With only nine days of games left in the regular season, tensions are mounting.
In only 16 games this week, there were 679 penalty minutes. During Thursday’s game, Fayetteville at Columbus, the teams collected 99 minutes in penalties. Fayetteville received four 10-minute game misconducts. Fayetteville players Ryan Hand and Brandon Richardson were b0th suspended for two games, while head coach Emery Olauson was suspended for one.
March 4th Scores:
- Peoria 2 @ Bloomington 4
- Knoxville 3 @ Riverkings 2
Also during Thursday night’s game, Columbus center Preston Shuppe scored a hat trick in the third period to secure an 8-5 win over the Fayetteville Fireantz.
March 6th Scores:
- Fayetteville 5 @ Columbus 8
- Knoxville 2 @ Huntsville 3
Friday night, the Ice Flyers headed to the Cajundome in Louisiana to take on the Ice Gators. These two teams have been neck and neck all season. Pensacola is still in first place, and Louisiana is sitting in second place.
The first two periods of the game were seemingly relaxed. The third period of the game is when it all hit the fan. Tyler Barr, Chris Wilson and Ron Cramer all had over 10 minutes in penalties. Chris Wilson and Tyler Barr were both suspended for two games, while Greg Brown was suspended for one game. They all missed the game against Pensacola March 8th. Louisiana’s head coach was fined for the team’s incidents. Pensacola won the game 5-2.
Saturday night, the Ice Flyers and Ice Gators went head to head again in Louisiana. Ron Cramer and Joe Bueltel dropped gloves one second into the game. Louisiana’s head coach got a game misconduct for verbal abuse of officials. Pensacola won the game 5-2.
March 7th Scores:
- Bloomington 0 @ Columbus 2
- Huntsville 2 @ Knoxville 4
- Pensacola 5 @ Louisiana 2
- Fayetteville 0 @ Riverkings 4
- Surge 0 @ Peoria 3
March 8th Scores:
- Knoxville 4 @ Huntsville 3
- Bloomington 0 @ Columbus 4
- Pensacola 5 @ Louisiana 2
- Surge 1 @ Peoria 4
- Fayetteville 3 @ Riverkings 8
March 9th Scores:
- Riverkings 3 @ Louisiana 7
- Surge 0 @ Peoria 4
Congratulations to the Peoria Rivermen on sweeping the Mississippi Surge this weekend. Peoria goalie Kyle Rank recorded his eighth shutout of the year this weekend.
In other big SPHL news, the Columbus Cottonmouths have signed Canada’s women’s hockey team gold medalist goalie, Shannon Szabados. Shannon announced Friday that she would be joining the team on March 12th.
