Ice Flyers End Long Day With Comeback Shootout Win Against Bulls
The Ice Flyers endured on Sunday their longest and most bizarre game of the season.
But they finished with satisfaction.
Playing for the only time in the past eight days, then dealing with two lengthy delays caused by arena issues, the Ice Flyers got a tying goal midway through the third period, missed on a power play in overtime, but had goaltender Riley Morris thwart four shots in a shootout for a 4-3 win against nemesis Birmingham at the Pensacola Bay Center.
“It was like a game within a game with all the issues, but we made it through,” said Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff. “At the end of the day, we got it done.”
The game took nearly four hours to complete, but another impressive crowd of 4,527 on Scout Day and Nickelodeon Night featuring Paw Patrol saw the Ice Flyers win for the eighth time in the past 10 games.
None of those prior games, however, resembled this game.
It was stopped just 61 seconds into the first period when the officiating crew saw problems with how the ice surface was not covering edges along the boards. That caused both teams to leave the ice, return for a brief warmup and finish a first period that lasted one hour, 15 minutes.
Then, with just 6:06 left in the game, a plexiglass panel near the visitors penalty box shattered after a hard check with two players. It caused the shavings to fly on the ice and into a family sitting up against the glass. A young boy was hit with some of the plexiglass, along with several other fans, but no one was seriously injured.
The young boy was provided a new hockey stick from an Ice Flyers player before he was helped out of the area.
That led to another 20-minute plus delay to install a new panel. Two delays in one game made for unusual circumstances for both teams.
“It really is tough with the delays. But we have done it before, or at least I know I have,” Aldoff said. “But for both teams, when you sit for 20 minutes or more, that’s when you can get groin injuries or hamstring injuries on your legs so it’s tough and you hope no players don’t have that problem.”
The ice surface problem was caused by the dasher boards not meeting tightly with the ice and Aldoff described a two-inch gap occurred, which could injure a player when a skate blade when into the gap. The Bay Center hosted two nights of Mardi Gras balls during Pensacola’s annual Mardi Gras weekend of parades.
Fortunately, the surface situation was able to get rectified as best as possible.
But even with the delays, long game, most of the crowd stayed until the end and let out a roar of celebration when Morris turned away the last four Birmingham players he faced in the shootout.
Facing a Birmingham team that has climbed to second-place tie in the Southern Professional Hockey League standings, this was just the Ice Flyers third win in eight meetings against the Bulls. Two have occurred beyond regulation play.
“(Bulls) play simple and hard. That is the way you have to play,” Aldoff said. “They get pucks deep. They don’t turn pucks over too often. And they get it out, get it deep and go to work on it.
“So, it’s not rocket science, they just do a great job with it. And when you play that consistently, you have to learn from it. We need to do it more often.”
They’ll get that chance. These two teams will meet just 17 hours later in a 1 p.m. President’s Day holiday game Monday at the Bulls home arena in Pelham, Ala. And then, they will play Birmingham again in Pelham in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.
The situation Monday will easily be the quickest turnaround from travel for both teams this season. The Ice Flyers stayed in Pensacola on Sunday night and were set to leave at 7 a.m. Monday for Birmingham.
“We’ll find out,” said Aldoff, smiling, when asked how it might affect performance by both teams Monday. “But we’ll be all right. We’ll get rested tonight, then two teams will go at it.”
The game Monday begins six consecutive road games for the Ice Flyers. The Bay Center will be unavailable to them for practices until March. 8, two days before their next home game.
Events with Pensacon this week, then the Sun Belt Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournament from Feb. 28 through March 6, will have the arena in constant usage.
When hockey was played Sunday, the game itself breezed. Only two penalties where whistled, both against the Ice Flyers, in the first two periods.
After a scoreless first period, Ice Flyers winger Mitch Atkins flicked a shot in the crease into the net with 12:08 remaining on assists from Joey Sofo and Brendan Sheehan.
But the Bulls answered with a power play goal with 9:27 remaining, then followed just 23 seconds later on a backhand shot through traffic that eluded Morris and gave the Bulls a 2-1 lead entering the third period.
The first minute of the third period was wild. The Ice Flyers Kolten Olynek tied the game on a carry-over power play just 38 seconds into play. But on the ensuing faceoff, Birmingham went right through the middle of the ice and scored in just six seconds to retake the lead.
“Just a breakdown,” Aldoff said. “Again, something that just can’t happen. (Ice Flyers players) know better, but it is what is.”
The Ice Flyers’ Andrew Durham, playing in just his second game for Pensacola, since being acquired from Peoria, tied the game with 10:02 left when knocking in a loose puck in a crease scramble.
That led to overtime, where the Ice Flyers had a 4-on-3 advantage for the first 1:27 of the overtime. They got a couple good looks with Garrett Milan’s big shots. Milan also had a breakaway thwarted in the overtime.
In the shootout, both teams scored with their first shooters. Olynek delivered, then was followed by Tommy Stang, who scored the game-winner as the second shooter. On the other end, Morris came up big, enabling the Ice Flyers to get the two points before a 19-day game between home games.
“He played a good game and obviously shootouts are shootouts and he did his job and made some big saves for us. And we grinded through it,” Aldoff said.
GAME NOTABLES
After playing in Birmingham on Monday, the Ice Flyers will return home, rest on Tuesday and Wednesday, then return to Birmingham for a practice on Thursday and morning skate before back-to-back games against the Bulls.
They will then head to Macon for a game Feb. 26, return back to Pensacola for some brief rest, then bus to Moline, Illinois their longest road trip of the season – for three consecutive games on March 2,4 and 5.
— The Ice Flyers have played more home games (23) than any other team in SPHL, but now 13 of their last 18 games in the regular season will be on the road. They are currently 6-9 on the road.
— On Scouts Day at the Bay Center, four different area youth scouts had ceremonial first puck drops. Another group of scouts and some parents took part in unveiling the massing American flag on the ice for the National Anthem.
— The Ice Flyers wore specialty-designed jerseys for the Nickelodeon series “Paw Patrol,” which was part of Sunday’s themes in a game sponsored by Pensacola company, A DJ Connection. Those jerseys were auctioned online during the game and in post-game live auction with players.
— There were several out of area groups in attendance Sunday including First United Methodist Church of Panama City, the Destin Dogs and the First Baptist Church of Bratt, located near Century.
WHAT’S NEXT
WHO: Ice Flyers vs. Birmingham Bulls
WHEN: Monday, Feb. 20, 1:05 p.m.
WHERE: Pelham Civic Complex, Pelham, Alabama.
ONLINE STREAMING:www.hockeytv.com/league/sphl/upcoming.
ONLINE RADIO: www.thesphl.com
NEXT WEEKEND: Ice Flyers at Birmingham (Feb. 24-25), at Macon (Feb. 26).
NEXT HOME GAMES: March 11-12 vs. Knoxville Ice Bears
