(ATHENS, Ga.) – Opening night of the 2026-27 SPHL season saw the Macon head two hours north to their new inter-state foe, and fall 2-0 to the Athens Rock Lobsters.
The first twenty minutes of hockey went by without any ink on the scoresheet as neither side was able to score, and neither side committed an infraction. Both offenses had a number of chances to score, but final shots in the period were 12-8 Athens. That wasn’t at all indicative of how much the ice favored the Rock Lobsters. Athens dominated the faceoff circle, pounded shots from every angle on Boyko, and showed off the speed game that frustrated every team in their Federal Prospects Hockey League tenure.
Early on in the 2nd period, Zach Yoder took a tripping minor along the offensive left-wing boards for Athens that gave Macon their first power play chance of the year. Despite registering three shots on the man advantage, the Mayhem came up empty handed – and that would prove to be their only power play of the evening. The Macon offense was just buzzing starting the middle stanza, registering eight of the first ten shots in the period. That would all go unnoticed when it was the Lobsters who cashed in first. Gleb Bandurkin brought the puck all the way up ice out of the Athens defensive zone, dodging a hip check on a zone entry. Bandurkin deep along the wall found Devyn Mayea out beyond the left-wing circle. He threw a long clapper on net that was redirected on the glove side of Boyko to the top of the cage by Connor Galloway to give Athens a 1-0 lead at the 11:59 mark of the period. Shots would be even 24-24 after two periods.
In the third period, things got off to a much slower start than they did in the first two frames. Tyler Drummond’s boarding minor at the 13:05 mark of the period gave the Rock Lobsters their first and only power play of the net. They mustered two shots on the sequence, both of which were high danger looks, but the stellar Mayhem kill showed off their great track record. Down inside the final three minutes, the Mayhem used their timeout to take a chance to draw something up. They were able to get Boyko to the bench with 1:03 left, and Macon made a late push. McPhail out of the net looking for a goalie goal on the Lobsters side, turned into a Mayhem look that missed the target, found Joe Mack, and it was Mack who took it all the way to the house with :20 remaining for the 2-0 lead that would go final.
Josh Boyko made 32 saves on 33 shots, while Carter McPhail pitched a shutout with 29 saves.
The Mayhem return to the ice tomorrow night in Pensacola, Florida at the Pensacola Bay Center to do battle with the Ice Flyers at 8pm ET. Macon will host their home opener next Saturday night, October 24th, at 6pm ET vs the Birmingham Bulls at the Macon Coliseum. There will be a post-game skate with the team. Grab your tickets today by visiting maconmayhem.com.
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