ECHL: Games Recap: Swamp Rabbits Win Back-to-Back Games at Home against Division Rivals

Greenville, SC—After a long week of playing two games on the road, the Swamp Rabbits returned home for their first of two games—1st against Savannah and 2nd against Jacksonville. Previously, on the road in Savannah and at home, the Swamp Rabbits dominated the Ghost Pirates, as they won both games. However, despite losing, the Ghost Pirates showed heavy might against the Rabbits; though, the Rabbits would close out with two consecutive victories against them. Before coming back home from their two game road trip, the Rabbits lost against the Atlanta Gladiators 7-2, which would mark their first loss of the season.

1st Period

Starting off with the first period, the Rabbits had a strong start compared to last week at home, as they would go on to shoot at Bullion’s net 2 times before scoring at 4:02 by Brett Kemp. Although Savannah had more shots on goal before Kemp’s goal, the Rabbits would maintain that 1 goal lead for several minutes into the first. Savannah and Greenville both shot once on goal before Ghost Pirates’ Vincent Marleau would get called for high sticking at 9:14, bringing the Bits on their first PP opportunity. However, that man advantage would be short lived as they did not convert on shooting nor scoring. And before the PP expired, at 10:42, Carter Souch would get called for high sticking, and put both teams at 4-on-4 until 11:14. Savannah, too, didn’t convert on their own simplified power play, with Rabbits’ Somoza getting one shot. After that, nothing but endless turnovers fueled the game—back and forth action. But, at 14:05, LA Grissom would go to the box, and give Savannah an opportunity to score. The Ghost Pirates didn’t waste that powerplay, as they shot 3 times at Jacob Ingham. Less than a minute into the PP, the Ghost Pirates would score by Fromm-Delorme, and make the game a tie at the end of 1st period.

2nd Period

The second would look different for Greenville, as the Ghost Pirates had the first 3 minutes to themselves of shooting at Ingham’s net. Greenville would only get one shot on Bullion at 4:27, while the Ghost Pirates still had more shots but no goals; Savannah had the urge to break the tie, but Greenvilles defense denied that reality. Later on, at 6:46, Greenville would head on the power play. However, almost 2 minutes into the PP, the Swamp Rabbits didn’t get a quality shot on net—just high and wide shots to the glass or boards. That was until at 8:27 when Carter Souch scored a near crease goal to make it 2-1 GVL. After the Souch Goal, both Savannah and Greenville would shoot several times on the opposition nets, but were unable to effectively produce goals. The goaltenders for both respective teams were making key saves to maintain that 2-1 score—but credit would also be due to their d-men, as well. Josh McKechney would shoot at Bullion at 19:45, and thus concluding the 2nd period, 2-1 GVL.

3rd period

The 3rd period started out strong for Savannah, as they would shoot at Ingham’s net 3 times in a matter of a minute. But then Greenville would exchange the shooting on net 3 times, as well. Both teams wanted to win and score. Greenville would desperately try to score and increase that 1 goal lead, and Savannah would attempt to tie and even create a lead. However, the effort would not pay off for either team. Even with more than two minutes of empty net action for Savannah, Greenville still struggled to net an empty netter—the same trend of being unable to shoot the puck into the uncontested net would continue for the Rabbits. There was an excellent amount of effort being seen from the teams’ defense; that was why they struggled to score, as Ingham and Bullion were sharp in the blue paint. Ingham and the Rabbits’ defensive unit, around the two minute left mark, defended their 1 goal lead from the Ghost Pirates. After 60 minutes of hockey, the Swamp Rabbits would once again ghostbuster the Ghost Pirates into 2-1 victory at home; this would make the Rabbits’ 3rd straight win at home But there’s more hockey to cover!

The Rabbits would continue their two part, back to back home stand, as they would conclude it against the Jacksonville Icemen. Now this matchup was long awaited for both teams, but especially for the Rabbits—essentially an ‘unfinished business’ sort of game.

1st period

The first started out slow for JAX, as they would trade off offensive zone pressure and defense. No quality shots on goal would be recorded during the first 4 minutes of play for JAX, however, just endless far and wide shots that went nowhere close on Ingham. Though Greenville had a better start than the Icemen, shooting 4 quality shots on goal, they still couldn’t get the puck past Joe Murdaca. But at around 4:16, Anthony Beauchamp would shoot a snapper on Murdaca, effectively ushering in a close to crease puck battle. The Rabbits would work their magic by jamming the puck past the pads of Joe Murdaca in a loose puck situation, and give Ethan Somoza the first goal of the game. It was a close call for the Rabbits, as Murdaca could’ve made the save if the Rabbits players weren’t in full jamming mode. After the goal by Somoza, the Rabbits deescalated their offensive zone pressure, and handing the puck over to Jacksonville left and right. Jacksonville would thus attempt to score, but the Rabbits’ defensive unit would play heavy defense to defend their 1-0 lead. The defense would help for some time until Dominik Mersch would score at 7:28, making it a tie game. It was LA Kings prospect Max Coyle’s first game as a Rabbit, as he made an impressive defensive and forechecking impression for the team; he shot one shot on goal during the 1st period. The first period would close off at a tie, 1-1 game.

2nd Period

Entering in the first few minutes of the 2nd period, both the Icemen and Rabbits would exchange back and forth offensive zone pressure, shooting several shots on net. But Greenville’s offensive pressure would pay off early in the period, as Tanner Eberle would net a wrister from Colton Young’s pass. Less than 7 minutes after Eberle’s goal, the Rabbits would go on the PP, and this time they would effectively produce more pressure than previous attempts. Although they couldn’t convert to a 3-1 lead, the Rabbits did, during and after the powerplay, shoot 5 shots on Murdaca. That offensive pressure would neutralize once J.D Greenway got put in the sin bin, hence activating the Icemens offensive zone pressure on Greenville. Jacksonville put 4 shots on Ingham, with Ingham and Greenville’s d-men having their eyes peeled. Concluding the 2nd period, a Jacksonville player would head to the box at 19:59, and give the Rabbits’ an early period man advantage.

3rd Period

With a power play for the Rabbits’ to use, the team wasted no time in pressuring Jacksonville’s zone and Murdaca. And it would pay off rather quickly, as Carter Souch would net his back to back goal at 0:28. After Souch’s goal, the Rabbits would maintain heavy pressure on the Icemen until around 3:40. After that, it was all Jacksonville. The Icemen spiked up on Ingham, and would score to make it 2-3 by Nicolas Savoie. After the goal by Savoie, the Icemen had the momentum for the remainder of the 3rd, applying intense pressure on Ingham, and hoping that they would tie and/or usher in a lead… Meanwhile Greenville only had one shot on goal. At 18:43, Jacksonville pulled Murdaca for the 6-5 advantage. However, the empty netter for both Greenville and Jacksonville would not affect the score what’s so ever; the same dynamic paralleled itself, with Greenville attempting to shoot the puck at the empty net but failing once again—not once, not twice, but 3 times. And so the game would conclude with a score 3-2 Swamp Rabbits.

Regardless of the score, Greenville has been excellent defensive wise, as it seems they have adjusted some things from the game at Atlanta (which was 7-2 Atlanta). Perhaps home ice is good luck for the Rabbits? Next week they’ll be going head on against the back-to-back Kelly Cup Champions, the Florida Everblades, for three consecutive games at home.