For immediate release
For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Brady Fleurent had two goals and two assists and the Knoxville Ice Bears won their fifth straight game with a 6-2 win over the Macon Mayhem Sunday night at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
The Ice Bears (37-9-4) set a new franchise record with their 37th regular season winning, eclipsing the mark set by the 2005-06 squad. The Mayhem (8-35-5) have dropped seven in a row.
Fleurent opened the scoring with his tenth goal of the season at 6:20 of the first period. Dino Balsamo’s cross-ice pass from the right corner was blocked back to him. He retrieved the puck and slid it to Fleurent at the right side of the crease, where the one-timer beat Michael Stiliadis.
Nick Leitner scored on the power play at 8:23 for his first goal as an Ice Bear. Jared Nash found Leitner in the left circle from the right goal line and Leitner found the upper righthand corner to give the Ice Bears a 2-0 lead.
Stepan Timofeyev received the puck in the slot and slipped it into the net to give the Ice Bears a 3-0 advantage. Razmuz Waxin-Engback carried the puck through the left circle before finding Timofeyev in front through traffic at the halfway point of the period.
Joseph Drapluck scored 12 seconds later to get the Mayhem on the board as the Ice Bears took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
Fleurent slapped in an easy backdoor goal to extend Knoxville’s lead to three again just 1:04 into the second. Balsamo entered on the left wing and slipped the puck to Anthony McVeigh up top. Fleurent had already snuck behind Stiliadis and McVeigh found him on the left side of the crease with nothing but an open net in front of him.
Scott Coash scored off a one-timer from the left hash to make it 4-2 at 9:49. With Macon on the power play, Curtis Hansen fed the puck through the left circle and found Coash, who put it over Jimmy Poreda’s glove.
Andrew Bellant scored from in front to give the Ice Bears another power play goal and make it 5-2 at 3:19 of the third. Kyler Matthews netted his third of the season in transition less than a minute later to cap off the scoring.
Poreda finished with 16 saves for Knoxville. Stiliadis made 29 stops for the Mayhem.
Knoxville will wrap up its current homestead hosting Birmingham Friday night at 7:30 p.m. for the front end of a home-and-home. Tickets are available at www.knoxvilleicebears.com or by calling 525-7825.
ABOUT The Knoxville Ice Bears: The Knoxville Ice Bears organization began in 2002 and was an inaugural charter member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in 2004. As four-time SPHL Champions, the Ice Bears are an experienced and established organization, offering the city and its’ visitors a balanced product of highlight-reel hockey, unique and exciting intermission activity and endless fan interaction, presenting the most affordable, family-friendly way to enjoy sports and entertainment. Season, Partial Season and Flex Tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleicebears.com or call (865) 525-7825.
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