The Fayetteville FireAntz went on a roll during the Southern Professional Hockey League season that any team at any level would dream would relish. And it culminated in the team’s first SPHL championship and the city’s first title in any sport in 51 years.

Fayetteville, the league’s third-seeded team heading into the postseason, knocked off the sixth-seeded Jacksonville Barracudas three games to one to capture the President’s Cup. It wasn’t easy; far from it.

The FireAntz were mired near the cellar of the league about halfway through the season. They were 12-12-5 on Jan. 26, sixth in the seven-team league after a 4-0 loss to the Huntsville Havoc. However, eight rookies on the roster, including three defensemen, the team started to mature, and a couple additions made for a hot streak of championship proportions.

"I guess there were about 13 games left when I started thinking about first place," Fayetteville coach John Marks said. "We didn’t get that, but when we went 12-1 in those games, I started to realize how good a shot we had to win this. I knew people were going to have a tough time beating us two out of three, three out of five, because there’s no quit in this hockey team."

Fayetteville won 20 of its last 22 games, went 28-5-1 in its last 34 and sweept Huntsville and the defending champion Knoxville Ice Bears in best-of-three playoff rounds before taking on upset-minded Jacksonville, which had knocked off the top-seeded Columbus Cottonmouths 3-1 in their best-of-five series.
Jacksonville had a bye into the finals because it was the highest seed alive in the postseason.

"I knew that Jacksonville did a good job with Columbus during the season and that we’d probably see them (in the finals)," said Marks, who won two titles in the East Coast Hockey League. "I was more afraid of Jacksonville than Columbus, especially with the additions they made in (Steve) Zoryk, (Khalil) Thomas and (Billy) Rochefort. Those guys have been huge for them in the playoffs. Those guys really strengthened them."

While those players, along with goalie Ryan Person, and stout special teams (20-of-25 on the penalty kill, 5-of-29 on the power play), helped the Barracudas advance to the finals, Fayetteville had some help of its own. It picked up high-scoring forward Rob Sich from the disbanded Florida Seals. All Sich did was pile up 92 points, including a league-record 46 goals, and win the most valuable player award. He had 29 goals and 28 assists in the final 25 games and tied teammate and league rookie of the year Tim Velemirovich for the SPHL plus/minus title at +37.

In the playoffs, Sich tied teammate Josh Welter for league scoring honors with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in Fayetteville’s 7-1 run.

"Obviously, the addition of (Mike) Clarke (last year’s SPHL rookie of the year who played part of this season with Bloomington of the United Hockey League) and Sich were huge," Marks said. "(Bryan) Dobek coming back from Gwinnett (of the ECHL) after he was with us at the start of the year helped, as did solid goaltending.
"We had great team chemistry. We struggled early in the season with injuries and call-ups. Fortunately, we got everyone back. We had a pretty dedicated group of young men who worked hard. They worked hard in practice, and that’s one of my criteria. They earned everything they did."

In the finals, special teams as well as quick starts played a major role in the FireAntz’ success. Fayetteville won the first two games of the series at Crown Coliseum, 3-1 and 6-5.

In Game 1 on April 13, Jacksonville looked stale and for good reason, as it hadn’t played in 10 days after its win over Columbus. It was out-shot 36-27 despite having 11 power plays,.

B.J. Stephens scored the first two goals, one in each period, and Welter scored in the third period. Jacksonville’s Zoryk broke the shutout in the third on a shot that deflected off FireAntz captain Rob Meanchoff’s stick past Collins.

Game 2 two nights later looked like a cakewalk for Fayetteville as the FireAntz jumped out to a 3-0 after 4:16. Fayetteville scored just 40 seconds into the game when Dobek finished off a 2-on-1. Then it scored twice on power plays (Clarke off Person’s pads and Welter on a slapper from the right faceoff circle) in out-shooting Jacksonville 17-6 in the period.
 
Jacksonville woke up in the second period when Fayetteville stopped using its speed and stood around. Dan Hickman and Zoryk (team high 11 points in the postseason) scored to cut the lead to one heading into the final period.

The teams combined for four goals a 59-second span to start the period. Stephens beat Pearson through the five-hole at 1:13 to make it 4-2, but Jacksonville’s Patrick Doherty took advantage of a poor clearing pass by Fayetteville to cut the lead to one just 27 seconds later.

Twelve seconds later, Fayetteville’s Welter scored his second of the game on a wicked wrister. Twenty seconds after that, another lazy defensive play by the FireAntz allowed Tyrone Garner to beat Collins to make it a 5-4.

The Barracudas tied things up at 5-5 on a soft goal by Khalil Thomas after Jacksonville outskated the faster FireAntz. But defenseman Dylan Row put the home team up for good at 13:44 after picking up a pass from Welter and ripping a slapper from the right circle. Sich set a team playoff record with five assists in the game.

Games 3 and 4 were pushed out of Jacksonville’s Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum due to Disney on Ice and preparations for a weekend concert. The games were played in the 600-seat Jacksonville Ice, the Barracudas’ practice rink. Both games drew more than 600 fans and league officials were very pleased with the hard work the home team did in preparing for the tough conditions.

"I think, given the circumstances, Jacksonville turned a sow’s ear into a silk purse," SPHL chairman and Huntsville owner Keith Jeffries said.

The Barracudas responded on April 16 as captain Greg LeColst scored twice to keep the home team alive and hand Fayetteville its only postseason loss 3-2. Ryan Web fed Pat Doherty in front of Collins just 1:51 into the game to get the home team going. It was the first first-period lead of the postseason for Jacksonville.

LeColst scored midway through the period before Sich scored on the power play in the second period. However, late in the period, LeColst beat Collins to make it 3-1 heading into the final period.
Fayetteville dominated the third period and was rewarded by Velemirovich on a two-man advantage. But Person held off the FireAntz the rest of the way to set up Game 4.

In the clinching Game 4 on April 18, Stephens and Sich scored power play goals in the first period to get Fayetteville rolling to it 5-3 victory. Marc Norrington made it 3-0 in the second period before Ryan Webb cut the league to two. But Sich ripped a one-timer on a two-man advantage to give Fayetteville a cushion going into the final period.

Tyrone Garner scored on a power play in the third period for Jacksonville and Webb made it interesting by scoring with about six minutes left. Josh Tataryn scored an empty netter in the last minute to secure the win and give the FireAntz the title.

Playoff MVP Collins finished the postseason with a 2.60 goals against average and .924 save percentage. He led the league in wins during the season with 27, one shy of the league record.

As with most championships, it came down to special teams. Fayetteville was 9 of 31 on the power play in the finals while Jacksonville (the league’s No. 2 penalty killing unit in the regular season) converted just three of 19 chances.

"This was very gratifying," Marks said. "They were really deserving of a championship. They bonded well. They really came to work every day and I demand that. They bought into the system. They were a good skilled group and I knew they’d be a good hockey club.

“I do know this: If you win the last game you play, you’ve done something right.”