This weekend the Bulls will play three games in just three and a half days.

Presented by Bham Now

It seems every chance the Bulls get to make up room and find their way to a playoff berth, they come out of a weekend series the same way they went in.  Last week was no different.  Birmingham went to Fayetteville hoping to put some distance between the two and wound up splitting the two game series.  The Bulls came out of last weekend one point ahead of Fayetteville which is the same way the weekend began.

This weekend the Bulls will play three games in just three and a half days.  Birmingham will face the Macon Mayhem for a pair of games Friday and Saturday nights before ending the weekend with a Monday afternoon 

1:00 P. M. faceoff against the Huntsville Havoc.  While Huntsville is out of reach of the Bulls at this time, the two games against Macon carry a great deal of weight.

Macon currently occupies the last playoff spot in the SPHL with the Bulls just a point behind.  The Bulls need to break the string of splits this weekend by taking the series from Macon.  A pair of wins will be extremely helpful in the Bulls push for the playoffs.  The last time these two played Birmingham won 3-2 in overtime.  The Bulls hold a 3-1-0-1 record against the Mayhem this season.  they played hThe games between the two have been close as Birmingham has outscored Macon 15-13.

Birmingham’s Kip Ledziankou and C. J. Walker have been on fire as of late and leads the Bulls down the stretch along with Drake Glover.  In the last three games, Ledziankou has three goals and four assists.  Walker has three goals and three assists, while Glover has scored a pair of goals.  

“I’m excited about our line combinations this weekend.” Head Coach Craig Simchuk said,  “We’re looking for our top guys and veterans to lead the way.  We’re hoping to get a couple of key players off the injured reserve and follow the leads of guys like Glover, Walker, Ledziankou, and Macgregor Sinclair.  We look for special teams to  be a deciding factor this weekend.”

Like the Bulls, Macon hasn’t been gaining any ground as of late.  The Mayhem have won four of their last eight since playing Birmingham back on  January 17.  Even so, Macon has been getting stellar goaltending from Josh Boyko all year long.  This season Boyko has given up more than three goals only once.   He has given up two or less goals in 15 games and has given up just seven goals in his last five starts.

“Josh Boyko has the best lateral movements I’ve seen in this league,” Simchuk said.  “He’s very fast and good playing the puck.  We’re going to have to try to take his eyes away and get some second and third chances.  If he sees the puck, he will stop it.”