The Top Five Star Parts Of The Ice Flyers Early Season

December 10, 2023

By Bill Vilona Ice Flyers Correspondent

The Ice Flyers are now two months into their season. Time to take some quick stock.

When the team returns late Saturday from Illinois, after back-to-back games Friday and Saturday against the Quad City Storm, the Ice Flyers will have completed nearly one-third of their schedule.

It’s been a special start, so far, beginning with an unbeaten home record (8-0), current second-place position in the SPHL standings and crowd support.

Here are five elements that have stood out.

HOME PERFECTION

You can’t surpass unbeaten, right? At 8-0 at the Pensacola Bay Center, the Ice Flyers have won games with crowd-pleasing dramatics, including multiple wins after trailing in the first period. This team has always found an extra gear at the right time on home ice.

It is something that coach Gary Graham repeatedly discussed in media interviews and during the preseason gathering with Ice Flyers fans on the importance of playing well at home.

The team is between a 21-day gap this month between home games. Here is how Graham reflected after last Saturday’s big win against Peoria.

“We are confident in this building, but we don’t even talk about that stuff around here,” he said. “We haven’t talked about the standings. I honestly told the guys this first third of the season we are just trying get our identity.

“Trying to get guys going, trying to figure out who is going to be playing with who and what works. I like where we’re at with our depth and most importantly it’s the character.. of the group. That is the fun thing to watch.”

ATTENDANCE, COMMUNITY IMPACT

The Ice Flyers have attracted 38,897 fans for their first eight home games. That’s the most in the league, just ahead of the Huntsville Havoc. Their 4,862 per-game average is the third-best in the league, but already ahead of last year’s surge of attendance numbers.

Equally important, the Ice Flyers have spent quality time off-ice with supporters in a variety of charitable projects and other fun events like bowling with fans last Sunday.

“That is one of the reasons I wanted to come back (to coach),” Graham said. “I have seen what (Ice Flyers owner) Greg (Harris) has done over the last 10 years. When I interviewed for the job, I did some research on the team.

“(To) lead the league in attendance and lead the league in charitable donations… and when you see a team do that, it is something I can get on board with because I like to do stuff with my own personal business back home in the community (Fort Wayne, Indiana).

“When I ask guys to do that stuff, immediately guys raise their hand to volunteer. We recruited a good group of guys who want to get out do that stuff in the community and obviously that is something Greg really cares about.”

CAPTAIN’S HELP

Center Garrett Milan is playing in the same big impact way as he’s done throughout his Ice Flyers career. One difference, however, that Graham has liked is how teammates have been more immediate in rushing to his defense when trouble ensues on the ice and pushing and shoving begins.

“He’s a little pit bull. That is what I like about him,” Graham said. “He’s got jam. When I watched the film on last year’s season, I just saw this number 10 and he’s buzzing around and all of a sudden he has three guys on him.

“And I talked to the guys a lot during the summer when I was recruiting them and I said, ‘Hey, we can’t leave our captain in these isolated situations with three guys around him. We have to get in there like a wolfpack and back him up.’

“I think our identity has been that this year with guys like (Sean) Gulka and Malik (Johnson) and others who have been willing to take that side of things, where our skill guys don’t have to worry about that stuff as much.”

MULTIPLE PRODUCTION

The Ice Flyers went into the weekend with three of the league’s top five scorers. Milan leads the way with 6 goals and 12 assists (18 points) – second most points in the league, followed by newcomer Brett Mecrones (11 goals, 6 assists) at No. 4 and veteran Ivan Bondarenko (3 goals, 14 assists), who is No. 5 in scoring.

“We just have a lot of good guys in the room, lot of guys knowing their role and playing their role really well to the T,” said winger Dallas Comeau. “We have a good group, we have a very skilled and top-of-the-league group. And I think when we come together like we did (Saturday) we can take the league on.”

BOUNCE BACK

In their 16 games so far, the Ice Flyers have not lost back-to-back games. The most significant part the sequence occurred after an 8-1 loss at Birmingham – the worst margin of defeat – on Nov. 24 was followed by a 1-0 win at Macon on Nov. 26.

“Any time your group can show resiliency, that’s important,” Graham said. “Every game is part of the process the whole season. Getting them to just believe and trust each other is big.

“We are a team that is still learning. That starts with me and on down. I think the more cool and calm we present ourselves, myself being leader and on down, we handle adversity better. Just trying to ride those highs or lows and make sure it stays more even keel.”

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports