KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Could the Knoxville Ice Bears and Fayetteville FireAntz put the events of last week behind them and play good, clean playoff hockey? That was the question on the minds of everyone in the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville on Friday night. Depending on which team you were cheering for, the answer was yes (Fayetteville) and no (Knoxville). Despite missing four players including league MVP Rob Sich, great defense, strong offense and spectacular goaltending gave the Fayetteville FireAntz an all-important win over the Knoxville Ice Bears 7-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-three first round series. Fayetteville can wrap up the series with a win in Knoxville on Saturday. Five different Fayetteville players scored with Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn notching a hat trick and an assist on the night. Steve Cooke, Jesse Biduke, Chris Leveille and Bobby Reed also racked up goals as the FireAntz dominated a shaky Knoxville team that struggled to find each other and the net. While the offense took center stage, it was really Fayetteville’s defense that earned the win. Goalie Guy St. Vincent faced 48 shots and turned all away but one, a shot off the stick of Knoxville’s Rich Zalewski at 1:01 of the third period. Fayetteville head coach Tommy Stewart, who watched from the stands while serving the first game of a two-game suspension for last week’s altercation, was pleased with his team’s defense and goaltending. “[The defense] played well. St. Vincent didn’t face many point blank, high-opportunity shots. A lot of the shots came from the outside,” Stewart said. “I think overall our D played great. We didn’t give up too many high-scoring opportunities.” While Fayetteville’s players made up for Sich’s absence, Knoxville was not quite as successful filling the hole left by Tim Vitek, who will not return to the lineup until Sunday, assuming the series goes to three games. The first line of Kevin Swider, Bobby Joe Pelkey and Mark Van Vliet or Kyle Bochek had a hard time connecting on passes and finding each other in front of the net. The only positive note on the night was Pelkey’s 14 shots on goal, although none got past St. Vincent. “We just need to go back to the basics and respond to big plays and get to the net,” Ice Bears General Manager and Interim Head Coach Mike Murray said. “We tried to get too fancy there a few times and we sat back and passed the shot and their goalie didn’t really control a whole lot and we didn’t exploit the opportunity.” Murray is filling in for first year head coach Marc Rodgers, who was also serving his first game of a two-game suspension. Knoxville had trouble getting the puck out of its zone, protecting the middle of the ice and following through on the force check with a very physical Fayetteville team that seemed much more ready to play. A turnover at center ice created a 2-on-1 advantage that led to Fayetteville’s first goal of the night by Steve Cooke off a pass from Brett McConnachie at 9:41 of the first period. Emery Olauson was also credited with an assist. It was the only goal of a period that saw the Ice Bears pepper St. Vincent with 18 shots but come up empty. Fayetteville also took advantage of Knoxville’s blue line struggles with another 2-on-1 short-handed goal by Versteeg-Lytwyn, with help from Dan McNeill, at 5:37 in the second. It was just the start of what would be a four goal FireAntz outburst that would ultimately decide the game. SPHL Rookie of the Year Jesse Biduke made his presence known with an unassisted goal that slipped past the blocker side of Knoxville goalie Andrew Gallant at 11:21 of the second. Less than 40 seconds later, Chris Leveille got one past Gallant to make it 4-0 Fayetteville. Bobby Reed scored late in the second to send Knoxville to the locker room down by five. “We need to move the puck along the glass instead of trying to go through the middle,” Murray said. “We got caught doing that three times that I know of. We had trouble and it cost us.” The third period saw the only Knoxville goal by Zalewski, and two additional goals by Versteeg-Lytwyn, earning him first star of the night. Fayetteville now heads to Knoxville with the intention of sweeping the series in two games, but history is not on their side. Of the seven meetings in Knoxville this season, Fayetteville has lost six times. “It’s going to be tough. We just have to stay disciplined and work hard,” Stewart said. “We have to continue shooting the puck from all angles, crash the net and just be aware because everything happens a little bit quicker in Knoxville.” As for Knoxville, it will need to find the energy and emotion they had all week in practice if they are to have chance of tying up the series. “We just need to set the tempo and get some pucks on the net,” Murray said. Game notes: Knoxville’s power play went 0-for-8 in the contest. Fayetteville’s wasn’t much better at 1-for-6…Friday was a busy day as Sich picked up his second Most Valuable Player award. Later in the day, Knoxville’s Kevin Swider was named both the Sher-Wood Player of the Week and Player of the Month for the month of March…Should a Game 3 be needed to decide the series, it will be played on Easter Sunday in Fayetteville starting at 6:05 pm Eastern. Kristina Shands is an intern for the Knoxville Ice Bears. Contact the author at kristina.shands@prohockeynews.com
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