Fayetteville Forward Enjoying Breakout Season

Published on December 12, 2006 under SPHL (SPHL) News Release

Perhaps Fayetteville Coach John Marks said it the best when he noted that his players aren't playing for all that much money, but rather because they enjoy hockey and want to advance their careers.

As the SPHL readied for another week of play, it appeared Fayetteville's Josh Welter might miss some time due to injury, but fortunately it appears he will not miss any playing time. When Welter last took the ice, he was on the power play with his FireAntz teammates and was knocked into the boards by Richmond's Brian Goudie. Welter stayed on the Richmond Coliseum ice for about five minutes before being moved, with the early diagnosis pointing to a possible concussion. When asked about the hit, Marks said it was the type of play that we have all seen before that could change a young man's life for the worst.

Originally this story on Welter wanted to focus on the hard work, dedication and love for hockey that a young man who once suited up for the Grand Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League had to display to make it as one of the top players in the SPHL. Instead, the success story nearly took a bit of a detour.

Welter's story is indeed an inspirational one for those trying to accomplish something against long odds. After scoring 74 points in his last junior season, the 22-year-old Welter played 47 games and picked up 34 points in his rookie season with the FireAntz. While it was good enough to earn a place for him on the 2005-06 squad, the club's salary structure dictated that Welter would be paid less than most players. So despite the fact Welter had picked up 25 points in just 14 games, when an opportunity came to play in Germany for more money, Welter packed his bags and went to Europe.

After Coach Derek Booth left Fayetteville for another position, Marks was brought in to take Booth's place. Not long after he arrived, Marks was interested in bringing Welter back with a salary more commensurate to a player who could put up nearly two points per game.

"I heard through the grapevine he was interested," Marks said. "He's a good player, with good hockey sense. He's a feisty kid, who loves the game and has a passion for it."

Thus far Welter has been worth his raise as he has helped the FireAntz become the best offensive club in the league while playing on a line with Tim Velemirovich and Nick Kormanyos.

A near-miss like this certainly points out the danger these players are in while the are on the ice. As one who has seen Goudie play in the past, I can say that the Renegades defenseman is not one who goes out of his way to harm an opponent. But these things can happen when a game gets out of hand and the players need to beware of such situations, before something absolutely serious occurs.

Just When You Think You Know the SPHL....

For those who think you have a grasp on the SPHL, you might want to think again. In just this week alone, there have been several upsets in the SPHL. Here are just a few examples of what can happen in one night in this competitive league:

- The team with the second-worst win percentage came off a tough loss and went to play one of the league's top teams in a building where that team hardly loss. Of course...the lesser-ranked club won the game handily.

- A team in fifth place visited a team tied for first place. The first place team had won six in a row before that game and were on a roll. In addition the first place team had won all three meetings to date between the two clubs. But with all that against them, the fifth-place team blew the first-place team out.

- up-and-coming team, undefeated in regulation on home ice, hosted the league's worst team- and watched as the last-place team scored five unanswered goals to win going away.

You could say the shocking has become the norm in this league as the coaches build teams that can win at any time, in any building. While Florida and Pee Dee may appear to be on the down and out, they appear really only one or two weekends away from one of the six cherished playoff spots. Stay tuned.

SPHL Players Enjoy Success in ECHL

Two Fayetteville players enjoyed success in the ECHL this season after starting the year with the Fire- Antz. Forwards Bryan Dobek and Jarrett Robertson have each used their fast starts as well as the connections of Head Coach John Marks to find places to play in the ECHL.

Dobek scored the game-winning goal for Gwinnett on December 8, while Robertson has signed on with Columbia, the second team in the ECHL to give him a shot this season.

They Said It

"Basically there are no positives right now. It's a down locker room and we just have to overcome it."

Florida Seals coach Tommy Stewart after a 6-3 loss in Richmond, just 24 hours before his club upset Knoxville in Tennessee.

"This league is like the ECHL 15-18 years ago when everyone thought it (ECHL) was a "Slapshot" league, the bottom of the barrel. But this league is a very credible league with good players and good owners...these players aren't making 2 or 3 million dollars a year, so to slash someone who is making only 200 or 300 dollars per week because they lose their cool doesn't enhance the game."

Fayetteville coach John Marks after Josh Welter was injured during the FireAntz' 7-4 win over Richmond.

"You've got to lose with some dignity and we didn't do that. If we're going to be a first-place team, you have to have discipline and we didn't show much tonight."

Richmond coach John Brophy to John Packett of the Richmond Dispatch-Times.

