For immediate release
For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Justin MacDonald scored twice, Kristian Stead made 28 saves and the Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Birmingham Bulls 4-2 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Friday night.
The Ice Bears have now won eight of their last ten games and finish with a 4-1-1 record against Birmingham in the regular season. The Bulls had a three-game win streak snapped with the loss.
Rex Moe scored first for Knoxville when the puck found him alone on the right side of the crease following a pin behind the Birmingham net. Moe received the puck and had time to aim and fire a snapshot over Ben Churchfield at 11:36 of the first.
Kyler Matthews doubled Knoxville’s lead before the first intermission with a wrist shot from the blue line. Knoxville worked the puck back to the perimeter and Nolan Slachetka slid it across the blue line to Matthews. His shot made its way through traffic and bounced out of Churchfield’s glove before landing in the net behind him at 17:02.
MacDonald put Knoxville ahead 3-0 with a wrist shot from the high slot. Jagger Williamson backhanded the puck through the neutral zone ahead to MacDonald, who skated across the zone and found a seam to lift the puck past Churchfield early in the second.
Birmingham got on the board with a power play goal by Troy MacTavish at 7:42.
Ryan Romeo nearly cut the deficit further for the Bulls when he exited the penalty box and was fed the puck for a breakaway, but Stead stopped the initial attempt and turned away Romeo’s rebound attempt to keep Knoxville ahead by a pair at the second intermission.
Mike Davis scored from the slot at 10:31 of the third to make it a one-goal game, but the Bulls couldn’t get closer as Stead continued to turn away Birmingham’s shooters.
MacDonald scored on the empty net with 49 seconds remaining to become the first player in the SPHL this season with 30 goals.
The Ice Bears will host Fayetteville Saturday night at the Civic Coliseum. Birmingham heads to Pensacola Sunday.
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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