Ice Bears Fall to Havoc at Home
January 27, 2023 - SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release
Knoxville Ice Bears' Dino Balsamo in action
(Knoxville Ice Bears)
Nathan Hudgin scored twice, Mike Robinson made 25 saves and the Knoxville Ice Bears fell to the Huntsville Havoc 7-1 Friday night at the Civic Coliseum.
Knoxville fell behind in the first period after a defensive-zone turnover set up Nathan Hudgin in front of the crease. Hudgin's initial one-timer was stopped by Kristian Stead, but the rebound came back on Hudgin's stick and the rebound found the net at 13:29.
Dino Balsamo tied the game with seven seconds left before the end of the first period. After a handful of chances for Huntsville to extend its lead, Justin MacDonald cleared a loose puck away from the crease and fired a stretch pass to Balsamo across the neutral zone up the left wing. Balsamo skated into the left circle and split Mike Robinson's pads with a wrist shot for his 14th goal of the season.
Huntsville regained its lead early in the second when the Havoc's forecheck kept the puck in the zone and a shot off the left end line bounced off of Stead and came freeing the left circle. Rob Darrar teed off on it and scored to put Huntsville in front. Robbie Fisher redirected a shot by Alex Kielczewski on the power play at 7:46 to make it 3-1 at the second intermission.
Tyler Piacentini scored off a rebound at 6:52 to make it 4-1 for Huntsville. Sy Nutkevitch and Jacob Barber scored 20 seconds apart midway through the third. Hudgin added his second of the night at 14:14 to cap off the scoring.
Stead finished with 21 saves and was given a game misconduct for instigating a fight within the last five minutes of regulation with Huntsville's Chris Jones.
The two teams will face off again at the Civic Coliseum Saturday night to cap off the weekend.
Images from this story
 Knoxville Ice Bears' Dino Balsamo in action |
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