Greenville, SC – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits looked to remain undefeated on home ice when they took on the back-to-back defending ECHL Champion Florida Everblades Friday night. Greenville coming off back-to-back wins last weekend when they hosted the Savannah Ghost Pirates (2-1) and Jacksonville Icemen (3-2). The Everblades, however, were coming off back-to-back losses to the Orland Solar Bears. Friday was the first game of a three-game weekend series between the two teams. Jacob Ingham got the call for Greenville starting his fourth consecutive game. Florida would turn to Cam Johnson to start the weekend series on the right foot.
1st Period:
The first period would get started and almost immediately stop after the Everblades leading point scorer Sean Josling would go down 40 seconds into the game, in the Greenville zone. It was unclear what happened to Josling, but he would go off the ice and a large amount of blood would need to be cleaned up behind the Greenville net. Once play resumed Tyler Inamoto wanted to put the Everblades on their heels quick. Just under two minutes into the game, Inamoto would find the back of the net, grabbing his rebound, and shooting the puck just under the glove of Johnson. Brannon McManus and J.D. Greenway would get credit for assists. The Everblades wouldn’t go down easy though, putting pressure on the Swamp Rabbit Netminder and defense. The Greenville defense wouldn’t give an inch. The physical play of Greenville when Bobby Russell would find the puck at 7:58 and get his first goal of the year. The Swamp Rabbits were now up 2-0 on Florida. Ten seconds later Max Martin would be called for tripping. Florida’s power play would come onto the ice for the first time. At first, the unit looked strong and to be giving the Swamp Rabbit penalty kill a hard time. But the fourth-ranked kill unit in the league wouldn’t give in. Ethan Cap would cause a turnover near the center of the ice. Cap along with Colton Young, all of a sudden found themselves in a 2-on-1 opportunity. Cap would pass the puck in the air over the stick of the Everblade defender to Young who would add the third goal of the night for Greenville. When things felt like they couldn’t get any worse for Cam Johnson. Tanner Eberle found himself skating down the ice with the puck toward the right side of Johnson. Eberle takes a shot from the face-off circle, finding the back of the net. Just over ten minutes in, Greenville was leading 4-0 and Cam Johnson the back-to-back playoff MVP was out of the game. Greenville ended the period on the powerplay and leading 4-0.
2nd Period:
The second period began with Greenville having an extra man for 54 seconds. Florida was determined not to let the lead for Greenville get any worse. The Everblades kill unit did their job and stopped the chance Greenville had. The first ten minutes were all Florida. The intensity and speed of Florida were showing and you could see the frustration they acquired after the first period. However, it would take nearly 11 minutes for Florida to have a dangerous opportunity. The Everblades were able to get the puck behind Ingham. Ingham would dive toward the goal with his glove containing the puck before it could go in. 16:15 is when the tension finally boiled over, behind the Everblades net when multiple players would get into a large shoving match, we even saw Swamp Rabbit goalie Jacob Ingham start to skate across the ice to get involved, before stopping at the center line. The second period would end with the same score as the end of the first period. Greenville leading 4-0.
3rd Period:
The third period began much like the second with how much intensity Florida came out with. This time the fast play style would pay off, unlike the second period when Bobo Carpenter would shoot the puck on the stick side of Ingham. The puck slipped right between the right arm and the body of Ingham. Wilmer Skoog and Dennis Cesana assisted on the goal. Florida continued the speed of play keeping Greenville on the defense. Five minutes in the speed and aggressiveness backfired when Cam Hausinger was called for interference. Greenville was given their second opportunity on the powerplay. Much like the first attempt though, the Florida kill unit proved to be too much and was successful for the second time. 11:23 Florida was back on the powerplay and adding a skater pulling the goalie to have a two-man advantage. Tyler Inamoto and LA Grissom would both block multiple shots during the first minute of the Florida powerplay. Even with the additional skater the kill unit of Greenville was successful in stopping the powerplay. At 17:45 Florida would pull the goalie hoping for some magic down three goals. With the open net, Ethan Somoza would add another goal. Making the score 5-1. With 1:06 left to play in the game. The final horn would sound shortly, Greenville winning the first game of the three-game weekend series 5-1.
3 Stars of the Game:
3: Tyler Inamoto GVL (1 Goal)
2: Tanner Eberle GVL (1 Goal and 1 Assist)
1: Jacob Ingham GVL (40-41)
What’s Next?
Greenville Swamp Rabbits host the Florida Everblades on Saturday 11/11
Florida Everblades stay in Greenville playing on Saturday 11/11
