For immediate release

For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825,  joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.

Derek Osik scored at 2:33 of the overtime period and the Knoxville Ice Bears overcame giving up a three-goal lead to beat the Fayetteville Marksmen 4-3 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Friday night.

The Ice Bears have won five of six. Fayetteville has dropped two of three.

With Knoxville on the power play, Mitch Atkins carried the puck through the trapezoid to the left corner and passed it to Osik on the perimeter. Osik carried to the high slot where his wrist shot split Ryan Kenny’s pads for his third goal of the year.

Dawson McKinney got the scoring started early when he finished off a two-on-one just 1:50 into the game. Eric Olson stole the puck in the Knoxville zone and fed it up the left wing to Daryk Dubé-Plouffe for the odd-man rush. Dubé-Plouffe lifted a saucer pass across to McKinney, who put the puck past Kenny for his third of the year.

Tyler Williams gave Knoxville a 2-0 lead at 11:09 when he intercepted Ryan Lieth’s pass in the right circle and beat Kenny top shelf with a wrist shot for his second of the season.

Mike Egan scored off a redirect from in front of the crease for his first SPHL goal. Egan worked with McKinney and Dalton Skelly on the forecheck to keep the puck in the zone. McKinney got the puck to Jimmy Soper in the high slot and found Egan in front at 17:17.

Austin Long scored off a deflection on the power play to get Fayetteville on the board 29 seconds before the first intermission.

John Moncovich redirected a shot past Stephen Mundinger from the left side of the crease. Hudson Lambert shot the puck from the point and Moncovich got his stick on the puck to make it 3-2 at 1:37 of the second.

Moncovich scored off a one-timer from the slot at 4:03 to tie the game for Fayetteville. Grant Loven slid the puck to Moncovich from behind the net and the latter beat Mundinger’s glove.

Mundinger made 25 saves for Knoxville. Kenny stopped 20 shots for the Marksmen.

Knoxville visits Macon on Sunday afternoon. Fayetteville travels to play the Mayhem on Saturday night.

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.

-xxx-