Liscomb’s hat trick pushes Havoc to series win

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Shootouts in the old West were often decided by one shot – the last shot. Playoff hockey is the same way, especially when it goes into extra time. Brett Liscomb scored his third goal of the game at 10:16 of overtime to send the Huntsville Havoc to an exciting 5-4 victory over the Pensacola Ice Flyers in

the deciding game of their best-of-three first round playoff series at the Von Braun Center Sunday night. Huntsville’s win eliminated Pensacola from the post season and set up a semifinal series between the Havoc and long time rival Knoxville beginning Wednesday. Sunday’s game produced a wild first period as each team discovered their latent power plays. Until this game, Huntsville had only scored twice in 16 power play opportunities while Pensacola had not scored in 13 chances. Each team improved on those stats in period one as both teams scored three times with two of their three first period goals with the man advantage. Erick Stoyanovich of the Ice Flyers started the first period action with an even strength goal at the two minute mark. He used a wrist shot to beat Havoc goal tender Dan McWhinney who was starting his third straight playoff game. Stoyanovich’s linemates Joey Hughes and Jason Hill picked up assists on the goal . Four minutes and 48 seconds later, forward Travis Kauffeldt tied it up for Huntsville on a power play as Pensacola’s Hughes sat in the penalty box after colliding with McWhinney and drawing a two minute minor for goalie interference. Jeff White and Justin Rohr combined their efforts to set up Kauffeldt. The Havoc took a 2-1 lead at the 8:07 mark when Liscomb lit the goal light for the first time. He hit the back of the net with Kauffeldt and Rohr picking up the assists on the play. Things changed in a hurry however as referee Curtis Marouelli sent Adam Lukacovic of Huntsville off for elbowing major at 9:03. The Ice Flyers struck twice on the five minute power play. Hill popped in the first strike at 10:18 off the rebound of a shot by defenseman Kevin Kozlowski. Moments later, forward Matt Whitehead got his second playoff goal at 11:51 as the two defensemen on the point Kozlowski and Paul Falco provided the setup passes on this score and the Ice Flyers took their second lead of the game 3-2. The game’s next tally also came during a major penalty when Dan Buccella of Pensacola was assessed a major and a game misconduct for a hard check from behind at the 15:00 mark. Jeff Winchester lit the lamp for Huntsville at 18:55 off a nice pass from Mike Carter. The teams skated off tied 3-3 at the first intermission. Period two was much calmer with only three minor penalties assessed and each team scoring just once. Kevin Galan ran the score to 4-3 in favor of Pensacola 6:12 into the period, burying the puck in the net after a textbook pretty setup from Whitehead. Once again the lead didn’t last. Liscomb deposited his second goal of the game past Ice Flyers’ net minder Ryan Scott at the 11:06 mark of the period. Line mates Kauffeldt and Rohr each picked up another assist in the game on the Havoc goal that forged a 4-4 tie that held up going into the second intermission. The third stanza saw Huntsville turn up the tempo offensively as they barraged Scott with 14 shots on goal while the Ice Flyers managed just three shots against McWhinney. Scott hung tough and despite the edge in play for the Havoc, the third period ended 4-4 and went to a twenty minute sudden victory overtime period after the intermission. Scott’s heroics were eventually in vain as Liscomb, who signed by the Havoc on March 12, banged home his third goal off of a feed from Rohr. Scott allowed five goals on 40 shots while his counterpart McWhinney picked up the win blocking 17 of the 21 shots he faced. Game notes…After scoring six goals and picking up seven assists in his 10 regular season games, Liscomb led the team in this round of the playoffs in goals scored with four. Justin Rohr picked up six points to lead all Havoc scorers. Whitehead led the Ice Flyers with three goals and four total points…Attendance for the Easter Sunday late afternoon game was 2,001. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com