01/20/23 Game Notes: NHL/Jr. Ice Flyers Night

January 20, 2023

01/20/23 Game Notes: NHL/Jr. Ice Flyers Night

Macon proved to be the medicine Pensacola needed to shake off a rough start to January. After getting shutout Saturday against the Birmingham Bulls the offense looked to restart their engines against the floundering Mayhem. Mitch Atkins kicked off the party by beating Mayhem goalie, Cody Karpinski, to take a 1-0 lead. Nick Leitner joined the fun :15 seconds later, extending the lead to 2. The avalanche of offense wouldn’t stop there. Around the 11-minute mark Defenseman, Jason Price, notched his first goal since joining the Ice Flyers with a blistering power play goal to stretch the lead to 3. Kolten Olynek would end Kaprinski’s night with another power-play goal fed from Ivan Bondarenko. Josh Benson took to the crease for Macon but wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught. With 4 minutes left in the first period, Garrett Milan beat Benson to cap a stunning 5 goal period from the Ice Flyers. Macon would finally respond midway through the second period with a goal from Jesse Anderson. From there, the fists would come out seeing several dustups and one major brawl that sent 5 players to the penalty box. Ice Flyer, Sean Gulka, restarted the scoring in the third period with his first goal since joining the Ice Flyers this season. Tommy Stang would put the exclamation point in the back of the net with 40 seconds left in the game. The Final, 7-1 Ice Flyers.

Monday’s game saw the Ice Flyers get back on track with a complete performance. Ivan Bondarenko skated off with first-star honors for a stunning four-assist performance. Mitch Atkins tallied three points on a goal and two assists and a +2. Goaltender Riley Morris had another strong showing, stopping 30 of 31 shots for his first win of the year, raising his save percentage to .936%.

As good as this win feels, the focus must turn to the next meeting between these two teams on Friday. Pensacola needs an encore performance to get back to .500 on the year. They will see Macon in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday setting up the potential to get over the 30-point hump. If Pensacola can take advantage of their underperforming opponent, they could see themselves back in the thick of the pack.

Friday welcomes a new, sprightly Ice Flyers hockey club to the Hangar. The Jr. Ice Flyers take the ice during the intermission to dazzle fans with quality youth hockey. The Junior Ice Flyers will play 3 games showcasing their youth teams. For more information on how to get involved with the Jr. Ice Flyers visit jriceflyers.com.