TEAM NOTES

The Cottonmouths took to the road for a pair of games against the league's better clubs and skated away with a split. The week started off great with a terrific first period against the Knoxville Ice Bears. Columbus scored twice in the first period and fending off the Ice Bears the rest of the night thanks to 42 saves from Chad Rycroft. Craig Stahl, Tim Green and Tylor Keller were the goal scorers in the club's 3-2 win. The tables were turned on Columbus in the second game when Huntsville scored the game's first four goals before Stahl could answer for the club. When all was said and done the Cottonmouths were on the wrong end of a 4-1 count. Orrin Hergott missed the game against Huntsville but should not miss much more time as his injury is the "day-to-day" type. Both Jeff and Daryl Moor await possible supplemental discipline after an episode in Huntsville. The belief is Daryl's punishment may be longer than Jeff's.

Fayetteville stared adversity in the face, down 3-0 against the streaking Richmond Renegades when Coach John Marks informed his players during the first period break that they were not doing what they needed to do on the ice. The result? Fayetteville scored seven of the game's remaining eight goals, including six on the power play as the FireAntz defeated Richmond for the first time in four tries by a 7-4 count. Nick Kormanyos scored twice while Dylan Row dished out four assists during the rout. The improbable comeback allowed the FireAntz to win both of this week's games as they handled the Pee Dee Cyclones by a 5-4 score on Friday night. B.J. Stephens was the hero of that contest as he picked up a pair of goals and an assist. Net minder Chad Collins turned down a chance to play for Bloomington of the UHL for the weekend in order to stay and help the club against Pee Dee and Richmond. Collins' teammates appreciated the gesture even more when Collins came up with 37 big saves in the win over Pee Dee. Chris Ferguson was suspended for this weekend's games due to an infraction that took place last week.

Desperation turned to joy in the space of 24 hours as the Florida Seals rebounded from a tough loss to Richmond by shocking the Knoxville Ice Bears by a 3-1 count. Matt Balser nearly had his first professional shutout, but Ice Bear Jeff Hansen scored his first goal of the season with just five seconds remaining in the contest to ruin Balser's bid. Despite the loss of the shutout, Balser impressed the Knoxville crowd with 35 saves and received First Star of the Game. Florida held a 2-1 lead, and at one point was tied 3-3 against the Renegades, but in the end the Seals went down 6-3 to the Virginians. Rob Sich had a fine evening despite the loss as he scored twice and had a hand in the other goal. Sich also had an assist in the win over Knoxville. New defender Bryan Gent, who had appeared in 11 UHL games this year before joining the Seals, tangled with Knoxville's David Segal. The win allowed the Seals to climb to within five points of the Jacksonville Barracudas for the last playoff spot.

Huntsville claimed sole ownership of first place with a pair of victories. Huntsville needed the shootout to defeat Jacksonville in Florida as Matt Carmichael came up big with 43 saves in the regular game. The 2005-06 SPHL MVP net minder then went on to stop all four Barracudas in the shootout while Mike O'Sullivan defeated Matt Meacham for the game winner. O'Sullivan's tally in the shootout was his second goal of the game. Over 4,000 fans at home saw the second game as Bill Monkman started the scoring with a natural hat trick and the Havoc never looked back. Monkman also assisted on Jason deGuehery's goal to finish the evening with four points in a 4-1 win over Columbus. Carmichael starred in this game as well as allowing only a third period score with the game already decided. He made 26 stops. Luke Phillips and Martin Kubaliak helped in a second-period dustup that saw 20 penalty minutes distributed to Phillips and 15 to Kubaliak.

Jacksonville lost a chance to climb higher into the standings as it lost in a shootout and in regulation at home. The setup on Saturday against Pee Dee was the first time the club had lost in regulation at home. The club seemed primed to move up as it played first-place Huntsville to a standstill on Friday, only to blow a 4-1 lead to the last-place Cyclones. The Pee Dee contest had all the makings of a home team rout after Ryan Thompson tied the score less than a minute after Daryl Moore had put the Cyclones up 1-0. Thompson's power play marker was followed by two goals from Tyrone Garner, one of them a shorthanded effort and one by Andrew Morris (his first professional goal). However, the Cyclones scored five unanswered goals to win going away 6-4. The Huntsville affair became a seesaw game, with the Barracudas taking the lead three times only to lose in the shootout. Matt Meacham came up with 41 saves in that game, but got beat twice in four attempts during the shootout. The club signed Chris Bain, who got involved with a fight against Huntsville's Luke Phillips. The offense received a boost when Jeff Angelidis played and picked up an assist against the Havoc.

