer for the blog, Chicks Who Give a Puck.
Contact the author at kristina.shands@prohockeynews.com