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Sich, Clarke Put Sting Back in FireAntz

February 14, 2007 - SPHL (SPHL) News Release


One is a face that Fayetteville FireAntz fans know very well. The other is a face those same fans grew to hate last season as an ant killer. Together they have reignited hope for the President's Cup coming to rest in North Carolina.

When Coach John Marks added Mike Clarke and Rob Sich the FireAntz roster, the veteran bench boss had an inkling that hav-ing last season's SPHL Defenseman of the Year and Rookie of the Year together would provide a spark for his struggling team. So far, he has gotten exactly what he wanted.

"I put a lot of onus on those two boys (Clarke and Sich)," Marks said. "I expected them to do well and I thought it would give us a big infusion (of confidence)."

After hanging around the upper half of the standings through October and November, Fayetteville's stock began to slip between Thanksgiving and Christmas. By January 19, the FireAntz posted a 12-11-5 record for sixth place. The power play that had worked so well early on had fallen into a rut, while defensively, the 'Antz showed some weakness.

Marks began working on making adjustments to his roster early in January - with a bit of divine intervention on his side. When the Florida Seals franchise folded, the SPHL held a dispersal draft of the players. By virtue of being in sixth place at the time, Fa-yetteville had the second choice behind the Pee Dee Cyclones. For Marks and his FireAntz, there was only one player that the or-ganization really wanted: Rob Sich.

"I took Sich for a reason. We had played Florida three or four times and he was a dominant player for them," Marks said. "I knew that he would fit in well with our hockey club."

Sich was overjoyed to join the Fayetteville team. "I knew Fayetteville had a good organization and I was pretty happy to get picked up by them," Sich said. "Coming into a new team midway through the season is tough but there's a great group of guys here. They're treating me really well here. Everyone's getting along pretty well and things are rolling pretty good too since we got here. I'm glad to be here."

Marks also knew he had to address the issues on the blue line. As luck would have it, Clarke, who had been playing for the Bloomington Prairie Thunder in the UHL, was not happy with his situation there.

"I wasn't happy with where I was in Bloomington. I went home for a couple of weeks and tried to get over to Europe but I think I waited a little too long," Clarke said. "It was one of those situations where I didn't want to sit at home too long and Fayetteville had called me a bunch of times and I was happy to come back and help them out."

When Clarke arrived, he had to acclimate himself to new teammates and they, to him. It took less than a handful of games for Clarke to fit right in, however.

"When I first came in, my first couple of games it was obviously a little bit of a struggle because there are a lot of young guys here, a lot of different guys," Clarke said. "Sich had been practicing with the team for a couple of weeks. I think it was a little eas-ier transition for him. After the last Jacksonville game, we had a breakout game and a lot of guys scored some goals. We've got some good players on this team so now that everyone's gelling and our power play is good so hopefully we can keep rolling."

He's got a lot of poise with the puck. He sees the ice very well. He's an excellent passer and a tremendous skater," Marks said of Clarke. "He's the quarterback of our power play and that's obviously really come around."

With the additions of Sich and Clarke as well as Chad Wilcox who brings toughness to the roster, Marks now looks forward to the stretch run.

"I feel that we can play against anybody in the league and I feel we can win against anybody in the league," Marks said. "It doesn't matter whether we're home or away. I just want our guys to try to get better each game."

(please see www.prohockeynews.com for the entire Rob Sich and Mike Clarke article)

Cap Concerns

In a salary cap league, it would appear to be a near impossibility to add the previous year's Defenseman of the Year and Rookie of the Year in midseason without having to make some serious cuts in the existing roster. But that was not the case in Fayetteville where a combination of good cap management and some reserve money came into place.

"We had a defenseman, Tim Schneider, who was signed for the year," Marks said. "But instead, he made the UHL and was up there. There was always a chance he was going to come back though, so I saved the money. We also have a lot of younger guys who don't make as much, so there was room."

With the addition of Sich and Clarke, there probably isn't enough money to bring Schneider in, if he becomes available, without making some moves. But based on Sich's and Clarke's first few weeks with the club, it seems doubtful anyone in Fayetteville would regret bringing the pair in, even at the cost of a fine defenseman.

Passing the Puck, Making Some Bucks and Filling the House

It was a great night for hockey last Saturday night in Huntsville as the club took on the Knoxville Ice Bears in front of Von Braun Center record 7,083 fans. By game's end, the Huntsville fans, the largest crowd to attend a sporting event in the building's history, saw a thrilling-come-from-behind shootout win over the Ice Bears, witnessed Tristan Senior's SPHL record-tying assist record, and raised $31,000 for the Army Emergency Relief Fund.

Senior posted five assists to tie an SPHL record for most assists in a game, while a jersey auction drove the fundraiser. Captain James Patterson's sweater fetched $2,600, the highest amount paid for ajersey, immediately after he scored the game-winning goal in the shootout. Ironically, Senior's record-setting sweater, (along with Trevor Karasiewicz's) went for the lowest amount ($900).

