New names, old faces keys to Havoc success

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – It has been five years since the Huntsville Havoc hockey team was born, bringing along with it the expectations of winning teams and championships. While wins have come plentiful during regular season play – the Havoc have finished above .500 in three of the four previous seasons – the championships have not. But if first year Head Coach Eric Soltys has anything to say about it, this could be the year for hardware in Huntsville. “Things couldn’t be better. We feel like we have a really good nucleus and we’ve got a lot of players coming from higher leagues that have been leaders,” Soltys said. “We feel like our leadership group is strong and our core group is very strong. We also feel that we are in a unique situation where we have a lot of guys that are coming to play in Huntsville with one common goal – to win a championship – and aren’t looking to get called back up and stuff like that. They‘ve been there, done that. They just want to win a cup.” Soltys was chosen to replace long time coach John Gibson after the Havoc finished in last place a year ago. When he looked at the options for restocking the roster, he came to the conclusion that instead of keeping the status quo or overhauling the entire lineup, it might be better to go with some pieces that were already in place and fill in around them with new talent and no one was safe. “We took a real strong look at everybody we could possibly return and then went from there as far as guys that we could use as we felt was an upgrade,” he said. “When there were upgrades in certain positions, we took them just to kind of start fresh here, break bad habits and let the people in town here know that we’re very into it, we’re out hard recruiting and we’re going to put the best product on the ice for them. If that hurts feelings for guys who have been playing here for a few years, unfortunately that’s the case.” One of those players was goalie Matt Carmichael. One of the “faces” of the Havoc for many years, Carmichael was pushed in camp by newcomers Tim Haun – last year’s first team all-SPHL goalie – and two-time NCAA Division III champion net minder Ross Cherry from Middlebury College. Carmichael ended up losing a numbers game because of needs in other positions. “Matt Carmichael did a great job here for years and years. He wasn’t released from here because of his talent,” Soltys said. “He still has the ability to play at this level. What hurt Matt was his veteran status. We’ve gotten in some guys from higher levels that we feel we needed for more depth in a certain position that were veteran players so he basically came into a numbers game because we’re only allowed three veterans in this league.” On defense, the big newcomer is Jeff Winchester, a product of the University of Alabama-Huntsville who joins the Havoc after playing in the ECHL and CHL. Martin Kubliak, acquired in an off-season trade, brings toughness and experience to the backline. Tim Hockley (3-18-21) and Jonathan Lounsbury (3-8-11) are back for another season in Huntsville are to provide offense as well as protecting the Havoc net. Up front, Soltys has a group of “highly skilled, very fast” forwards, led by Travis Kauffeldt. Kauffeldt (12-33-45) is a proven goal scorer who is tough as nails as his 116 penalty minutes last season attest to. According to Soltys, it is only a matter of time before Kauffeldt moves up the ladder. “This will be Travis’ last year in this league. He’s that good of a player. We expect Travis to be one of if not the best player in the league,” Soltys said. “I know that’s a bold statement when you have guys like (Knoxville’s Kevin) Swider and what not. Travis is a two-way, up-and-down, probably one of the tougher guys in the league. He shoots, scores, skates, back checks. He’s just a well-rounded player.” Kauffeldt will be joined Tristan Lush, who Soltys said is a great defensive forward, Karlis Zirnis who is a sniper with lots of CHL experience, Ray Ortiz and Bill McCreary who were with Soltys in New Mexico last season, former University of Maine captain John Ronan who brings three seasons of ECHL and CHL experience to the table and long-time SPHL star Edan Welch who was acquired in a trade last season. Soltys acknowledged that with only four teams making the post season the road is going to be difficult but he feels that the Havoc team that hits the ice will be up to the challenge. “You have to compete hard just to make the playoffs now. It’s not a cakewalk by any means,” he said. “Just to get to the playoffs is going to be our first goal but we feel that with our depth – 10 forwards deep, six defensemen deep and two goaltenders deep – so we feel that at the end of the day our guys will be well rested and ready to go. We know that we can roll any one of these lines out over the boards and they’re going to compete hard.” Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com