| THE NEWS PAGE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: |
 |
Swider powers Ice Bears to conference championship
date: 03/14/2009Coach Scott Hillman’s pre-game speech before Saturday’s matchup worked. Whether he addressed the clinching of the Coffey Trophy- a symbol of regular season dominance in the SPHL- is uncertain, but the pep talk sparked a furious first period from the Knoxville Ice Bears as they handed cellar-dweller Twin City another loss, 5-3. The win gave the Ice Bears the SPHL regular season championship.
Set on avenging last night’s effort in which they gave up a one-goal lead to lose to second-place Columbus, the Ice Bears came out firing in the first few minutes, looking poised to take the lead in the second minute when a shot from Tim Vitek appeared to cross the goal line, yet it ricocheted off both posts bouncing out. However, Vitek avenged the mishap thirty seconds later, wrapping around the left side of the goal to find a wide-open Kevin Swider, who slapped the shot past Cyclones goalie Terry Dunbar. The same line was responsible for the second goal, as Mike Carter was the beneficiary of a Swider assist to put the Ice Bears up 2-0 with 11:56 remaining in the first period. In the dwindling seconds of the period, Twin City knotched their first goal when Ben Manny crossed his body, sending a shot under the right corner of the cross bar.
Swider scored his second goal with 1:13 left in the second period, blasting the puck into the upper right corner of the net from the left side of the ice during an Ice Bear powerplay. The goal was Swider’s 35th of the year, tying him for the league lead.
Beginning the third period with a two-man advantage, BJ Pelkey connected with Vitek from behind the net to push the lead to 4-1, 50 seconds in. Brady Heintz added the second Cyclone goal at 5:15, this one shorthanded. Donald Melnyk netted another Twin City goal three minutes later, using an extra attacker after pulling Dunbar from the goal, cutting the Knoxville lead 4-3. Shaun Norrie tacked on an empty-netter to make the final score 5-3.
By Anthony Geist
Back_web.jpg){kind=logo}
