2009–10 SPHL season

The 2009–10 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the sixth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The season began October 22, 2009, and ended April 17, 2010, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Huntsville Havoc captured their first SPHL championship.

2009–10 SPHL season
League	Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	October 22, 2009–April 17, 2010
Regular season
Season champions	Mississippi Surge
Season MVP	Rob Sich (Fayetteville)[1]
Top scorer	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Huntsville Havoc
Finals runners-up	Mississippi Surge

Preseason

The Richmond Renegades^[2] and Twin City Cyclones^[3] franchises folded during the off-season. The Louisiana IceGators,^[4] Mississippi Surge,^[5] and Pensacola Ice Flyers^[6] joined the league, after each of those markets had recently lost an ECHL team.

Teams

2009-10 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
Louisiana IceGators	Lafayette, Louisiana	Blackham Coliseum
Mississippi Surge	Biloxi, Mississippi	Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Pensacola Ice Flyers	Pensacola, Florida	Pensacola Civic Center

Map of teams

Columbus

Fayetteville

Huntsville

Knoxville

Louisiana

Mississippi

Pensacola

SPHL teams

Regular season

Final standings

Team[7]	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Mississippi Surge‡	56	34	14	8	210	165	76
Huntsville Havoc	56	31	16	9	199	178	71
Fayetteville FireAntz	56	31	22	3	231	213	65
Knoxville Ice Bears	56	30	23	3	228	199	63
Pensacola Ice Flyers	56	25	23	8	176	205	58
Columbus Cottonmouths	56	22	27	7	171	207	51
Louisiana IceGators	56	23	31	2	175	223	48

^‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners

  Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team	Total	Games	Average
Fayetteville	102,243	28	3,651
Huntsville	98,365	28	3,513
Pensacola	96,804	28	3,457
Knoxville	91,304	28	3,260
Columbus	78,331	28	2,797
Mississippi	74,223	28	2,650
Louisiana	54,779	28	1,956

President's Cup playoffs

	First round									Second round							Final
	1	Mississippi Surge	5	4	4	6	x
	6	Columbus Cottonmouths	2	5*	2	2	x
																	1	Mississippi Surge	2	2	2
	3	Fayetteville FireAntz			7	5	3
																	2	Huntsville Havoc	3	3	3
	4	Knoxville Ice Bears			1	6**	4*
										4	Knoxville Ice Bears	1	1	x
										2	Huntsville Havoc	5	3	x
	5	Pensacola Ice Flyers			3	1	4
	2	Huntsville Havoc			1	5	5*

* indicates overtime game.

Finals

All times are local (CDT)

April 14, 2010 7:30 pm

Huntsville

3–2

Mississippi

Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, MS Attendance: 1,988

Game reference
	Dan McWhinney	Goalies	Bill Zaniboni	Referees: Brent Coulombe Curtis Marouelli
	0 – 1 00:10 – Jeff Grant (Greene) Jeff Winchester (MacDonald) – pp – 24:59 1 – 1 1 – 2 31:02 – Matt Larke (Greene, Wolgemuth) Chris Myers (McCreary, Radovich) – 31:21 2 – 2 Travis Kauffeldt (McCreary, Schembri) – pp – 36:00 3 – 2
	14 min	Penalties	10 min
	22	Shots	26

April 15, 2010 7:30 pm

Huntsville

3–2

Mississippi

Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, MS Attendance: 2,025

Game reference
	Dan McWhinney	Goalies	Bill Zaniboni	Referees: Curtis Marouelli Geoffrey Miller
	0 – 1 13:29 – Matt Zultek (Greene, Larke) 0 – 2 19:46 – pp – Matthew Larke (Greene) Brett Liscomb (Hartinger) – pp – 29:24 1 – 2 Mike MacDonald – 49:04 2 – 2 Justin Rohr (Liscomb, Petiot) – 50:00 3 – 2
	28 min	Penalties	40 min
	26	Shots	26

April 17, 2010 7:30 pm

Mississippi

2–3

Huntsville

Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL Attendance: 4,541

Game reference
	Bill Zaniboni	Goalies	Dan McWhinney	Referees: Geoffrey Miller Brent Coulombe
	0 – 1 07:56 – pp – Vladimir Hartinger (McCreary, Carter) 0 – 2 34:19 – Andrew Schembri (Rohr, Kauffeldt) 0 – 3 51:37 – Mike MacDonald Nick Klaren (Cacaro, Grant) – 55:43 1 – 3 Tim Velemirovich (Richard) – 56:18 2 – 3
	18 min	Penalties	10 min
	23	Shots	42

Awards

The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced March 25, 2010, followed by the All-SPHL teams on March 26, Rookie of the Year on March 29, Coach of the Year on March 30, Defenseman of the Year on March 31, Goaltender of the Year on April 1, and MVP on April 2.^[8]

President's Cup:	Huntsville Havoc
Coffey Trophy:	Mississippi Surge
League MVP:	Rob Sich (Fayetteville)[1]
Rookie of the Year:	Jesse Biduke (Fayetteville)[9]
Defenseman of the Year:	Steve Weidlich (Mississippi)[10]
Goaltender of the Year:	Bill Zaniboni (Mississippi)[11]
Coach of the Year:	Steffon Walby (Mississippi)[12]

All-SPHL selections

1st Team All-SPHL[13] F Chris Leveille (Fayetteville) F Rob Sich (Fayetteville) F Kevin Swider (Knoxville) D Mark Van Vliet (Knoxville) D Steve Weidlich (Mississippi) G Bill Zaniboni (Mississippi)

2nd Team All-SPHL[14] F Lorne Misita (Pensacola) F Michael Richard (Mississippi) F Matt Zultek (Mississippi) D Kevin Harris (Knoxville) D Jeff White (Huntsville) G Ian Vigier (Columbus)

All-Rookie Team[15]
F Jesse Biduke (Fayetteville) F Jesse Cole (Columbus) F Levi Lind (Columbus) D Mark Hinz (Pensacola) D Dean Petiot (Huntsville) G Mark Sibbald (Huntsville)