Ice Flyers Unable To Hold Off Bulls In Front Of Franchise Record Crowd

January 1, 2024

by Bill Vilona, Ice Flyers Correspondent

The Ice Flyers set a record crowd Saturday night and created an unprecedented holiday weekend setting.

What missed, however, was a celebratory outcome in the game.

The Birmingham Bulls scored a trio of power play goals, including twice with just two seconds remaining in the man advantage, and produced a 4-2 win that quieted a crowd of 7,159 at the Pensacola Bay Center. The win followed first place Birmingham’s 4-3 victory Friday on the Bulls home ice and brought a sweep of three games in five days this holiday week against the Ice Flyers.

The near-sellout crowd in the building was the Ice Flyers’ largest in their 15-year franchise history for a game that didn’t occur on the annual $5 ticket weekend. Saturday was Military Appreciation Night and it led into a special atmosphere.

“Excellent crowd. The crowd was unreal,” said Ice Flyers coach Gary Graham. “Too bad they had to see us shoot ourselves in the foot countless times. That was disappointing.”

The Ice Flyers scored the game’s first goal when Garrett Milan tipped in a shot less than five minutes into the period. But once Birmingham tied the game less than two minutes later, the Bulls never trailed again.

Playing with only five defensemen due to injuries, the Ice Flyers were further challenged by having to try and kill six power play chances for the Bulls while committed eight infractions in the game.

“I thought we had a timely start, getting the first goal, which was good for our group,” Graham said. “We are dealing with some chemistry issues… little tired on the back end, guys have been battling and that has definitely been an issue for us as of late.

“But again, we have not had discipline issues all season and now they are starting to rear their ugly head. And that’s something I am not going to tolerate one bit.

“The carelessness of how we tried to execute on our game plan against a team that has been sitting atop of the league and to think we can do that type of stuff and have success is just mind numbing.”

Birmingham scored a go-ahead goal on a power play with 1:43 left in the first period on a wrist shot by Ryan Romeo from inside the blue line.

The Bulls went up 3-1 in the second period, after the Ice Flyers nearly killed off a 5 on 3 disadvantage situation. They played with two men down for 53 seconds, got that killed off, but the Bulls’ Carson Rose scored with 6:36 left and Malik Johnson ready to come out of the penalty box.

“We knew going in with five defensemen against best team in the league, here is a certain way you have to play to manage that type of environment,” Graham said. “And taking penalties and putting yourself shorthanded is the worst thing you can do for those defensemen. It just wears them down.”

The Ice Flyers energized the crowd when Ivan Bondarenko scored with 21.2 seconds left in the period by pouncing on a favorable bounce off the back boards and getting the puck past Birmingham goaltender Drennen Atherton.

That momentum carried into intermission and the Ice Flyers had a chance for a tying goal when Birmingham was whistled for a holding penalty with 11:17 left.

With 4:38 remaining Lucas Herrmann was called on a cross-checking penalty just before the Ice Flyers had killed off an earlier penalty. In this case, the Bulls Drake Glover scored 23 seconds later for a two-goal lead and the crowd began to exit.

“We just have a lot of guys underperforming right now. I think every team deals with it throughout a year. I think there has been some complacency that has been festering and we are starting to see it, ” said Graham.

“When you play the top team in the league three straight games you are either going to sink or you are going to swim and I think we are seeing what direction we are going.”

With their trio of wins in a week, Birmingham (17-4, 3 OT losses, 27 points) heads into the New Year with a two-point lead over Fayetteville atop the SPHL standings. The Ice Flyers (13-11) dropped into a fifth-place tie.

The Bulls now have a 5-3 lead in the season series.

Graham promised some hard practices and adjustments before the Ice Flyers next game on Jan. 4 at home against Peoria.

“There will be a lot of working going on behind the scenes, that’s for sure,” he said.

WHAT’S NEXT?

WHO:  Peoria Rivermen vs. Ice Flyers

WHEN: Thursday (Jan. 4), 7:05 p.m.

WHERE: Pensacola Bay Center

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