2010–11 SPHL season

The 2010–11 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the seventh season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The season began October 21, 2010, and ended April 15, 2011, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Mississippi Surge captured their first SPHL championship.

2010–11 SPHL season
League	Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	October 21, 2010–April 15, 2011
Regular season
Season champions	Mississippi Surge
Season MVP	Matt Auffrey (Augusta)[1]
Top scorer	Chris Leveille (Fayetteville)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Mississippi Surge
Finals runners-up	Augusta Riverhawks

Preseason

The Augusta Riverhawks joined the SPHL, after the departure of the city's ECHL franchise two years prior.[2][3]

Regular season

Final standings

Team[4]	GP	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
Mississippi Surge^‡	56	37	19	207	157	74
Augusta Riverhawks	56	35	21	203	177	70
Huntsville Havoc	56	30	26	168	158	60
Columbus Cottonmouths	56	29	27	169	171	58
Pensacola Ice Flyers	56	28	28	187	195	56
Knoxville Ice Bears	56	27	29	186	187	54
Fayetteville FireAntz	56	22	34	170	184	44
Louisiana IceGators	56	16	40	170	231	32

^‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners

     Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team	Total	Games	Average
Huntsville	98,372	28	3,513
Knoxville	95,563	28	3,412
Fayetteville	93,056	28	3,323
Pensacola	84,433	28	3,015
Columbus	79,116	28	2,825
Mississippi	71,360	28	2,548
Louisiana	50,971	28	1,820
Augusta	45,853	28	1,637
League	618,724	224	2,762

President's Cup playoffs

	1st Round									2nd Round							Finals
	1	Mississippi Surge	4	8	3*	2	3
	6	Knoxville Ice Bears	6	1	2	4	1
																	1	Mississippi Surge	3	4*	5	x	x
																	2	Augusta Riverhawks	2	3	1	x	x
	3	Huntsville Havoc	2	4	x
	4	Columbus Cottonmouths	4	5	x
										4	Columbus Cottonmouths	0	7	2
										2	Augusta Riverhawks	3	2	3
	5	Pensacola Ice Flyers	2	4	2
	2	Augusta Riverhawks	5	2	6

* indicates overtime game.

Finals

All times are local (EDT/CDT)

April 12, 2011 7:05 pm

Augusta

2–3 (1–2, 0–0, 1–1)

Mississippi

Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, MS Attendance: 1,077

Game reference
	Jon Olthuis	Goalies	Bill Zaniboni	Referees: Thomas Chmielewski Jacob Brenk, James Sanders
	Travis Dunstall (Auffrey, Snetsinger) – pp – 9:20 1 – 0 1 – 1 15:33 – Matt Zultek (Cacaro, Klaren) 1 – 2 19:43 – pp – Jason Beeman (Klaren, Richard) Neil Graham (Wynn, Tolles) – 47:22 2 – 2 2 – 3 57:58 – Matt Zultek (Richard, Masters)
	11 min	Penalties	15 min
	26	Shots	39

April 13, 2011 7:05 pm

Augusta

3 – 4 OT (0–0, 1–3, 0–2, 0–1)

Mississippi

Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, MS Attendance: 1,291

Game reference
	Peter Skoggard	Goalies	Bill Zaniboni	Referees: Brent Coulombe James Sanders, Tyler Puddifant
	0 – 1 20:47 – Rusty Masters (Wolgemuth, Winchester) Branden Kosolofsky (Dunstall, Auffrey) – pp – 29:55 1 – 1 Egor Mironov – 30:06 2 – 1 Matt Auffrey (Olidis, Price) – pp – 35:53 3 – 1 3 – 2 41:24 – pp – Jason Beeman (Richard, Klaren) 3 – 3 46:45 – Matt Zultek (Richard, Klaren) 3 – 4 70:28 – Adam Bartholomy (Klaren, Cacaro)
	14 min	Penalties	14 min
	25	Shots	55

April 15, 2011 7:30 pm

Mississippi

5–1 (1–0, 2–0, 2–1)

Augusta

James Brown Arena, Augusta, GA Attendance: 2,251

Game reference
	Bill Zaniboni	Goalies	Jon Olthuis	Referees: Donald Jablonski Jr. Jacob Brenk, Jason Schulz
	Shane Wagner (Masters, Versteeg-Lytwyn) – 18:29 1 – 0 Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn (Grant) – 23:02 2 – 0 Jack Wolgemouth (McCarthy, Beeman) – 33:58 3 – 0 3 – 1 41:17 – pp – Branden Kosolofsky (Snetsinger, Gehring) Shane Wagner (Versteeg-Lytwyn) – 45:17 4 – 1 Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn (Masters, Wolgemouth) – pp – 47:35 5 – 1
	10 min	Penalties	38 min
	35	Shots	24

Awards

The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced March 24, 2011, followed by the All-SPHL teams on March 25, Defenseman of the Year on March 28, Goaltender of the Year on March 29, Rookie of the Year on March 30, Coach of the Year on March 31, and MVP on April 1.[5]

President's Cup:	Mississippi Surge
Coffey Trophy:	Mississippi Surge
League MVP:	Matt Auffrey (Augusta)[1]
Rookie of the Year:	Chris Wilson (Pensacola)[6]
Defenseman of the Year:	Mark van Vliet (Knoxville)[7]
Goaltender of the Year:	Mark Sibbald (Huntsville)[8]
Coach of the Year:	Brad Ralph (Augusta)[9]

All-SPHL selections

1st Team All-SPHL[10] F Chris Leveille (Fayetteville) F Chris Wilson (Pensacola) F Matt Auffrey (Augusta) D Mark van Vliet (Knoxville) D Omar Pacha (Huntsville) G Mark Sibbald (Huntsville)

2nd Team All-SPHL[11] F Beau McLaughlin (Louisiana) F Michael Richard (Mississippi) F Frank Furdero (Knoxville) D Jack Wolgemuth (Mississippi) D Luke Lucyk (Augusta) G Jon Olthuis (Augusta)

All-Rookie Team[12]
F Chris Wilson (Pensacola) F Neil Graham (Augusta) F Branden Kosolofsky (Augusta) D Omar Pacha (Huntsville) D Dan Ehrman (Pensacola) G Jon Olthuis (Augusta)

References

1. "Augusta's Matt Auffrey Voted SBK Most Valuable Player". Press release. April 1, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
2. "Hockey Returning To Augusta, GA In 2010". TheSPHL.com. February 3, 2010. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
3. Byler, Billy (March 13, 2010). "Fans pick River Hawks as hockey team's nickname". Augusta Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 16, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
4. "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak.com. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
5. "SPHL Awards Schedule Announced". Press release. March 21, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
6. "Pensacola's Chris Wilson Named SBK Rookie of the Year". Press release. March 30, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
7. "Knoxville's Mark Van Vliet Named SBK Defenseman of the Year". Press release. March 28, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
8. "Huntsville's Mark Sibbald Named SBK Goaltender of the Year". Press release. March 29, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
9. "Augusta's Brad Ralph Named SBK Coach of the Year". Press release. March 31, 2010. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
10. "All-SPHL First Team Announced". Press release. March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
11. "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". Press release. March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
12. "SPHL Names All-Rookie Team". Press release. March 24, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.