Knoxville Ice Bears

Ice Bears Stun Havoc, Snap Streak

date: 03/07/2009

            Knoxville took the ice Saturday night looking to halt a four-game skid against third-place Huntsville. Coming off an embarrassing 3-0 loss to then last-place Fayetteville, the Ice Bears offense came to life with three third-period goals to take the victory 3-1.

            The first period, riddled with penalties, saw surprisingly little action as neither team was able to capitalize on a powerplay, going a combined 0-8. The best chance for the Ice Bears came in the last minute when they unleashed three powerful shots, none of which were able to elude Havoc goalie Tim Haun.

            Scoring opened with 33.4 seconds remaining in the second period when Huntsville’s B.J. Radovich connected from near the left wall, as Ice Bear goalie Andrew Gallant’s right pad barely missed the puck, putting the Havoc ahead 1-0 before the second intermission.

            Still trailing 1-0 with 7:14 in the third period, Tim Vitek led a fastbreak during a 4-on-3 Knoxville advantage and rifled home a shot past Haun to tie the game 1-1. JJ Wrobel then connected with Chris Rebernik in front of the net to catch Haun out of position 45 seconds later. Gallant made three of his 42 saves in the last two minutes to preserve the lead and Vitek added a second goal on an empty netter with 38.6 seconds left in the game.

            With only six games remaining, the Ice Bears increased their lead in the SPHL to 11 points and look to continue their reversal of fortunes Friday, March 13 as the second-place Columbus Cottonmouths come to Knoxville.

 

Written by Anthony Geist

 

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