# 2016–17 SPHL season

The 2016–17 SPHL season was the 13th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL).

## League business
### Team changes

* The dormant Mississippi Surge franchise was purchased and relocated to Roanoke, Virginia, and became the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs.
* The Evansville Thunderbolts from Evansville, Indiana, join the SPHL as an expansion team replacing the former Evansville IceMen of the ECHL.
* The Louisiana IceGators suspended operations because renovations to the Cajundome were not going to be complete in time for the regular season.

## Teams

2016-17 Southern Professional Hockey League :
| Team | City | Arena |
| Columbus Cottonmouths | Columbus, Georgia | Columbus Civic Center |
| Evansville Thunderbolts | Evansville, Indiana | Ford Center |
| Fayetteville FireAntz | Fayetteville, North Carolina | Crown Complex |
| Huntsville Havoc | Huntsville, Alabama | Von Braun Center |
| Knoxville Ice Bears | Knoxville, Tennessee | Knoxville Civic Coliseum |
| Macon Mayhem | Macon, Georgia | Macon Coliseum |
| Mississippi RiverKings | Southaven, Mississippi | Landers Center |
| Pensacola Ice Flyers | Pensacola, Florida | Pensacola Bay Center |
| Peoria Rivermen | Peoria, Illinois | Carver Arena |
| Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs | Roanoke, Virginia | Berglund Center |

## Regular season
### Standings

Final standings
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| Macon Mayhem$^‡$ | 56 | 37 | 13 | 6 | 178 | 146 | 80 |
| Fayetteville FireAntz | 56 | 36 | 17 | 3 | 174 | 130 | 75 |
| Peoria Rivermen | 56 | 32 | 13 | 11 | 182 | 145 | 75 |
| Huntsville Havoc | 56 | 34 | 16 | 6 | 200 | 165 | 74 |
| Mississippi RiverKings | 56 | 32 | 21 | 3 | 172 | 162 | 67 |
| Knoxville Ice Bears | 56 | 29 | 20 | 7 | 175 | 178 | 65 |
| Pensacola Ice Flyers | 56 | 27 | 21 | 8 | 171 | 154 | 62 |
| Columbus Cottonmouths | 56 | 22 | 30 | 4 | 153 | 199 | 48 |
| Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs | 56 | 17 | 30 | 9 | 158 | 216 | 43 |
| Evansville Thunderbolts | 56 | 14 | 32 | 10 | 138 | 206 | 38 |
    $^‡$ William B. Coffey Trophy winners
    Advanced to playoffs

### Attendance

| Team | Total | Games | Average |
| Huntsville | 130,166 | 28 | 4,648 |
| Peoria | 112,713 | 28 | 4,025 |
| Pensacola | 104,631 | 28 | 3,736 |
| Knoxville | 101,123 | 28 | 3,611 |
| Roanoke | 87,831 | 28 | 3,136 |
| Evansville | 63,854 | 28 | 2,280 |
| Mississippi | 63,276 | 28 | 2,259 |
| Columbus | 63,220 | 28 | 2,257 |
| Macon | 52,052 | 28 | 1,859 |
| Fayetteville | 52,013 | 28 | 1,857 |
| League | 830,879 | 280 | 2,967 |

## President's Cup playoffs
### Playoff bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | | | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Macon | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Columbus | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Columbus | 1 | | | 1 | Macon | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | 7 | Pensacola | 0 | | | |
| 2 | Fayetteville | 0 | | | 7 | Pensacola | 0 | | | |
| 7 | Pensacola | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Pensacola | 2 | | | | | | 1 | Macon | 2 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 1 | Macon | 2 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 3 | Peoria | 0 |
| 3 | Peoria | 2 | | | | | | | | | 3 | Peoria | 0 |
| 6 | Knoxville | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Knoxville | 0 | | | 3 | Peoria | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Huntsville | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Huntsville | 2 | | | 4 | Huntsville | 1 | | | |
| 5 | Mississippi | 1 | | | | | | | | |

### Finals

    Home team is listed first.
* Macon wins series 2–0

## Awards

2016–17 SPHL awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) | Finalists |
| President's Cup | Macon Mayhem | Peoria Rivermen |
| William B. Coffey Trophy (Best regular-season record) | Macon Mayhem | |
| Defenseman of the Year | Louis Belisle (Pensacola) | Nolan Kaiser (Huntsville) Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) |
| Rookie of the Year | Mike Moran (Mississippi) | Keegan Bruce (Columbus) |
| Goaltender of the Year | Sean Bonar (Fayetteville) | Jordan Ruby (Macon) |
| Coach of the Year | Kevin Kerr (Macon) | Jeff Bes (Fayetteville) |
| Most Valuable Player | Sean Bonar (Fayetteville) | Tayler Thompson (Fayetteville) |
| Kevin Swider Leading Scorer Award | Tayler Thompson (Fayetteville) | |

### All-SPHL selections

| Position | First Team | Second Team | All-Rookie |
| G | Sean Bonar (Fayetteville) | Jordan Ruby (Macon) | Storm Phaneuf (Peoria) |
| D | Louis Belisle (Pensacola) | Nick Schneider (Roanoke) | Nathan Bruyere (Pensacola) |
| D | Nolan Kaiser (Huntsville) | Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) | Daniel Echeverri (Macon) |
| F | Mike Moran (Mississippi) | Keegan Bruce (Columbus) | Keegan Bruce (Columbus) |
| F | Sy Nutkevitch (Huntsville) | Bobby Chaumont (Fayetteville) | Mike Moran (Mississippi) |
| F | Tayler Thompson (Fayetteville) | Jake Hauswirth (Fayetteville) | John Siemer (Macon) |