JACKSONVILLE, Fla – It was Wizard night on Friday, with the Jacksonville Icemen facing the visiting Florida Everblades. With specialty wizard-themed jersey’s, a game of quidditch in the first intermission and the “Mischief Managed,” Jacksonville came away with a 4-2 victory.
Noah Laaouan, making his Icemen debut, netted the first goal of the game firing the shot low, on a pass from Derek Lodemeier. In the last minute of the first period, Lodemeier made it a 2-0 game, on a rebound shot from Craig Martin.
Down by two, the Everblades outplayed the Icemen during the second period, outshooting them 11-3. Logan Lambdin put Florida on the board at the 3.00-minute mark for his 14th goal on the season. Brenden Harris put Jacksonville back up by two late in the period on a back-door play for his 19th goal.
An early powerplay for in the third period did not turn out well for Jacksonville. Mark Senden scored a short-handed goal for Florida and then a goal by Jacksonville would be ruled no goal after a lengthy video review. With less than three minutes left in the game, a delayed penalty on Florida gave Jacksonville an opportunity to run the clock down or finish the game on the power-play on the touch up by Florida. Jacksonville’s netminder Matt Vernon rushed to the bench, only to quickly head back as the puck narrowly missed going in the net for an own goal. With Vernon back on the bench for an extra attacker and Jacksonville still in control of the puck playing keep away, Luc Brown came down the wing to score his 13th of the season to make it a 4-2 game and seal the victory for the Icemen.
Jacksonville will face division leader Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Sunday afternoon.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
