There is an old song that is often sung on Sundays here in the South—“Blessed Assurance”—and even if you haven’t heard it all the way through, the title should give you the idea.

In hockey, there is no assurance. Wins are earned, but normally there is some safety net in your lineup. The idea that “Well if he’s on the ice, we’ll have a shot,” or, “He’s responsible,” or etc.

Sometimes that assurance is your goaltender, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes that assurance is your powerplay or your top line, and sometimes it’s not.

This weekend—simply put—the Marksmen had no assurance (blessed or otherwise).

Playing against a tough Knoxville team, the Marksmen had every chance to win the hockey game, to break Knoxville’s 10-game point streak, to give them just their second loss at home, and to keep on track against a surging Peoria in the standings.

Unfortunately, with every passing moment—and seemingly every chance—the positions that have normally spelled success for Fayetteville, simply didn’t.

While Cory Melkert opted to harp on goaltending issues after his group had been wedged into starting a fresh-from-college Matt Williams who stopped 17 of 21, there were other holes in the Marksmen effort on Friday.

Going 1-for-7 of the powerplay certainly didn’t help matters for a powerplay ranked third on the road in the league this season (23.3%).

Allowing a 2-on-1 less than 45 seconds into the game that turned into a goal is certainly a suboptimal start where the Marksmen have historically been a strong team at the start of games.

The point is, this team has normally been sound and Friday they weren’t.

Then came the next game.

Fayetteville will not go back to Birmingham this season, and based on previous success in Birmingham, that’s a sad note.

The way this team rallied wasn’t perfect, but where this team has been sharp, they were sharp.

Scoring three goals in the first period and attacking early against a team that likes to be aggressive was paramount.

However, I like the redemption angle best for Matt Williams. Williams stopped 23 of 24 and got his first professional win.

Stefano Durante will most likely shoulder the load for the remainder of Jason Pawloski’s call-up in net, but for one night in south Alabama, Matt Williams was stingy in the cage and was an asset in the team win.

Heading into a home weekend with Macon and Pensacola, the Marksmen need to keep pace with Peoria to re-take fourth place, but any slippage could send Roanoke or Pensacola ahead of the Marksmen in the standings.

There is no assurance of a home-ice playoff spot for this group, especially not in January. However, destiny is still well within hands of the Marksmen and opportunity starts this weekend.