Huntsville-Peoria set combative tone prior to President’s Cup Finals

HUNTSVILLE – Intensity is a term that usually rides shotgun along with any professional sports championship as the driving force.

For this one featuring the Huntsville Havoc against the Peoria Rivermen, the aforementioned noun is going to have to share its seat because adjectives fierce and ferocious are coming, too.

Hyperbole? Absolutely. An accurate prediction? The answer will become clearer tonight at the Von Braun Center in the first of a best-of-three President’s Cup Playoffs finals. The puck for Game 1 drops at 7 p.m. on the Roto-Rooter Ice at Propst Arena.

Though Huntsville won the Southern Professional Hockey League season series between the rivals 5-2, those clashes were highlighted with heated action. According to the Havoc, the final two games – split by the teams in Peoria – featured a staggering 280 total penalty minutes culminating in several suspensions.

Among those sidelined were key players from both squads. The Havoc were without Dominick Procopio for four games, Cole Reginato for three and Dylan Stewart for two. For the Rivermen, Alec Hagaman and Zach Wilkie were also suspended.

“What happened in the regular season is something to keep in the back of our heads for sure, but we need to make sure we’re mentally ready to focus only on what’s coming up, without getting hung up on the past,” Huntsville head coach Stuart Stefan said earlier in the week. “They’re another physical team that likes to finish their hits, but so was Roanoke. We just need to be ready from the first puck drop to be physical and stay to our game.”

Huntsville defeated Roanoke in two games to reach the championship series.

Game 2 will move to the Peoria Civic Center at 7:15 p.m. Saturday. As the higher seed at No. 5, Peoria would also host Game 3 if necessary at 3:15 p.m. Sunday. Huntsville entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.

The Havoc and Rivermen split a passionate two-game series over the Thanksgiving holidays. A contentious five-straight-game series played in Alabama and Illinois followed in January, ending with the penalty-filled two games to finish the season set.