Press Release: Ice Flyers Sweep Knoxville, Advance to the President’s Cup Finals
Coming into the game Knoxville knew they’d need to win just stay alive and the Ice Flyers knew they could punch their ticket to the SPHL President’s Cup finals with another win. This appeared to be a classic case of who wanted more and, as you’d expect, both teams came out fighting hard for the W. It was a first period goal from a former Ice Bear that ended up sealing the deal for the Ice Flyers in their 1-0 win.
In the first period, Paul Holder got his first goal in an Ice Flyers’ uniform when he rifled a shot from the blue line that slipped past the left side of Knoxville’s Kyle Rank. Ryan Salvis got the only assist on the goal that came 7:43 into the game. Just 7 seconds later, Ryan Hohl took on the Ice Bears’ David Segal in a scrap. That wasn’t the end of the physicality as both teams fought hard for the rest of the game trying to grind and wear down the other.
Pensacola finished 0-for-7 on the power play but were perfect on the penalty kill at 6-for-6. Steve Christie stopped all 29 shots he saw from the Ice Bears. Knoxville’s Kyle Rank was named the 3rd star after stopping 37 of the Ice Flyers’ 38 shots. Paul Holder’s goal got him the 2nd star, and Steve Christie was named the 1st star after posting his second shutout of the playoffs.
The Ice Flyers will be taking on the Columbus Cottonmouths in the SPHL President’s Cup finals next week. Game 1 will be at Columbus on Thursday night, game 2 will be in the Hangar on Saturday night, and game 3, if necessary, will be back in Columbus on Sunday.