JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The Jacksonville Icemen held their Women in Sports Night on Friday and faced the visiting Atlanta Gladiators. Jacksonville took a 4-2 victory, with their new goaltender Brian Wilson playing his first game in an Icemen jersey, stopping 37 of the 39 shots, and earning himself the #1 star of the game. Wilson is currently on loan from the Huntsville Havoc in the SPHL after the Icemen’s AHL affiliate recently called up Matt Vernon.
Atlanta struck early in the game with a goal by their current leading goal scorer, Joey Cipollone at 4:36 into the first period. Jacksonville would trail Atlanta late into the second period when Justin McRae tied things up at 17:32, for his second of the season. Jacksonville’s Carter Allen and Atlanta’s Ryan Cranford, would also drop the gloves during the second period, both receiving five minute majors for fighting.
Things heated up in the third period when Brody Crane gave Jacksonville a 2-1 lead in the game at 10:47 after he netted Zach Jordan‘s rebound shot. Crane drew a penalty with less than four minutes on the clock, which Olivier Nadeau capitalized on with a power play goal at 17:20. With just over two minutes left in the game, Atlanta pulled their netminder for the extra attacker. This paid off for Atlanta, with Joey Cipollone scoring his second of the night and fifth of the season at 18:05 to make it 3-2. With their netminder still pulled, Atlanta desperately tried to equalize and send the game to overtime. Olivier Nadeau secured the victory for Jacksonville, scoring an empty net goal at 19:36 for his first of the season.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
