Kuzmich's Hat Trick Paces Ice Bears to 4-1 Road Win
SPHL Knoxville Ice Bears

Kuzmich's Hat Trick Paces Ice Bears to 4-1 Road Win

Published on March 22, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release


Ryan Kuzmich scored his second hat trick of the season en route to a four-point night, Logan Flodell made 31 saves and the Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Fayetteville Marksmen 4-1 at Crown Coliseum in North Carolina Sunday afternoon.

Knoxville narrowly struck first in the opening period on multiple occasions, but Kuzmich hit the crossbar from the slot. Sean Henry's shot from the perimeter deflected over Ryan Kenny and started to skip towards the goal line, but Kenny smothered the puck before Kuzmich or Jared Westcott could push it across. Kenny stopped Tyler Williams from the left circle and kicked away Kyle Soper's look from the right wing.

The Ice Bears struck early in the second period with Ryan Kuzmich's 18th goal of the year. Frankie Ireland deflected a pass in the neutral zone and lost his stick. Fayetteville collected the puck and attempted to drop a pass back to its own end, but the pass hit Ireland's loose stick and Westcott picked it up and carried it up the middle. Westcott walked Tyler Love in the slot before sliding a backdoor pass to Kuzmich on the right side of the crease to put it past Kenny at 1:12.

Knoxville took a 2-0 lead when Ireland tied up Jordan Henderson in the Fayetteville zone and Kuzmich stole the puck. Kuzmich fed Ireland in the right circle and Ireland's centering feed was blocked by Ryan Lieth before Ireland regained control of the puck and found Kuzmich in the left circle through the seam. Kuzmich's one-timer met a yawning net at 14:09.

Flodell protected the lead by knocking down a shot from the left wing and stopping Sam Anzai's rebound from in front of the crease.

Fayetteville nearly cut into the deficit on its first power play chance, but Flodell slid to his right to stop a quick shot by Kyler Head from in front of the crease. Flodell then fought off a slap shot by Marcus Fechko from the left circle and stopped Graeme McCrory from the slot to help Knoxville kill off the penalty and take a two-goal lead into the intermission.

Kuzmich completed the natural hat trick 13 seconds into the third period with Ireland collecting his third assist and Westcott his second. The line worked the puck behind the Fayetteville net and Westcott slipped the puck to Kuzmich on the short side post where he tapped it in behind Kenny for his 20th of the year.

Shane Murphy scored 24 seconds later off a rebound to get Fayetteville on the board.

Mitch Atkins scored on an empty net with an assist from Kuzmich with two minutes left to cap off the scoring. Kenny made 28 saves for the Marksmen.

Knoxville is in Macon Friday night to take on the Mayhem. The Marksmen head to Roanoke to face the Rail Yard Dawgs Friday night.

Check out the Knoxville Ice Bears Statistics

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SPHL Stories from March 22, 2026


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