Macon Mayhem win big in exhibition finale

An hour before Saturday night's return of minor league hockey to Macon, a sizeable line of fans formed at the Macon Coliseum, eagerly awaiting the Macon Mayhem's home exhibition opener against Columbus.

And they didn't leave disappointed. Led by a pair of Joshua Ranalli goals, the Mayhem rolled over the visiting Cottonmouths 7-1, capping their two-game preseason slate with a pair of victories. Macon opens the regular season Friday against defending Southern Professional Hockey League champion Knoxville and hosts Mississippi on Saturday.

"The message is that Macon hasn't seen hockey for 10 years, they're starved for hockey," Mayhem head coach Kevin Kerr said. "We took eight months building this team and (Saturday) to make sure that we show anybody that entered this building something good."

The Mayhem set the tone early, reaping the benefits of offensive pressure and strong goaltending. A night after David Jacobson held Fayetteville to a goal, Garrett Bartus took his turn shutting down the opposition, allowing one goal.

With strong play on their own end of the ice, the Mayhem didn't need many goals to win. They ended up with a surplus, scoring three times in the first and second periods for a 6-0 lead, making it a long night for Cottonmouths goaltender James Robbins, who was pulled in the third period in favor of Joel Danyluk, but not before allowing seven goals.

The Mayhem wasted little time giving local hockey-starved fans something to cheer about, netting a pair of goals within in the first seven minutes to lead 2-0. Macon more or less dominated the first period, in fact, limiting Cottonmouths scoring chances in holding a 15-8 shots on goal advantage.

Special teams got the Mayhem on the board first. Seconds after going on the power play, Lucas Labelle blasted a loose puck off a faceoff past Robbins 2:38 into the opening period. Offensive pressure led to another early tally. Ranalli took a pass from defenseman Curtis Megginson, make it 2-0 in favor of the Mayhem.

John Schiavo capped off the powerful first for the Mayhem. With the final 1:13 played after the first intermission, Schivavo powered a shot past Robbins for a 3-0 advantage. The break before the final 1:13 came following an injury to Labelle near the boards in front of the Mayhem bench area.

It was more of the same to begin the second period. A perfectly placed cross-pass to Jason Popek on the goal's doorstep was tipped in for a 4-0 lead off an assist from Duston Hebebrand and Ryan Michael with 16:40 left in the second. The Mayhem poured it on from there with a goal by Mike Montrose on a powerplay and Ranalli's second off a slapshot with 7:54 to go in the second period for a 6-0 advantage.

Columbus finally got on the board with 14:01 to go in the game when Kyle Thomas' shot off a loose puck got past Bartus. The Mayhem answered right back, with a tally by Connor Toomey with 12:30 to go making it 7-1.

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Macon Mayhem win big in exhibition finale ."