Mississippi Sea Wolves begin preparations for 2023-24 campaign

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - The Mississippi Sea Wolves are less than a month away from returning to the ice for the 2023-24 season.

Mississippi’s lone hockey organization will once again be in the FPHL where they had the league’s top goal scorer, Yaroslav Yevdokimov who ended his season with an astonishing 52 goals and 101 points in just 50 games. The Russian is expected to team up with another one of the FPHL’s best, Yianni Liarakos who led the league in assists a year ago.

This season, the FPHL includes 11 organizations, 6 in the Continental division, including the Sea Wolves, while 5 teams are set to compete in the Empire division. Familiar opponents Columbus, Carolina, Port Huron, and Motor City join Mississippi, and league newcomers Baton Rouge as a part of the new look Continental division while another new team, the Wytheville Blue Ridge Bobcats enter the Empire including Binghamton, Elmira, Danbury, and Watertown.

For the second straight season, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum will host the Sea Wolves home games, a venue that easily housed the fourth-highest attendance in the league a year ago.

After a solid second half in 2022-23, Director of Hockey Operations Joe Pace discussed his excitement for the new season.

“We feel like this is our year. It feels like the show is just hours away from starting. The guys are almost in town, and you feel the butterflies in your stomach. It’s an exciting feeling.”

Pace continued, “We have a good core group of guys coming back, but I think we all know why. It’s beautiful down here. Everyone’s amazing. For a lot of the guys, this was the best experience they’ve had with playing pro hockey, and yeah, no one wants to leave.”

The Sea Wolves open the season on the road against the Blue Ridge Bobcats on October 20th, before returning to the Coast Coliseum for the home opener on November 18th.

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