PENSACOLA, Fla. (Oct. 21, 2016) – The Pensacola Ice Flyers (0-1-0) started the night on a positive note celebrating the team’s 2016 Southern Professional Hockey League President’s Cup Championship and announcing that the team will retire former captain Adam Pawlick’s number at a game later in the season. The night would turn sour, however, as the Ice Flyers fell 6-3 to the Fayetteville FireAntz (1-0-0).
Stephen Buco got the scoring started while he was wide open in the top of the slot and fired home a blazing shot for a power play goal just 2:50 into the game. Jesse Stoughton had the lone assist on the goal. Fayetteville scored the tying goal when Graeme Strukoff fired a quick shot past goalie John McLean with 4:21 left in the first. Chris Porter put the puck past McLean with 0:00.3 left on the clock in the first to give Fayetteville a 2-1 lead.
A power play goal by Joseph Manno put the FireAntz up 3-1 3:55 into the third period. That goal proved to be the wakeup call the Ice Flyers needed as Louis Belisle scored his first goal as an Ice Flyer, assisted by Jesse Stoughton and Sean Gammage, with10:15 left in the period. Pensacola tied it up with 7:18 left in the middle frame. After a long commotion around the net, Aaron Clarke batted in a rebound of an Igor Leonenko shot. Tomas Parizek got the other assist on the goal.
Matt Zenzola replaced McLean in net at the start of the third period. Fayetteville broke the tie when Max Cook scored 9:22 into the third period. Despite another Ice Flyers comeback attempt, the FireAntz made it 5-3 with a power play goal by Alex Brooks with 3:05 left in regulation. An unassisted, shorthanded empty net goal made it 6-3 with 52 seconds remaining.
McLean stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced in his 40 minutes of action while Zenzola stopped nine of the 11 he faced in 18:58. Zenzola was the goalie of record.
Text provided by Pensacola Ice Flyers media release.
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