2011–12 SPHL season

The 2011–12 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the eighth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The season began October 20, 2011, and ended April 14, 2012, after a 56-game regular season and an eight-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths captured their second SPHL championship.

2011–12 SPHL season
League	Southern Professional Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	October 20, 2011–April 14, 2012
Regular season
Season champions	Augusta RiverHawks
Season MVP	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)[1]
Top scorer	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Columbus Cottonmouths
Finals runners-up	Pensacola Ice Flyers
Playoffs MVP	Ian Vigier (Columbus)[2]

Preseason

The Mississippi RiverKings joined the SPHL after 19 seasons in the Central Hockey League.[3] With 9 teams now in the SPHL, the league adopted an 8-team playoff format, with all rounds using best-of-three game series.[4][5]

Regular season

Final standings

Team[6]	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Augusta RiverHawks^‡	56	36	13	7	206	159	79
Columbus Cottonmouths	56	35	16	5	185	155	75
Knoxville Ice Bears	56	32	16	8	208	170	72
Pensacola Ice Flyers	56	30	22	4	187	176	64
Mississippi Surge	56	29	24	3	166	162	61
Mississippi RiverKings	56	25	28	3	167	177	53
Louisiana IceGators	56	24	27	5	177	202	53
Huntsville Havoc	56	22	28	6	163	198	50
Fayetteville FireAntz	56	19	32	5	180	240	43

^‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners

  Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team	Total	Games	Average
Knoxville	100,425	28	3,586
Huntsville	94,354	28	3,369
Fayetteville	91,521	28	3,268
Pensacola	86,752	28	3,098
Mississippi RiverKings	82,068	28	2,931
Columbus	76,484	28	2,731
Mississippi Surge	63,280	28	2,260
Louisiana	56,514	28	2,018
Augusta	53,266	28	1,902
League	704,664	252	2,796

President's Cup playoffs

	First Round							Semifinals							Final
	1	Augusta RiverHawks	4*	3	2
	8	Huntsville Havoc	3	4*	6
								2	Columbus Cottonmouths	5	6	x
								8	Huntsville Havoc	0	1	x
	4	Pensacola Ice Flyers	4	2	x
	5	Mississippi Surge	1	0	x
		(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)													2	Columbus Cottonmouths	3	3	x
															4	Pensacola Ice Flyers	2	1	x
	6	Mississippi RiverKings	6	2	3
	3	Knoxville Ice Bears	3	4	6
								4	Pensacola Ice Flyers	4	1	x
								3	Knoxville Ice Bears	1	0	x
	7	Louisiana IceGators	2	2	x
	2	Columbus Cottonmouths	4	3*	x

* indicates overtime game.

Finals

All times are local (EDT/CDT)

April 12, 2012 7:30 PM

Pensacola

2–3 (0–1, 1–0, 1–2)

Columbus

Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA Attendance: 2,245

Game reference
	Steve Christie	Goalies	Ian Vigier	Referees: Tyler Puddifant, Andrew Wilk Andrew Gray, Joshua Greco
	0 – 1 3:18 – Orrin Hergott (Beller, Pallardy) Matthew Robertson (Buccella) – 1:20 1 – 1 1 – 2 1:21 – Orrin Hergott (Pallardy, Cianfrini) Dan Buccella (Harris) – 3:13 2 – 2 2 – 3 4:30 – Sam Bowles (Krelove)
	4 min	Penalties	8 min
	33	Shots	27

April 14, 2012 7:05 PM

Columbus

3–1 (1–1, 1–0, 1–0)

Pensacola

Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, FL Attendance: 5,630

Game reference
	Ian Vigier	Goalies	Steve Christie	Referees: Jason Schulz, Andrew Wilk Jared Gregor, Andrew Gray
	Jordan Braid (Maldonado, Sullivan) – 9:38 1 – 0 1 – 1 14:50 – Ryan Salvis Greg Beller (Pallardy, Maldonado) – 14:56 2 – 1 John Sullivan – en – 19:32 3 – 1
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	31	Shots	32

Awards

The SPHL All-Rookie team was announced March 26, 2012, followed by the All-SPHL teams on March 27, Defenseman of the Year on March 28, Rookie of the Year on March 29, Goaltender of the Year on April 2, Coach of the Year on April 3, and Most Valuable Player on April 4.[7]

President's Cup:	Columbus Cottonmouths
Coffey Trophy:	Augusta RiverHawks
League MVP:	Kevin Swider (Knoxville)[1]
Rookies of the Year:	Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge) and Jordan Chong (Pensacola)[8]
Defenseman of the Year:	Mark Van Vliet (Knoxville)[9]
Goaltender of the Year:	Ian Vigier (Columbus)[10]
Coach of the Year:	Jeff Bes (Mississippi Surge)[11]
Playoff MVP:	Ian Vigier (Columbus)[2]

All-SPHL selections

1st Team All-SPHL[12] F Kevin Swider (Knoxville) F Emery Olauson (Knoxville) F Jim Gehring (Augusta) D Mark Van Vliet (Knoxville) D Ed Snetsinger (Augusta) G Ian Vigier (Columbus)

2nd Team All-SPHL[13] F Matt Auffrey (Augusta) F Chris Wilson (Pensacola) F Jason Hill (Louisiana) D Bret Tyler (Columbus) D Ricky Helmbrecht (Knoxville) G Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge)

All-Rookie Team[14]
F Jordan Chong (Pensacola) F Brayden Metz (Louisiana) F Greg Beller (Columbus) D Andrew Krelove (Columbus) D James Isaacs (Mississippi Surge) G Kiefer Smiley (Mississippi Surge)

References

1. Link, Dave (4 April 2012). "Kevin Swider of Ice Bears named MVP of SPHL". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
2. Gierer, Kathy (16 April 2012). "Columbus Cottonmouths celebrate third title". Ledger-Enquirer. Columbus, GA. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
3. Van Tuyl, Chris (13 June 2011). "Mississippi RiverKings announce change to Southern Professional Hockey League". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
4. Link, Dave (7 July 2011). "SPHL expands to eight-team playoff". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
5. "New Playoff Format". Ledger-Enquirer. Columbus, GA. 6 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
6. "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak.com. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
7. "SPHL Awards Schedule Announced". Press release. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
8. "Surge's Smiley, Ice Pilots' Chong Named SBK Co-Rookies of the Year". Press release. 30 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
9. "Knoxville's Mark Van Vliet Named SBK Defenseman of the Year". Press release. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
10. "Columbus' Ian Vigier Named SBK Goaltender of the Year". Press release. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
11. "Surge's Jeff Bes Named SBK Coach of the Year". Press release. 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
12. "Ice Bears, RiverHawks Head All-SPHL First Team". Press release. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
13. "All-SPHL Second Team Announced". Press release. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
14. "Cottonmouths, Surge Lead SPHL All-Rookie Team". Press release. 26 March 2012. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.