Hockey / Havoc Dismantle the Marksmen 7-1

Havoc Dismantle the Marksmen 7-1

Date:  Source: SPHL: Huntsville Havoc

HUNTSVILLE -- The Huntsville Havoc finished the regular season in style Saturday night, scoring three goals in each of the first two periods and cruising to a 7-1 win over the Fayetteville Marksmen. 

The fans contributed to the excitement by breaking the SPHL season attendance record for the fourth consecutive year. Over 28 home games, 138,106 partisan fans cheered on the Havoc. 

“We had a great start and kept our foot on the gas,” said Havoc Head Coach Glenn Detulleo. “It was a terrific way to finish the regular season and thank our fans before the playoffs start.” 

After going 0 for 5 on the power play in the previous night’s loss, Huntsville jumped on the board early with a power play goal at 2:46 of the first period. Rob Darrar took a circle-to-circle feed from John Schiavo and buried the one-timer. Christian Powers set the tone with a score three minutes later, swooping in on the end line and smashing it past the Fayetteville keeper. 

The home team settled in to the game while still pushing an aggressive attack, scoring again with less than two minutes remaining in the opening stanza. Kyle Sharkey backhanded a pass to Derek Perl speeding through the slot and the second-year defender popped the puck in to the upper right corner of the net to give Huntsville the 3-0 lead at the first break. 

In the middle frame, the Havoc came out swinging as Tyler Piacentini joined the scoring parade at 3:50, scoring on a rebound of a blocked Sy Nutkevitch shot. 

The Marksmen finally got one past Havoc keeper Max Milosek at 7:34 in the second – the only blemish on the goalie’s sheet as Milo made 36 saves. 

Nutkevitch provided another stellar assist just before the midway point in the game, sending the puck across the crease to Ryan Salkeld who sent it through the back door to make the score 5-1. 

The newly signed Liam Kerins scored his first tally since joining the Havoc last week, sniping from the left circle on a powerplay with 1:22 left on the clock. The Havoc were dominating the game 6-1 heading in to the second intermission. 

Huntsville’s final goal of the regular season in the third period was a significant one for Salkeld. He deked the goalie out of position to score his 28th of the year, putting him over the top to claim the title of top SPHL goal scorer for the 2018-19 campaign. 

For video highlights from the 7-1 final, visit the official Havoc YouTube channel. 

The team ends the regular season with 36 wins, 17 losses and 3 overtime losses. The Havoc are tops in the league in goals over the regular season (3.73/gm) and finish second on the powerplay (21.46%). The win total is a new franchise record and Detulleo now has the most franchise wins as a head coach with 191 regular season victories. 

If you check the league stats at the end of the regular season, you will notice three of the top five scorers in the SPHL play in Huntsville - Salkeld with 62 points (28g, 34a), Nutkevitch with 59 (13g, 46a) and Sharkey with 55 (17g, 38a). 

Speaking of Sharkey, the second-year forward added another four assists to his season total. He has proven to have the hot hand lately, scoring 13 points (5g, 8a) in his last five games. 

Milosek finishes the regular season among the top five goalies in wins (23), goals against average (2.29/gm) and save percentage (92.2%). 

Now the team and its devoted fans must wait until Sunday’s Challenge Round selection to learn who Huntsville will play in the first round. Watch the show on TheSinBin.net’s Facebook account or on theSPHL.com. Keep an eye on the Havoc social media accounts to learn who they will host in the first round and how to get tickets. Due to a conflicting schedule at the Von Braun Center, the games will be at the Wilcoxon Ice Complex on Leeman Ferry Road.