Macon Mayhem begin hockey season Saturday with both new and familiar faces

With the new SPHL hockey season beginning Saturday, fans will get their first glimpse of a completely revamped Macon Mayhem team.

The key changes come in the form of new ownership and new coaching. The team changed hands back in the spring when Chuck Norris’ Macon Pro Hockey Group LLC purchased the Mayhem. Norris also owns another SPHL team, the Fayetteville Marksmen.

Norris praised what he called a “passionate” core fan base for hockey in Macon dating back to the days of the Macon Whoopee, and with that, the new brass went to work.

The first order of business was hiring a coach. Macon brought on Dave Pszenyczny, a coach and player with more than a decade of experience at multiple levels, and introduced him July 25 through a press release and Aug. 1 at a press conference.

Pszenyczny replaced former player and short-term interim coach Caleb Cameron. Cameron, who succeeded earlier coach Nick Niedert mid-season, departed this summer as one of the most beloved long-time faces of the team.

The former coach and player has his fair share of experience, though.  

Pszenyczny most recently coached the Quad City Storm, the Illinois and Iowa-based team in the SPHL, for six seasons dating back to the 2017-18 campaign. Prior to his time as a coach, he played in the American Hockey League, EPHL and SPHL for 13 seasons.

“There have been a lot of changes and uncertainty around Macon hockey in the past couple of years,” Pszenyczny said in a press release in July. “In my many visits to Macon as both a coach and player, it’s clear that the team has great support from the community – starting with a passionate fanbase. Through my conversations recently, it’s clear we also have support from the venue and the city, which is crucial. My goal is to bring it all together on the ice, and I am working every day towards building a team that I know we can all be proud of, both on and off the ice.”

Before building that team, though, the Mayhem had one last change to make: a new look for the 2024-25 season. In addition to sporting a new image of a viking and replacing the navy blue in their logo with black, the Mayhem added a new shade of light blue — they call it “ice blue” in their press release — to the uniforms and branding.

With the front office and presentation changes made, the most important moves arrived when Macon began signing and trading for players ahead of the season. While the full roster has not yet appeared on the SPHL website as of Wednesday, the Mayhem brought in plenty of talent.

Perhaps the most important of those acquisitions was the most recent, as Macon brought back its premier player from last season in Alex Laplante. Laplante was named to the SPHL All-Rookie team at the end of last season. Though he was more or less confirmed to re-sign once the Mayhem added him to the protected list back in May, he is still a key piece of this year’s team. He led the Mayhem in both goals and points last year in a breakout effort.

Another key player from that protected list, goalie Josh Boyko, re-upped with Macon much earlier back on Aug. 6. Another crucial returning player,
Jake Goldowski, returned to the team as well. Goldowski trailed only Laplante in points last season for the Mayhem.

As far as new players go, the Mayhem made a key trade Sept. 25 to acquire the rights to SPHL veteran Garrett Milan from the Pensacola Ice Flyers. Though Milan is currently playing with the Athens Rock Lobsters, it’s possible he could suit up for the Mayhem this year. Milan is the 16th all-time leading scorer in SPHL history.

The Mayhem sent away the rights to CJ Hayes, a key player in the 2022-23 season who played another 14 stellar games in Macon last season before playing in Europe. The Mayhem also received rookie Amedeo Mastrangeli in the deal.

With some important familiar faces and possibly some equally impactful new teammates, the Mayhem begin their season Saturday at 6 p.m. against the Birmingham Bulls at the Macon Coliseum. 

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MACON MAYHEM SIGNINGS/TRADES BEFORE 2024-25 SEASON, IN ORDER

• Josh Boyko, goaltender
• Brad Jenion, defenseman
• Noah Robinson, forward
• Tao Ishizuka, forward
• Brandon Picard, forward
• Hugh Anderson, defenseman
• A.J. Ryan, forward
• Jake Goldowski, forward
• Ben Brockway, defenseman
• Matteo Ybarra, forward
• Brody Claeys, goaltender
• William Lavalliere, goaltender
• Alex Cohen, forward
• Garrett Milan, forward (trade)
• Amedeo Mastrangeli, defenseman (trade)
• Brandon Reller, foward
• Declan Graham, defenseman
• Dan Winslow, forward
• Ethan Matchim, defenseman
• Tanner Hopps, forward
• Nick Magill-Diaz, defenseman
• Alex Laplante, forward