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SPHL Fayetteville Marksmen

FireAntz vs. Havoc At-A-Glance

March 27, 2007 - SPHL (SPHL)
Fayetteville Marksmen News Release


[FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.] - The Fayetteville FireAntz of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) are set to take on the Huntsville Havoc in the first round of the playoffs. The best-of-three series will begin on Friday, March 30th at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville. The teams will then play in Huntsville the next night, Saturday the 31st. Game three, if necessary, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 3rd in Fayetteville.

The FireAntz ended the regular season as the hottest team in the SPHL. Over the final two months of the season, the club posted a 19-4-1 record, including an SPHL record-tying 11-game winning streak. The team finished the season with a 32-18-6 overall record and tied for 2nd place in the SPHL. The tiebreaker went to the Knoxville Ice Bears, who also had 70 points, but had more wins. The FireAntz enter the playoffs as the #3 seed.

The Huntsville Havoc enter the playoffs as the #4 seed after a 29-23-4 regular season. It was a tale of two seasons for the Havoc as they were in first place the majority of the first half of the season. Through the end of December, Huntsville was 17-7-1. Since then the club has struggled with a 12-16-3 record.

Goaltenders- Chad Collins vs. Matt Carmichael

It will be a matchup of the 2004-05 SPHL Goaltender of the Year and Rookie of the Year (Collins) versus the 2005-06 SPHL MVP (Carmichael). Collins and Carmichael along with Columbus' Chad Rycroft are the most decorated and successful goaltenders in the brief history of the SPHL.

Chad Collins enters the playoffs as the league leader in victories for the 2006-07 season. He posted a 27-12-5 record with a 3.34 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. His 27 victories were one shy of the SPHL record of 28 set by Terry Denike, of the now-defunct Florda Seals, in 2005-06. His 27 wins were also a FireAntz franchise record and a career high for Collins.

Matt Carmichael, the winningest goaltender in SPHL history (75 wins), comes into the series with a 26-19-3 record for the regular season. Carmichael had a 3.40 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.

Forwards

Both teams have bring high-powered offenses into the series. The FireAntz (246 goals) and the Havoc (221 goals) were first and third in the league in scoring respectively.

The FireAntz were led the by the most potent line in the league consisting of MVP candidate Rob Sich (92 points, 46 goals and 46 assists, 2nd in the SPHL in scoring), Rookie of the Year candidate Tim Velemirovich (89 points, 30 goals and 59 assists, 3rd in the SPHL in scoring), and Josh Welter (73 points, 25 goals and 48 assists, 8th in the SPHL in scoring). Additional scoring punch was provided by B.J. Stephens, Josh Tataryn, Bryan Dobek and Jarrett Robertson. Combined with defensive stoppers Marc Norrington and Josh Piro and toughness from Chad Wilcox, the FireAntz bring in a well-balanced attack up front.

The Havoc were led by veteran James Patterson who was tied for 4th in the league with 78 points (26 goals and 52 assists). Two new scoring threats were added to the Havoc this season in rookies Travis Kauffeldt and Tristan Senior, both of whom registered over a point per game. Trevor Krasiewicz, Mike O'Sullivan, Bill Monkman and Craig Bushey provided solid offensive output as well. Huntsville also made a key addition, signing Justin Keller late in the season.

Defense

Both clubs come into the series with stingy defenses. The FireAntz allowed 205 goals (3rd) and the Havoc allowed 210 goals (4th). The biggest difference is goal differential, however, as the FireAntz were +41 (1st) and the Havoc were +11 (4th).

The return of Mike Clarke, from Bloomington of the United Hockey League (UHL), provided much help along the blue line, and especially on the power play, for the FireAntz. In only 28 games played, Clarke tallied six goals and 32 assists. Dylan Row led the SPHL in goals among defensemen with 15. Solid play all season from veteran Gavin Hodgson, player/assistant coach Rob Meanchoff and rookies Pekka Saittakari and Adam Meyer.

Leading the way for the Havoc was the leading scorer among defensemen in the SPHL, Jonathon Lounsbury, with 48 points on four goals and 44 assists. The Havoc also received positive contributions from Martin Kubaliak, Tim Hockley and Justin Schmit.

Overall

The FireAntz were 1-2-1 this season versus Huntsville but have not played them since February 9th, a 4-3 FireAntz victory. In four games against the Havoc Josh Welter, Tim Velemirovich and Jarrett Robertson each had four points. Velemirovich also had a +5 rating against the Havoc in the regular season.

Tristan Senior leads the way for the Havoc against the FireAntz with five goals in the four meetings. Jonathon Lounsbury also has six assists in the four matchups. Goaltender Matt Carmichael was 3-1-0 versus the FireAntz during the regular season with a shutout.

The FireAntz are riding a 10-game home win-streak. The Havoc currently have a 4-game road losing streak.

Noteworthy

FireAntz forward Rob Sich (92 points) finished the season in 2nd in the scoring race to Knoxville's Kevin Swider. His 46 goals were the most in the history of the SPHL, surpassing K.J. Voorhees of Knoxville who had 44 goals in the 2004-05 season. He also tied Tim Velemirovich as the league-leaders with a +37 rating. Sich played in just 51 games this season.

FireAntz forward Tim Velemirovich (89 points) finished 3rd in scoring and first among rookies. His 89 points was an SPHL record for a rookie. He also broke FireAntz' team records for assists in a season (59) and assists in a game (5, twice). His 59 assists also led the SPHL during the regular season.

FireAntz goaltender Chad Collins led the SPHL in victories with 27, one shy of the all-time record for wins set by Terry Denike of the Florida Seals in 2005-06.

FireAntz forward Bryan Dobek set an SPHL record with a 12-game goal scoring streak. He netted 15 goals during that span.

FireAntz defenseman Dylan Row led the SPHL defensemen with 15 goals and was 3rd with 41 points.

Huntsville set a new SPHL attendance record, drawing 109,615 fans during the regular season. The record was previously held by the FireAntz, set in the 2005-06 season.

Hunstville defenseman Jonathon Lounsbury led the SPHL in assists by a defenseman (44) and points among defensemen (48).

Huntsville goaltender Matt Carmichael was 2nd in wins (26) and 1st in losses (19), minutes (2820) and saves (1485). His two shutouts were also tied for the most in the SPHL (Groenstege-Richmond).

Huntsville forward Luke Phillips (317 pims) and defenseman Justin Schmit (274 pims) were 2nd and 3rd respectively in penalty minutes during the regular season.

The FireAntz will be hosting Game 1 of the series versus the Huntsville Havoc on Friday, March 30th at 7:30 pm at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville. Great seats still remain. Fans may purchase tickets from the Crown box office or by calling Ticketmaster at (910) 321-0123.

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