In October, the Southern Professional Hockey League will welcome back a familiar southern hockey destination when the Macon Mayhem begin play. Macon returns to the SPHL by way of Augusta, when the Riverhawks were forced from their arena during the 2012-13 season due to an ice plant failure.
Macon was one of the charter cities of the SPHL, with the Macon Trax playing their only season in the league's inaugural year. That season saw the Trax put up a 33-23 record in the regular season and an impressive playoff run that sent them to the SPHL finals before losing to Columbus. The Trax franchise had two previous seasons in the SPHL's forerunner leagues, the Atlantic Coast Hockey league in 2002-03 and the World Hockey Association 2 in 2003-04.
The city's hockey history is most known for one of the most colorful team names in professional sports, the Macon Whoopee, which was the moniker of three teams: the short-lived Whoopees of the Southern Hockey League in 1973-74; the CHL Whoopee, who played from 1996 through 2001; and the ECHL Whoopee, which lasted through the 2001-02 season before relocating to Lexington, Kentucky.
The Mayhem's home ice will be the 7,000-seat Macon Coliseum, and are owned by the same couple who owned the Augusta Riverhawks, Bob and Dianne Kerzner. Mark Richards remains the general manager, and has named Kevin Kerr as head coach. Kerr has had a long playing career in minor-league hockey, with notable seasons in the AHL, IHL, and ECHL; playing as a hard-nosed enforcer and energy player with offensive skills. Fans unfamiliar to Kerr can classify him as a player similar to Cottonmouths coach Jerome Bechard.
On May 3rd, the first six Mayhem players were named in an expansion draft. The players, selected from a pool of unprotected players of the other eight SPHL teams are:
Macon was one of the charter cities of the SPHL, with the Macon Trax playing their only season in the league's inaugural year. That season saw the Trax put up a 33-23 record in the regular season and an impressive playoff run that sent them to the SPHL finals before losing to Columbus. The Trax franchise had two previous seasons in the SPHL's forerunner leagues, the Atlantic Coast Hockey league in 2002-03 and the World Hockey Association 2 in 2003-04.
The city's hockey history is most known for one of the most colorful team names in professional sports, the Macon Whoopee, which was the moniker of three teams: the short-lived Whoopees of the Southern Hockey League in 1973-74; the CHL Whoopee, who played from 1996 through 2001; and the ECHL Whoopee, which lasted through the 2001-02 season before relocating to Lexington, Kentucky.
The Mayhem's home ice will be the 7,000-seat Macon Coliseum, and are owned by the same couple who owned the Augusta Riverhawks, Bob and Dianne Kerzner. Mark Richards remains the general manager, and has named Kevin Kerr as head coach. Kerr has had a long playing career in minor-league hockey, with notable seasons in the AHL, IHL, and ECHL; playing as a hard-nosed enforcer and energy player with offensive skills. Fans unfamiliar to Kerr can classify him as a player similar to Cottonmouths coach Jerome Bechard.
On May 3rd, the first six Mayhem players were named in an expansion draft. The players, selected from a pool of unprotected players of the other eight SPHL teams are:
- Knoxville forward Ryan Salvis. Salvis is the kind of player who knows how to win championships. He was on the Ice Flyers during their back-to-back run in 12-13 and 13-14, signed with Knoxville last year, and won a third consecutive President's Cup with the Ice Bears.
- Mississippi forward Matt Whitehead. Whitehead was the RiverKings' leading scorer last season, and is a talented two-way player.
- Pensacola defenseman Steve Bergin. Bergin gets reunited with former teammate Salvis, and should be the anchor of the Mayhem blue line.
- Peoria (and former IceGator) defenseman Jason Cohen. Cohen is a hard-shooting player who likes to play up in the offensive zone, and can contribute on the power play.
- Knoxville defenseman Mark Corbett. The youngest of the Mayhem selections, and fresh out of a 4-year career at Ryerson University in Ontario, adds a lot of size to the blue line. Looks to be a shot blocking stay-at-home defenseman.
- Pensacola goaltender John McLean. At 6'9", McLean is the tallest player in the SPHL. He came to the IceFlyers in limited action after finishing his collegiate career at D3 Adolphus College.