It was an exciting night at the Pensacola Civic Center Saturday as the Pensacola Ice Flyers defeated the visiting Knoxville Ice Bears 5-1 for their first win at home of the 2011-2012 campaign. After a tough loss Friday night against Knoxville, where the Ice Bears stole two points from Pensacola in a 4-2 win, the Ice Flyers showed up for their pre-game skate in the morning determined to be victorious. “I could see it in their eyes in the morning,” Coach Todd Gordon said. “They had a lot of jump during the skate, and they all looked ready to commit to the win tonight, no matter what it took.”
Tyler Lyon of the Ice Flyers opened the scoring five minutes into the first with his first of the season. Captain Dan Buccella put Pensacola up by two on the power play with seven and a half minutes remaining in the first period. Knoxville then drew within one with a power play goal of their own four minutes later.
With just under seven minutes left in the second, Buccella tallied his second of the contest, once again on the power play. The scored remained 3-1 for the Ice Flyers for the next eighteen minutes. That is when Ice Flyer Matt Robertson gave Pensacola some breathing room with a goal eleven and a half minutes into the third. Knoxville pulled their goalie and sent out an extra man late in the game. Tyler Lyon got control of the puck and broke out of the zone. In an unselfish play, he dished it over to Ice Flyer rookie Andrew Harrison who buried the puck into the empty night, making it the first goal of his professional career and as an Ice Flyer.
“We had a great work week at practice and the boys came out this weekend much more prepared about the hard work it takes to not only play but to win at this level,” Gordon added. “Unfortunately, we came out tentative in the third of Friday night’s game, which cost us the win. But there was no way the guys were letting Knoxville come into our barn and take both wins this weekend. This win will give us some confidence heading into a week of practices and our back-to-back road games against our I-10 rival in Biloxi.”
The Ice Flyers outshot the Ice Bears 33-24, and went 2 for 8 on the power play. Adam Ward received the win in net for Pensacola, whose record improved to 2-3-1. All three game stars were the blue and gold of the Ice Flyers. Tyler Lyon was the third star, with a goal and an assist, while Ward was named second star with his 23 out of 24 save performance. Captain Dan Buccella received top honors for the night with the first star as he scored two power play markers, the first one being the game winner.
The Ice Flyers play two road games in Biloxi next weekend on Friday, November 11th and Saturday, November 12th. The puck drops for both games at 7:05 PM.
The Ice Flyers would like to thank all those who helped and took part in raising money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project (sponsored by Fishin’ Chix) and Make-A-Wish Foundation, and all those who brought a toy to donate to the Toys For Tots Foundation.