Ice Flyers Use 5 Different Goal Scorers, Rout Havoc

March 16, 2024

Ice Flyers Use 5 Different Goal Scorers, Rout Havoc

PENSACOLA, FL – The Pensacola Ice Flyers overcame an early 2 goal deficit and came out on top with a 6-3 win over the Huntsville Havoc on Friday.

Returning to home ice after a three-game losing streak on the road, the Ice Flyers played with a sense of urgency and battled through in a high scoring game that saw five different Ice Flyers find the back of the net.

FIRST PERIOD

The Havoc started off hot with Derek Perl (10:19) and Phil Elgstam (11:07) getting past goaltender Eric Dop.

Joseph Widmar battled his way in front of the net and started the scoring for the Ice Flyers with 6:57 left in the period.

Troy Button tied things up for the home team at the 16:47 mark after deflecting a shot by newcomer, Erik Urbank, scoring his first professional goal.

SECOND PERIOD

Captain Garrett Milan had the only goal of the 2nd period with a slapshot on a pass from Lucas Herrmann at 2:20, giving the Ice Flyers a 3-2 lead.

THIRD PERIOD

Lucas Herrmann further extended the lead at 5:52 after swooping in on a deflection off of the pads of Havoc goaltender, Mike Robinson.

The Havoc answered with a goal from Dylan Stewart with 9:39 left in the game.

Ivan Bondarenko put on the jets soon after and knocked in a goal, after a beautiful pass from Mitch Atkins, bringing the Ice Flyers back to a comfortable 2 goal lead with 9:10 left on the clock.

With :38 seconds left on the clock, Ivan Bondarenko got his 2nd goal of the game on an empty net.

QUOTABLES

Ice Flyers Head Coach Gary Graham:

“Every fan we appreciate. We had a hot start to the season on home ice and we kinda cooled off. You know, as a group, fans want to come see a winning product on the ice. It’s up to us to find that, so it’s good to get a win in front of the fans… We just got to make sure we stay hungry for tomorrow night.”

“We’ve been a pretty disciplined team the entire year. I give the team a lot of credit. We haven’t had many suspensions… that starts with the leadership group. For the most part, we’ve been a pretty disciplined team and we’re going to have to continue to be because they do have some players that could hurt you on that power play. They had a couple good looks tonight. We’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

Ice Flyers Forward Ivan Bondarenko:

“Obviously, that was not the start we wanted, but I think the biggest thing with us was staying calm. We knew there was a lot of game left. We just had to outweigh that storm that came down on us in those couple minutes when they scored two goals… We went back to work right away. It was good to bounce back in the first period though, leading into the second or third.”

“On that first one (goal), I’ve got to give credit to my boy Mitch Atkins. What a pass! That sauce across the ice was unbelievable. All I had to do was just be there and bounce it in.”

“It’s not easy to play the same team back to back nights. Especially after a win, they’re going to come a little more angry. But we’ve been preparing for them all week, so we’re just going to stay with the structure that we have and keep doing what we’re doing.”