2011–12 SPHL season

2011–12 SPHL season
League Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Regular season
Season champions Augusta RiverHawks
Season MVP Kevin Swider (Knoxville)[1]
Top scorer Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Playoffs
Finals champions Columbus Cottonmouths
  Finals runners-up Pensacola Ice Flyers
Playoffs MVP Ian Vigier (Columbus)[2]

The 2011–12 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the eighth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The season began October 20, 2011, and ended April 14, 2012, after a 56-game regular season and an eight-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths captured their second SPHL championship.

Preseason

The Mississippi RiverKings joined the SPHL after 19 seasons in the Central Hockey League.[3] With 9 teams now in the SPHL, the league adopted an 8-team playoff format, with all rounds using best-of-three game series.[4][5]

Regular season

Final standings

Team[6] GP W L OTL GF GA Pts
Augusta RiverHawks‡ 56 36 13 7 206 159 79
Columbus Cottonmouths 56 35 16 5 185 155 75
Knoxville Ice Bears 56 32 16 8 208 170 72
Pensacola Ice Flyers 56 30 22 4 187 176 64
Mississippi Surge 56 29 24 3 166 162 61
Mississippi RiverKings 56 25 28 3 167 177 53
Louisiana IceGators 56 24 27 5 177 202 53
Huntsville Havoc 56 22 28 6 163 198 50
Fayetteville FireAntz 56 19 32 5 180 240 43
‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners
     Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team Total Games Average
Knoxville 100,425 28 3,586
Huntsville 94,354 28 3,369
Fayetteville 91,521 28 3,268
Pensacola 86,752 28 3,098
Mississippi RiverKings 82,068 28 2,931
Columbus 76,484 28 2,731
Mississippi Surge 63,280 28 2,260
Louisiana 56,514 28 2,018
Augusta 53,266 28 1,902
League 704,664 252 2,796

President's Cup playoffs

  First Round Semifinals Final
                                       
  1  Augusta RiverHawks 4* 3 2  
8  Huntsville Havoc 3 4* 6  
  2  Columbus Cottonmouths 5 6 x  
  8  Huntsville Havoc 0 1 x  
4  Pensacola Ice Flyers 4 2 x
  5  Mississippi Surge 1 0 x  
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)   2  Columbus Cottonmouths 3 3 x
  4  Pensacola Ice Flyers 2 1 x
  6  Mississippi RiverKings 6 2 3  
3  Knoxville Ice Bears 3 4 6  
4  Pensacola Ice Flyers 4 1 x
  3  Knoxville Ice Bears 1 0 x  
7  Louisiana IceGators 2 2 x
  2  Columbus Cottonmouths 4 3* x  

* indicates overtime game.

Finals

All times are local (EDT/CDT)

April 12, 2012
7:30 PM		 Pensacola 2 – 3
(0–1, 1–0, 1–2)		 Columbus Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA
Attendance: 2,245
April 14, 2012
7:05 PM		 Columbus 3 – 1
(1–1, 1–0, 1–0)		 Pensacola Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, FL
Attendance: 5,630

Awards

The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced March 26, 2012, followed by the All-SPHL teams on March 27, Defenseman of the Year on March 28, Rookie of the Year on March 29, Goaltender of the Year on April 2, Coach of the Year on April 3, and Most Valuable Player on April 4.[7]

President's Cup: Columbus Cottonmouths
Coffey Trophy: Augusta RiverHawks
League MVP: Kevin Swider (Knoxville)[1]
Rookies of the Year: Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge) and Jordan Chong (Pensacola)[8]
Defenseman of the Year: Mark Van Vliet (Knoxville)[9]
Goaltender of the Year: Ian Vigier (Columbus)[10]
Coach of the Year: Jeff Bes (Mississippi Surge)[11]
Playoff MVP: Ian Vigier (Columbus)[2]

All-SPHL selections

1st Team All-SPHL[12]

United States F Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Canada F Emery Olauson (Knoxville)
United States F Jim Gehring (Augusta)
Canada D Mark Van Vliet (Knoxville)
Canada D Ed Snetsinger (Augusta)
Canada G Ian Vigier (Columbus)
2nd Team All-SPHL[13]

United States F Matt Auffrey (Augusta)
Canada F Chris Wilson (Pensacola)
United States F Jason Hill (Louisiana)
United States D Bret Tyler (Columbus)
United States D Ricky Helmbrecht (Knoxville)
Canada G Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge)

All-Rookie Team[14]

Canada F Jordan Chong (Pensacola)
Canada F Brayden Metz (Louisiana)
Canada F Greg Beller (Columbus)
Canada D Andrew Krelove (Columbus)
Canada D James Isaacs (Mississippi Surge)
Canada G Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Link, Dave (4 April 2012). "Kevin Swider of Ice Bears named MVP of SPHL". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gierer, Kathy (16 April 2012). "Columbus Cottonmouths celebrate third title". Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA). Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  3. ↑ Van Tuyl, Chris (13 June 2011). "Mississippi RiverKings announce change to Southern Professional Hockey League". The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN). Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Link, Dave (7 July 2011). "SPHL expands to eight-team playoff". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "New Playoff Format". Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA). 6 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak.com. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "SPHL Awards Schedule Announced". Press release. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "Surge's Smiley, Ice Pilots' Chong Named SBK Co-Rookies of the Year". Press release. 30 March 2012. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Knoxville's Mark Van Vliet Named SBK Defenseman of the Year". Press release. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  10. ↑ "Columbus' Ian Vigier Named SBK Goaltender of the Year". Press release. 2 April 2012. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Surge's Jeff Bes Named SBK Coach of the Year". Press release. 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "Ice Bears, RiverHawks Head All-SPHL First Team". Press release. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  13. ↑ "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". Press release. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  14. ↑ "Cottonmouths, Surge Lead SPHL All-Rookie Team". Press release. 26 March 2012. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.