# 2017–18 SPHL season

The 2017–18 SPHL season was the 14th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL).

## League business
### Team changes

* The Birmingham Bulls from Pelham, Alabama, join the SPHL as an expansion team on April 26, 2017.
* The Columbus Cottonmouths suspended operations on May 3, 2017, because the franchise was unable to find a new owner in time for scheduling the 2017–18 season.
* The Fayetteville FireAntz were sold and rebranded as the Fayetteville Marksmen.

## Teams

2017-18 Southern Professional Hockey League :
| Team | City | Arena |
| Birmingham Bulls | Pelham, Alabama | Pelham Civic Center |
| Evansville Thunderbolts | Evansville, Indiana | Ford Center |
| Fayetteville Marksmen | 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 |
| Peoria Rivermen‡ | 56 | 38 | 13 | 5 | 211 | 154 | 81 |
| Macon Mayhem | 56 | 33 | 16 | 7 | 214 | 174 | 73 |
| Pensacola Ice Flyers | 56 | 33 | 16 | 7 | 189 | 156 | 73 |
| Huntsville Havoc | 56 | 30 | 16 | 10 | 203 | 180 | 70 |
| Knoxville Ice Bears | 56 | 30 | 20 | 6 | 205 | 182 | 66 |
| Evansville Thunderbolts | 56 | 27 | 20 | 9 | 186 | 191 | 63 |
| Mississippi RiverKings | 56 | 29 | 25 | 2 | 193 | 181 | 60 |
| Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs | 56 | 26 | 26 | 4 | 170 | 195 | 56 |
| Birmingham Bulls | 56 | 22 | 28 | 6 | 159 | 199 | 50 |
| Fayetteville Marksmen | 56 | 12 | 38 | 6 | 144 | 262 | 30 |
    $^‡$ William B. Coffey Trophy winners
    Advanced to playoffs

### Attendance

| Team | Total | Games | Average |
| Huntsville | 133,672 | 28 | 4,774 |
| Peoria | 107,983 | 28 | 3,856 |
| Knoxville | 107,087 | 28 | 3,824 |
| Pensacola | 103,465 | 28 | 3,695 |
| Roanoke | 94,107 | 28 | 3,360 |
| Fayetteville | 83,699 | 28 | 2,989 |
| Birmingham | 73,442 | 28 | 2,622 |
| Macon | 66,943 | 28 | 2,390 |
| Mississippi | 65,093 | 28 | 2,324 |
| Evansville | 64,673 | 28 | 2,309 |
| League | 900,164 | 280 | 3,214 |

## President's Cup playoffs

For 2018, the top eight teams at the end of the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The league implemented a new format so that the top three seeds chose their opponent from the bottom four qualifiers, calling it the "challenge round". The second round still had the highest versus lowest remaining seed format.

### Playoff bracket

| Challenge Round | Challenge Round | Challenge Round | | | Second Round | Second Round | Second Round | Championships | Championships | Championships |
| 1 | Peoria | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Roanoke | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Roanoke | 0 | | | 1 | Peoria | 2 | | | |
| | | | | | 5 | Knoxville | 0 | | | |
| 2 | Macon | 2 | | | 5 | Knoxville | 0 | | | |
| 6 | Evansville | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Evansville | 1 | | | | | | 1 | Peoria | 1 |
| (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 | Peoria | 1 |
| (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) | 4 | Huntsville | 2 |
| 3 | Pensacola | 0 | | | | | | | | | 4 | Huntsville | 2 |
| 5 | Knoxville | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Knoxville | 2 | | | 2 | Macon | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Huntsville | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Huntsville | 2 | | | 4 | Huntsville | 2 | | | |
| 7 | Mississippi | 1 | | | | | | | | |

### Finals

    Home team is listed first.
* Huntsville won series 2–1

## Awards

| Award | Recipient(s) | Finalists |
| President's Cup | Huntsville Havoc | Peoria Rivermen |
| William B. Coffey Trophy (Best regular-season record) | Peoria Rivermen | |
| Defenseman of the Year | Dave Pszenyczny (Peoria) | Daniel Gentzler (Macon) Stuart Stefan (Hunstville) |
| Rookie of the Year | Jacob Barber (Birmingham) | Eliot Grauer (Knoxville) Tomas Sholl (Evansville) |
| Goaltender of the Year | Brad Barone (Roanoke) | Tomas Sholl (Evansville) |
| Coach of the Year | Jean-Guy Trudel (Peoria) | Jeff Bes (Pensacola) Kevin Kerr (Macon) |
| Most Valuable Player | Berkley Scott (Knoxville) | Jake Trask (Macon) |
| Kevin Swider Leading Scorer Award | Berkley Scott (Knoxville) | Jake Trask (Macon) |

### All-SPHL selections

| Position | First Team | Second Team | All-Rookie |
| G | Brad Barone (Roanoke) | Tomas Sholl (Evansville) | Tomas Sholl (Evansville) |
| D | Dave Pszenyczny (Peoria) Stuart Stefan (Huntsville) | David Brancik (Knoxville) Daniel Gentzler (Macon) | Anthony Calabrese (Huntsville) (tie) Michael Chen (Knoxville) Derek Perl (Huntsville) (tie) |
| F | Alec Hagaman (Peoria) Berkley Scott (Knoxville) Jake Trask (Macon) | Jake Hauswirth (Fayetteville) Steve Mele (Roanoke) Garrett Milan (Pensacola) | Jacob Barber (Birmingham) Eliot Grauer (Knoxville) Joseph Widmar (Peoria) |