2014–15 SPHL season

2014–15 SPHL season
League Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration October 24, 2014–April 18, 2015
Number of games 56
Number of teams 8
Regular season
William B. Coffey Trophy Peoria Rivermen
Season MVP Canada Matt Gingera (Columbus)
Top scorer United States Adam Pawlick (Pensacola)
Playoffs
Finals champions Knoxville Ice Bears
  Finals runners-up Mississippi RiverKings
Playoffs Playoffs MVP Canada Bryan Hince (Knoxville)[1]

The 2014–15 SPHL season was the 11th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Mississippi RiverKings in the President's Cup final 2 games to none to win their 4th SPHL title.[1]

Preseason

Following the 2013-14 season, the Bloomington Thunder announced that they would cease operations as a professional franchise to field a junior team in the United States Hockey League.[2]

In May 2014, the Mississippi Surge announced that they would suspend operations for the 2014-15 season.[3]

In June 2014, the league approved the move of the Augusta Riverhawks to Macon, Georgia, with the team being rebranded the Macon Mayhem. The Mayhem will sit out the 2014-15 season, and will begin league play in the 2015-16 season.[4]

Regular season

The October 25 game between the Peoria Rivermen and the Huntsville Havoc was postponed after Huntsville player Justin Cseter fell onto Peoria's Dennis Sicard's skate, slashing his thigh early in the second period.[5] The conclusion of the game was played on February 7, prior to a regularly scheduled game between the teams. Peoria won the completion of the October 25 game 3-1, but Huntsville won the regularly scheduled game also by the score of 3-1.[6]

Standings

Team[7] GP W L OTL GF GA Pts
Peoria Rivermen‡ 56 36 17 3 186 149 75
Columbus Cottonmouths 56 33 19 4 182 161 70
Pensacola Ice Flyers 56 32 18 6 179 148 70
Mississippi RiverKings 56 33 21 2 169 140 68
Knoxville Ice Bears 56 31 22 3 159 166 65
Louisiana IceGators 56 27 21 8 177 184 62
Fayetteville FireAntz 56 21 27 8 143 193 50
Huntsville Havoc 56 11 38 7 130 184 29
‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners
     Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team Total Games Average
Peoria 113,710 28 4,061
Pensacola 110,632 28 3,951
Huntsville 100,381 28 3,585
Knoxville 98,408 28 3,514
Fayetteville 85,122 28 3,040
Columbus 82,290 28 2,938
Mississippi 71,711 28 2,561
Louisiana 65,433 28 2,336
League 727,687 224 3,248

President's Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                                     
1  Peoria Rivermen 1
6  Louisiana IceGators 2  
  4  Mississppi 0
2  Columbus Cottonmouths 1   5  Knoxville 2   5  Knoxville 2
5  Knoxville Ice Bears 2   6  Louisiana 1  
 
3  Pensacola Ice Flyers 1  
4  Mississippi RiverKings 2  

Finals

All times are local (EDT)

April 16, 2015
7:35pm		Knoxville3 – 2
(1–0, 1–2, 1–0)		MississippiKnoxville Civic Coliseum
Knoxville, Tennessee
Attendance: 2,412
April 18, 2015
7:35pm		Mississippi2 – 4
(0–1, 1–2, 1–1)		KnoxvilleKnoxville Civic Coliseum
Knoxville, Tennessee
Attendance: 4,671

Awards

The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced on April 1, 2015, the All-SPHL teams on April 2, the Defensemen of the Year on April 3, the Rookie of the Year on April 6, the Goaltender of the Year on April 7, the Coach of the Year on April 8, and the Most Valuable Player on April 9.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

2014–15 SPHL awards
Award Recipient(s) Finalists
President's Cup Knoxville Ice Bears Mississippi RiverKings
William B. Coffey Trophy
(Best regular-season record) 		Peoria Rivermen
Easton Defenseman of the Year Andrew Randazzo (Mississippi) Louis Belisle (Columbus)
Easton Rookie of the Year Bryce Williamson (Columbus) Kevin Murdock (Fayetteville)
Trevor Hertz (Fayetteville)
Sher-Wood Goaltender of the Year Kyle Rank (Peoria) Peter Di Salvo (Mississippi)
Easton Coach of the Year Jean-Guy Trudel (Peoria) Derek Landmesser (Mississippi)
Easton Most Valuable Player Matt Gingera (Columbus) Adam Pawlick (Pensacola)
Kevin Swider Leading Scorer Award Adam Pawlick (Pensacola)

All-SPHL selections

  Position   First Team Second Team All-Rookie
G United States Kyle Rank (Peoria) Canada Peter Di Salvo (Mississippi) United States Kevin Murdock (Knoxville)
D Canada Louis Bélisle (Columbus) Canada Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) Canada Louis Bélisle (Columbus)
D Canada Andrew Randazzo (Mississippi) Czech Republic Jan Safar (Fayetteville) United States Robbie Donahoe (Knoxville)
F Canada Matt Whitehead (Mississippi) Canada Ryan Salvis (Knoxville) Canada Linden Bahm (Mississippi)
F United States Adam Pawlick (Pensacola) Canada Corey Banfield (Pensacola) Canada Shawn Bates (Columbus)
F Canada Matt Gingera (Columbus) Canada Bryce Williamson (Columbus) Canada Bryce Williamson (Columbus)

References

  1. 1 2 Link, Dave (April 19, 2015). "MVP Bryan Hince makes 36 saves as Ice Bears win SPHL title". Knoxville News-Sentinel. Scripps Media Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ "SPHL's Bloomington Thunder to suspend operations, make way for USHL junior team". pjstar.com. March 25, 2014. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Mississippi Surge exiting the SPHL". pnj.com. May 2, 2014. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ "SPHL Approves RiverHawks' Move To Macon, GA For 2015-2016 Season". thesphl.com. June 25, 2014. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  5. ↑ Corrigan, John (October 26, 2014). "Huntsville Havoc player recovering at home after suffering serious injury during Saturday's game in Peoria, IL". The Huntsville Times. Alabama Media Group. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ Eminian, Dave (February 7, 2015). "Rivermen split historic doubleheader, take sole possession of SPHL top spot; Huntsville player ejected for alleged racial slur". Journal Star. Peoria, IL: Gatehouse Media, Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  7. ↑ "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Cottonmouths Lead SPHL All-Rookie Team Selections". Southern Professional Hockey League. April 1, 2015. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  9. ↑ "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". Southern Professional Hockey League. April 2, 2015. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ "SPHL Announces First Team Selections". Southern Professional Hockey League. April 2, 2015. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  11. ↑ "RiverKings' Randazzo is SPHL's top defenseman". The Fayetteville Observer. April 3, 2015. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Williamson SPHL's top rookie; FireAntz share RU in balloting". The Fayetteville Observer. April 6, 2015. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  13. ↑ Eminian, Dave (April 7, 2015). "Rivermen's Rank repeats as SPHL Goaltender of the Year". Journal Star. Peoria, IL: Gatehouse Media, Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  14. ↑ Eminian, Dave (April 8, 2015). "Rivermen's Trudel is SPHL Coach of the Year". Journal Star. Peoria, IL: Gatehouse Media, Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Cottonmouths' Gingera chosen SPHL MVP". The Fayetteville Observer. April 9, 2015. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.