BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Birmingham Bulls find themselves in a less than preferred, but familiar situation this weekend. Currently in a three-way tie for seventh place in the SPHL standings, the Bulls are facing their in-state rival with much-needed points on the line. The Huntsville Havoc are making their final trip to the Magic City for the regular season and are looking to lock up another season title over their in-state rivals.
While Birmingham cannot win the season series against the Havoc, thanks to a pair of overtime losses, Birmingham only trails the Havoc by two-points in the rivalry for the season and can tie them with a win tonight.
The Bulls will be looking to erase the memory of Valentine’s weekend sweep by Huntsville in which the Havoc out scored Birmingham 11-3. In those two games, the Havoc’s Max Milosek did what he’s seemed to always do against Birmingham, allow three goals on just 51 shots and earn his second shutout of the Bulls this season. For his career, Milosek is 10-3 against Birmingham with a 2.31 goals against average.
Tomorrow night, the Bulls will face one of the two teams they’re currently tied with for seventh place. The Macon Mayhem will be looking to even up the season series against Birmingham. Currently, the Bulls have a 3-2-0 advantage over the Mayhem, including a 5-2 win in Macon last Saturday night.
Bulls fans will need to pay attention to the line-up sheets this weekend as there will be some new faces and some familiar names missing at this time. Gone are Austin Lotz, J.M. Piotrowski, and Sam Williams. Lotz and Piotrowski have been loaned out to teams in the ECHL. Lotz is currently with the Kalamazoo Wings, while Piotrowski is with the Orlando Solar Bears. Sam Williams was placed on waivers on February 23.
Joining the Birmingham Bulls officially is defenseman Harrison Harper. Harper joined the Bulls back on February 15th with a three-game tryout and was signed to the roster on the 23rd. Also making their Magic City debuts are Riley Lamb and Kurt Sonne.
Lamb is a goaltender from Rivers, Manitoba and joins the Bulls after finishing his collegiate career at the University of Manitoba.
Sonne is a left-winger from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, who spent his collegiate years at Northland College where he scored 31 goals tallied 70 points.
Coming into the weekend the Bulls have a couple of players in the top 10 in scoring for their respective positions. Jacob Barber currently has 41 points on the season which is tied for eighth in the SPHL in points for forwards and his 17 goals have him tied for sixth in goals scored. On the blueline, Matt Fuller is fourth amongst defensemen in scoring with 24 points and second in goals scored by defensemen with 11 on the season.
For the Birmingham Bulls fans, not only do you need to cheer loudly for your Bulls, but wins from the Knoxville Ice Bears, Evansville Thunderbolts and Fayetteville Marksmen would do your team some good on Friday night.
Here are the current SPHL standings:
| Team | Record | Points |
| x- Peoria Rivermen | 30-7-4 | 64 |
| x- Fayetteville Marksmen | 28-5-8 | 64 |
| Knoxville Ice Bears | 25-15-5 | 55 |
| Huntsville Havoc | 25-14-3 | 53 |
| Pensacola Ice Flyers | 20-10-3 | 51 |
| Evansville Thunderbolts | 22-14-6 | 50 |
| Quad City Storm | 15-18-6 | 36 |
| Birmingham Bulls | 15-20-6 | 36 |
| Macon Mayhem | 15-23-6 | 36 |
| Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs | 14-21-7 | 35 |
x => Clinched playoff spot
Remaining Bulls Schedule Home and Away:
| Team | Home | Away |
| Peoria | 1 | 2 |
| Fayetteville | 0 | 0 |
| Knoxville | 0 | 2 |
| Huntsville | 1 | 0 |
| Pensacola | 0 | 2 |
| Evansville | 1 | 1 |
| Quad City | 0 | 1 |
| Macon | 2 | 0 |
| Roanoke | 2 | 0 |
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