JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Friday night, the Jacksonville Icemen faced the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for the final time this season, as Greenville is out of playoff contention, sitting at the bottom of the South Division. Jacksonville took a 3-2 victory to sweep a home-and-home series, having won two days prior in Greenville.
Greenville took the early lead at the five-minute mark of the first period on a goal from Jordan Power, marking his first professional career goal, in only his second ECHL game. His wrist shot from about 50 ft out got by Matt Vernon, whose line of sight was blocked by traffic in front. Less than three minutes later, Chris Grando was able to steal the puck behind the net and backhand it to Olivier Nadeau, who then backhanded it past Mattias Sholl to tie the game up. Nadeau leads the Icemen in goals this season, with a total of 26. Noah Laaouan gave Jacksonville the go-ahead goal at the 12.53 mark. Netminder Matt Vernon had an assist on the goal, having kicked a side a shot on net which deflected the puck towards Davis Koch. Koch took the puck up the middle, then passed it to a wide-open Laaouan, who scored.
The second period was scoreless, with Jacksonville holding onto its 2-1 lead. Early into the third period, Garrett Van Wyhe gave Jacksonville a 3-1 lead after a turnover by Greenville near the left circle, allowing Van Wyhe to walk the puck in and backhand it past Sholl for an unassisted goal. Greenville’s John Parker-Jones put them within one, with less than three minutes left on the clock. With Sholl on the bench for the extra attacker, Dustin Geregach was able to get the puck to Parker-Jones, who one-timed it past Vernon. With a penalty called on Jacksonville with just over two minutes left in the game, Greenville then had a two-man advantage when they pulled their netminder again, as they desperately tried to tie things up. A penalty against Greenville with 54 seconds left on the clock hindered this, allowing Jacksonville to hang on and take the win.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
Discover more from Inside The Rink
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
