Mayhem move toward title defense with opening of training camp

A total of 14 players who raised the SPHL President’s Cup championship trophy in April are expected on ice during the Macon Mayhem’s training camp, which opens Wednesday morning at the Macon Coliseum.

Still, there are holes to fill, some of which played major roles in bringing the city its first professional sports title since the Macon Peaches. Focus on filling those gaps will be a prime focus as 15 newcomers will also be getting a hard look in training camp sessions between now and the Oct. 20 season opener that are open to the public. The Mayhem will play an exhibition game Friday at Knoxville and Saturday at home against Fayetteville.

It’ll all be part of a process that Mayhem head coach Kevin Kerr and assistant coach Leo Thomas will use to cut the roster to 18 in time for opening night when the 2016-2017 championship banner will be raised and championship rings will be presented. Jerseys commemorating last year’s championship will be worn during the opening weekend.

“It’s going to be tough. This year is probably going to be a lot tougher than last year’s decisions. I feel like our training camp roster is even stronger than it was last year. There are going to be a lot of tough decisions to make,” Kerr said. “We have a lot of really good hockey players. We have (29) players that can legitimately play in this league, but I can only keep so many, and we’ll have some tough decisions to make.”

Goalie is among the positions that the Mayhem will look to address in training camp. For the third straight season, there will be a new starter in between the pipes for Macon following goalie Jordan Ruby departing to play in France. Ruby’s backup from last year, Troy Passingham is expected in camp and figures to be the frontrunner for the job. He was 8-3-1 with a 2.68 goals against average last year. Macon also has brought in three others to compete to the backup spot — Tomas Sholl, Aaron Taylor and Charlie Finn.

Another need to shore up will be on the scoring line. Last year’s second-ranked Mayhem player in terms of points and goals scored (42 and 15), Collin MacDonald retired from professional hockey during the offseason. One of the team’s best two-way defensemen, Ryan Michel has also retired and is now an assistant coach for SUNY Cortland. Michel’s plus-18 plus-minus rating led the Mayhem last year.

Also among the players having to be replaced due to retirement is Matt Summers, who earned a reputation as the season went on for his physical play as a forward and leadership on and off the ice. Mark Rivera was also picked up in the SPHL expansion draft by Birmingham.

“It’s going to come down to competing and battling and filling in pieces of the puzzle that we need,” Kerr said. “We need some grit, guys who can score goals, guys who can play and can defend. Sometimes, it’s not always about skill players, you need those role players, too.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2017 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Mayhem move toward title defense with opening of training camp."