The 2017–18 SPHL season was the 14th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL).
League business
Team changes The Birmingham Bulls from Pelham, Alabama, join the SPHL as an expansion team on April 26, 2017. The Columbus Cottonmouths suspended operations on May 3, 2017, because the franchise was unable to find a new owner in time for scheduling the 2017–18 season. The Fayetteville FireAntz were sold and rebranded as the Fayetteville Marksmen.
Teams 2017-18 Southern Professional Hockey League Team City Arena Birmingham Bulls Pelham, Alabama Pelham Civic Center Evansville Thunderbolts Evansville, Indiana Ford Center Fayetteville Marksmen Fayetteville, North Carolina Crown Complex Huntsville Havoc Huntsville, Alabama Von Braun Center Knoxville Ice Bears Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville Civic Coliseum Macon Mayhem Macon, Georgia Macon Coliseum Mississippi RiverKings Southaven, Mississippi Landers Center Pensacola Ice Flyers Pensacola, Florida Pensacola Bay Center Peoria Rivermen Peoria, Illinois Carver Arena Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Roanoke, Virginia Berglund Center
Map of teams
Regular season
Standings Final standings. Team Peoria Rivermen‡ 56 38 13 5 211 154 81 Macon Mayhem 56 33 16 7 214 174 73 Pensacola Ice Flyers 56 33 16 7 189 156 73 Huntsville Havoc 56 30 16 10 203 180 70 Knoxville Ice Bears 56 30 20 6 205 182 66 Evansville Thunderbolts 56 27 20 9 186 191 63 Mississippi RiverKings 56 29 25 2 193 181 60 Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs 56 26 26 4 170 195 56 Birmingham Bulls 56 22 28 6 159 199 50 Fayetteville Marksmen 56 12 38 6 144 262 30 ‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners Advanced to playoffs Attendance Team Total Games Average Huntsville 133,672 28 4,774 Peoria 107,983 28 3,856 Knoxville 107,087 28 3,824 Pensacola 103,465 28 3,695 Roanoke 94,107 28 3,360 Fayetteville 83,699 28 2,989 Birmingham 73,442 28 2,622 Macon 66,943 28 2,390 Mississippi 65,093 28 2,324 Evansville 64,673 28 2,309 League 900,164 280 3,214
President's Cup playoffs For 2018, the top eight teams at the end of the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The league implemented a new format so that the top three seeds chose their opponent from the bottom four qualifiers, calling it the "challenge round". The second round still had the highest versus lowest remaining seed format.
Playoff bracket
Finals Home team is listed first.
Awards Award Recipient(s) Finalists President's Cup Huntsville Havoc Peoria Rivermen William B. Coffey Trophy(Best regular-season record) Peoria Rivermen Defenseman of the Year Dave Pszenyczny (Peoria) Daniel Gentzler (Macon)Stuart Stefan (Hunstville) Rookie of the Year Jacob Barber (Birmingham) Eliot Grauer (Knoxville)Tomas Sholl (Evansville) Goaltender of the Year Brad Barone (Roanoke) Tomas Sholl (Evansville) Coach of the Year Jean-Guy Trudel (Peoria) Jeff Bes (Pensacola)Kevin Kerr (Macon) Most Valuable Player Berkley Scott (Knoxville) Jake Trask (Macon) Kevin Swider Leading Scorer Award Berkley Scott (Knoxville) Jake Trask (Macon)
All-SPHL selections Position First Team Second Team All-Rookie G Brad Barone (Roanoke) Tomas Sholl (Evansville) Tomas Sholl (Evansville) D Dave Pszenyczny (Peoria)Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) David Brancik (Knoxville)Daniel Gentzler (Macon) Anthony Calabrese (Huntsville) (tie)Michael Chen (Knoxville)Derek Perl (Huntsville) (tie) F Alec Hagaman (Peoria)Berkley Scott (Knoxville)Jake Trask (Macon) Jake Hauswirth (Fayetteville)Steve Mele (Roanoke)Garrett Milan (Pensacola) Jacob Barber (Birmingham)Eliot Grauer (Knoxville)Joseph Widmar (Peoria)
References
External links Southern Professional Hockey League website