Ice Bears Entertain Near Sellout Crowd with a Victory
March 25, 2011 - SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release
Knoxville, TN - The Knoxville Ice Bears hosted their final home game of the regular season tonight against the Fayetteville FireAntz in front of a crowd of 4,418 fans at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. Veteran players Mike Bulawka and Emery Olauson both scored two goals to give the Ice Bears a 5-2 victory over the FireAntz.
After missing 12 games for an injury, SPHL leading defensive scorer Mark Van Vliet returned to the ice tonight. He was awarded a penalty shot 12:48 minutes into the first period, but Fayetteville goalie Travis Yonkman was able to block to puck. Earlier on Friday Van Vliet was selected to the 2010-2011 All-SPHL First Team for the second year in a row.
The Ice Bears scored their first goal with just 28.4 seconds left in the first period when Olauson was fed the puck from Jason Weeks and Martin Kubaliak and stickhandled past Yonkman to finish the period with a 1-0 lead. Olauson had a strong showing in his first game back after being activated from the Injured Reserve.
The Ice Bears wasted no time expanding their lead. About one minute into second, Bulawka hit the net to make it 2-0. Bulawka was assisted by Kyle VanDermale, who was signed to a 3-game tryout, and Eric Slais. More than six minutes later, Bulawka lit the lamp for his second goal of the game to make it 3-0.
During 4-on-4 action, Fayetteville's Chris Leveille got one past goalie Bryan Hince to give the FireaAntz their first goal of the game.
Fayetteville grabbed their second goal in the waning seconds of the second period when Anthony Perdicaro scored at the 20 minute mark to bring the FireAntz within one of the Ice Bears.
New Knoxville Ice Bears goalie Thomas Lee made his debut on home ice in the third period. At 2:04 Olauson took advantage of a power play and scored his second goal of the game to solidify a 4-2 lead. Frank Furdero and Chris Pontes were credited with the assist. Furdero was selected to the All-SPHL Second Team on Friday.
Dan Mercer notched the final goal of the game with a blistering slap shot past multiple players and over Yonkman's shoulder. The Ice Bears defeat the FireAntz, 5-2.
The Knoxville Ice Bears first home playoff game will be April 8 at 7:30 p.m. against either the Mississippi Surge or the Augusta RiverHawks. Fans should come sporting their playoff beards, real or fake!
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SPHL Stories from March 25, 2011
- Ice Bears Entertain Near Sellout Crowd with a Victory - Knoxville Ice Bears
- Icegators Lose To Surge In Closing Seconds - Louisiana IceGators
- RiverHawks Win Eleventh in a Row in Thrilling Fashion - Augusta RiverHawks
- SPHL Announces 'All-SPHL First Team' - Pensacola Ice Flyers
- All-SPHL First Team Announced - SPHL
- SPHL Announces 'All-SPHL Second Team' - Pensacola Ice Flyers
- All-SPHL Second Team Announced - SPHL
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