2013–14 SPHL season

2013–14 SPHL season
League Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration October 25, 2013–April 12, 2014
Regular season
Season champions Pensacola Ice Flyers
Season MVP Canada Shawn McNeil (Louisiana)
Top scorer Canada Shawn McNeil (Louisiana)
Playoffs
Finals champions Pensacola Ice Flyers
  Finals runners-up Columbus Cottonmouths
Playoffs MVP Canada Brett Lutes (Pensacola)

The 2013–14 Southern Professional Hockey League season is the 10th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The Pensacola Ice Flyers defeated the Columbus Cottonmouths in the President's Cup final 2 games to none to repeat as winners of the President's Cup.[1]

Preseason

The Augusta RiverHawks have suspended operations for the 2013-14 season due to failure of the ice system at the James Brown Arena. Team officials, the city of Augusta, and Global Spectrum could not reach an agreement on repairing or replacing the JBA's ice system in time for the club to commit to the forthcoming season.[2]

On May 15, 2013, it was announced that the CHL's Bloomington Thunder (formerly known as the Blaze[3]), along with the AHL's Peoria Rivermen, would move to the Southern Professional Hockey League for the 2013–14 season. The Rivermen had been notified that the Vancouver Canucks, who had purchased the team a month earlier, would not keep them in Peoria. The two teams will reportedly be owned by two former Rivermen executives, John Butler, Bart Rogers and David Holt with financial backing from former Rivermen owner Bruce Saurs.[4]

Regular season

Standings

Team[5] GP W L OTL GF GA Pts
Pensacola Ice Flyers 56 38 13 5 207 139 81
Louisiana IceGators 56 35 18 3 198 175 73
Peoria Rivermen 56 30 18 8 154 144 68
Mississippi RiverKings 56 31 21 4 175 150 66
Huntsville Havoc 56 31 21 4 180 158 66
Columbus Cottonmouths 56 27 26 3 183 173 57
Knoxville Ice Bears 56 25 24 7 157 163 57
Mississippi Surge 56 22 28 6 140 186 50
Fayetteville FireAntz 56 21 30 5 144 183 47
Bloomington Thunder 56 20 33 3 125 192 43
William B. Coffey Trophy winners
     Advanced to playoffs

After games of March 22, 2014

Attendance

Team Total Games Average
Pensacola 114,537 28 4,090
Huntsville 103,993 28 3,714
Peoria 98,176 28 3,506
Knoxville 95,556 28 3,412
Fayetteville 88,623 28 3,165
Columbus 76,618 28 2,736
MS RiverKings 70,991 28 2,535
Louisiana 66,438 28 2,372
Bloomington 66,025 28 2,358
MS Surge 59,277 28 2,117
League 840,234 280 3,000

After games of March 22, 2014

President's Cup playoffs

  First Round Semifinals Final
                                       
  1  Pensacola Ice Flyers 5 4*  
8  Mississippi Surge 1 3  
  1  Pensacola Ice Flyers 0 3 2  
  7  Knoxville Ice Bears 2 1 1  
4  Mississippi RiverKings 4 2 3
  5  Huntsville Havoc 2 4 5  
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)   1  Pensacola Ice Flyers 9 5
  6  Columbus Cottonmouths 1 1
  6  Columbus Cottonmouths 0 6 4  
3  Peoria Rivermen 2 1 1  
5  Huntsville Havoc 0 2
  6  Columbus Cottonmouths 1 4  
7  Knoxville Ice Bears 3 3*
  2  Louisiana IceGators 0 2  

* indicates overtime game.

Finals

All times are local (EDT/CDT)

April 10, 2014
7:05pm
Columbus 1 - 9
(0-3, 1-3, 0-3)
Pensacola Pensacola Civic Center
Pensacola, Florida

Attendance: 4,266
April 12, 2014
7:30pm
Pensacola 5 - 1
(2-1, 3-0, 0-0)
Columbus Columbus Civic Center
Columbus, Georgia

Attendance: 4,127

Awards

The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced on March 26, 2014, the All-SPHL teams on March 27, 2014, the Easton Defensemen of the Year on March 28, 2014, the Easton Rookie of the Year on March 31, 2014, the Sher-Wood Goaltender of the Year on April 1, 2014, the Easton Coach of the Year on April 2, 2014, and the Easton Most Valuable Player on April 3, 2014. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

2013–14 SPHL awards
Award Recipient(s) Finalists
President's Cup Pensacola Ice Flyers Columbus Cottonmouths
William B. Coffey Trophy
(Best regular-season record)
Pensacola Ice Flyers
Easton Defenseman of the Year Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) Kirk Byczynski (Louisiana)
Easton Rookie of the Year Joe Caveney (Pensacola) Garrett Vermeersch (Peoria)
Sher-Wood Goaltender of the Year Kyle Rank (Peoria) Ross MacKinnon (Pensacola)
Easton Coach of the Year Rod Aldoff (Pensacola) Jean-Guy Trudel (Peoria)
Easton Most Valuable Player Shawn McNeil (Louisiana) Todd Hosmer (Mississippi Riverkings)

All-SPHL selections

  Position   First Team Second Team All-Rookie
G United States Kyle Rank (Peoria) United States Ross MacKinnon (Pensacola) Canada Kevin Genoe (Huntsville)
D Canada Andrew Randazzo (Mississippi RiverKings) Canada Kirk Byczynski (Louisiana) United States Mike Grace (Mississippi RiverKings)
D Canada Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) United States Leland Fidler (Huntsville) Canada Jason Gray (Columbus)
F Canada Shawn McNeil (Louisiana) United States Garrett Vermeersch (Peoria) United States Garrett Vermeersch (Peoria)
F Canada Todd Hosmer (Mississippi RiverKings) Canada Matt Gingera (Columbus) United States Joe Caveney (Pensacola)
F United States Joe Caveney (Pensacola) United States Nick Lazorko (Huntsville) Canada Francis Drolet (Knoxville)

References

  1. "Ice Flyers Capture President's Cup". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  2. "Augusta RiverHawks won't be playing hockey in 2013-14". WRDW-Augusta. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  3. "Bloomington hockey franchise changes name to Thunder". The SHPL. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  4. Peoria to join SPHL under former Rivermen management team - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com
  5. "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak.com. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  6. "SPHL Announces All-Rookie Team". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  7. "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  8. "SPHL Announces First Team Selections". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  9. "Huntsville’s Stuart Stefan Named Easton Defenseman of the Year". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  10. "Pensacola’s Joe Caveney Named Easton Rookie of the Year". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  11. "Peoria’s Kyle Rank Named Sher-Wood Goaltender of the Year". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  12. "Pensacola’s Rod Aldoff Named Easton Coach of the Year". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  13. "Louisiana’s Shawn McNeil Named Easton Most Valuable Player". www.thesphl.com. Retrieved 3 April 2014.