They Said It

"They knock him down all the time and (the referees) don't call nothing. It's a (expletive) disgrace."

John Brophy discussing Knoxville going into goaltender Doug Groenestege with John Packett of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"It doesn't faze me. I don't want to get hurt. If they want to go after me fine, let's just fight. I'll fight him (Mike Craigen) anytime and you can tell him that. He's not going to get anywhere doing that. He'll have his run (in hockey) and then go and dig ditches or something."

Doug Groenestege about Mike Craigen's running into him during Friday night's game in Richmond

"That's one thing we've got to work on. I don't know what it is when we get a lead, whether we get tense and don't play the same game. We need to play the same game for 60 minutes whether we're winning or losing."

Kevin Swider discussing the Ice Bears inability to hold onto leads with Nick Gates of the Knoxville News-Sentinel

"We're taking it like it's game seven - must-win. We've been struggling lately and I put a lot of pressure on them." John Gibson before Saturday's Huntsville-Knoxville game to Skip Vaughn of The Huntsville Times

TEAM NOTES

The Cottonmouths have won nine consecutive games to move into first place in the SPHL. The club has a one-point lead over the Richmond Renegades, but hold five games in hand over that club. Columbus started the week with a pair of laughers and then had a tough go of it against Fayetteville, but posted a 3-2 win over the visiting FireAntz. Three different players scored for the "˜Snakes in that game while Chad Rycroft came up with 32 saves during the contest. The team's first game this week was a 6-2 win over the Pee Dee Cyclones, followed with a 6-1 win over the Jacksonville Barracudas. The club's impressive depth was shown by six different play-ers scoring against Pee Dee and five players scoring against Jacksonville, with Tim Green bag-ging a pair. Ryan Senft had a fine outing against the Barracudas as he made 45 stops in Florida to pick up a win. Green has made a steady climb up the scoring standings and was tied for the league lead on Saturday until Knoxville "˜s Kevin Swider moved ahead of him on Sunday. Mean-while, Ryan Rutz leads the league in goals scored with 28 to his credit. Defenseman Tom Wilson rejoined the club but had a fast exit on Saturday against Fayetteville when ejected for instigating a fight with Chad Wilcox just 9:39 into the game.

The FireAntz split a four-game road trip that ended with a huge 6-3 win over the Jack-sonville Barracudas to open up an eight-point lead over that club for fifth place. Tim Velemirovich keyed the win by scoring three times and picking up an assist, while Rob Sich had two goals and three assists. Velemirovich also had a good game against Rich-mond to start the week as he scored twice, but he was the only one to do so in a 5-2 loss to the Renegades. Starting net minder Chad Collins was chased in that game after giving up three goals in the first 6:29 of the second period. Four different players scored in the next game as the club rebounded from the Richmond setback with a 4-3 win in Hunts-ville. Collins keyed the win as he made 29 saves, many of the difficult variety in the win. Josh Welter duplicated Velemirovich's feat in Columbus as he scored the club's only goals in a 3-2 setback (Sich assisted on both the goals). Oddly, Welter scored a goal 24 seconds into the game and then picked up his second goal with just 24 seconds remaining in overtime. Fayetteville will play its fifth consecutive game on the road against Pee Dee before returning for a pair of home games over the weekend.

A magnificent rally in front of 7,083 fans saved a week in which the club could easily have gone winless. With the Havoc trailing 5-2 late in the second period, Travis Kauf-feldt gave his teammates something to rally around when he made it a 5-3 win just six seconds left in the period. James Patterson brought the club closer before Knoxville"˜s Mike Craigen reopened the Ice Bears two-goal lead. Huntsville then received goals

from Mike Degurse and Craig Bushey to knot the contest before Patterson completed his hat trick, a five-point evening with the game-winning goal in the shootout. Hunts-ville wasn't as fortunate in its other outings however, as they lost 4-3 at home against Fayetteville and then dropped the rematch to Knoxville 5-4. Patterson followed his five-point evening against the Ice Bears with two goals and an assist in the loss to the Ice Bears. The Huntsville captain raised himself into fourth place in the scoring race, just four points behind Ice Bear Kevin Swider. Coach John Gibson signed Degurse to a sec-ond five-game tryout and brought Dan Pszenyczny on board to help the defense. The defense is a concern as shown by the fact that the club gave up 14 goals in three games this week.

It was not a good week for the Barracudas, losing twice at home by a combined 12-4 count. The losses firmly entrenched the club in sixth place, eight points behind the Fayetteville FireAntz (the Barracudas own four games in hand over the FireAntz, however) and 12 points ahead of last place Pee Dee Cyclones. Jason Cassells did his best in a 6-1 loss to Columbus as he scored the lone goal and fired 10 shots on goal, but it was far too little. Newcomer Steve Zoryk picked up an assist on the lone score. The club put 46 shots on goal in the setback, but Columbus net minder Ryan Senft stymied Jacksonville. The club was knotted a three apiece against Fayette-ville in the week's finale, but gave up three unanswered goals to lose. Captain Greg LeColst picked up a goal and an assist during the loss. The club will be very busy this week with four games which will be capped with a home-and-home series against the Columbus Cottonmouths. The signing of Zoryk led to the trade of K.C. Caudill to Knoxville for future considerations.

