Quick Hits: 5 Things To Look For In Tonight’s Exhibition Game
By Bill Vilona, Ice Flyers Correspondent
Having a preseason game on Friday provides the Ice Flyers a dress rehearsal, of sorts, along with a final evaluation for roster positions in a setting far different than an intrasquad scrimmage.
Those are a couple of important elements when the Ice Flyers face the Birmingham Bulls with a 7 p.m. puck drop tonight at the Pensacola Bay Center. It’s the first preseason game on home ice in several years. Tickets are $5 and seating is general admission. Concessions will be open as well.
For the fans attending, here are five things to watch and learn about this Ice Flyers team and the welcome return of Gary Graham behind the bench.
EXTENDED PLAY
No matter the final score in regulation play Friday, there will be extra hockey. So, stay in your seats for the encore.
The teams will play a five-minute overtime, plus a five-man shootout that will give players and fans an early experience of playing overtime hockey. It is something both teams wanted to do and adds a new wrinkle to the typical exhibition game.
“I think this will be something fun for the fans,” Graham said. “I think it will be kind of cool, because people love seeing overtimes and love seeing shootouts.”
WHO WILL STAND OUT?
Ice Flyers fans may know the returning players on this team, like captain Garrett Milan, enforcer Malik Johnson and others from last season, but Friday’s game presents a stage for someone to seal an opening night spot on the roster.
Practices are one thing. Games are another. There are 15 players as of Thursday’s roster that are new to the Ice Flyers.
“Until that puck drops, you don’t really know what you have,” Graham said. “We plan on using four forward lines with seven defensemen in the exhibition game. I will give both goalies a period and a half. Just to give everybody a chance to show me what they can do.
“I think that’s what training camp is all about. You are trying to evaluate in a short period of time. I am throwing a lot of information at them (in practices), so there is a lot of teaching and stopping drills and stuff. But we have tried to keep the pace really high, because we want to play faster this year, so I think the guys have done a good job of acclimating to that.”
ADJUSTING ON THE FLY
Another benefit to a preseason game is that the opponent is Birmingham, the nearest SPHL team to the Ice Flyers and a team they play the most in the upcoming season. The season opener on Oct. 21 is against the Bulls at the Bay Center.
There is mutual respect, along with the competitive rivalry. It was also that way with former Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff, as well.
“For me, this game may help us out more than Birmingham, just because (Bulls) have the same coaching staff as a year ago with a lot of the same returning players so they are going to know the systems, the terminology and it’s a lot easier when you are returning.
“For me, it’s going to help me out just to get my guys acclimated to what I am doing. Rod (Aldoff) did a great job here for so many years. He had the same system, so it was easier when guys came in, (Rod) hit the ground running.
“I am throwing some different stuff at them and I know there are going to be some growing curves and that’s why I need exhibition games to work out those kinks. Then, you still have a week to prepare for the actual game that means something.”
“Birmingham has built a really good program, their roster looks very strong. They have a lot of key returners, really good goaltending, so they are going to be a tough out, whether it’s an exhibition game or regular season, but in our case, we play them a lot, so we better figure out how to play them.”
FAST PLAY, CROWD PLEASING
Graham hopes the game provides the first glimpse of the faster tempo, more aggressive offensive style that he wants the Ice Flyers to make a staple this season.
“We want to be entertaining. We are in the entertainment business and we want to be fast, we want to work hard, we want to do the right things on the ice.
“And we want good guys off the ice, the ones who give fist bumps to the fans and million-dollar smiles. That’s what we’re all about. That is what (Ice Flyers owner) Greg (Harris) is all about and what I am about. Obviously, we want to win (Friday’s game), but it is more about the evaluation side of things.
“Some of these guys might not make the team out of training camp, but they very well might be call-up guys. We need the player pool and I kneed to know, who are the best guys to call up. It is easier for me to plug them in. It gives me an inside look at a guy to see if he’s a good guy, is he polite? does he fit our culture?
GOALTENDER VIEWS
Both of the goaltenders in the Ice Flyers training camp, Greg Harney and Tommy Proudlock, played in the Federal Hockey League last season.
They are both well-known to Graham since they trained in the off-season in Fort Wayne, Indiana – Graham’s hometown – with players from the ECHL, other minor leagues and high-level collegiate players.
“Both of them trained this summer with my son, so I saw them a lot and that’s why I brought them here. And they will get their shot.”
Beyond the net, Graham wants his players exhibiting a toughness.
“Some guys if they are to make the team, they’re going to have to make it as angry, hungry dogs. That is the role they are going to play and they know that. To have a good hockey team, you need to have a good mix.
“We didn’t have enough sandpaper with our team last year, so we have to find some more of that in our lineup.”
