# 2004–05 SPHL season

The 2004–05 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the first season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began October 29, 2004, and ended April 1, 2005, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths won the first SPHL championship.

## Teams

2004-05 Southern Professional Hockey League :
| Team | City | Arena |
| Asheville Aces | Asheville, North Carolina | Asheville Civic Center |
| Columbus Cottonmouths | Columbus, Georgia | Columbus Civic Center |
| Fayetteville FireAntz | Fayetteville, North Carolina | Cumberland County Crown Coliseum |
| Huntsville Havoc | Huntsville, Alabama | Von Braun Center |
| Jacksonville Barracudas | Jacksonville, Florida | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena |
| Knoxville Ice Bears | Knoxville, Tennessee | Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum |
| Macon Trax | Macon, Georgia | Macon Coliseum |
| Winston-Salem Polar Twins | Winston-Salem, North Carolina | LJVM Coliseum Annex |

## Regular season
### Final standings

| Team | GP | W | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Knoxville Ice Bears$^‡$ | 56 | 34 | 22 | 235 | 185 | 68 |
| Macon Trax | 56 | 33 | 23 | 220 | 199 | 66 |
| Jacksonville Barracudas | 56 | 33 | 23 | 230 | 195 | 66 |
| Fayetteville FireAntz | 56 | 32 | 24 | 226 | 158 | 64 |
| Columbus Cottonmouths | 56 | 30 | 26 | 224 | 200 | 60 |
| Huntsville Havoc | 56 | 29 | 27 | 183 | 181 | 58 |
| Asheville Aces | 56 | 19 | 37 | 182 | 256 | 38 |
| Winston-Salem Polar Twins | 56 | 14 | 42 | 147 | 300 | 28 |
    $^‡$ Commissioner's Cup winners
    Advanced to playoffs

### Attendance

| Team | Total | Games | Average |
| Knoxville | 93,564 | 28 | 3,341 |
| Fayetteville | 85,744 | 28 | 3,062 |
| Huntsville | 75,978 | 28 | 2,713 |
| Columbus | 73,063 | 28 | 2,609 |
| Jacksonville | 63,542 | 28 | 2,269 |
| Asheville | 59,901 | 28 | 2,139 |
| Macon | 53,082 | 28 | 1,895 |
| Winston-Salem | 41,816 | 28 | 1,493 |

## President's Cup playoffs

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| | | | 1 | Knoxville Ice Bears | 2 | 2 | – | | | | | |
| 5 | Columbus Cottonmouths | 4 | 5 | Columbus Cottonmouths | 4 | 3 | – | | | | | |
| 4 | Fayetteville FireAntz | 2 | | | | | | 5 | Columbus Cottonmouths | 5 | 3 | – |
| | | | | | | | | 2 | Macon Trax | 1 | 2 | – |
| | | | 2 | Macon Trax | 2 | 3 | 7 | | | | | |
| 3 | Jacksonville Barracudas | 2 | 3 | Jacksonville Barracudas | 1 | 4 | 1 | | | | | |
| 6 | Huntsville Havoc | 1 | | | | | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals

    Note: game-winning goal scorer indicated in italics

#### (1) Knoxville Ice Bears and (2) Macon Trax

The Knoxville Ice Bears and the Macon trax get byes for the Quarter Finals round of the playoffs. The teams will be reseeded for the Simi Finals round.

#### (3) Jacksonville Barracudas vs. (6) Huntsville Havoc

| Game-by-Game | Game-by-Game | Score | Score | Jacksonville goals | Huntsville goals | Winning goalie |
| 1 | March 23 | at Jacksonville 2, Huntsville 1 | | Brad Federenko, Jason Silverthron | Jeff Dams | Kelly Shields |
| Jacksonville win series 1–0 | Jacksonville win series 1–0 | Jacksonville win series 1–0 | Jacksonville win series 1–0 | | |

#### (4) Fayetteville FireAntz vs. (5) Columbus Cottonmouths

| Game-by-Game | Game-by-Game | Score | Score | Fayetteville goals | Columbus goals | Winning goalie |
| 1 | March 23 | at Fayetteville 2, Columbus 4 | | Chad Peck, George Nistas | Ryan Haggarty, Tylor Keller, Daryl Moor, Tim Green | Chad Rycroft |
| Columbus win series 1–0 | Columbus win series 1–0 | Columbus win series 1–0 | Columbus win series 1–0 | | |

### Semifinals

    Note: game-winning goal scorer indicated in italics

#### (1) Knoxville Ice Bears vs. (5) Columbus Cottonmouths

| Game-by-Game | Game-by-Game | Score | Score | Knoxville goals | Columbus goals | Winning goalie |
| 1 | March 25 | at Knoxville 2, Columbus 4 | | David Bagley, Doug Searle | Orrin Hergott, Tylor Keller, Ryan Haggarty 2 | Chad Rycroft |
| 2 | March 27 | at Columbus 3, Knoxville 2 | | Chris Bodnar, Craig Desjarlais | Craig Stahl 2, Orrin Hergott | Chad Rycroft |
| Columbus win series 2–0 | Columbus win series 2–0 | Columbus win series 2–0 | Columbus win series 2–0 | | Hergott 2, Haggarty 2, Stahl 2 |

#### (2) Macon Trax vs. (3) Jacksonville Barracudas

| Game-by-Game | Game-by-Game | Score | Score | Macon goals | Jacksonville goals | Winning goalie |
| 1 | March 25 | at Jacksonville 1, Macon 2 | | Craig Miller, Casey Handrahan | Jason Silverthorn | Mark Cairns |
| 2 | March 26 | at Macon 3, Jacksonville 4 | | John Gurskis 2, Steve Zoryk | Joe Koslakiewicz 2, Brad Federenko 2 | Kelly Shields |
| 3 | March 27 | at Macon 7, Jacksonville 1 | | Edan Welch, Ryan Rivard, Steve Zoryk 2, Lou Dimasi, Mark Allen, David Deeves | Brent Rumble | Kelly Shields |
| Macon win series 2–1 | Macon win series 2–1 | Macon win series 2–1 | Macon win series 2–1 | Zork 3, | Koslakiewicz 2, Federenko 2 |

### Finals
## Awards

The Coach of the Year award was announced on March 21, 2005, followed by the All-Star team on March 22, Goalie of the Year on March 23, Defenseman of the Year on March 24, and MVP and Rookie of the Year on March 25.
| President's Cup: | Columbus Cottonmouths |
| Commissioner's Cup: | Knoxville Ice Bears |
| League MVP: | Kevin Swider (Knoxville) |
| Rookie of the Year: | Chad Collins (Fayetteville) |
| Defenseman of the Year: | Curtis Menzul (Knoxville) |
| Goalie of the Year: | Chad Collins (Fayetteville) |
| Coach of the Year: | Derek Booth (Fayetteville) |

### All-Star selections

* All-Stars
* F Brent Rumble (Jacksonville)
* F Kevin Swider (Knoxville)
* F K.J. Vorhees (Knoxville)
* D Ryan Aikia (Columbus)
* D Curtis Menzul (Knoxville)
* G Chad Collins (Fayetteville)