By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

After a weekend sweep of the Pensacola Ice Flyers, the Birmingham Bulls improved to 13-1 on the season and continued to hold on to the top spot in the SPHL standings.

Birmingham is in a tie for first with the Macon Mayhem thanks to both teams touting 26 points thus far on the season, but the Bulls have the better overall record at 13-1, while Macon is 12-2-2 on the season.

On Saturday, Nov. 24, the Bulls lost their first game of the season to the Mayehem by a final score of 3-1 a night after beating them 2-0 to improve to 11-0 on the season.

Since that loss, however, Birmingham has bounced back in a big way by taking down Pensacola in a home-and-home series on Friday, Nov. 30, and Sunday, Dec. 2. Recaps from both of those games can be found below.

Birmingham 3, Pensacola 0

Birmingham opened the series with a consistent effort, scoring one goal in each of the three periods, while getting out shot by a wide margin of 41-22.

The key to the game was the play of Mavric Parks, who was able to save all 41 shots faced in a remarkable outing in goal.

The Bulls, on the other hand, were able to take advantage of their 22 shots and put three in net, starting with one from Nick Owen in the opening period.

Owen made a power play count after Pensacola’s Brantley Sherwood went to the box for slashing. It allowed the Bulls to play a man up and eventually off assists from Loren Ulett and Garrett Johnston, Owen buried a shot in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Jacob Barber made it 2-0 early in the second period after posting his first goal 2:51 into the frame.

Many more fantastic saves from Parks led to that being the score heading to the third and final period where Josh Harris put the final nail in the coffin after finding the net for a 3-0 advantage with 8:37 left to play.

Parks closed out the shutout in the period to preserve the win for the Bulls.

Thanks to an assist on all three goals, Johnston finished the game with three points, while Harris added two points on one goal and one assist. 

Birmingham 3, Pensacola 1

The second game of the series saw Pensacola out shoot Birmingham for the second game in a row at 38-35, but thanks to two second-period goals and strong defense in the third period, the Bulls were able to win 3-1 to complete the series sweep.

Birmingham got on the board first 5:58 into the contest when Craig Simchuk was able to slide a shot past goaltender Brian Billett thanks to assists from Nick Owen and Garrett Schmitz, which put the Bulls on top 1-0.

That remained the lead at the end of the first period, but it didn’t last long as Brian Morgan tied the game up in less than two minutes of the second period starting.

Birmingham, however, answered with fury.

Shane Topf gave the Bulls the advantage back shortly after with 13:45 to play in the period, before Simchuk added his second goal of the game to give the Birmingham a 3-1 advantage.

With the defense playing solid and Parks continuing a strong two-game stretch in goal, that was all the scoring needed, as the Bulls closed out the 3-1 win with a scoreless third period.

Simchuk and Caleb Apperson both finished the game with two points