SPHL Today Playoff Edition: 05-02-23

Contact: awest@thesphl.com

HUNTERSVILLE, NC (May 2, 2023) – The Southern Professional Hockey League continues the finals of the 2023 SPHL Presidents Cup Playoffs tonight with Birmingham on the road to take on Roanoke in Game 4. You can follow all the action this postseason at www.sphltv.com

Birmingham @ Roanoke (7:05 p.m. EST, 6:05 p.m. CST)

Birmingham Bulls (37-16-4 | 2nd Seed)

• Jake Pappalardo leads the Bulls with nine playoff points (5g, 4a).
• Matt Wiesner helped get the Bulls back even in this best-of-five series as he scored the game-winning goal in a 2-0 shutout over the Dawgs in Game 2.
• Carson Rose has eight playoff points, (5g, 3a) one of which was the game-winning goal in overtime of game one to defeat Huntsville 3-2.
• Austin Lotz recorded his first shutout of the 2023 SPHL Playoffs, stopping all 33 shots he faced in a 2-0 victory in Game 2.
• Michael Gillespie finished tied for second in the league with 27 goals.
• Gillespie was named to the All-SPHL 1st team after recording 60 points (27g, 33a)
• Mike Davis finished tied for sixth in the league with 23 goals.
• Goaltenders Austin Lotz and Hayden Stewart are a combined 4-0-2 in the playoffs through two rounds, they have combined to post a 1.91 goals-against average and a 0.924 SV%.
• Goalie Austin Lotz finished tied for the league lead with 24 wins and his 2.73 gaa was seventh-best in the league.
Hayden Stewart became the first goalie in SPHL history to score a goal when he netted an empty-net goal in the waning seconds against Evansville on March 18, 2023.
• Birmingham was a league-best 28-2-1 this season when scoring first.
• Roanoke leads the President’s Cup Final 2-1 after the teams split a pair of games in Birmingham and Roanoke won game three, 5-4 in overtime.
• Birmingham was 2-2-0 against Roanoke in the regular season. Defeated Fayetteville 2 Games to 1 in round one. Defeated Huntsville in the battle for Alabama, 2 Games to 1 to advance to the President’s Cup Final.

Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs (32-19-5 | 4th Seed)

• Dominiks Marcinkevics collected his first playoff point, a huge one as he scored the game-winning goal in overtime to help Roanoke take a 2 Games to 1 lead over Birmingham in this best-of-five series.
• Nick Ford has 10 points in the playoffs (3g, 7a) including a goal and two assists as Roanoke took Game 3 by a final score of 5-4 in overtime.
• Nick DeVito notched the 16th hat-trick in SPHL playoff history (first ever for Roanoke in the Playoffs) in game two against Peoria, scoring all three goals for the Dawgs in a 5-3 loss. Picked up two more goals in game three to help get the Dawgs back to the SPHL Presidents Cup Final for the second consecutive year.
• Gehrett Sargis scored three times in the Dawgs’ opening-round sweep of Evansville. Added two goals in the Dawgs’ game three win against Peoria.
• Austyn Roudebush has been a brick wall in net for the Dawgs, posting a 5-2-0 record, 0.931 SV%, and a 2.16 goals-against average in the playoffs.
• Billy Vizzo and Mac Jansen led the Dawgs with 19 goals.
• Nick Ford (16g, 38a) led the Dawgs with 54 points.
• Ford’s 38 assists led the Dawgs in the regular season.
• Goalie Austyn Roudebush posted a league-best 24 wins and was third with a 2.52 goals-against average.
• Roanoke leads the President’s Cup Final 2-1 after the teams split a pair of games in Birmingham and Roanoke won game three, 5-4 in overtime.
• Roanoke was 2-1-1 against Birmingham in the regular season. Defeated Evansville 2 Games to 0 in round one, and then defeated Peoria 2 Games to 1 to advance to the President’s Cup Final.