Greenville, SC—For the second game of their three-game homestand, the Swamp Rabbits will take on the Jacksonville Icemen in another heated rematch. But today’s rematch will be different from the last meeting, as the Swamp Rabbits will host their seasonal Stick It To Cancer Night for fans; players will wear specialty purple jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game, and all the proceeds will go to the Bon Secours St. Francis foundation. With that, here are the teams’ stats and latest performances.
Greenville, as of late, stands on a 31-11-1-0 record with 63 points, and they currently are head-to-head against the Adirondack Thunder for first place in conference standings. Meanwhile, Jacksonville is in third place in the conference with a 25-15-3-0 record and has tallied up 53 points. For their power plays, Greenville retains a 22.5% success rate, and thanks to Max Martin and Nikita Pavlychev being sent back down to Greenville from AHL Ontario, their PP will only strengthen; Jacksonville holds a 22% PP success. Jacksonville, though, was hot the night before on Friday, February 2nd, at Atlanta as they won 7-2 against the Gladiators, with three of their goals being from their power play units. For the teams’ PK, the Rabbits stand neck to neck with JAX by having an 82% kill percentage. Judging by their last two games played in Greenville, Jacksonville ran over Greenvilles’ PP and PK for many moments during the game.
Max Martin said, “Our message in the room right now is just building championship habits; we’re top of the division, so we can’t really take nights off. JAX’s is rolling right now, so we gotta be ready for them tomorrow and just play the right way for full 60 minutes.”
Player Stats
Josh McKechney still remains an important asset to the Rabbits’ power play, as he scored one from last night’s performance against South Carolina. He currently holds on to a 14 goals and 11 assists record after playing 43 games, eight goals of which are from the PP. Another top guy on the Rabbits’ PP is defenseman Max Martin, who currently holds a 5-12-17 record from 23 games played; two of his goals were from the PP, and seven of his assists were also on the PP. As a defenseman, Martin will not see much scoring action on and off the PP; however, that’s not to say he can’t score, as last night against SC, he scored two goals, one of which was a last-second buzzer-beater that negated overtime. Jacob Ingham will likely see his first start for the Rabbits in weeks after he was sent back down to Greenville from the Ontario Reign yesterday. Ingham has played 14 games and has won 11 of them. He has tallied himself up a 2.64 GAA and 0.920 SV% record. For Jacksonville, Christopher Brown leads his team in points of 41 after posting 14 goals and 27 assists from 38 games played. Brendan Harris is second, as the All-Star has tallied up 12-29-41 from 41 games played. And for third place in points and forwards, Riley Fiddler-Schultz has tallied up 12-29-41 after playing 36 games. For d-men, Ivan Chukarov is 5-10-15 from 41 games played, and he’s tied with fellow d-man Jacob Penetta with also 15 points from posting four goals and 11 assists. Goalie Matt Vernon will likely start for the Icemen against Greenville. Vernon holds onto a 2.40 GAA and a 0.913 SV% after winning 14 of his last 19 games played. The Swamp Rabbits will take on the Icemen for Stick It To Cancer Night with a post-game jersey auction. After that game, the Rabbits will face their third division rival, the Savannah Ghost Pirates, on Sunday, February 4, at 3 pm.
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