2008–09 SPHL season

The 2008–09 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the fifth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began August 24, 2008, and ended April 16, 2009, after a 60-game regular season and a four-team playoff. The Knoxville Ice Bears captured their second consecutive championship.

2008–09 SPHL season
League	Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	August 24, 2008–April 16, 2009
Regular season
Season champions	Knoxville Ice Bears
Season MVP	Travis Kauffeldt (Huntsville)[1]
Top scorer	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Knoxville Ice Bears
Finals runners-up	Fayetteville FireAntz
Playoffs MVP	Kirk Irving (Knoxville)

Preseason

The Jacksonville Barracudas franchise was suspended from the season due to lack of a search for a arena. The team would eventually fold.^[2]

Teams

2008-09 Southern Professional Hockey League
Team	City	Arena
Columbus Cottonmouths	Columbus, Georgia	Columbus Civic Center
Fayetteville FireAntz	Fayetteville, North Carolina	Cumberland County Crown Coliseum
Huntsville Havoc	Huntsville, Alabama	Von Braun Center
Knoxville Ice Bears	Knoxville, Tennessee	Knoxville Civic Coliseum
Richmond Renegades	Richmond, Virginia	Richmond Coliseum
Twin City Cyclones	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	LJVM Coliseum Annex

Map of teams

Columbus

Fayetteville

Huntsville

Knoxville

Richmond

Twin City

SPHL teams

Regular season

Final standings

Team[3]	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Knoxville Ice Bears‡	60	35	16	9	216	171	79
Columbus Cottonmouths	60	31	22	7	194	196	69
Fayetteville FireAntz	60	30	25	5	212	224	65
Huntsville Havoc	60	29	24	7	204	197	65
Richmond Renegades	60	30	27	3	215	235	63
Twin City Cyclones	60	25	29	6	208	236	56

^‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners

  Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team	Total	Games	Average
Huntsville	106,848	30	3,561
Fayetteville	102,637	30	3,421
Knoxville	101,054	30	3,368
Richmond	99,071	30	3,302
Columbus	82,415	30	2,747
Twin City	33,909	30	1,130

President's Cup playoffs

	Semifinals									Finals
	1	Knoxville Ice Bears	6	4	2	3	3
	4	Huntsville Havoc	4	2	4	4	2
										1	Knoxville Ice Bears	5	1	3	1	1	5	3
										3	Fayetteville FireAntz	2	3	2	4	2	4	1
	3	Fayetteville FireAntz	3	7	4	3	2
	2	Columbus Cottonmouths	9	3	3	5	0

Finals

April 3, 2009 7:35 pm

Fayetteville

2 – 5

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN Attendance: 2,417

Game reference
	Guy St. Vincent	Goalies	Kirk Irving	Referees: John-Michael McNulty Brent Coulombe
	0 – 1 01:55 - Swider (Harris, Vitek) (PP) 0 – 2 17:43 - Pelkey (Norrie, Harris) 0 – 3 27:14 - Vitek (Carter, Swider) 0 – 4 29:00 - Vitek (Harris, Swider) (PP) Sich (Rapoza) (SH) - 44:36 1 – 4 Moreland (Snyder, Leveille) (PP) - 53:47 2 – 4 2 – 5 17:51 - Vitek (Swider, Martell) (EN)
	10 min	Penalties	4 min
	41	Shots	33

April 4, 2009 7:35 pm

Fayetteville

3 – 1

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN Attendance: 2,519

Game reference
	Guy St. Vincent	Goalies	Andrew Gallant	Referees: John-Michael McNulty Ryan Hersey
	Ruberto (Colangelo) - 38:19 1 – 0 Sich (Snyder, Rapoza) (PP) - 48:23 2 – 0 Ruberto (Colangelo) - 50:11 3 – 0 3 – 1 54:11 - Vitek (Pelkey, Swider) (PP)
	16 min	Penalties	4 min
	28	Shots	42

April 10, 2009 7:35 pm

Knoxville

3 – 2 (OT)

