Frostbites: Icemen Gain Some Ground on Road Trip

The Jacksonville Icemen continue to make up ground after a rocky November, going 2-1 during their first week on the road in December. After a 4-3 loss on home ice to the Trois-Rivieres Lions on Dec. 2, the team set off for a five-game trip along the East Coast with games in Savannah, Norfolk, and Atlanta. The first week saw the team play Tuesday night against the Savannah Ghost Pirates and a weekend pair of games against the Norfolk Admirals.

As things continue to stabilize for Jacksonville, the team is pressing forward with good momentum. The Icemen picked up four of six available points last week, making up ground in the standings. The team’s goaltending also warranted another round of league recognition. It’s all in the Frostbites: Road Trip Round-Up.

Scorecard Snapshot:

@ Savannah Ghost Pirates 12/5: 4-0 W
It was all Icemen during Tuesday’s game with the Ghost Pirates. Jacksonville took the 1-0 lead late in the first period with a goal from Craig Martin. Martin was one of three Icemen forwards who had a two-point night in Savannah; captain Christopher Brown and Brendan Harris were the others. Rookie Dominick Mersch scored the second period’s 2-0 tally as the Icemen peppered Ghost Pirate goaltender Michael Bullion with shots. Luc Brown and Derek Lodermeier nabbed the final pair of Icemen goals, with Lodermeier’s 4-0 empty net goal coming on a shorthanded opportunity. Icemen goalie Michael Houser stopped all 25 shots he faced to land the shutout.

@ Norfolk Admirals 12/8: 4-1 W
Brendan Harris, Jacob Panetta, Christopher Brown, and RFS all had a multi-point night during Friday’s showdown with the Norfolk Admirals. Narrowly out-shout 26-25, the Icemen battled through a scoreless first period to take off in the latter 40 minutes of play. Brendan Harris and Christopher Brown were the second-period goal scorers. Brown’s 2-0 goal was the only Icemen powerplay goal on a night where the team saw five powerplay opportunities. Blueliner Jacob Panetta added to the Icemen lead with a 3-0 goal halfway through the final frame, though Norfolk would find a way to end Icemen goaltender Michael Houser’s shutout. Admirals’ forward Mathieu Roy put the only Norfolk marker on the board with six and a half minutes to play. Christopher Brown’s 4-1 goal was scored on the empty net. 

@ Norfolk Admirals 12/9: 4-1 L
The Icemen were on the other side of a 4-1 loss Saturday night in their back-to-back match-up with the Norfolk Admirals. Norfolk maintained a  2-0 lead heading into the third period, with a first-period goal scored by forward Keegan Iverson and a second-period goal scored by forward Carson Golder. Forward Matheson Iacopelli put the Icemen on the scoreboard 1:33 into the third period with his 11th goal of the season, but the team fell short of rallying a comeback. The Admirals capitalized on a man-advantage chance before putting away the empty net 4-1 goal in the final frame.

Notes From The Road:

Houser’s performance on the road this week earned the Icemen netminder the honors of being named the ECHL’s Goaltender of the Week. Houser went 2-0 on the road this week, posting a .980 save percentage and .50 goals against average. Houser’s GOTW honors come two weeks after goaltender Matt Vernon earned the title.

It’s the fifth time in his career that Houser’s been made the ECHL Goaltender of the Week, and it ties the record for most times the weekly award has been given to a single goalie in league history. Houser is currently 6th in the league for goaltenders with a 5-4-1 record. He touts a 2.38 GAA and .911 save percentage on the season thus far.

Matheson Iacopelli has a team-leading 11 goals. The Icemen forward has 15 points (11g, 4a) through 21 games, landing him third in team scoring. Iacopelli is one of many forwards currently tied for 13th in league goal-scoring this season.

Brendan Harris is amongst the league’s top points-producing forwards. Harris has 21 points through 21 games, scoring nine goals and 12 assists. His production so far is good enough to make him the team’s points leader. Jacob Panetta (3g, 7a) is the team’s scoring leader amongst defensemen.

Special teams remains the piece of the puzzle that Jacksonville needs to fall in place. The team’s 20% powerplay conversion rate is 15th in the league and struggles more away from home. While on the road, that number drops to just 17.6%. Saturday’s game in Norfolk saw the team get seven different man-advantage chances, only scoring on one. 

Now 11-8-2 and one third of the way through the year, the Icemen sit 10 points back of the first-place Greenville Swamp Rabbits in the South division standings. Jacksonville is third in the division, trailing two points back from second place. The team has two more games left on the road trip before returning home for three different divisional match-ups. The Dec. 16th home game against the South Carolina Stingrays is the team’s ugly sweater night.