The 2024 Publix Savannah Hockey Classic is returning on Jan. 12 through 13, 2024 at Enmarket Arena. It’s the 24th edition of the collegiate four-team hockey tournament which began in 1999. Every year from 1999 through 2020, the classic was played in Savannah. In 2021, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no classic last year, mostly due to the city transitioning events at the Civic Center to the newly opened Enmarket Arena.

Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida and Tennessee are the four club teams playing in the 2024 edition. They will be battling it out over two nights for the newly named “Ghost Pirates Cup,” formerly known as the “Thrasher Cup.”

On Friday, Jan. 12, Florida and Tennessee kick things off with puck-drop at 6p.m. while rivals Georgia and Georgia Tech meet for the nightcap at 8:30p.m. In years past, the Saturday schedule was predetermined and not based on results from the night prior.

This year, however, the two winners of Friday’s games will meet on Saturday night (8:30p.m.) for the Ghost Pirates Cup. Friday losers play for third place in Saturday’s 5:30p.m. time slot.

Three ticket options are available: Friday (two games), Saturday (two) or both days (four). Click here to purchase tickets.

Blitz Border Bowl VI News

On Thursday, a Coastal Empire roster for Blitz Border Bowl VI was released and lots of familiar names to Savannah area football fans are included on the 43-man list. It does not include any private school players, something which hasn’t happened in five previous border bowl games.

The annual game matches up the best seniors from the Savannah area (Team Coastal Empire) against Team Lowcountry, comprised of the best seniors from the southeast portion of South Carolina. This year’s game is on Saturday, Jan.13 at Memorial Stadium in Savannah and kickoff is set for noon.

Team Coastal Empire, coached by South Effingham’s Loren Purvis this year, won Blitz Border Bowl V in shutout fashion, 20-0. The Border Bowl was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was honored to be picked to coach it this year,” said Purvis, 33, during a recent phone call with Connect Savannah. “It’s a pretty cool thing to be involved with and it’s a good thing for our program too.”

When asked about the lack of private school players on his roster, Purvis said the 44-player roster maximum forced him to make some choices. It was a combination of bad timing (he cited deep playoff runs by private school teams as one factor) and lack of vacancy on the roster (the original roster max was 55 players before being cut to 44 in mid-December).

“I couldn’t get anybody from some [private] schools to answer or respond, but I know some schools like Savannah Christian were in the playoffs and still playing,” said Purvis, who was named the Coastal Empire coach on November 1. “I was texting back and forth with their coach [Baker Woodward] and he was saying he had some guys that would want to and that were deserving. But then we got cut short [by the change in roster maximum].”

Savannah Christian advanced to the GHSA Class 3A state championship game on Dec. 13, making the Raiders the last area team still playing. Savannah Country Day was eliminated from the GHSA Class 3A state playoffs on Nov. 10. Other private school playoff squads, including Calvary Day and Benedictine, were eliminated on Dec. 1- the same day that Bryan County was knocked out of the Class 1A-DI bracket. Still, several Bryan County players are on the Coastal Empire roster for Border Bowl VI.

“It’s unfortunate because I know the names of a lot of those [private school] guys and I wanted them to play because they are pretty good players. It’s just unfortunate they don’t get to play in it this year.”

Bluffton High School’s Hayden Gregory is coaching Team Lowcountry this year. Neither team has won two straight in the series, which dates back to 2018. Team Coastal Empire leads the all-time series, 3-2.

Purvis said his squad will practice on Monday (Jan. 8), Wednesday (Jan. 10), Thursday (Jan. 11) and Friday (Jan. 12) leading up to the game. The coaching staff will meet together for the first time on Sunday night, January 7. Practices for Team Coastal Empire will be held at Memorial Stadium from 5-7 p.m. each of the four days and they are open to the public, Purvis said.

Team Coastal Empire coordinators will be Jenkins head coach Tony Welch (defensive) and Statesboro head coach Matt Dobson (offensive). A full roster and coaching staff can be found below.

The Border Bowl will be televised live on WSAV and streaming online at www.WSAV.com. Proceeds from the event go to help benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Savannah. For more information, including sponsorship opportunities and promotions for this year’s game, email dflaxer@wsav.com. Tickets are $15.

COASTAL EMPIRE ROSTER

This article appears in January 2024.