For immediate release
For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Knoxville conceded a late goal in the second and another early in the third and never recovered as the Ice Bears fell to the Macon Mayhem 3-1 Friday night at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
Both teams piled up the shots in the opening period, but the game remained scoreless at the first intermission. Jared Westcott and Brayden Stannard each hit the crossbar for Knoxville and Josh Boyko kicked away Jimmy Soper’s redirected shot.
At the other end, Stephen Mundinger stopped Jake Goldowski from the right circle before smothering Alex Cohen’s rebound attempt. Mundinger later made a glove save on Caleb Huffman’s one-timer from the slot and Jarret Kup cleared out a loose puck from the crease after Mundinger got a piece of a Stefan Miklakos wrist shot.
Jason Brancheau scored 16 seconds into the second period to break the scoreless tie. Tyler Williams stole a loose puck behind the Macon net and passed it out to the right circle to Eric Olson. Olson’s centering feed found Brancheau, who spun and lifted a backhand past Boyko for his third goal of the season.
Huffman smacked a sliding puck in the right circle off the crossbar and in with less than a second remaining before the second intermission to tie the game for Macon.
Justin Kelley scored off a rebound at 1:44 of the third to give the Mayhem their first lead of the night.
Knoxville threatened to tie the score late, but Boyko stopped Carson Vance’s one-timer from the slot and the Ice Bears misfired on two other chances in the final minute.
Kelley scored an empty net goal to seal the result.
The two teams play again Saturday night at the Civic Coliseum.
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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