[FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.] – The Fayetteville FireAntz of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) announced today that the club has re-signed Head Coach Tommy Stewart.  Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Stewart will be entering his fourth season behind the bench for the FireAntz.  In his first year with the team, Stewart guided the club to the President’s Cup Semi-Finals.  In 2007-08, he improved on that as the team made it to the Finals, losing in Game 7 to the defending Cup champions, the Knoxville Ice Bears.  This past season Stewart once again guided his team to the playoffs, losing in the first round to the Ice Bears, though not without controversy as players were suspended, going into the playoffs, from an incident that occurred in the final regular season game against the Ice Bears.

“Obviously, we were not happy about the suspensions going into the playoffs.”  FireAntz General Manager Kevin MacNaught said, “It is a very tough situation going into the playoffs shorthanded but I thought we played really well and overcame an adverse situation.  We are thrilled to get Coach Stewart back for another run.”

Stewart, the franchise leader in both regular season wins (86) and playoff wins (11) looks to continue to build upon the team’s successes over the last three years.

“I am really excited about the upcoming season.”  Stewart added, “We have numerous things to be positive about.  We had the best home record in the SPHL and with 10-12 of our guys returning this year we should be able to put together another good run.”

Season tickets and corporate partnerships are still available for the 2010-11 campaign.  Call the FireAntz office at (910) 321-0123 or visit the website at www.fireantzhockey.com for more information.

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