JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The Jacksonville Icemen and Florida Everblades faced off for a mid-week matchup Wednesday night. Jacksonville took a 5-2 victory, to go 5-0 on the season against the Everblades.
Florida got on the board first on a goal from Bobo Carpenter at the 2:17 mark of the first period. Icemen netminder Matt Vernon blocked Carpenter’s first two shot attempts, but the third rebound shot slipped past him. Jacksonville evened the score up on a goal by Olivier Nadeau who batted the puck out of mid air and into the net. Late into the first period Chris Grando gave Jacksonville the lead, headed into the second period.
Just 19 seconds into the second period, Logan Lambdin evened things up for Florida, on a wrap around attempt, that slipped in for a goal. A Jacksonville goal by Luc Brown at the 4:31 mark and Garret Cockerill at the 7:29 mark gave them a 4-2 advantage and ended the night for Florida netminder Evan Cormier, with Cam Johnson replacing him in net. Florida got a goal late in the period, but after video review it was ruled no goal. Jacksonville spent the final five minutes killing off multiple penalties.
Desperate to make a comeback, Florida stepped up the pressure in the third period, but Matt Vernon stood tall, blocking all 11 shots and 26 of 28 for the night. Craig Martin’s empty-net goal at the 18:59 mark was his 12th goal of the year and 64th career goal as an Icemen (the most in franchise history) to seal the 5-2 victory.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
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