Sellout Crowd Awaits Tonight as Ice Flyers Continue Eventful Weekend
SPHL Pensacola Ice Flyers

Sellout Crowd Awaits Tonight as Ice Flyers Continue Eventful Weekend

Published on January 17, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Pensacola Ice Flyers News Release


PENSACOLA, FLA. - The team's pregame, morning skate, had just ended on Dec. 27 when the Ice Flyers players learned the game that night at the Pensacola Bay Center could be a sellout.

Instantly, more fuel for the motivation tank.

Three weeks later that same experience awaits tonight when the Ice Flyers have a rematch against the Evansville Thunderbolts with a sellout crowd on Wiener Dog Race Night, sponsored by PenAir Credit Union. The final tickets were purchased early Saturday afternoon.

Tonight's sellout makes four capacity crowds this season, but this is the first on a non-discounted ticket night. There will be wiener dog races, featuring more than 150 pups, between both intermissions.

"This community in general, it's such a wonderful thing how they support the Ice Flyers," said Ice Flyers head coach Jeremy Gates following Friday night's 3-2 overtime shootout loss against Evansville. "Having the players able to play in front of a sold out building means everything to them and it does provide energy for them.

"When we capitalize on that, this place is a hard place (for visiting teams) to play in."

Tonight's game is part of a weekend of three home games in three days - the only time this season it happens at the Bay Center. On Sunday, the Ice Flyers face the Macon Mayhem at 4:05 p.m. on Youth Jersey Day, sponsored by Gulf Winds Credit Union. The first 1,000 kids ages 12-under will receive a replica Ice Flyers home-white jersey that has always been popular giveaway item.

All of this is part of six games in nine days, after the Ice Flyers spent last weekend in Moline, Illinois playing the Quad City Storm in one of their longest road trips this season.

"As I told the guys, we're in the meat grinder of the season right now." Gates said. "There's a lot of lessons to be learned. It is a maturing process we need to get to. One shift at a time. One day at a time.

"The regular season is a dress rehearsal for the playoffs and how we play throughout the course of the season. You are going to have ups and downs, you are going to have adversity. What we want to do is just stay even keel."

Gates hopes part of that learning experience occurred Friday night. The Ice Flyers jumped to a 2-0 lead at the first intermission on goals by Tyler Burnie and Zach Jones. Both were finishes of textbook passes by Mike Moran and Tyrone Bronte to wide open players who buried shots into a wide open net.

But the Thunderbolts tied the game in the second period. A key moment occurred on a penalty kill when the Ice Flyers just missed a 2-man breakaway thwarted by Evansville goaltender Cody Karpinski and prevented a 3-1 lead. The second after an elbowing penalty expired on Moran, Evansville got a tying goal as he exited the penalty box.

The game remained tied through the third period and a tight defensive overtime period when the Ice Flyers got just one shot in the five minute span. Evansville then won the 5-player shootout.

"I thought (Evansville) played a mature game. They are a bigger team, they don't move as fast as we do, but they stayed the course of the game and took what we gave them at times.

"It was a good hockey game overall," Gates said. "Our guys' efforts were there. It's a maturing process throughout the course of the season. When there is adversity, you have to think, am I going to waste energy on things I can't control? Or am I going to absorb it, move on and learn and get better.

"It stinks we didn't get the extra point. We'll take a point for now, but we're in a maturing process right now and we'll keep moving."

The overtime loss spoiled a terrific goaltending performance by Billy Girard, who grew up in Boca Raton and was playing in just his fourth game for the Ice Flyers, his first in Pensacola. He stopped 33 of 35 shots.

"I thought Billy was our best player (Friday)," Gates said. "We had some moments and he was great. He made the saves he was supposed to make and the ones he let in, he had traffic in front of him on both of them."

The point gained Friday pushed the Ice Flyers (18-8, 4 OT losses) into a second-place tie with the Huntsville Havoc in the SPHL standings. Both have 40 points. The Peoria Rivermen lead with 45 points and a 22-8 (1 OT loss) record.

After this weekend, the Ice Flyers will have just 10 home games left.

"Time really flies," Gates said. "If we get a win (Saturday), that's three points out of four and we certainly will take that. We're looking for response here. And Sunday we go against Macon, a team we're familiar with (this will be the fourth meeting) and go from there. It's just day a time.

"We have been doing a lot of win-loss, win-loss and we are trying to finding some consistency in our game. It is just a maturing process.

"We have a lot of good young players, we have a lot of skill, we have a lot of speed and we have a lot of good people, but it's just that growth process as a professional each and every day. It's a grind and we're in the middle of it."

WANT TO GO/FOLLOW?

WHO: Macon Mayhem vs. Ice Flyers

WHEN: Sunday at 4 p.m.

WHERE: Pensacola Bay Center

TICKETS: L Sunday's game tickets can be purchased at www.iceflyers.com or at the Bay Center box office.

RADIO: Fox Sports Pensacola (101.1 FM or 1450 AM).

LIVESTREAM - FloHockey.com (subscription required)

LIVESTATS: www.thesphl.com.

Check out the Pensacola Ice Flyers Statistics

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SPHL Stories from January 17, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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