Series Preview:The Havoc Battle The RiverKings in the First Round
April 10, 2017 - SPHL (SPHL)
Huntsville Havoc News Release
: Series Preview: the Havoc Battle the RiverKings in the First Round
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HUNTSVILLE, AL- The Havoc begin the postseason with a matchup against the Mississippi RiverKings while looking to move to the second round for the fourth time in their last five playoff appearances.
Wednesday, April 12th at Mississippi Puck drop at 7:30 p.m. CT Watch Live Listen Live Live Tweet Friday, April 14th vs. Mississippi Puck drop at 7:00 p.m. CT Watch Live Listen Live Live Tweet (If Necessary) Saturday, April 15th vs. Mississippi Puck drop at 7:00 p.m. CT Watch Live Listen Live Live Tweet
Weekend Recap Over the weekend, the Havoc wrapped up the regular season schedule with a two-game series against the Fayetteville FireAntz for the second consecutive season. Huntsville began the trip with the second most victories away from their own barn in the league. The Havoc looked to cap off an incredible season in second place.
During Friday's action, Huntsville kicked off the scoring for the first time this season against Fayetteville and the fourth consecutive game overall. With the Havoc seeing just their fourth scoreless first period of the season, Blake Hietala kicked the scoring off for the Havoc in the middle frame. In the third, the FireAntz struck back with a goal of their own to send it to overtime. In the extra frame, defenseman Stuart Stefan found the puck on his stick while on a breakaway to record his second game-winner of the season and the 2-1 victory against the FIreAntz. With the win, the Havoc moved to second in the standings.
With a chance to clinch the second spot in the SPHL, the Havoc walked into their regular-season finale against the FireAntz but quickly fell behind in the first. Huntsville did not give up though, as Blake Hietala scored his second in as many nights to tie the game. Later in the first, Christian Powers found a loose puck and fed home Huntsville's first lead of the night. In the second, teams traded a goal as Powers registered his second of the evening to keep Huntsville's one-goal lead heading into the final period of the regular season. The tides changed in the third when Fayetteville scored two, including one in the first minute of the frame to overcome the Havoc by a final score of 4-3.
With the loss on Saturday, the Havoc fell to fourth in the standings with the FireAntz clinching second.
As the final horn sounded on the regular season, the seeding fell into place with the Havoc seeing Mississippi, in the fifth spot, become their first-round matchup.
Vs. Mississippi The matchup marks the second time in the last four seasons Huntsville will face the Mississippi RiverKings in the first round of the playoffs. During the 2014 postseason, Huntsville went 1-1 at the Landers Center in Mississippi while knocking the RiverKings out of the playoffs. Each contest was decided by two goals with the Havoc seeing five or more powerplay opportunities in each.
Huntsville finished the six-game regular season schedule against Mississippi with a winning record at 3-2- 0-1 including one victory at the Landers Center.
Each of the last three contests between the two teams have been 4-2 games after the first two of the regular-season series were decided by a goal.
Huntsville, who finished the regular-season with powerplay goals in two straight and three of their final four games, had four man-advantage goals in the five-game regular season series against Mississippi.
Each team has thirteen players on the playoff roster that played in the first regular season matchup between the two clubs on December 9th.
The team to score first has won each of the last four contests between the two clubs. The Havoc have outscored the RiverKings in the second and third.
Playoff Roster The Havoc announced today their playoff roster that includes:
Forwards: Michael Piluso, Tyler French, Sy Nutkevitch, Scott Fellnermayr, Steven Phee, Kyle Sharkey, Christian Powers, Blake Hietala, John Clewlow and Jordan Wood
Defenseman: Justin Tateson, Stuart Stefan, Ben Kramer, Nolan Kaiser, Michael Holland (claimed off waivers on Sunday), Eddie Nolan and Rob Simpson
Goaltenders: Adam Courchaine and Tyler Steel
Broadcast Information The "Voice of the Havoc" Will Wodka will have the call of the game all postseason long on SPHL Live and Mixlr.com/HuntsvilleHavoc.
New Havoc App Download the new Havoc app now for iOS or Android here and begin earning Havoc Rewards points now by submitting the code 'havocapp' in the 'My Rewards' section.
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- Series Preview:The Havoc Battle The RiverKings in the First Round - Huntsville Havoc
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