The Ice Bears had their worst week of the season by losing twice at home. In the first game against Columbus, the Ice Bears allowed the Cottonmouths to assemble a 3-0 lead before Knoxville threatened with goals from Kevin Swider and David Segal (his first professional tally). But it proved too little too late. However, that game also exposed just the tip of the iceberg the Florida Seals also manhandled Knoxville. The Ice Bears cranked 35 shots on goal, but Florida's Matt Balser was up to the task. Knoxville's only score came when Jeff Hansen scored his first goal of the season. The two losses caused the Ice Bears to slip in the standings. While Knoxville retained its third-place standing from last week, the club is only one point behind the fourth and fifth place teams to sit four points behind the second-place club. Coach Jason Bermingham still wants to bring in a player as DarrylMcKinnon has came up with visa woes and the team might have to look elsewhere for a forward. Nick Thomas' injury has caused the need. Thomas was filling in for Ben Manny.

Down by a 4-1 count early in the second against Jacksonville and missing Coach Mark Richards and defender Jason Vanderbreggen due to suspension, the club decided a change from net minder Matt LeDuc to Guy St. Vincent was in order. St. Vincent stopped the remaining 12 shots directed towards the Cyclones net during the club's 6-4 comeback win. Edan Welch led the way during the rally with a pair of goals and two assists, while Alain Sirois chipped in with a goal and three assists. Sirois and Welch also enjoyed a strong game against Fayetteville. Welch had three helpers and Sirois had two goals and an assist in the setback. Sirois' fine week allowed him to gain possession of the league's scoring race with 29 points, while Welch sits just behind him with 27 of his own. Pee Dee added defender Patrick Mulligan, formerly of the University of South Carolina ACHA program, to the roster for the past two games.

Trouble may lay in wait for the Renegades, as they ended Saturday's game against Fayetteville with Brian Goudie ejected for elbowing Fayetteville's Josh Welter and David Mitchell, picking up an intent to injure major in the waning moments of the game. After the first period was in the books with Richmond sitting on a 3-0 lead, the club's normally solid penalty kill fell apart with the FireAntz tallying six power play goals. Despite the early lead and a hat trick from J.J. Wrobel, Richmond lost by a 7-4 score. The club's first game this week was against Florida and it was just the opposite as Florida owned early play, but Richmond came on for a 6-3 victory. Danny White had two goals, Phillip Youngclaus registered his first professional goal, and Tyler Schremp scored the game-winning goal on a laser slap shot from above the left face off circle. Richmond tinkered with the lineup as Richard Reichenbach was at first waived, then resigned in favor of Drew Rose, who was subsequently waived.

The Lighter Side!

1) Two teams have finished in the same spot each of the two seasons the SPHL have played. Who are they?

Hint: They each made the playoffs each season.

2) How many times has a player scored 90 or more points in an SPHL season?

Hint: Count one player twice.

3) Who holds the SPHL record for best +/- in a season?

Hint: He's included on the list for question number two.

1) Knoxville (First) and Fayetteville (Fourth).

2) Five times. Kevin Swider (2), KJ Vorhees, Tylor Keller and Tim Green.

3) Columbus' Tylor Keller was +41 after the 2005-06 season.

Helping and Honoring

SPHL hockey isn't all just fun and games. All of the league's team are reaching out to the community and doing what they can to help out. Check out some of these upcoming events;

- Pee Dee's (and SPHL leading scorer) Allan Sirois is asking for a donation for each point he scores this season. The proceeds will be divided amongst The Children's Miracle Network, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association. Go to www.peedeecyclones.com for more info.

- Florida will hold a "Toys for Tots" drive on December 16th with the goal of 10,000 toys. One season ticket holder has already accumulated 2,000 toys for the drive.

Three Stars of theWeek (in no particular order)

Matt Carmichael #29 Huntsville 43 saves, 4 saves in SO 12/8 vs. Jacksonville

Edan Welch #23 Pee Dee Two goals, two assists 12/9 vs. Jacksonville

Bill Monkman #10 Huntsville Hat trick, assist 12/9 vs. Columbus

SPHL Stories from December 12, 2006

• Seals Go Big For Second Consecutive Win - Florida Seals
• Collins recalled to Cincinnati - Fayetteville Marksmen
• Fayetteville Forward Enjoying Breakout Season - SPHL
• Carmichael, Baraniuk to suit up for Ice Pilots - Huntsville Havoc

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.