Regular Season Wrap-Up: Havoc Finish Middle of the Pack, But Fans Finish on Top
April 10, 2018 - SPHL (SPHL)
Huntsville Havoc News Release
HUNTSVILLE, AL - The second-half of a hockey season is when teams settle their rosters and competition gets stronger as players gain more confidence and starts to gel as a unit.
At the start of the calendar year, we reviewed the first half of the Havoc season, looking at the ups and downs of the young season. Now we're going to examine the last three months of the season and see how Huntsville made the playoffs for the 12th time in franchise history.
"We're Going Streaking!"
The Havoc tapped in to their inner Frank the Tank in the second week of the new year, reeling off four convincing wins in as many games. Mike DeLaVergne was between the pipes for Huntsville for all four games, which started with a 4-0 shutout of the Mississippi RiverKings and concluded with back-to-back wins against the top-ranked Peoria Rivermen in front of the Havoc faithful. The team outscored opponents 17 to 7 during that stretch and Christian Powers scored two of the game-winners.
Later in the season, the Havoc reeled off a seven-game home win streak to keep pace in the top half of the SPHL. The team was 13-4-1 at home in 2018.
He's Got the Power
Christian Powers surged this season and led the league in goals for nearly the entire second half of the year. He finished the season with 28 goals, one behind Pensacola's Jessyko Bernard. In his second year as a pro, he scored 50 points (28g, 22a) -- which included two hat-tricks - and vastly improved over his rookie season when he tallied 30 points. His point total was second on the team to Sy Nutkevitch.
Speaking of Career Years...
Sy Nutkevitch led the Havoc with 62 points this year (21g, 41a), which also put him in the top five in the league in points scored and assists. He finished the year on a five- game point streak, which included a four-point game when he scored two goals and recorded a pair of assists against the Mississippi RiverKings in the penultimate game.
The regular season finale against the Birmingham Bulls was Nutkevitch's 100th regular season game with the Havoc, and his point total this year outdistanced his previous career-high - last year's 50-point output (11g, 39a).
Iron Man Stu II
Earlier this year, Huntsville honored Stuart Stefan for bypassing Ray Ortiz for the most games played in a Huntsville jersey. He ended up finishing the regular season with a career total of 379 games in the SPHL - all for the Havoc. He also finished his sixth consecutive year where he played in all 56 games and capped the regular season by scoring the game-winner in overtime against Birmingham.
His 13 goals on the season led all SPHL defenders and his 42 total points (13g, 29a) was one off his career high in 2013-14 of 43 points.
Call-Ups... and Returns
The Havoc has a lot of excellent players on the roster this year and the East Coast Hockey League took notice. Six different players were loaned to ECHL teams this year: Jack Ceglarski, Danny Smith, Shawn Bates, Tyler Piacentini, Stephen Hrehoriak and Nolan Kaiser. All but Smith eventually returned to the Havoc to help in the fight for the President's Cup.
In the second half of the season, the Havoc also signed a few players who have filled important roles on the team. This included: Anthony Calabrese, who was with the ECHL when Huntsville acquired his SPHL rights; Dylan Hood, who hadn't seen action since a terrible injury with the Louisiana Ice Gators late in the 2015-16 season; and Justin Fox, who started his career with Huntsville the same season as Stuart Stefan, but had since played in the ECHL and with teams overseas.
Pick Your Poison
Huntsville has a pair of strong goalkeepers, which made it difficult for opponents to create a plan of attack against the player between the pipes.
Mike DeLaVergne recorded his second shutout of the season in January against the Mississippi RiverKings and went 11-3-1 with two non-decisions in 17 starts. He finished the season tied for fourth in the league with a 91.1% save percentage.
Keegan Asmundson finished the year tied for fourth in the SPHL with 16 wins and fourth in total saves with 979.
It Ain't All Sunshine and Roses...
The team had a bumpy road to get to the Challenge Round, including...
- Two 3-game losing streaks.
- Setting a franchise record of 10 overtime or shootout losses in a single season, which also led the entire league. Four of those were in a two-week span in March, including three in a row on the road.
- Rough seasons against the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs and Knoxville Ice Bears, getting only one win against each in the regular season series.
- Finishing the season ranked ninth in the penalty kill (80.18%).
Best. Fans. Ever.
However, there are some great takeaways from the year:
- The team was 8-1-0 against new in-state rival the Birmingham Bulls.
- Huntsville has not been shutout in over a year. The last time was February 2016 against the Louisiana Ice Gators.
- Havoc fans helping raise thousands of dollars for charities, including Melissa George Foundation for the Huntsville Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Still Serving Veterans, and the National Space Club to support STEM education.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the season was when fans packed the arena for the final Havoc home game of the regular season. Not only did Huntsville roll over the Birmingham Bulls 6-2, but fans helped set the SPHL attendance record for the third consecutive season. We averaged 4,774 people per game for a total of 133,672. The next closest teams were Peoria and Knoxville with 107,000.
The Havoc finished the regular season in fourth place at 30-16-7 with 70 standings points. The team finishes with 30 or more wins for the sixth time in franchise history and 70 or more points for the third time. The other two times they performed that feat were in last year's franchise record 34-win season, and the 2009-10 regular season when the Havoc won the SPHL President's Cup championship.
Hopefully, history will repeat itself.
Huntsville begins the fight for the President's Cup this week against Mississippi. The first game will be in Southaven on Thursday, April 13. The Havoc return to home ice on Saturday, April 14, at 7 p.m. CDT. Tickets are on sale now in the Havoc front office.
If a third game is necessary, it will be played at the VBC on Pharmacy First Ice Sunday, April 15, at 5 p.m.
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SPHL Stories from April 10, 2018
- Regular Season Wrap-Up: Havoc Finish Middle of the Pack, But Fans Finish on Top - Huntsville Havoc
- SPHL Announces Regular Season Awards Schedule - SPHL
- Daniel Tedesco Named Warrior Player of the Week - Mississippi RiverKings
- Mississippi's Daniel Tedesco Named Warrior Player of the Week - SPHL
- Challenge Round Preview: Mayhem Set 19-Man Playoff Roster - Macon Mayhem
- Havoc Announce Challenge Round Roster - Huntsville Havoc
- Ice Flyers Set 19-Man Playoff Roster - Pensacola Ice Flyers
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