GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Greenville Swamp Rabbits hosted the Jacksonville Icemen for a two-game, weekend homestand on Dec. 28-29. Greenville hosted a Christmas Vacation themed night for the first game, having post-christmas festivities for fans.
Jacob Ingham for the Swamp Rabbits was injured, so therefore Dryden McKay took his place as starting goaltender for both these games. Meanwhile, Justen Close started for game one after Vernon got the start the night before at home against the South Carolina Stingrays.
Game One — Icemen at Greenville — 12/28
1st Period
The Icemen were defensively alert during this period, making key body plays to shut down a significant scoring opportunity for the Swamp Rabbits. At 12:41, both teams were assessed minor penalties, resulting in a four-on-four situation.
Then, at 15:38, Mikael Robidoux was sent to the penalty box as Tyler Hascall called a tripping minor penalty on him, giving the Icemen their first power-play opportunity. However, the Rabbits successfully killed the penalty to keep the score at 0-0. Afterwards, both teams traded offensive zone time and shot pucks high and wide.
After 20 minutes, the score remained 0-0
Shots on goal: JAX 11; GVL 8
2nd Period
Robidoux dropped the mitts with Jonathan Hampton, and the roof at Bon Secours Wellness Arena nearly came off. Both teams were scoreless, and the fight served to motivate them to put something on the board.
The Swamp Rabbits were undisciplined, taking unnecessary penalties that set them back. Regardless, the Icemen could not find the back of the net; they could not score. Toward the end of the second period, Greenville struggled to avoid turnovers in their own zone and to spend quality time in Jacksonville’s end.
With 58 seconds remaining, a poor clear attempt by the Rabbits was intercepted by Chase Lang, who wristed it hard past McKay to open up the scoring.
After forty minutes, the Icemen led by a goal.
Shots on goal: JAX 10; GVL 12
3rd Period
Almost nine minutes into the period, the Icemen went on the penalty kill but did not regret it. Seconds into the kill, the team poked and created a three-on-one against the Swamp Rabbits. Lang, on a three-on-one rush, sauced to Zach Jordan short side for him to tip it past McKay and make it 2-0 on a short-handed opportunity.
With three minutes left to play and down by two goals, the Swamp Rabbits took a risk by pulling McKay for an extra attacker. At first, the team maintained control in the offensive zone, and when Jacksonville cleared the puck, they prevented it from entering their net.
But several seconds later, with the net empty for Greenville, Robert Calisti saw an open slot in his zone and dumped the puck in for an empty-net goal. Slowly but surely, the puck crossed the goal line, making it 3-0 Icemen—dooming the Swamp Rabbits’ chances of scoring and giving the Icemen breathing room to secure the win.
The losing streak at Greenville finally came to a close, as the Icemen took this game 3-0. Close got his shutout against the Swamp Rabbits, but a lot of credit goes to his fellow players as they absolutely dominated in their own zone by keeping the Rabbits’ powerful scoring depth at bay.
Final shots on goal: JAX 29; GVL 32
Three Stars
Justen Close (32 save shutout)
Chase Lang (1G-2A)
Zach Jordan (Shorthanded goal)
Game Two — 12/29
1st Period
Three minutes into play, the rink at Bon Secours Wellness Arena experienced a short but unprecedented power outage that stopped play for over a minute. The Icemen primarily dominated zone control and had eight shots on goal by the seven-minute mark, whereas Greenville had zero.
The Swamp Rabbits had countless episodes of short passes that were intercepted by the Icemen in and out of their zone, which is why the Icemen had ten shots on McKay after the halfway point in the first. Carter Savoie capitalized on a three-on-one, shooting and scoring from a saucer pass by Bryce Brodzinski.
The tide turned in favor of the Swamp Rabbits as they finally scored. Seconds after the goal, Robidoux dropped the gloves again with Justin McRae; however, Greenville went on a power play as a result because McRae had the upper hand during the altercation.
Shots on goal: 17 JAX; 8 GVL
2nd Period
McRae tied it up three minutes into the second frame by tipping in a farside shot from Ivan Chukarov. With 5:30 left in the second, Robidoux dropped the mitts again, but this time it was a real fight, resulting in both him and Ty Cheveldayoff receiving five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct.
Tied at one, the Swamp Rabbits struggled and still couldn’t control much offensive momentum; from winning faceoffs to forechecking and creating meaningful breakouts, nothing was there. The Icemen had it under control, but the score remained tied.
That was until Cooper Jones scored off an open lane pass from Brody Crane with a powerful wrist shot to break the tie and secure a lead before the buzzer.
Shots on goal: JAX 13; GVL 12
3rd Period
On a delayed penalty drawn by Miles Gendron, the defenseman capitalized on the pending power play and tied the game with 16 minutes remaining. This was Gendron’s first goal of the season.
Davis Koch broke the tie after he snapped the puck in near the crease from a cross-ice feed by Chukarov. Then, seconds later, the team was awarded a power play after Arvid Caderoth took a delay-of-game penalty, giving the Icemen a grand opportunity to increase their lead.
However, it was successfully killed off by the Rabbits’ penalty kill unit. The Icemen had a significant shots-on-goal differential after the halfway point in the third: 40 shots for Jacksonville compared to 23 for Greenville.
With 5:36 left, Logan Cockerill capitalized on a turnover, giving his team a two-goal insurance lead; Koch got his second point of the night. Liam Coughlin netted an empty-net goal, solidifying the Icemen’s 5-2 victory before the horn.
Three Stars
Logan Cockerill (1G-2A)
Ivan Chukarov (4 assists)
Davis Koch (1G-1A)
The Swamp Rabbits will be back at it again on home ice on New Years Eve as the team will host a NYE fireworks game with speciality “Hopville” sweaters. Meanwhile, the Icemen will continue their road trip in the South as the club will take on the Florida Everblades on Jan. 3.
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