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This week in the WHA2

February 20, 2004 - SPHL (SPHL) News Release


CELEBRATION, Fla. – The World Hockey Association 2 (WHA2) today announced the WHA2 Player of the Week is Jacksonville Barracudas forward Jamie Miller. In games last week, Miller had four goals, including a hat trick versus Lakeland, and three assists. The WHA2 Goaltender of the Week is Alabama Slammers Jamie Ronayne. In games last week Ronayne had two wins, one loss and made 102 saves on 108 shots. Ronayne has a 3.12 goals against average and leads the league with a .917 save percentage. This is the second consecutive week that Ronayne has earned WHA2 Goalie of the Week honors.

The next WHA2 appearance at the ESPN Club for "SportsTalk Live!" will be Tuesday, February 20 at 7pm. Lakeland Loggerheads Captain Rob Schweyer will be the featured guest. The ESPN Club is located on Disney's BoardWalk.

The WHA2 is proud to announce a new partnership with Infinity Pro Sports. Infinity Pro Sports specializes in Internet Solutions for professional sports teams. The WHA2 recently launched new message boards that were created by Infinity Pro Sports.

The WHA2 announced some schedule changes for the second half of the season. The Lakeland Loggerheads game originally scheduled for March 7 versus the Miami Manatees has been moved to February 21 at 7:05pm. All Sunday home games at the Lakeland Center will have a start time of 4:05pm. The Macon Trax have made some time changes to upcoming home games. The Sunday, February 29 game versus Alabama originally scheduled for 4:05pm has been moved up to 3:05pm. The Saturday, March 27 game versus Orlando originally scheduled for 7:35pm has been moved up to 6:05pm. The Jacksonville Barracudas have changed the start time for Sunday, February 22 game versus the Miami Manatees from 6:05pm to 2:05pm. The March 6 game versus the Alabama Slammers has been changed to March 31 at 7:05pm.

The Alabama Slammers began last weekend with a thrilling 5-3 victory over the Macon Trax. Next, the Slammers played a two game series with the first place Jacksonville Barracudas. The Slammers played one of their best games of the season in the first game, upsetting Jacksonville by a score of 3-1. Jamie Ronayne, making his fourth start in the last five games, turned away 31 of 32 shots in the win, including 14 of 15 in the third period. The Jacksonville Barracudas earned a split with Alabama on Saturday night winning the second of back-to-back games by a score of 2-1. Barracudas Randy Hevey was the difference in the game as he turned away 39 Alabama shots. This weekend, Alabama traveled to Orlando to take on the second place Seals. Alabama's Chad Peck recorded a "hat trick" including the game winner with 35 seconds left in overtime to lift the Slammers past Orlando Thursday night at the TD Waterhouse Centre. The Slammers return home to the Pelham Civic Complex Saturday night to host the Macon Trax. Tickets start as low as $12 and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations, or by calling 205-715-6000 or online at ticketmaster.com.

The Jacksonville Barracudas wrapped up a five-game road swing winning their last two games and hanging on to first place in the WHA2. This past Thursday, the Barracudas lost a heartbreaker to Orlando 5-4 at the TD Waterhouse Center. Jamie Miller scored a goal and had two assists, while Lyle Steenbergen added two helpers in the loss. The Barracudas have only won twice in Orlando. Friday the 13th was an unlucky day for the ‘Cudas as they lost their third straight 3-1 to Alabama. Steve MacIntyre scored the game-tying goal only to have it disallowed by the referee. The referee ruled the puck hit the crossbar. Randy Hevey set a league record with 55 saves in the game. On Saturday, the Barracudas got back to their winning ways with a 3-1 win over Alabama. John McCabe scored twice and Randy Hevey made another 39 saves in the win. Captain Derek Toninato will be lost for a couple of weeks after sustaining a shoulder injury. Toninato was placed on the 14-day IR. On Tuesday, the ‘Cudas made it two in a row beating the Lakeland Loggerheads 8-6. Jamie Miller scored his third hat trick of the season (four overall) while adding an assist to lead the way. John McCabe (1g-2a) and Jay McCabe (2g-1a) scored three points each. The Barracudas scored eight goals on only 25 shots for the game. This weekend, the ‘Cudas kick-off six-in-a-row at home, their biggest home stand of the season, against the Macon Trax on Friday night. Orlando comes to town on Saturday night, and then Miami arrives for a matinee on Sunday afternoon. Catch all the play-by-play action of Barracudas hockey exclusively at jacksonvillebarracudas.com through IRN.fm.

The Lakeland Loggerheads announced three schedule changes that will affect home dates for the month of February. The home game on Fri., Feb. 13th vs. Macon has been changed to Sun., Mar. 7th at 4:05pm. The home game on Sun., Mar. 7th vs. Miami has been changed to Sat., Feb. 21st. The home game on Sat., Mar. 27th vs. Jacksonville has been changed to Tue., Feb. 17th. For the remainder of the season, all Sunday home games will now start at 4:05pm. This will affect the games on Feb. 29th, March 7th, March 21st, March 28th and April 4th. The changes were necessary due to scheduling conflicts with previously planned events at The Lakeland Center. The Loggerheads will be holding a special "Country Night" on Friday, February 20th at 7:05pm vs. the Miami Manatees sponsored by WPCV 97.5 FM. 97 Country will be raffling off a pair of tickets to see Shania Twain at the St. Pete Times Forum, CDs and other WPCV prizes. There will also be prizes for the best dressed cowboy and cowgirl, stick horse races during intermission, and a "Rope the Mascot" contest.

