Ice Flyers Give Thanks With Shutout Win, Gender Reveal, And Remain Unbeaten At Home
By Bill Vilona
Ice Flyers Correspondent
After the team’s practice Tuesday, the Ice Flyers players went together on a grocery shopping mission for Thanksgiving dinner, where they will all gather Thursday at one home.
So, it was only appropriate, of course, that Wednesday night three players scored their first goal this season, goaltender Stephen Mundinger produced his first shutout and it became a complete team showing in a 4-0 victory against the Birmingham Bulls before a crowd of 4,584 at the Pensacola Bay Center.
The Ice Flyers have now completed the first two months with an unbeaten (6-0) home record. It is such a turnaround from the past several seasons when home ice wasn’t such an advantage.
“Obviously, it’s fun to play at home,” said Ice Flyers veteran forward Ivan Bondarenko. “We have a great crowd behind us and we always get that that energy and you can tell by our record, we are playing very well at home.”
And though he didn’t factor into the scoring Wednesday, Bondarenko generated energy when he and his wife, along with their young son, stayed on the ice after the first period for a gender-reveal event.
Bondarenko swiped at an artificial puck that burst into blue, signifying another boy is on the way.
“Originally the plans were for him to just be with his wife and we said, no, we all want to be there,” said Ice Flyers coach Gary Graham. “That was a cool moment. All the years I coached, I have never been part of that.”
Added Bondarenko: “It was amazing. It was an incredible moment to do it around friends and family and all the fans. It was great.”
At the time, the Ice Flyers led 1-0. Dante Zapata, who had seven assists in his first 10 games with the Ice Flyers, scored his first goal Wednesday on a rebound wrister with 12:35 left in the first period.
The game stayed 1-0 through midpoint of the second period.
Birmingham kept much of the play in the Ice Flyers zone though the first 10 minutes until Meirs Moore got free along the boards on the right side. He swooped toward the goal cage and sent a wrist shot into the net with 6:58 left for his first goal this season.
The Ice Flyers then followed with two goals 69 seconds apart. Leading scorer Brett Mecrones scored a spectacular goal while falling backwards on the ice. He got off a good wrist shot on a rebound and set it into the net. Malik Johnson then scored his first goal on a shot through the goaltenders pads and just like that, the Ice Flyers went from 1-0 to 4-0 at second intermission.
“(Earlier) in the second period we weren’t very good,” Graham said. “And Dinger (Mundinger) was just huge for us. He made some big saves for us.”
“And when Meirsey had that goal and we had the chance to build momentum we really seized it and you could see bang, bang, bang we scored three goals.”
The Ice Flyers generated only 20 shots through two periods. But they scored four goals. That kind of efficiency decided the game before final period began.
“We got secondary scoring from guys that frankly we haven’t gotten it from this year,” Graham said. “Whenever you see three players in the classic goal celebration where they take the (imaginary) monkey off the back and (pretend) throw it into the stands… you usually see that once a game, but you had three guys who scored and could say, been waiting awhile for this to come.”
Mundinger, 28, a Smithtown, New York native, played four seasons as a backup goaltender with the University of Maine, one of the top collegiate programs in the country. He has been a special addition to this year’s team.
Earlier Wednesday, Ice Flyers goaltender Kaden Fulcher received a callup to the ECHL with the Savannah (Ga.) Ghost Pirates.
“For Dinger it was about just getting into the net and playing games this year,” Graham said. “We are just ecstatic to have him. We love Kaden, we love Dinger.”
It was the fourth meeting with Birmingham this season. Both teams entered tied for third in the standings with 14 points. The Ice Flyers will travel on Friday for a rematch against the Bulls in Birmingham.
Following that game, the Ice Flyers will then travel to Macon, Georgia for a game on Sunday at 4 p.m. against the Macon Mayhem.
“Bulls activated two really good forwards in their lineup and they had lot more firepower than last two times we played them,” Graham said. “Knowing that, we talked about trying to win the game defensively tonight and really be stingy, trying to get more physical on them.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
WHO: Ice Flyers vs. Birmingham Bulls
WHEN: Friday, 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Pelham Civic Complex, Pelham, Alabama.
FOLLOW: www.thesphl.com.
VIDEO: Livestream broadcast on FloHockey.com (subscription required).
NEXT HOME GAMES: Dec. 1-2 vs. Peoria Riverman. Both games at 7:05.
PROMOTION: Dec. 1 is the annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Dec. 2 is the Rally Foundation Night with the players wearing specialty jerseys to be auctioned for charity.
TICKETS: www.iceflyers.com/tickets. Or visit Bay Center box office during business hours.
