The 2015–16 SPHL season was the 12th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The Pensacola Ice Flyers defeated the Peoria Rivermen in the President's Cup final 3 games to none to win their 3rd SPHL title in 4 years.
| 2015–16 SPHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | Southern Professional Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 23, 2015–April 9, 2016 |
| Number of teams | 9 |
| Regular Season | |
| William B. Coffey Trophy | Peoria Rivermen |
| Season MVP | Garrett Bartus (Macon) |
| Top scorer | Corey Banfield (Pensacola) |
| Playoffs | |
| Finals champions | Pensacola Ice Flyers |
| Finals runners-up | Peoria Rivermen |
| Playoffs MVP | Bryan Hince (Pensacola) |
Preseason
editOn May 4, 2015, the SPHL held an expansion draft in preparation for the Macon Mayhem to begin play as the league's 9th team.[1]
Teams
editMap of teams
edit
Regular season
editStandings
editFinal standings[2]
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peoria Rivermen‡ | 56 | 39 | 12 | 5 | 196 | 125 | 83 |
| Pensacola Ice Flyers | 56 | 31 | 20 | 5 | 175 | 157 | 67 |
| Mississippi RiverKings | 56 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 151 | 161 | 66 |
| Fayetteville FireAntz | 56 | 30 | 21 | 5 | 167 | 145 | 65 |
| Knoxville Ice Bears | 56 | 29 | 21 | 6 | 163 | 165 | 64 |
| Louisiana IceGators | 56 | 26 | 26 | 4 | 151 | 162 | 56 |
| Huntsville Havoc | 56 | 26 | 26 | 4 | 151 | 158 | 56 |
| Macon Mayhem | 56 | 24 | 27 | 5 | 138 | 157 | 53 |
| Columbus Cottonmouths | 56 | 19 | 29 | 8 | 124 | 186 | 46 |
- ‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners
- Advanced to playoffs
Attendance
edit| Team | Total | Games | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville | 117,298 | 28 | 4,187 |
| Peoria | 109,466 | 28 | 3,909 |
| Pensacola | 107,521 | 28 | 3,840 |
| Knoxville | 91,902 | 28 | 3,282 |
| Fayetteville | 78,460 | 28 | 2,802 |
| Columbus | 77,043 | 28 | 2,751 |
| Mississippi | 65,232 | 28 | 2,329 |
| Louisiana | 59,063 | 28 | 2,109 |
| Macon | 58,653 | 28 | 2,094 |
| League | 764,638 | 252 | 3,034 |
President's Cup playoffs
editPlayoff bracket
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championships | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Peoria Rivermen | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Macon Mayhem | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Peoria | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Fayetteville | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Pensacola Ice Flyers | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Huntsville Havoc | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Peoria | 0 | ||||||||||||
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Pensacola | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Mississippi RiverKings | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Louisiana IceGators | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Pensacola | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Mississippi | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Fayetteville FireAntz | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Knoxville Ice Bears | 1 | ||||||||||||
Finals
edit- Home team is listed first.
| April 30 | Peoria Rivermen | 2–3 | OT | Pensacola Ice Flyers | Carver Arena | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | 2:29 – Brandon Zurn | ||||||
| Adam Stuart – 12:22 | Second period | 4:09 – Joe Caveney | ||||||
| Walker Wintoneak – 16:07 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 6:35 – Joseph Holka | ||||||
| Kyle Rank 32 shots / 29 saves | Goalie stats | Matt Zenzola 27 shots / 25 saves | ||||||
| May 1 | Peoria Rivermen | 2–3 | Pensacola Ice Flyers | Carver Arena | Recap | |||
| Dave Pszenyczny – 10:11 | First period | 11:43 – Steve Bergin | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 7:04 – Joe Caveney 15:25 – Stephen Buco | ||||||
| Connor Toomey – PP 5:02 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Kyle Rank 19 shots / 16 saves David Jacobson 7 shots / 7 saves |
Goalie stats | Matt Zenzola 23 shots / 21 saves | ||||||
| May 5 | Pensacola Ice Flyers | 5–4 | Peoria Rivermen | Pensacola Bay Center | Recap | |||
| Adam Pawlick – 15:55 Brandon Zurn – 16:32 |
First period | 13:41 – Connor Toomey | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 1:51 – Chris Wilson | ||||||
| Joseph Holka – 1:19 Drew Baker – PP 9:47 Josh Cousineau – 19:59 |
Third period | 8:51 PP – Mike Gurtler 10:17 – Adam Stuart | ||||||
| Matt Zenzola 23 shots / 19 saves | Goalie stats | David Jacobson 34 shots / 29 saves | ||||||
| Pensacola wins series 3–0 | |
Awards
edit| Award | Recipient(s) | Finalists |
|---|---|---|
| President's Cup | Pensacola Ice Flyers | Peoria Rivermen |
| William B. Coffey Trophy (Best regular-season record) |
Peoria Rivermen | |
| Easton Defenseman of the Year | Brandon Greenside (Peoria) | Jason Price (Knoxville) |
| Easton Rookie of the Year | John Lidgett (Huntsville) | Joseph Manno (Fayetteville) |
| Goaltender of the Year | Garrett Bartus (Macon) | Kyle Rank (Peoria) |
| Easton Coach of the Year | Jean-Guy Trudel (Peoria) | Jeff Bes (Fayetteville) Rod Aldoff (Pensacola) |
| Easton Most Valuable Player | Garrett Bartus (Macon) | Corey Banfield (Pensacola) |
| Kevin Swider Leading Scorer Award | Corey Banfield (Pensacola) |
All-SPHL selections
edit| Position | First Team | Second Team | All-Rookie |
|---|---|---|---|
| G | Garrett Bartus (Macon) | Kyle Rank (Peoria) | Brandon Jaeger (Columbus) |
| D | Brandon Greenside (Peoria) | Dave Pszenyczny (Peoria) | Corey Hale (Knoxville) |
| D | Jason Price (Knoxville) | Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) | Mike Krieg (Pensacola) |
| F | Corey Banfield (Pensacola) | Jake Hauswirth (Louisiana) | Zac Frischmon (Louisiana) |
| F | Kyle Gibbons (Fayetteville) | Josh McQuade (Fayetteville) | John Lidgett (Huntsville) |
| F | Adam Pawlick (Pensacola) | Shawn Skelly (Macon) | Joseph Manno (Fayetteville) |
References
edit- ^ "Macon Mayhem selects players in SPHL expansion draft - 41 NBC News". Archived from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
- ^ "2015–16 SPHL Standings". Pointstreak. Retrieved March 9, 2016.