Hockey returns to Pensacola

Pensacola’s boys of winter are getting ready for another run at the Southern Professional Hockey League championship.

The Ice Flyers earned 64 points and finished second in the nine-team league last year and advanced to the playoffs’ final round before losing the best-of-three series to the 2012 champion Columbus, Ga., Cottonmouths.

Coach Gary Graham and his staff held a free agent camp last week and opened the Flyers’ regular training camp Monday at the Pensacola Civic Center. The players were scheduled to work out in two practice sessions each morning with an intrasquad scrimmage from 3-5 p.m. through today, Thursday, Oct. 18.

Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 19, the players again will work out between 9-11:15 a.m. and will scrimmage the Mississippi Surge from 3-5 p.m. in the civic center. All workouts and scrimmages are open to the public at no charge.

Pensacola will play an exhibition game against the Cottonmouths at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Columbus then open the regular season in the same building against Columbus at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26.

The Ice Flyers played their first season in 2009-10. The ECHL's Pensacola Ice Pilots played in the Pensacola Civic Center from 1996 until they folded in 2008.

The "Ice Flyers" name is a tribute to Pensacola's naval aviation heritage and an homage to owner Tim Kerr, who played 11 seasons with the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers.

The SPHL started play in 2004. Its current nine members are the Augusta, Ga., RiverHawks; Columbus Cottonmouths; Fayetteville, N.C., FireAntz; Huntsville, Ala., Havoc; Knoxville, Tenn., Ice Bears; Louisiana (Lafayette) IceGators; Mississippi (Southaven) RiverKings; Mississippi (Biloxi) Surge; and Pensacola Ice Flyers.

For more information about the Ice Flyers, go to pensacolaiceflyers.com online; @PcolaIceFlyers on Twitter; or Pensacola Ice Flyers on Facebook. For more information about the Southern Professional Hockey League, go to thesphl.com online.