Ice Bears Fall to Bulls to Open Road Weekend
Published on February 20, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release
Knoxville made a push in the third period, but couldn't close the deficit as Birmingham pulled away late and the Ice Bears fell to the Bulls 5-1 at the Pelham Civic Complex Friday night.
Birmingham opened the scoring when Parker Sartesky fed a cross-crease pass to Shawn Kennedy for a backdoor tap-in at 5:18 of the first period. Danny Weight made it 2-0 for the Bulls when he knocked in a loose puck underneath Connor Green for a power play goal at 9:29.
Green limited the damage in the latter half of the opening frame by stopping Karen Gronick on a breakaway and turning aside a sweeping Matt Wood in front of the crease.
Knoxville nearly cut into the deficit before the break, but Hayden Stewart stopped Tyler Williams' backhand in a net mouth scramble to keep the Ice Bears off the scoreboard at the first intermission.
Neither team generated much offensively in the second period and the goalies answered the few scoring chances that surfaced. Green fought off MacGregor Sinclair's breakaway rush and held onto a rebound from the left hash. At the other end, Stewart gloved a Dawson McKinney wrist shot and held onto Carson Vance's look from the left circle.
Knoxville cut the deficit to one early in the third with Billy Roche's goal from the right point at 2:46 after Blake Tosto and Derek Osik got the puck to him off an offensive zone face-off.
Kyren Gronick intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and generated a two-on-one. He sauced a pass over to C.J. Walker, who beat Green to make it 3-1 at 12:09. Matt Wood scored off a centering feed from Kennedy 65 seconds later. Jonathan Bartuccio-Pereira tacked on an empty-netter with 2:20 remaining to close out the scoring.
Green finished with 21 saves. Stewart made 24 stops for Birmingham.
The two teams will face off again Saturday night in Pelham.
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