Ice Flyers Turn Focus To Final Home Games
By Bill Vilona
Ice Flyers Correspondent
The Ice Flyers followed a superlative performance a night earlier with one Sunday that nearly matched with effort. But the fate was different.
After scoring the game’s first goal, the Ice Flyers missed on several power play opportunities, including a five-minute advantage in the closing minutes, which enabled the Fayetteville Marksmen to skate off with a 3-1 win in the finale of a three-game weekend series at the Pensacola Bay Center.
“The hockey gods kick you in the pants every now and then,” said Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff. “But it is what it is. We played well. I was happy with the way we played.”
The Marksmen (36-14, 2 OT losses), a team likely to finish fourth in the top tier of the Southern Professional Hockey League standings, took the series with Sunday’s win. They won Friday’s game 4-2 at the Bay Center. The Ice Flyers (27-17, 6 OT losses) followed with a 3-0 win Saturday that Aldoff praised as a new standard of performance for the season.
“(Saturday) was probably the best game of the year we played and (Sunday) was a good game. There were a couple little mistakes we made, but (Fayetteville) didn’t get many opportunities. The couple opportunities they got ended up in our net.
“Overall, excellent (weekend). This time of the year, it’s how you’re playing, how you are executing, and I thought we played hard, played well enough to win (Sunday). We had some point-blank chances.”
The Marksmen racked up 56 penalty minutes Sunday including a pair of misconducts and a match penalty with 6:01 left that eventually led to the Ice Flyers have a two-man advantage when pulling goaltender Cody Karpinski with three minutes remaining.
But the Ice Flyers specialty teams failed to deliver. They also started the second and third periods with two-minute power-play chances, following Marksmen penalties before intermission.
“We had a couple (chances), where guys were ready to shoot and the passes were off a little bit,” Aldoff said. “And when the pass is off a little bit, then you have to re-adjust which gives (opponent) time to get in those lanes where we want to shoot.
“Our effort was there, the sharpness was a little off. It happens. It is a game of inches and those inches were just off a little bit.”
The Ice Flyers, who are like to be the No. 6 seed in the SPHL playoffs, which begin in two weeks, now turn focus to another trio of home games this week.
They face the Macon Mayhem on Thursday night at the Bay Center in a game that was rescheduled from mid-February due to some logistical issues with ice conversion at the Bay Center. The Ice Flyers finish their season home schedule with games against the Evansville Thunderbolts on Friday and Saturday.
“This time of year it doesn’t matter whether we are playing at home or away. It has to be error-free,” Aldoff said. “Executing what we want to do, limit turnovers, those kind of things.”
The weekend proved rewarding for the Ice Flyers in other ways. They raised more than $23,386 Saturday for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida on a special community initiative night. It included wearing custom jerseys and bringing awareness to the local non-profit agency which reaches hundreds of area youths annually.
“It was one of those nights that truly came together,” said Ice Flyers owner Greg Harris, who serves on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida. “The past two years (of community initiative) with Autism Pensacola and now this one.
“We have had some really amazing games, the guys played great (Saturday) That is always nice when the guys can pull out a win and add to the night. Just a lot of community awareness we can bring to an such an amazing organization.”
Sunday was Scout Day with area Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts attending and participating in a variety of contests. Both games enabled the Ice Flyers to reach first-time fans.
“Hockey is a non-traditional sport in this area, but more and more people will say to others, ‘Just get to a game and experience it.’ I think we do a great job showcasing the different things we are able to do to bring the family together,” Harris said.
Sunday’s game started well. The Ice Flyers got a first-period, unassisted goal, from Frederic Letourneau, who was playing in his third game since being re-signed. He played in 21 games last year with the Ice Flyers.
Fayetteville tied the game midway through the second period and got a power-play goal by Tanner Froese, who played parts of two seasons for the Ice Flyers (2019-2020). That goal became the game-winner.
The Marksmen got a third goal midway through the third period. Fayetteville got a big game from pro rookie goaltender Brent Moran who stopped 40 shots and easily could have been awarded the game’s No. 1 star.
The Ice Flyers’ Karpinski kept his team in the game with several acrobatic saves and moves when Fayetteville made plays around the net.
“This time of year, goaltending has to be your best player,” Aldoff said. “Cody played well and we need that.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
WHAT: Ice Flyers Final Home Weekend
WHO: Macon Mayhem vs Ice Flyers (Thursday), Evansville (Ind.) Thunderbolts vs. Ice Flyers (Friday-Saturday)
WHEN: All games have a 7:05 p.m. opening faceoff.
WHERE: Pensacola Bay Center
TICKETS: Available through www.pensacolaiceflyers.com and Pensacola Bay Center box office
PROMOTIONS: Thursday (Maverick’s Birthday Party); Friday (Nickelodeon Night, Specialty jerseys, post-game auction). Military Appreciation Night (sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union), $12 tickets for active and retired military.
RADIO: Fox Sports Pensacola (101.1 FM).
