KNOXVILLE, TENN. – In the eight years that the Southern Professional Hockey League has existed, no team has matched the success of the Knoxville Ice Bears franchise. The Pensacola Ice Flyers want to know that kind of success but in three years in the league have yet to meet that expectation.
The Ice Flyers have a chance to start creating that success Thursday night when they travel to the Knoxville Civic Center for game one of a best-of-three SPHL President’s Cup semifinal series against the Ice Bears. The match-up between third-seeded Knoxville and fourth-seeded Pensacola promises to be a good one that could go either way.
During the regular season, the teams met four times with three of the clashes taking place at the Pensacola Civic Center. There wasn’t much to
Pensacola goalie Steve Christie (38%2C white) and Knoxville%27s Kevin Swider (12%2C orange) will play key roles in the semifinals. (PHN photo by Vanessa Johnson)
Needless to say, the Ice Bears “big three” led the scoring for Knoxville against the Ice Flyers. Three-time league MVP Kevin Swider scored four goals and added four assists for eight points versus Pensacola. His wingman Emery Olauson picked up tow goals and three assists for five points while defenseman Mark Van Vliet had three points. Combined, the trio were a plus-17 in the four meetings and part of a group of ten Ice Bears to post a plus rating against Pensacola.
On the Ice Flyers side of the ice, Chris Wilson and co-Rookie of the Year Jordan Chong were the big guns against Knoxville. Both had five points playing opposite the Ice Bears (Wilson four goals and an assist, Chong one goal and four assists) while defenseman Tyler Soehner picked up four assists. Wilson and Chong were two of just five Pensacola players to have a plus rating versus Knoxville.
Between the pipes, Knoxville’s Kyle Rank played just once against Pensacola. It came on March 16th and turned out to be a 33-save shutout of the Ice Flyers. Rank’s current backup, Matt Hache, picked up two wins against Pensacola but neither came as a member of the Ice Bears. Pensacola netminder Steve Christie met the Ice Bears just once this past season, winning a 5-4 decision in overtime on January 7th. Ironically, Pensacola’s other goalie is Jesse Kallechy who spent much of the season in Knoxville before being traded to the Ice Flyers. He played once against his old team and was the tough luck loser when Rank tossed his shutout.
The biggest difference between the teams was special teams. For all its firepower, Knoxville’s power play mustered just two goals in 18 chances against Pensacola for a 11.1 percent success rate. The Ice Flyers were much more successful, connecting for six goals in 20 opportunities for a 30 percent success rate. Two of those six scores came off the stick of player/assistant coach Dan Buccella.
Pensacola had a fairly easy time in the first round, sweeping the defending SPHL champion Mississippi Surge in two games. Seven different players had points in the series led by Wilson with four assists. Christie played both games in net, giving up just one goal – which translates to a 0.50 goals against average and an off the charts .983 save percentage.
Knoxville’s first round was a little tougher than Pensacola’s. The Ice Bears lost game one to the Mississippi RiverKings before winning the final two games and the series. Swider had eight points in the series while Olauson picked up six including four goals. No less than 13 Ice Bears had at least one point during the series. After struggling in game one, Rank finished strong with two wins while allowing five goals in the final two contests.
Editor’s Pick: Given Knoxville’s tradition and the fact that Swider and Olauson are clicking well, the Ice Bears would be an easy pick. If Pensacola is going to win, Christie will have to play the way he did against the Surge. The Ice Flyers can’t let the Ice Bears open the game up or the series will be over early. This series will most likely go three games with Knoxville prevailing thanks to their offense.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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