Ice Flyers Sustain Tough Setback After Huntsville Havoc Rally In Third Period
By Bill Vilona
IceFlyers.com Correspondent
None of the Ice Flyers previous losses this month stung quite like this one.
The Huntsville Havoc scored three goals in the final period for a 4-3 comeback, road victory Friday at the Pensacola Bay Center that further emphasized the Ice Flyers recent challenges to overcome misfortune.
“It seems like this year, it’s bizarre during this stretch that we’ve been on, that other teams are just so opportunistic,” said Ice Flyers coach Gary Graham, whose team had snapped a seven-game losing streak with a win last Saturday. “I mean it’s just wild.
“We’ll have two breakaways, three breakaways, can’t score and all of a sudden a bounce comes off somebody’s stick and it’s in the back of the net. It’s been that type of last month and a half.
“And even when it was 3-1 (after two periods) I felt like we should have put a dagger in them. We had some grade-A chances that we missed the net on, some breakaways we could have capitalized on, and you kind of let teams hang around and hang around and you leave yourself open to stuff like that.”
It turned into The Riddler on Batman™ Night where the Ice Flyers wore specialty Batman™ jerseys that were auctioned after the game. Replica jerseys were sold at merchandise stands on both concourses.
For two periods, the crowd of 4,425 at the Bay Center saw the Ice Flyers take a 3-1 lead and seemingly headed for a second straight win. But the Havoc got back into the game just 53 seconds into the third period when Eric Henderson’s wrist shot from inside the faceoff circle hit goaltender Stephen Mundinger’s chest, squirted loose and rolled behind his back just across the goal line.
“It was a tough start, bad bounce, and seems like it has been happening a lot to us lately,” said Ice Flyers winger Zac Herrmann, who scored a go-ahead goal in the second period. “We have to figure out a way to find our game again and get going.
“We played 40 good minutes…. But the beautiful thing about hockey is we get to do it again (Saturday)”
The Ice Flyers will play the Macon Mayhem, the last-place team in the league, on Saturday for the annual Mardi Gras Night at the Bay Center. Based on advanced ticket sales, the Ice Flyers could have a crowd surpassing 7,000 for a third consecutive Saturday.
“We have to flush it quickly,” Graham said. “We’ve got to get points this weekend. We talked about this homestand and how important it was. The group knows it. We have some good dudes in that (locker) room.”
The game was tied 1-1 after a first period where the Ice Flyers had an 18-4 edge in shots on goal. The Havoc scored with their first shot that didn’t happen until nearly 7 minutes, 30 seconds into the game.
Havoc winger David Thomson rifled a wrist shot past Mundinger on a wing rush inside the faceoff circle. Through two periods, the Ice Flyers had a 31-11 advantage with shots on goal and finished outshooting Huntsville 37-16.
“(Mundinger) hadn’t seen a shot at that point and he sees a laser beam up over his shoulder,” Graham said, “For Dinger, those games are very challenging at the pro level when they are seeing no action, no pucks,” Graham. “There were a couple random shots that it looked like he was struggling with in the second period and that’s normal when the goalies aren’t seeing a lot of action. You’re only seeing three shots, six shots and so those games can be challenging.
“He hadn’t seen a shot at that point, and he sees a laser beam up over his shoulder. So, lot of times with a goalie when they get in a flow of the game and start seeing some shots.”
The Ice Flyers got the tying goal in the first period when Dale Deon got his first goal in an Ice Flyers uniform by knocking in a rebound near the crease. He was one of the three players acquired in a trade from Peoria. The Ice Flyers finished the period killing off a penalty.
The Herrmann brothers then gave the Ice Flyers a lead with their goals three minutes apart early in the second period.
Zac Herrmann’s goal came off a face-off with his wrist shot into the top corner of the net, less than five minutes into the third period, on an assist from Ivan Bondarenko.
Younger brother, Lucas Herrmann, then finished a 2-on-1 rush while on a penalty kill. Malik Johnson broke free made a nifty move across the crease to get Havoc goaltender Matt Petizian on his back and Lucas finished the rebound into the net for a 3-1 lead with 12:07 remaining in the second period.
“It’s pretty cool (both scoring),” Zac Herrmann said, “Obviously, on the flip side, you want to win the game. My dad’s brother is here, first time he has seen us play in a while, so it was pretty cool.”
Huntsville (16-11, 3 OT losses, 36 points) opened an eight-point lead on the Ice Flyers (14-16, 28 points) for fifth place in the Southern Professional Hockey League standings.
The Havoc got its tying goal less than four minutes into the third period when George Thurston from behind the net off a bounce. It was his first goal for the Havoc. Craig McCabe followed with his first goal for the Havoc off a rebound from an odd-man rush.
The Ice Flyers called a timeout with 1:39 remaining and pulled Mundinger for an extra attacker but weren’t able to generate a good scoring chance against the Havoc defense.
“It wasn’t in the cards,” Graham said, “But you have to tip your hat to Huntsville. They kept working, they found a way. And all the credit to them and their coaching staff.”
“They blocked a lot of shots. That team is by far the biggest shot-blocking team. They put a soccer wall in front of the net. You have to be patient and manipulate around and deliver pucks at different trajectories.”
WANT TO GO?
WHO: Macon Mayhem vs. Ice Flyers
WHEN: Saturday, 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Pensacola Bay Center
PROMOTION: Mardi Gras Night: To help kickoff the 2024 Mardi Gras season, the Ice Flyers are hosting their annual Mardi Gras Night, complete with on-ice parades with bead throws from Pensacola Krewes between both intermissions. The Ice Flyers will be wearing special Mardi Gras custom jerseys available for purchase through online auction, post-game auction.
TICKETS: Available through www.iceflyers.com/tickets or at Bay Center box office on Saturday.
RADIO: Fox Sports Pensacola (101.1 FM and 1450 AM)
ONLINE STREAMING: www.flohockey.com (subscription required).
Bid on autographed goal pucks from tonight’s game HERE.
