2014–15 SPHL season

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]

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	Matt Gingera (Columbus)
Top scorer	Adam Pawlick (Pensacola)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Knoxville Ice Bears
Finals runners-up	Mississippi RiverKings
Playoffs MVP	Bryan Hince (Knoxville)^[1]
SPHL seasons
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

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, 2014 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
	2	Columbus Cottonmouths	1								4	Mississippi	0
	5	Knoxville Ice Bears	2			5	Knoxville	2			5	Knoxville	2
						6	Louisiana	1
	3	Pensacola Ice Flyers	1
	4	Mississippi RiverKings	2

Finals

All times are local (EDT)

April 16, 2015 7:35pm

Knoxville

3 – 2 (1–0, 1–2, 1–0)

Mississippi

Knoxville Civic Coliseum Knoxville, Tennessee Attendance: 2,412

Game reference
	Bryan Hince	Goalies	Peter Di Salvo	Referees: Mike Sheehan Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Brent Hooks Neil Campbell
	Brett Valliquette (Nutkevitch, Paton) - 3:56 1 – 0 Dennis Sicard (Cousineau) - 7:35 2 – 0 2 – 1 10:57 - pp - Leo Thomas (Whitehead, Randazzo) 2 – 2 16:48 - pp - Bryon Paulazzo (Harrington, Sobotka) Berkley Scott (Price, Salvis) - 4:54 3 – 2
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	17	Shots	33

April 18, 2015 7:35pm

Mississippi

2 – 4 (0–1, 1–2, 1–1)

Knoxville

Knoxville Civic Coliseum Knoxville, Tennessee Attendance: 4,671

Game reference
	Peter Di Salvo	Goalies	Bryan Hince	Referees: Mike Sheehan Steve Thomson Linesmen: Brent Hooks Neil Campbell
	0 – 1 2:04 - Eric Satim 0 – 2 8:18 - Francis Drolet (Power, Satim) Matt Whitehead (Sobotka) - 11:43 1 – 2 1 – 3 15:12 - Eric Satim (Power, Drolet) 1 – 4 18:39 - en - Matthew Paton Mike Grace (Harrington) - 19:00 2 – 4
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	38	Shots	18

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	Kyle Rank (Peoria)	Peter Di Salvo (Mississippi)	Kevin Murdock (Knoxville)
D	Louis Bélisle (Columbus)	Stuart Stefan (Huntsville)	Louis Bélisle (Columbus)
D	Andrew Randazzo (Mississippi)	Jan Safar (Fayetteville)	Robbie Donahoe (Knoxville)
F	Matt Whitehead (Mississippi)	Ryan Salvis (Knoxville)	Linden Bahm (Mississippi)
F	Adam Pawlick (Pensacola)	Corey Banfield (Pensacola)	Shawn Bates (Columbus)
F	Matt Gingera (Columbus)	Bryce Williamson (Columbus)	Bryce Williamson (Columbus)

References

1. Link, Dave (April 19, 2015). "MVP Bryan Hince makes 36 saves as Ice Bears win SPHL title". Knoxville News-Sentinel. Scripps Media Inc. from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
2. "SPHL's Bloomington Thunder to suspend operations, make way for USHL junior team". pjstar.com. March 25, 2014. from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
3. "Mississippi Surge exiting the SPHL". pnj.com. May 2, 2014. from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
4. "SPHL Approves RiverHawks' Move To Macon, GA For 2015-2016 Season". thesphl.com. June 25, 2014. from the original on April 2, 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. from the original on April 27, 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. from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
7. "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc. from the original on April 18, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
8. "Cottonmouths Lead SPHL All-Rookie Team Selections". Southern Professional Hockey League. April 1, 2015. from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
9. "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". Southern Professional Hockey League. April 2, 2015. from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
10. "SPHL Announces First Team Selections". Southern Professional Hockey League. April 2, 2015. from the original on April 27, 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. from the original on April 27, 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. from the original on April 27, 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.