JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Wednesday night, the Jacksonville Icemen took on the visiting Orlando Solar Bears, on Women in Sports Night. Jacksonville took a 4-1 victory, to win their sixth straight game and outscore their opponents 33-10 during those six games.
Orlando got off to a great start, with Ryan Mahshie scoring less than a minute into the first period, to set the tone of the game. Jacksonville’s netminder Michael Houser appeared to strain or injure himself within the first few minutes of the game, so Matt Vernon came in as relief just over five minutes into the period. Vernon stopped all 31 shots that he faced. Orlando continued to pressure Jacksonville, but a one-time rip by Chris Grando at the 13:59 mark of the period evened things up, and gave Jacksonville some momentum.
Headed into the second period Orlando controlled the pace of the game, but Jacksonville’s Brenden Harris would score on a between the legs pass from Craig Martin. Just over seven minutes later, Harris scored his second of the night, setup by Craig Martin again, to end the period up 3-1.
In the third period, Chris Grando scored his second of the night after crashing the net, with the puck trickling over the goal line to make it 4-1. Vernon, Grando and Harris would be the three stars of the game.
The two teams will match up in Orlando on Friday and back in Jacksonville on Saturday.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
