Macon, Pensacola both battle-tested going into SPHL semifinals

If nothing else, neither team in the SPHL Presidents Cup semifinal series between Macon and Pensacola should be rattled by adversity.

The two teams drop the puck on their best-of-three series Wednesday in Pensacola before it shifts back to Macon for the second game Friday and the third game Saturday, if necessary.

“Were definitely excited to have one back in Macon. I know the fans want it, and we do, too,” Mayhem right winger Mark Rivera said. “At the same time, we don’t want to look past the first game because that one’s pretty important, too. We have to take care of business first and hopefully come back home in position to close it out.”

The Ice Flyers have five players on the roster from last year’s championship-winning team as well as head coach Rod Adolff, who was hired to rejoin the team Feb. 14 after leaving to coach the ECHL’s Norfolk franchise at the end of last season and being fired 17 games into that league’s season.

As for the Mayhem? They went from the brink of elimination in the first round against Columbus to easily handling the Cottonmouths to win the third and decisive game, winning a series with all three games being played on the road.

“Anything you go through, you always take the good and bad from it. I think being down one game, that definitely helped us,” Rivera said. “Our backs were against the wall, and we know what we’re made of, and now we’re going to just keep the train rolling.”

Macon’s task of keeping things rolling will go up against a Pensacola team that swept second-seeded Fayetteville in the first round, winning 3-1 and 2-1 to advance with goalie Matt Zenzola getting the win in both games.

The Mayhem went 6-1-1 against the Ice Flyers during the regular season with the lone loss coming April 2 as Pensacola took a 4-1 win over a Mayhem team finishing up three consecutive three-game weekends.

“They’re a good team,” Mayhem left winger Collin MacDonald said. “We had that game towards the end of the year, and that was at the end of a three-and-three so we’re not too worried about that one.”

Louis Belisle, recently named the SPHL’s defenseman of the year, is one of the key offensive weapons for Pensacola. His 50 points led all defensemen in the league during the regular season with his 18 goals tying the SPHL record for most in a season for a defenseman.

To go along with Belisle, the Ice Flyers have confidence in their corner with the returning experience from last year’s title team and with the return of Adolff. He departed the team after last season to take over as head coach in the ECHL, but things unraveled quickly in Norfolk. The team changed ownerships the first day of training camp, and the new group fired Adolff, 17 games into the season. The Edmonton Oilers organization, which is the NHL affiliate to Norfolk, retained Adolff as a scout.

Enter his former, team, Pensacola. Looking for more consistency after a 15-15-6 start to the season, the Ice Flyers owners parted ways with head coach Kevin Hasselberg, and Adolff was announced as the head coach a day later. Pensacola became more consistent as the season went on, finishing 27-21-8.

Count Mayhem head coach Kevin Kerr among those not surprised to see Pensacola in the second round.

“Pensacola is a team now that Rod Adolff came back … they won the championship with him last year. He’s a very good coach, and they are very well-coached,” Kerr said. “They’re going to work hard, and they have guys that were on that team last year. You know they won’t panic, and that’s just experience. They will work hard and compete. They will be a hard team to beat.”

Rivera has probably the best idea of what makes the Ice Flyers succeed. He played 11 games for Pensacola last year before joining Macon via a trade.

“All his players buy in, that’s the big thing,” Rivera said. “They know how to play and know his system well. They have a culture there and play their system.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Macon, Pensacola both battle-tested going into SPHL semifinals."