Milan’s OT Winner Lifts Ice Flyers Past Havoc To Cap Peanuts Night At Bay Center
By Bill Vilona
Ice Flyers Correspondent
After some prior, home-ice frustration this season, the Ice Flyers found a way Friday night to quell the Havoc.
They had their captain handle it.
Garrett Milan got a pass and open space in overtime, made a nifty, deke move on a Huntsville Havoc defender near the goal crease, then followed with an equal beauty fake, to easily backhand tap in the game-winner for the Ice Flyers 3-2 win at the Pensacola Bay Center.
The play, the win, enabled the Ice Flyers’ “Peanuts Night” to end well before another impressive Friday crowd of nearly 4,000 fans.
“Obviously, Garrett made a world class play and got it done,” said Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff, after Milan scored his seventh goal this season just 51 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime period. “Garrett is dangerous five on five (skaters) when you give him open ice, especially, going one on one against a forward.
“He made (Havoc forward) look pretty silly, When he makes the plays he does, it is no surprise to me. He competes at a high level at practice and plays like it at in game. He is an elite player and is nice to see him get rewarded.”
Friday’s game was the final time Huntsville will play in the Bay Center during the regular-season. The Havoc had won three of the four meetings in Pensacola and four of six times in the series.
The two teams meet again Saturday night in Huntsville.
The Ice Flyers jumped to a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the second period, but a familiar script unfolded when the Havoc tied the game entering the final period and unease followed.
“We got up 2-0 and let them back in,” Aldoff said. “We took a terrible penalty and let them back in the game. We’ve got to bunker down…. things are going to happen any given night, but overall, we just have to find that 60 minutes against this team.
“We just lose our focus a little bit, we lose our compete a little bit, and that’s all it takes,” Aldoff said. “And we’ve done it a couple times against these guys. We’ve played some great hockey for 50 minutes, 55 minutes, but those other five minutes are going to beat you. So we have to figure that gear out.”
The Ice Flyers started in high gear. While on a penalty kill, Kolten Olynek buried a wrist shot in the top right shelf of the net in the first period on assist from Ivan Bondarenko for the shorthanded goal.
Weiland Parrish followed early in the second period after passes from Malik Johnson and Preston Kugler. Parrish got a wide open look inside the faceoff circle and rifled home a goal.
“We had a great start. I thought we came out and were playing a great game and got rewarded,” Aldoff said. “Overall, I thought we played a pretty good game, there was just a lull there and that’s what we have to get away from. We are learning and understanding. We got room to grow there.
Meanwhile, Ice Flyers goaltender Henry Johnson, a 26-year-old Minneapolis native, who was making sixth start for the Ice Flyers, came up with some early saves and stopped 18 of 20 shots in the game.
“He’s been good,” Aldoff said. “He played well in Macon (shutout win Dec. 10), he played well tonight. I thought in the first period he made some big saves. He had a couple point blank shots midway through the first (period) and made those saves and you need that.”
After the teams generated a combined 19 shots in the first period, the game settled into a defensive battle. The Havoc ended with just 20 shots on goal.
“I like the way we played in the third,” Aldoff said. “We grinded and hunkered down down defensively. It was pretty back and forth in the third period with not many Grade A’s (scoring chances) for each team.”
The win pushed the Ice Flyers (10-9) above .500 after wins in three of their last four games. After the road trip Saturday, the Ice Flyers return with three home games during the Christmas holidays, beginning on Dec. 23, then on Dec. 27 and Dec. 30 at the Bay Center.
First off, however, the Ice Flyers would like to pull off the weekend sweep of the Havoc.
“I expect the same kind of game,” Aldoff said. “It’s going to be tight, it’s going to be quick and high pace and we have to be ready to compete at that level and get another win. We are capable of doing it.
“Our goal (Saturday) is we want to play at a high level and stay there. I don’t want any dips way down or way up. I want to stay at the high level.”
GAME NOTABLES
— New University of West Florida football head coach Kaleb Nobles, who was the quarterback of the Argos’ inaugural season team in 2016, dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff before the game. Nobles was announced Tuesday as UWF’s new coach to replace Pete Shinnick, who accepted a job as head coach at Towson State after being UWF’s only head coach.
— The pucks for the “Chuck-A-Puck contest at second intermission were sold out with 17 minutes still left in the second period. The proceeds went to benefit the Gulf Coast Kids House.
— Ice Flyers owner Greg Harris was part of a second-period intermission ceremony with team sponsor Pen Air Federal Credit Union presenting a $5,000 check to the USO Northwest Florida chapter.
— There was an ongoing auction for the replica, Peanuts-themed jerseys worn by the Ice Flyers Friday night, as well as a post-game live auction of the game-worn jerseys and merchandise sales. The Ice Flyers used timeouts during the game to have Peanuts series trivia and other contests.
WHAT’S NEXT?
SATURDAY: Ice Flyers at Huntsville Havoc, 7 p.m. (Propst Arena, Huntsville, Ala.)
NEXT HOME GAME: Dec. 23. Birmingham Bulls vs. Ice Flyers, 7:05 p.m.