Two unanswered third period goals against Huntsville on Sunday salvaged the week for the Ice Bears by allowing them to win by a 5-4 count over the Havoc. Knoxville had lost to Richmond and the Havoc prior to Sunday's contest and seemed on the way to another loss until Ben Manny's spectacular one-man effort and Kevin Swider's power-play goal gave the club the win. Swider's output in the game allowed him to move into first place in the league's scoring race with 63 points over Columbus' Tim Green, who has 61 points. Knoxville picked up a point when Mike Tuomi scored at the 18:56 mark of the third period to force Richmond into overtime in a 3-2 loss. Tuomi and Swider each had a goal and an assist during the contest. The club took a long bus ride to Hunts-ville after the Richmond game and enjoyed a 6-4 lead late in that contest until the Havoc scored twice, then won the shootout. Tuomi and Mike Craigen played with fire this week. Tuomi angered the Richmond Renegades and the Huntsville Havoc with his hard play during the game. Tuomi angered Havoc defenseman Tim Hockley by clearing the snow from in front of Matt Carmichael's net after Tuomi missed his shootout at-tempt. Hockley shoved Tuomi over and then converted on his own shot. Meanwhile, Craigen was up to his usual tricks against Richmond's Doug Groenestege by standing in his crease and jabbing the net minder causing a firestorm at the end of the contest. The two teams had to be separated before they left the ice after the game. Matt Ko-hansky has played increasingly better during his return and was named the First Star of the Game with a goal and two assists in the win over Huntsville.

The Cyclones are 1-7-3 in their last 11 games and time is running short. In an effort to shake the club up ownership named team captain Chris Crombie coach in place of Mark Richards and pro-moted Allan Sirois to team captain. Richards will stay on and focus on getting the community more involved with the club. Richards will also work on increasing sponsorship for the Cyclones. Richards' final 2006-07 record as coach of the club was 9-23-6. Five of the club's next six games are against either Jacksonville or Fayetteville, the two clubs directly ahead of them in the stand-ings, so the time is now. Pee Dee picked up a valuable point when it took the Richmond Rene-gades into overtime for the second time in two outings. A late goal by Chris Kovalcik forced the extra frame, but the club came up short. The Cyclones other game this week was a 6-2 setback against the red-hot Columbus Cottonmouths. Goaltender Guy St. Vincent's departure to Bossier-Shreveport of the Central League kicked off a few moves. Len Dicostanzo was signed to fill St. Vincent "˜s slot while Nick Cammarata was added to help round out the defense.

Danny White had three goals and an assist to lead the Renegades to a 5-2 win over the Fayetteville FireAntz. The two goals proved good enough to move him into second place in the league's goal scoring race. J.J. Wrobel also chipped in with a trio of help-ers. The club's next two games became overtime thrillers, with both wins going to Richmond. Donald Melnyk scored the game winner at 3:04 into overtime to give Rich-mond a 3-2 win behind Doug Groenestege's 33 saves against Knoxville in a game that nearly boiled over. Groenestege and the entire Renegades team were angered by Knox-ville "˜s crashing the crease and the two clubs nearly came together in the end. The club won a see-saw game against Pee Dee as it took the lead three times before Dean Jack-son scored his second goal of the game at the 2:18 mark of overtime. Mat Goody be-came just the third player in SPHL history to cross over the 300 PIM barrier when he fought Chad Wilcox. He now sits at 326 PIM. Goody needs 71 more PIM this season to eclipse Luke Phillips' all-time SPHL record of 396 PIM. The club signed Chris Shaw to a contract after he was released by the CHL Tulsa Oilers.

The Lighter Side!

Helping and Honoring

SPHL hockey isn't all just fun and games. All of the league's team are reaching out to the community and doing what they can to help out. Check out some of these upcoming events;

- On February 13th the Columbus Cottonmouths will hold their annual Tip-A-Snake. This fundraiser has been success-ful over the past six years, as the team has been able to raise over $180,000 to date! All proceeds go to the Children's Miracle Network in the Columbus area.

- Knoxville will hold Bike/Mullett weekend on February 17th.

- On March 10th the Richmond Renegades will hold Wyeth/ NASCAR/RIR Jessica Beck Memorial Scholarship Night. In addition to many other events the Renegades hope to raise $20,000 for the Jessica Beck Memorial Scholarship Fund by raffling game jerseys and much more.

Check out the SPHL Statistics



SPHL Stories from February 14, 2007


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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