For immediate release
For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Justin MacDonald scored on the power play at 4:05 of the third period and the Knoxville Ice Bears held off the Macon Mayhem for a 3-2 win on Friday night at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
Brady Fleurent scored twice for the Ice Bears, who have won three straight. MacDonald also had two assists and Kristian Stead made 19 saves.
MacDonald scored on an easy backdoor tap-in to put Knoxville ahead for good after Dino Balsamo fed him the puck across the crease in front of Tom Aubrun. The goal came just seconds after Macon’s David Nippard was sent to the box for a face-off violation.
The Mayhem had a chance at the end with a late power play to tie the game, but Stead stopped Liam Blackburn from the left side and Macon never got another quality chance.
Knoxville had several chances to get on the board first in the opening period, but a handful of quality saves by Aubrun helped Macon kill off three Ice Bears power plays. Aubrun stopped MacDonald from in front of the crease, kept a weaving Andrew Bellant in front of him and gloved a scoring chance for Cole McKechney from the slot.
Caleb Cameron put the Mayhem in front with a power play goal 34 seconds into the second period. Rhett Kingston slid the puck from circle-to-circle and Cameron hit a short-range one-timer over Kristian Stead to make it 1-0.
Fleurent tied the game for the Ice Bears with a power play goal at 13:18. With Knoxville on a 5-on-3, Brett Beauvais blasted a shot from atop the right circle. Fleurent redirected it past Aubrun for his fifth goal of the year.
Macon retook the lead three minutes later when Tommy Munichiello collected the loose puck behind the Knoxville net and beat Stead on a wraparound.
Fleurent knotted the score again by poking a loose puck under Aubrun with less than two minutes before the second intermission. MacDonald won the puck in the right circle and pushed it in front of the crease, where Fleurent got his stick on it under Aubrun’s right pad. Aubrun finished with 26 saves.
The Ice Bears remain home to face Roanoke Saturday night. Macon heads to North Carolina to visit Fayetteville.
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 and five-time regular season 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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