SPHL Knoxville Ice Bears

Ice Bears Electrify Crowd with 2-1 Win

Published on February 16, 2014 under SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release


Knoxville, TN - The Knoxville Ice Bears hosted the Mississippi Surge for the only time this regular season. The Surge scored the tying goal at the end of the game, but Knoxville's Francis Drolet clinched an overtime win in a shootout, 2-1.

The Ice Bears took the lead 11:01 into the first period when Drolet buried the puck in an all but open net off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Berkley Scott and Mark Van Vliet. Knoxville outshot the Surge 10 to 6 in the first.

The Ice Bears stayed ahead through the entire second period. At the 7:20 minute mark, Corey Fulton dropped his gloves to square off with Mississippi's Jarkko Leppanen. The fight resulted in both players being penalized 5 minutes, and Fulton receiving a 10 minute game misconduct sending him off the ice.

Knoxville skated their first power play opportunity at 7:36 when Jeff Martens sent to the penalty box for boarding. Just 26 seconds later Price was penalized for slashing and the teams skated 4-on-4. The Ice Bears saw two more power plays before the end of the period but failed to capitalize on either. Both teams killed all 28 penalty minutes, and the teams entered the third with Ice Bears leading 1-0. Knoxville continued to pepper the Surge goaltender, out shooting Mississippi 16 - 5.

Knoxville hoped to widen their lead in the third when David Segal was awarded a penalty shot after Dion Campbell was called for tripping. Segal missed the shot, and Mississippi searched for the tie. With 1:44 left in the game, the Surge pulled their goalie to skate a sixth attacker. They notched the tying goal with just 25.4 seconds left in the game. The game went into a 5 minute, 3-on-3 overtime.

After neither team could solidify a win in overtime, the teams faced off for a shootout. John Higgins was first to score in the second round of shooters. Mississippi's Jordan Peddle matched the shot in the third round, and the game remained tied. Drolet stepped up to take the fifth round shot and beat Surge goaltender Mathieu Dugas for the 2-1 win.

The Ice Bears will be back on home ice on Friday, Feb. 28 to play the Fayetteville FireAntz on "Country Night." Fans will enjoy a live performance from Matt Stillwell before the game and during the intermissions. Get your boots and cowboy hats ready and come cheer on the Knoxville Ice Bears! The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.

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