Former Vipers Goaltender Mark Sibbald Eliminates Former Viper Team Mate Jon Olthuis In SPHL Playoffs:

Former Vernon Vipers goaltender, Jon Olthuis and the SPHL Augusta RiverHawks were elminated from the playoffs after a 6-2 loss to former Vernon Vipers goaltender, & former Vipers team mate Mark Sibbald and the Huntsville Havoc Saturday night winning the best of three series, two games to one. The Havoc will now advance to the SPHL semifinals for the second time in three years.

Jon Olthuis is in his third season with the RiverHawks also saw time with the CHL Tulsa Oilers this season before returning to Augusta. Olthuis played two seasons in Vernon (2004-2006) & was the backup to former Vipers starting goaltender, Mark Sibbald during the 2004-05 season. Olthuis played in 67 regular season games with the Vipers going (45-16-2) with 6 shutouts.

Jon Olthuis's Player Profile:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=84007

Mark Sibbald is in his third season with the Havoc, also saw time in the CHL with Bloomington and Dayton before returning to Huntsville. Sibbald played two seasons in Vernon (2003-2005) played in 59 regular season games with the Vipers going (35-16-3) with 4 shutouts.

Mark Sibbald's Player Profile:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=76538

This is posted in the Augusta Chronicle Newspaper:

RiverHawks bounced from playoffs

By Billy Byler

Saturday, March 31, 2012

An overtime loss Friday and poor night Saturday was enough to bring down the mighty Augusta RiverHawks.

The top seed in the Southern Professional Hockey League playoffs was knocked off its throne by eighth-seeded Huntsville with Saturday night’s 6-2 Havoc win in Game 3 of the best-of-three series.

After a record-breaking regular season, the RiverHawks put themselves in the record books one last time. Augusta became the first No. 1 seed in the history of the SPHL to lose in the first round.

“It was just one of those freak games,” head coach Brad Ralph said. “Usually you have one or maybe two of those games a year. You certainly don’t expect to have one in the playoffs. Everything they touched turned to gold, and every mistake we made ended up in the back of our net.”

Huntsville overcame a heart-breaking overtime loss in Game 1 with a similar overtime win in Game 2 and a dominating performance in the deciding Game 3. The Havoc chased Augusta goalie Peter Skoggard within the first seven minutes, scoring three times on just five shots for a 3-0 first-period lead.

Jon Olthuis stepped in goal for Augusta and slowed the bleeding, giving up just one second-period goal. But the RiverHawks
offense managed just 18 fruitless shots through the first two periods.

Augusta finally showed some life with a pair of third-period goals. Brendan Taylor scored on a pass from Branden Kosolofsky a minute into the period, and Jim Gehring sent in a wrister with nine minutes left.

Huntsville answered each time. Colin Reddin and Justin Fox worked a give-and-go on a 2-on-1 break after Taylor’s score, and a Drew Baker penalty led to a Havoc power play goal for a 6-2 lead with seven minutes left.

Huntsville goalie Mark Sibbald made 25 saves to beat Augusta for the second time in the series.

The series win was a first for rookie head coach Glenn Detulleo, who was a Huntsville player before head coach Randy Murphy stepped down less than a month ago. Detulleo immediately retired as a player and stepped in as interim coach with just six regular season games remaining and 13 rookies on the roster.

“When I took over my job really was to find the confidence,” Detulleo said. “I knew we had the ability in the locker room. It was just a lack of confidence, and game by game you could see every game the confidence was coming, and once they believed you could see everything start changing.”

The Havoc advance to the SPHL semifinals for the second time in three years.