Arvanitis Turns Back 41 Shots As Ice Flyers Hold Off Roanoke To Sweep Weekend
By Bill Vilona
Ice Flyers Correspondent
His first experience with Mardi Gras had Ice Flyers goaltender Brad Arvanitis adorned in beads, meeting fans and making trinket throws to a celebratory, post-game crowd.
All this after stopping 41 shots, bearing through the final 90 seconds of a tense, 6-on-4 situation and propelling the Ice Flyers to an enthralling 3-2 victory Saturday night against Roanoke to sweep the weekend against the Rail Yard Dawgs on the annual Mardi Gras Night at the Pensacola Bay Center.
“I love the jerseys,” said Arvanitis, looking down at the multi-colored, fluer de lis specialty design. “I have to keep my beads on. It was a good time, great atmosphere for the fans and hopefully they continue to support us the rest of the year.”
Another big crowd of 5,291, which nearly filled all of the arena’s lower bowl, watched the Ice Flyers get a tying goal from Tommy Stang midway through the final period, then a brilliant wrap-around goal from Mitch Atkins with 6:20 left to match the same winning score as Friday night against Roanoke.
It was the fifth consecutive win for the Ice Flyers (18-15-0, 36 points), the sixth in seven games, pushing them within four points of sixth place as they prepare this week for a return trip rematch at Roanoke for games on Feb. 3-4.
“It was another grind-session game,” said Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff, whose team had only one practice on ice the entire week and it was in Biloxi, Miss., due to the TobyMac concert Thursday at the Bay Center. “I expected it would be a tough one (Saturday).
“We were sharper. We came out in the first period not as quick as I thought we would be, but we came out in the second with a kind of a chip on our shoulder and played the way we can,” he said.
“So, it was good to see and obviously very proud of the guys. They stuck to it and kept their foot down to the very end and that’s all a coach you can ask for. They did a great job and obviously it’s a big win.”
The Rail Yard Dawgs (20-9-2, 43 points), who entered the weekend tied for second in the Southern Professional Hockey League standings, peppered Arvanitis with 16 shots in the third period in trying to force overtime.
They pulled goaltender Austyn Roudebush, the league’s top percentage saver, with 1:30 remaining, following a timeout and high-sticking penalty to the Ice Flyers Kolten Olynek. With the two-man advantage in the Ice Flyers zone, Roanoke going a point-blank shot that Arvanitis thwarted with 17.9 seconds left, the Ice Flyers then cleared the zone and ended the game.
“You don’t really think about it, you just do it,” said Arvanitis, 25, a Holliston, Massachusetts native, who joined the Ice Flyers three weeks ago. “You’ve played this game for long enough and you just try and use your instincts, rely on your teammates when they are needed, and ultimately finish up the 90 seconds and win the game.”
Arvanitis followed the strong performance Friday from fellow netminder Riley Morris. After having goaltending challenges the first half of the season, the Ice Flyers now have a 1-2 tandem that has changed the team’s dynamic heading into the final two months of the season.
The two goalies were difference-makers in the Ice Flyers collecting four points from the weekend series.
“Our goalies have been superb,” Aldoff said. “I think it’s been a good 180 for our team with our goaltenders and they are doing a heck of a job. Hats off to them.
“They have been playing great hockey for us and you need your goaltenders pushing to help, especially on a weekend like this. And you really need the goaltending (to be good) from the lack of skating we’ve had and lack of legs we’ve had. And they came up big for us.”
In a game Saturday that mirrored the one Friday, Roanoke took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after scoring a shorthanded goal.
The Ice Flyers Nick Leitner tied the game just 36 seconds into the second period when he flashed along the side of the boards, broke free and wristed a shot into the upper right corner of the cage.
Roanoke regained the lead midway through the period and it remained 2-1 entering the final 20 minutes. Stang then re-energized the Bay Center crowd with his power play goal with 8:23 remaining.
Two minutes later, Akins turned on the jets with the puck as he raced around the net and deposited the wrap-around goal a split-second before Roudebush got his leg pad there. It was a goal that kept the crowd generating supportive noise the rest of the game.
“That was an elite play,” Aldoff said. “(Atkins) was going full speed and if you skated before around a net … to take a turn that sharp with the puck on your tape and finish it off like that… it takes a whole lot of skill.
“I saw Mitch going around the net and couldn’t see the finish on the bench with the players in the way. That was a great goal and obviously a big goal for us.”
The rest of the way, the Ice Flyers preserved the win by limiting wide-open looks for Roanoke and having Arvanitis making the saves. This is second pro season, after stints in several ECHL teams. Arvanitis as a freshman at UMass was part of a team that reached the NCAA Division I national title game at the Frozen Four in Buffalo.
He finished his collegiate career at Babson College in Massachusetts.
“I think the way we played (Saturday) shows how we need to play the rest of the year,” Arvanitis said. “We are a hard team to play against, that is what we are trying to be. The first 20 minutes of the game might not have been our best, but we just keep growing and growing and that’s the end result we wanted.
“Shots are shots,” he said, referring to Roanoke’s 43-shot total. “There are quality ones and non-quality ones, and as long as you can stop most of the quality ones, that’s a good result.”
GAME NOTABLES
— The Mardi Gras Night was sponsored by Anglin Reichmann Armstrong P.C. with Steve Schickel dropping the ceremonial first puck before the game.
— Just like past Mardi Gras Nights, the replica jerseys sold faster than King Cakes at the merchandise stands, and the game-worn jerseys worn by Ice Flyers players went for hundreds of dollars in the post-game auction.
— The Ice Flyers honored retired U.S. Navy admiral Robert Kelly during the first period as the Pen Air Credit Union Center-Ice Hero. Before retiring in 1994 after 35 years in the Navy, Kelly had tours of duty in Vietnam and other conflicts before starting his own consulting company in the area.
— The 50-50 raffle reached $7,920 for the jackpot with the Ice Flyers donating their half to Ronald McDonald House Charities Northwest Florida.
WHAT’S NEXT?
WHO: Ice Flyers vs. Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs
WHEN: Feb. 3-4, both games start at 6:05 p.m. CST
WHERE: Berglund Center, Roanoke, Virginia.
INTERNET STREAMING: www.thesphl.com
VIDEO STREAMING: www.hockeytv.com/league/SPHL.
NEXT HOME GAMES: Feb. 10-11 vs. Peoria Rivermen
PROMOTION: The $5 ticket weekend. Both games at Bay Center vs. Peoria offer fans ability to purchase single-game tickets for just $5 apiece and sit wherever seats are available. The exception is the several rows along ice level, but all other available seats in arena are $5.
