Fort Towson

The 2008–09 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the fifth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began August 24, 2008, and ended April 16, 2009, after a 60-game regular season and a four-team playoff. The Knoxville Ice Bears captured their second consecutive championship.

Preseason

The Jacksonville Barracudas franchise was suspended from the season due to lack of a search for a arena. The team would eventually fold.^[2]

Regular season

Final standings

Team^[3]	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Knoxville Ice Bears^‡	60	35	16	9	216	171	79
Columbus Cottonmouths	60	31	22	7	194	196	69
Fayetteville FireAntz	60	30	25	5	212	224	65
Huntsville Havoc	60	29	24	7	204	197	65
Richmond Renegades	60	30	27	3	215	235	63
Twin City Cyclones	60	25	29	6	208	236	56

^‡ William B. Coffey Trophy winners

Advanced to playoffs

Attendance

Team	Total	Games	Average
Huntsville	106,848	30	3,561
Fayetteville	102,637	30	3,421
Knoxville	101,054	30	3,368
Richmond	99,071	30	3,302
Columbus	82,415	30	2,747
Twin City	33,909	30	1,130

President's Cup playoffs

	Semifinals									Finals

	1	Knoxville Ice Bears	6	4	2	3	3

	4	Huntsville Havoc	4	2	4	4	2
										1	Knoxville Ice Bears	5	1	3	1	1	5	3

										3	Fayetteville FireAntz	2	3	2	4	2	4	1
	3	Fayetteville FireAntz	3	7	4	3	2

	2	Columbus Cottonmouths	9	3	3	5	0

Finals

April 3, 2009
7:35 pm

Fayetteville

2 – 5

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
Attendance: 2,417

Guy St. Vincent

Goalies

Referees:
John-Michael McNulty
Brent Coulombe

	0 – 1	01:55 - Swider (Harris, Vitek) (PP)
	0 – 2	17:43 - Pelkey (Norrie, Harris)
	0 – 3	27:14 - Vitek (Carter, Swider)
	0 – 4	29:00 - Vitek (Harris, Swider) (PP)
Sich (Rapoza) (SH) - 44:36	1 – 4
Moreland (Snyder, Leveille) (PP) - 53:47	2 – 4
	2 – 5	17:51 - Vitek (Swider, Martell) (EN)

10 min

Penalties

4 min

41

Shots

33

April 4, 2009
7:35 pm

Fayetteville

3 – 1

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
Attendance: 2,519

Guy St. Vincent

Goalies

Andrew Gallant

Referees:
John-Michael McNulty
Ryan Hersey

Ruberto (Colangelo) - 38:19	1 – 0
Sich (Snyder, Rapoza) (PP) - 48:23	2 – 0
Ruberto (Colangelo) - 50:11	3 – 0
	3 – 1	54:11 - Vitek (Pelkey, Swider) (PP)

16 min

Penalties

4 min

28

Shots

42

April 10, 2009
7:35 pm

Knoxville

3 – 2 (OT)

Fayetteville

Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, NC
Attendance: 2,113

Goalies

Guy St. Vincent

Referees:
Dan Dreger
Curtis Marouelli

Moore - 16:10	1 – 0
	1 – 1	27:47 - Ruberto (Colangelo, Snyder)
Furdero (Norrie) - 29:27	2 – 1
	2 – 2	36:36 - Olauson (Rapoza, Snyder) (PP)
Rebernik (Swider) - 75:53	3 – 2

12 min

Penalties

12 min

37

Shots

38

April 11, 2009
7:35 pm

Knoxville

1 – 4

Fayetteville

Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, NC
Attendance: 2,111

Goalies

Guy St. Vincent

Referees:
Tim Mayer
Curtis Marouelli

	0 – 1	32:33 - Sich (Hessler, Geerlinks) (PP)
	0 – 2	33:40 - Olauson (SH)
Swider (Carter) - 38:03	1 – 2
	1 – 3	53:15 - Norrington (Colangelo, Ruberto)
	1 – 4	59:54 - Sich (EN)

4 min

Penalties

8 min

40

Shots

41

April 12, 2009
5:00 pm

Knoxville

1 – 2

Fayetteville

Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, NC
Attendance: 1,810

Goalies

Guy St. Vincent

Referees:
Tim Mayer
Dan Dreger

Furdero (Rebernik, Moore) - 7:30	1 – 0
	1 – 1	24:29 - Snyder (Sich, Moreland) (PP)
	1 – 2	26:40 - Sich (Leveille, Moreland)

