2004–05 SPHL season

The 2004–05 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the first season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began October 29, 2004, and ended April 1, 2005, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths won the first SPHL championship.

2004–05 SPHL season
League	Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	October 29, 2004–April 1, 2005
Regular season
Season champions	Knoxville Ice Bears
Season MVP	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Top scorer	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Columbus Cottonmouths
Finals runners-up	Macon Trax

Teams

2004-05 Southern Professional Hockey League
Team	City	Arena
Asheville Aces	Asheville, North Carolina	Asheville Civic Center
Columbus Cottonmouths	Columbus, Georgia	Columbus Civic Center
Fayetteville FireAntz	Fayetteville, North Carolina	Cumberland County Crown Coliseum
Huntsville Havoc	Huntsville, Alabama	Von Braun Center
Jacksonville Barracudas	Jacksonville, Florida	Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
Knoxville Ice Bears	Knoxville, Tennessee	Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum
Macon Trax	Macon, Georgia	Macon Coliseum
Winston-Salem Polar Twins	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	LJVM Coliseum Annex

Map of teams

Asheville

Columbus

Fayetteville

Huntsville

Jackson-
ville

Knoxville

Macon

Winston-
Salem

SPHL teams

Regular season

Final standings

Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
Knoxville Ice Bears‡	56	34	22	235	185	68
Macon Trax	56	33	23	220	199	66
Jacksonville Barracudas	56	33	23	230	195	66
Fayetteville FireAntz	56	32	24	226	158	64
Columbus Cottonmouths	56	30	26	224	200	60
Huntsville Havoc	56	29	27	183	181	58
Asheville Aces	56	19	37	182	256	38
Winston-Salem Polar Twins	56	14	42	147	300	28

^‡ Commissioner's Cup winners

  Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team	Total	Games	Average
Knoxville	93,564	28	3,341
Fayetteville	85,744	28	3,062
Huntsville	75,978	28	2,713
Columbus	73,063	28	2,609
Jacksonville	63,542	28	2,269
Asheville	59,901	28	2,139
Macon	53,082	28	1,895
Winston-Salem	41,816	28	1,493

President's Cup playoffs

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals							Finals
						1	Knoxville Ice Bears	2	2	–
	5	Columbus Cottonmouths	4			5	Columbus Cottonmouths	4	3	–
	4	Fayetteville FireAntz	2										5	Columbus Cottonmouths	5	3	–
													2	Macon Trax	1	2	–
						2	Macon Trax	2	3	7
	3	Jacksonville Barracudas	2			3	Jacksonville Barracudas	1	4	1
	6	Huntsville Havoc	1

Quarterfinals

Note: game-winning goal scorer indicated in italics

(1) Knoxville Ice Bears and (2) Macon Trax

The Knoxville Ice Bears and the Macon trax get byes for the Quarter Finals round of the playoffs. The teams will be reseeded for the Simi Finals round.

(3) Jacksonville Barracudas vs. (6) Huntsville Havoc

Game-by-Game		Score		Jacksonville goals	Huntsville goals	Winning goalie
1	March 23	at Jacksonville 2, Huntsville 1		Brad Federenko, Jason Silverthron	Jeff Dams	Kelly Shields
Jacksonville win series 1–0

(4) Fayetteville FireAntz vs. (5) Columbus Cottonmouths

Game-by-Game		Score		Fayetteville goals	Columbus goals	Winning goalie
1	March 23	at Fayetteville 2, Columbus 4		Chad Peck, George Nistas	Ryan Haggarty, Tylor Keller, Daryl Moor, Tim Green	Chad Rycroft
Columbus win series 1–0

Semifinals

Note: game-winning goal scorer indicated in italics

(1) Knoxville Ice Bears vs. (5) Columbus Cottonmouths

Game-by-Game		Score		Knoxville goals	Columbus goals	Winning goalie
1	March 25	at Knoxville 2, Columbus 4		David Bagley, Doug Searle	Orrin Hergott, Tylor Keller, Ryan Haggarty 2	Chad Rycroft
2	March 27	at Columbus 3, Knoxville 2		Chris Bodnar, Craig Desjarlais	Craig Stahl 2, Orrin Hergott	Chad Rycroft
Columbus win series 2–0					Hergott 2, Haggarty 2, Stahl 2

(2) Macon Trax vs. (3) Jacksonville Barracudas

Game-by-Game		Score		Macon goals	Jacksonville goals	Winning goalie
1	March 25	at Jacksonville 1, Macon 2		Craig Miller, Casey Handrahan	Jason Silverthorn	Mark Cairns
2	March 26	at Macon 3, Jacksonville 4		John Gurskis 2, Steve Zoryk	Joe Koslakiewicz 2, Brad Federenko 2	Kelly Shields
3	March 27	at Macon 7, Jacksonville 1		Edan Welch, Ryan Rivard, Steve Zoryk 2, Lou Dimasi, Mark Allen, David Deeves	Brent Rumble	Kelly Shields
Macon win series 2–1				Zork 3,	Koslakiewicz 2, Federenko 2

Finals

March 31, 2005 7:35 pm

Columbus

5–1

Macon

Macon Centreplex, Macon, GA Attendance: 1,997

Game reference
	Chad Rycroft	Goalies	Mark Cairns	Referee: Jon Mattson
	Misita (Keller, Aikia) (SH) – 05:12 1 – 0 Keller (Green, Underwood) (PP) – 07:17 2 – 0 2 – 1 18:17 – Miller (Welch, Deeves) Moor (Stahl) – 29:47 3 – 1 Misita (Keller, Aikia) (PP) – 35:48 4 – 1 Green (Keller, Aikia) (PP) – 40:48 5 – 1
	23 min	Penalties	25 min
	44	Shots	33

April 1, 2005 7:30 pm

Macon

2 – 3 (OT)

Columbus

Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA Attendance: 4,579

Game reference
	Mark Cairns	Goalies	Chad Rycroft	Referee: Jon Mattson
	0 – 1 18:45 – Green (Keller) (PP) Welch (Gurskis) – 34:22 1 – 1 Deeves (Miller) – 44:48 2 – 1 2 – 2 58:59 – Green (Keller) 2 – 3 63:55 – Keller (Green)
	18 min	Penalties	18 min
	30	Shots	34

Awards

The Coach of the Year award was announced on March 21, 2005, followed by the All-Star team on March 22, Goalie of the Year on March 23, Defenseman of the Year on March 24, and MVP and Rookie of the Year on March 25.

President's Cup:	Columbus Cottonmouths
Commissioner's Cup:	Knoxville Ice Bears
League MVP:	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Rookie of the Year:	Chad Collins (Fayetteville)
Defenseman of the Year:	Curtis Menzul (Knoxville)
Goalie of the Year:	Chad Collins (Fayetteville)
Coach of the Year:	Derek Booth (Fayetteville)

All-Star selections

All-Stars
F Brent Rumble (Jacksonville) F Kevin Swider (Knoxville) F K.J. Vorhees (Knoxville) D Ryan Aikia (Columbus) D Curtis Menzul (Knoxville) G Chad Collins (Fayetteville)