Knoxville Ice Bears

Ice Bears in finals thanks to a nail-biter victory

date: 04/02/2009

The Ice Bears have been doing this to the fans all season: making the games a rip-roaring affair.

 

Wednesday night’s game was no different.

 

With 11:48 gone in overtime, Tim Vitek took a quick pass from Kevin Swider and slammed it past Huntsville Havoc’s goalie Tim Haun to give Knoxville a 3-2 win and an invitation back to the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) Championship series. The momentum of the game moved back and forth between teams virtually every other minute, but in the “sudden-death” frame, Swider saw an opportunity and made the Havoc pay the price for leaving Vitek open.

 

Ice Bears goalie Andrew Gallant was the workhorse of the night, facing 48 shots and stopping 46 of them, including 8 in overtime. The hometown crowd was on its feet and screaming in the do-or-die period with the whole season on the line. Knoxville now has the opportunity to be the first SPHL team to win back-to-back President’s Cups.

 

The Ice Bears faced a seesaw battle all evening. They surged to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Chris Brannen and B.J. Pelkey only to see Huntsville claw its way back in the second period and knot it up 2-2. The third period remained scoreless, sending the two squads into a nail-biting battle for all the marbles in overtime. The entire semi-final series had been much the same way, with Knoxville winning the first two games by scores of 6-4 and 4-2 but the Havoc squad fought their way back with home victories of 4-2 and 4-3, the latter being an overtime win.

 

“We all knew that Huntsville was going to give us a run for our money in the semi-finals, but I could not be more proud of our team and our fans for showing up the way they did last night. Now it is time to get back to work and focus on bringing another championship home to Knoxville,” commented head coach Scott Hillman.

 

The Ice Bears get only one solid day of rest before taking home ice against the Fayetteville FireAntz, winners over Columbus in a series that went all five games as well. The puck drops this Friday and Saturday in Knoxville before moving to Fayetteville on Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th. In order to pack the stands, the Ice Bears are offering a “Bring a Friend” promotion of two silver tickets for only $10. If necessary, the rest of the Championship series will be on Sunday, April 12th in Fayetteville, Wednesday, April 15th in Knoxville and Thursday, April 16th in Knoxville.

 

Visit http://www.knoxvilleicebears.com for more information.

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