18 min

Penalties

16 min

44

Shots

38

April 15, 2009
7:35 pm

Fayetteville

4 – 5 (OT)

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
Attendance: 2,128

Guy St. Vincent

Goalies

Referees:
Curtis Marouelli
Brent Coulombe

Olauson (Needham, Buccella) - 04:35	1 – 0
Sich (Hessler) - 05:51	2 – 0
	2 – 1	08:22 - Pelkey (Carter, Keller) (PP)
	2 – 2	29:26 - Pelkey (Rebernik)
Moreland (Leveille) - 34:42	3 – 2
	3 – 3	42:02 - Rebernik (Furdero, Pelkey) (PP)
Hessler (Leveille, Cryer) - 47:06	4 – 3
	4 – 4	58:49 - Vitek (Furdero, Carter)
	4 – 5	71:52 - Pelkey (Harris, Pallardy)

16 min

Penalties

16 min

36

Shots

64

April 16, 2009
7:35 pm

Fayetteville

1 – 3

Knoxville

James White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
Attendance: 2,705

Guy St. Vincent

Goalies

Referees:
Curtis Marouelli
Tim Mayer

	0 – 1	03:21 - Norrie (Pelkey, Pallardy)
McConnachie (Ruberto) - 15:05	1 – 1
	1 – 2	17:52 - Rebernik (Harris, Furdero)
	1 – 3	31:35 - Rebernik (Furdero, Norrie)

10 min

Penalties

16 min

40

Shots

32

Awards

SPHL Award winners were announced April 23, 2009.^[4]

President's Cup:	Knoxville Ice Bears
Coffey Trophy:	Knoxville Ice Bears
League MVP:	Travis Kauffeldt (Huntsville)
Rookie of the Year:	Michael Richard (Twin City)
Defenseman of the Year:	Kevin Harris (Knoxville)
Goaltender of the Year:	Andrew Gallant (Knoxville)^[5]
Coach of the Year:	Scott Hillman (Knoxville)
Playoff MVP:	Kirk Irving (Knoxville)^[6]

All-Star selections

1st Team All-Stars
F Travis Kauffeldt (Huntsville) F Donald Melnyk (Twin City) F Kevin Swider (Knoxville) D Kevin Harris (Knoxville) D Dan Vandermeer (Richmond) G Andrew Gallant (Knoxville)

2nd Team All-Stars
F Tim Green (Columbus) F Beau McLaughlin (Richmond) F Rob Sich (Fayetteville) D Corey Hessler (Fayetteville) D Lawne Snyder (Fayetteville) G Ian Vigier (Columbus)

Rookie All-Stars
F Sam Bowles (Columbus) F Ryan Busby (Richmond) F Michael Richard (Twin City) D Kyle Lundale (Columbus) D Travis Martell (Knoxville) G Ryan Scott (Richmond)

References

^ "SPHL honors Kauffeldt". The Huntsville Times. 24 March 2009. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
^ Gates, Nick (June 21, 2009). "Murray liking SPHL expansion". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
^ "SPHL Standings". Pointstreak.com. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
^ "Renegades Named SPHL Award Winners". Press release. March 23, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
^ "Mississippi's Bill Zaniboni Named Goaltender of the Year". Press release. April 1, 2010. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
^ Gates, Nick (April 16, 2009). "Repeat performance on Hockey Top". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved March 17, 2010.

SPHL
Teams	Birmingham Bulls Evansville Thunderbolts Fayetteville Marksmen Huntsville Havoc Knoxville Ice Bears Macon Mayhem Pensacola Ice Flyers Peoria Rivermen Quad City Storm Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs
Arenas	Berglund Center (Rail Yard Dawgs) Carver Arena (Rivermen) Crown Coliseum (Marksmen) Ford Center (Thunderbolts) Macon Coliseum (Mayhem) James White Civic Coliseum (Ice Bears) Pelham Civic Center (Bulls) Pensacola Bay Center (Ice Flyers) Vibrant Arena at The MARK (Storm) Von Braun Center (Havoc)
Seasons	2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
President's Cup William B. Coffey Trophy Other professional hockey leagues

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%9309_Southern_Professional_Hockey_League_season