2011–12 SPHL season
The 2011–12 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the eighth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The season began October 20, 2011, and ended April 14, 2012, after a 56-game regular season and an eight-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths captured their second SPHL championship.
2011–12 SPHL season | |
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League | Southern Professional Hockey League |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Duration | October 20, 2011–April 14, 2012 |
Regular season | |
Season champions | Augusta RiverHawks |
Season MVP | Kevin Swider (Knoxville)[1] |
Top scorer | Kevin Swider (Knoxville) |
Playoffs | |
Finals champions | Columbus Cottonmouths |
Finals runners-up | Pensacola Ice Flyers |
Playoffs MVP | Ian Vigier (Columbus)[2] |
Preseason
The Mississippi RiverKings joined the SPHL after 19 seasons in the Central Hockey League.[3] With 9 teams now in the SPHL, the league adopted an 8-team playoff format, with all rounds using best-of-three game series.[4][5]
Regular season
Final standings
Team[6] | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Augusta RiverHawks‡ | 56 | 36 | 13 | 7 | 206 | 159 | 79 |
Columbus Cottonmouths | 56 | 35 | 16 | 5 | 185 | 155 | 75 |
Knoxville Ice Bears | 56 | 32 | 16 | 8 | 208 | 170 | 72 |
Pensacola Ice Flyers | 56 | 30 | 22 | 4 | 187 | 176 | 64 |
Mississippi Surge | 56 | 29 | 24 | 3 | 166 | 162 | 61 |
Mississippi RiverKings | 56 | 25 | 28 | 3 | 167 | 177 | 53 |
Louisiana IceGators | 56 | 24 | 27 | 5 | 177 | 202 | 53 |
Huntsville Havoc | 56 | 22 | 28 | 6 | 163 | 198 | 50 |
Fayetteville FireAntz | 56 | 19 | 32 | 5 | 180 | 240 | 43 |
- ‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners
- Advanced to playoffs
Attendance
Team | Total | Games | Average |
---|---|---|---|
Knoxville | 100,425 | 28 | 3,586 |
Huntsville | 94,354 | 28 | 3,369 |
Fayetteville | 91,521 | 28 | 3,268 |
Pensacola | 86,752 | 28 | 3,098 |
Mississippi RiverKings | 82,068 | 28 | 2,931 |
Columbus | 76,484 | 28 | 2,731 |
Mississippi Surge | 63,280 | 28 | 2,260 |
Louisiana | 56,514 | 28 | 2,018 |
Augusta | 53,266 | 28 | 1,902 |
League | 704,664 | 252 | 2,796 |
President's Cup playoffs
First Round | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||||||||
1 | Augusta RiverHawks | 4* | 3 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
8 | Huntsville Havoc | 3 | 4* | 6 | |||||||||||||||
2 | Columbus Cottonmouths | 5 | 6 | x | |||||||||||||||
8 | Huntsville Havoc | 0 | 1 | x | |||||||||||||||
4 | Pensacola Ice Flyers | 4 | 2 | x | |||||||||||||||
5 | Mississippi Surge | 1 | 0 | x | |||||||||||||||
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.) | 2 | Columbus Cottonmouths | 3 | 3 | x | ||||||||||||||
4 | Pensacola Ice Flyers | 2 | 1 | x | |||||||||||||||
6 | Mississippi RiverKings | 6 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
3 | Knoxville Ice Bears | 3 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||||||||
4 | Pensacola Ice Flyers | 4 | 1 | x | |||||||||||||||
3 | Knoxville Ice Bears | 1 | 0 | x | |||||||||||||||
7 | Louisiana IceGators | 2 | 2 | x | |||||||||||||||
2 | Columbus Cottonmouths | 4 | 3* | x |
* indicates overtime game.
Finals
All times are local (EDT/CDT)
April 12, 2012 7:30 PM | Pensacola | 2–3 (0–1, 1–0, 1–2) | Columbus | Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA Attendance: 2,245 |
Game reference | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Steve Christie | Goalies | Ian Vigier | Referees: Tyler Puddifant, Andrew Wilk Andrew Gray, Joshua Greco | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
4 min | Penalties | 8 min | |||||||||||||||
33 | Shots | 27 |
April 14, 2012 7:05 PM | Columbus | 3–1 (1–1, 1–0, 1–0) | Pensacola | Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, FL Attendance: 5,630 |
Game reference | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ian Vigier | Goalies | Steve Christie | Referees: Jason Schulz, Andrew Wilk Jared Gregor, Andrew Gray | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
8 min | Penalties | 10 min | ||||||||||||
31 | Shots | 32 |
Awards
The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced March 26, 2012, followed by the All-SPHL teams on March 27, Defenseman of the Year on March 28, Rookie of the Year on March 29, Goaltender of the Year on April 2, Coach of the Year on April 3, and Most Valuable Player on April 4.[7]
President's Cup: | Columbus Cottonmouths |
Coffey Trophy: | Augusta RiverHawks |
League MVP: | Kevin Swider (Knoxville)[1] |
Rookies of the Year: | Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge) and Jordan Chong (Pensacola)[8] |
Defenseman of the Year: | Mark Van Vliet (Knoxville)[9] |
Goaltender of the Year: | Ian Vigier (Columbus)[10] |
Coach of the Year: | Jeff Bes (Mississippi Surge)[11] |
Playoff MVP: | Ian Vigier (Columbus)[2] |
All-SPHL selections
|
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All-Rookie Team[14] |
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References
- Link, Dave (4 April 2012). "Kevin Swider of Ice Bears named MVP of SPHL". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- Gierer, Kathy (16 April 2012). "Columbus Cottonmouths celebrate third title". Ledger-Enquirer. Columbus, GA. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- Van Tuyl, Chris (13 June 2011). "Mississippi RiverKings announce change to Southern Professional Hockey League". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- Link, Dave (7 July 2011). "SPHL expands to eight-team playoff". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- "New Playoff Format". Ledger-Enquirer. Columbus, GA. 6 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak.com. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
- "SPHL Awards Schedule Announced". Press release. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- "Surge's Smiley, Ice Pilots' Chong Named SBK Co-Rookies of the Year". Press release. 30 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
- "Knoxville's Mark Van Vliet Named SBK Defenseman of the Year". Press release. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- "Columbus' Ian Vigier Named SBK Goaltender of the Year". Press release. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
- "Surge's Jeff Bes Named SBK Coach of the Year". Press release. 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
- "Ice Bears, RiverHawks Head All-SPHL First Team". Press release. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". Press release. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- "Cottonmouths, Surge Lead SPHL All-Rookie Team". Press release. 26 March 2012. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.