Fayetteville

Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, NC Attendance: 2,113

Game reference
	Kirk Irving	Goalies	Guy St. Vincent	Referees: Dan Dreger Curtis Marouelli
	Moore - 16:10 1 – 0 1 – 1 27:47 - Ruberto (Colangelo, Snyder) Furdero (Norrie) - 29:27 2 – 1 2 – 2 36:36 - Olauson (Rapoza, Snyder) (PP) Rebernik (Swider) - 75:53 3 – 2
	12 min	Penalties	12 min
	37	Shots	38

April 11, 2009 7:35 pm

Knoxville

1 – 4

Fayetteville

Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, NC Attendance: 2,111

Game reference
	Kirk Irving	Goalies	Guy St. Vincent	Referees: Tim Mayer Curtis Marouelli
	0 – 1 32:33 - Sich (Hessler, Geerlinks) (PP) 0 – 2 33:40 - Olauson (SH) Swider (Carter) - 38:03 1 – 2 1 – 3 53:15 - Norrington (Colangelo, Ruberto) 1 – 4 59:54 - Sich (EN)
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	40	Shots	41

April 12, 2009 5:00 pm

Knoxville

1 – 2

Fayetteville

Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, NC Attendance: 1,810

Game reference
	Kirk Irving	Goalies	Guy St. Vincent	Referees: Tim Mayer Dan Dreger
	Furdero (Rebernik, Moore) - 7:30 1 – 0 1 – 1 24:29 - Snyder (Sich, Moreland) (PP) 1 – 2 26:40 - Sich (Leveille, Moreland)
	18 min	Penalties	16 min
	44	Shots	38

April 15, 2009 7:35 pm

Fayetteville

4 – 5 (OT)

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN Attendance: 2,128

Game reference
	Guy St. Vincent	Goalies	Kirk Irving	Referees: Curtis Marouelli Brent Coulombe
	Olauson (Needham, Buccella) - 04:35 1 – 0 Sich (Hessler) - 05:51 2 – 0 2 – 1 08:22 - Pelkey (Carter, Keller) (PP) 2 – 2 29:26 - Pelkey (Rebernik) Moreland (Leveille) - 34:42 3 – 2 3 – 3 42:02 - Rebernik (Furdero, Pelkey) (PP) Hessler (Leveille, Cryer) - 47:06 4 – 3 4 – 4 58:49 - Vitek (Furdero, Carter) 4 – 5 71:52 - Pelkey (Harris, Pallardy)
	16 min	Penalties	16 min
	36	Shots	64

April 16, 2009 7:35 pm

Fayetteville

1 – 3

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN Attendance: 2,705

Game reference
	Guy St. Vincent	Goalies	Kirk Irving	Referees: Curtis Marouelli Tim Mayer
	0 – 1 03:21 - Norrie (Pelkey, Pallardy) McConnachie (Ruberto) - 15:05 1 – 1 1 – 2 17:52 - Rebernik (Harris, Furdero) 1 – 3 31:35 - Rebernik (Furdero, Norrie)
	10 min	Penalties	16 min
	40	Shots	32

Awards

SPHL Award winners were announced April 23, 2009.^[4]

President's Cup:	Knoxville Ice Bears
Coffey Trophy:	Knoxville Ice Bears
League MVP:	Travis Kauffeldt (Huntsville)
Rookie of the Year:	Michael Richard (Twin City)
Defenseman of the Year:	Kevin Harris (Knoxville)
Goaltender of the Year:	Andrew Gallant (Knoxville)[5]
Coach of the Year:	Scott Hillman (Knoxville)
Playoff MVP:	Kirk Irving (Knoxville)[6]

All-Star selections

1st Team All-Stars F Travis Kauffeldt (Huntsville) F Donald Melnyk (Twin City) F Kevin Swider (Knoxville) D Kevin Harris (Knoxville) D Dan Vandermeer (Richmond) G Andrew Gallant (Knoxville)

2nd Team All-Stars F Tim Green (Columbus) F Beau McLaughlin (Richmond) F Rob Sich (Fayetteville) D Corey Hessler (Fayetteville) D Lawne Snyder (Fayetteville) G Ian Vigier (Columbus)

Rookie All-Stars
F Sam Bowles (Columbus) F Ryan Busby (Richmond) F Michael Richard (Twin City) D Kyle Lundale (Columbus) D Travis Martell (Knoxville) G Ryan Scott (Richmond)