Knoxville Ice Bears

Knoxville Ice Bears advance to finals

date: 04/01/2009

The Knoxville Ice Bears will continue defending their SPHL Championship after Tim Vitek scored a game-winner in overtime to eliminate the Huntsville Havoc 3-2.

Tumultuous doesn’t even begin to describe the first period. After four games of incessant banter between the teams, game five quickly turned into a melee, eventually matriculating to the coaches. Chris Brannen pulled the trigger on a one-timer from the corner of the blue line to give the Ice Bears a 1-0 lead nine minutes into the game. BJ Pelkey redirected a Kevin Swider attempt 1:36 later, giving Knoxville a 2-0 lead.

Then the mayhem ensued.

Huntsville’s Billy Tibbets was whistled for grabbing the puck and during the delay to the penalty box, Tibbets, along with 3 other players from both sides. Within minutes, the entire ice broke out with fights with the exception of goalies Andrew Gallant and Tim Haun. As the linesmen escorted both teams to their benches, Havoc coach Eric Soltys began taunting the Knoxville bench, prompting an exchange of profanities between the two. Tibbets was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct for his role in the scuffle and Soltys, along with the rest of the Havoc team, remained unjustly un-penalized.

Jeff Winchester put Huntsville on the scoreboard 3:23 into the second period to draw the Havoc within one, benefiting from a 5-on-3 power play. The puck stayed in the Knoxville zone the majority of the second period. Bill McCreary equalized the game on another power play with 3:36 until the buzzer.

A scoreless third period led to the second overtime game of the series.

The game’s final goal came 11:48 into the overtime session when Tim Vitek connected from point blank after an assist from Swider.

 

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