The Macon Trax visit the first place Barracudas for the start of a three game in three night stretch on Friday. The Trax will be well rested coming into the contest. While the host ‘Cudas have to play a midweek game the Trax will have had eight days off. The Trax have yet to win in Jacksonville's new home. On Saturday, the Trax will take their final trip into Alabama for the season. Unfortunately for the fans in Pelham, they will not get to see the best rivalry in the WHA2 up close until at least the playoffs. The two bitter rivals still have two games remaining in Macon. The Trax will finish a busy weekend versus the defending champs. The Seals are expected to bring a different look to the ice. Goalies David Goverde and Mike Correia are both on injured reserve. Recently the Seals have been rotating substitute goalies in their absences. Last Thursday, the Trax battled the Alabama Slammers. Macon fell behind in the first period and battled back to gain a two goal lead in the third period. The only problem was Alabama scored four goals of their own in the final frame en route to a 5-3 victory. Join the team for "CHUGGIN' WITH THE TRAX" on Monday, Feb. 23 at the Applebee's on Russell Parkway in Warner Robins. Come by between 6-7pm as Adam Minnick will be joined by Head Coach Tommy Stewart and various Trax players. The Trax have announced several promotions for the February 29 game. It will be "WILLIE NIGHT" with free parking and discounted tickets for all Willie Nelson Ticket Holders and for anyone whose name is Willie, William, Bill, Williams, etc. will receive a FREE TICKET! It will also be "NASCAR NIGHT". All NASCAR fans will have a chance to win tickets for the RICHARD PETTY DRIVING EXPERIENCE and other great Atlanta Motor Speedway Gift Packs. Also, the Atlanta Motor Speedway Pace Car will be on hand. Calling all leap year babies, the February 29 game will also be "LEAP BABY BASH". If you have a birthday on Feb. 29, just show your ID for a free ticket. Remember, the Sunday, Feb. 29 game has been changed to a 3:05 pm start time against Alabama. The Saturday Mar. 27 has been changed to a 6:05 pm start time against Orlando.

The Miami Manatees are back on the ice after coming off their longest break of the season when they head out on the road for three games in three nights. The Manatees last game was an overtime win in Orlando on February 10th. The Manatees were set to play at the Miami Arena on February 14th against the Macon Trax, but the game was rescheduled to March 8th, giving the Manatees a 10-day break between games. Head Coach Zac Boyer has been working hard to keep the Manatees prepared for their upcoming games, but one never knows which Manatees team will show up after a long layoff. The Manatees first two games on the upcoming road trip will be this Friday and Saturday against the Lakeland Loggerheads (7-26-5). The Manatees overall record against the Loggerheads is 5-2, but the Manatees road record against last place Lakeland is 1-2. Currently, the Manatees 45 points leave them only four points behind the Orlando Seals. The Manatees are currently in fourth place, two points behind the Alabama Slammers, although the Slammers have played four more games. With a strong showing this weekend, the Manatees can take over the Slammers and challenge the Seals for the second place position. But the challenge for the Manatees will continue when they head to Jacksonville for a Sunday matinee game against the Barracudas. The Manatees also welcome back the team's second-leading scorer Kevin Swider after his stint with the Florida Everblades. Short of bodies, the Everblades turned to several WHA2 players, including Swider, to help fill in the roster spots for three games this past weekend. Swider made an immediate impact with the Everblades, scoring a short-handed goal and notching three assists. His efforts helped the Everblades win two of their three games. After his success with the Everblades, Swider had a decision to make whether to remain in the ECHL or to return back to the Miami Manatees. But as the Everblades were getting ready to depart via bus for Augusta, Swider asked for his release from the team so he can rejoin the Manatees as they head into the latter half of the season. The Manatees are thrilled with his return.

The Orlando Seals, who have earned points in eight of their last nine games, look to continue their recent hot streak with two games this weekend. The Seals hosted the Alabama Slammers on Thursday and staged a huge comeback to tie the game 6-6 in regulation but fell short in the overtime session. On Saturday, the Seals will visit the Jacksonville Barracudas for a 7:05 p.m. start in Jacksonville. Orlando returns home to face the Macon Trax on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. The Seals earned five of a possible six points last week, with a 4-3 overtime loss against Miami, then a 5-4 win over Jacksonville and a 7-2 win over Lakeland. With both David Goverde and Mike Correia injured, the Seals used emergency goalies Shad Higginbotham and Eric Scanlon to post their two wins. The two combined, with Scanlon getting credit for the win over Jacksonville, while Higginbotham played the entire game in the win over Lakeland. It wasn't a magic act, but Seamus Galligan netted a Seals season high four goals in one game against Lakeland. The seven goals in that game are also a team high for the season. Jason Elders (3G, 4A) and B.J. Stephens (2G, 5A) each registered seven points in the Seals three games last week. Seals tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Ticket information is available by calling the Seals at (407) 447-PUCK (7825).

The WHA2 has six member teams for the 2003 – 2004 season: the Alabama Slammers, Jacksonville Barracudas, Lakeland Loggerheads, Macon Trax, Miami Manatees, and Orlando Seals. Every game will be broadcast on www.irn.fm with video broadcast of select games available throughout the season.

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