JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Friday night, the Orlando Solar Bears faced off against the Jacksonville Icemen for the second game in three days. Jacksonville swept the two-game series with a 5-2 victory in Friday’s game.
Orlando came out strong in the first period, looking to bounce back from the big 7-2 loss during Wednesday’s game, and outshot Jacksonville 10 to 6 in the period. Even though it would have been a short drive home, Orlando opted to stay in Jacksonville and took Thursday off to relax, reset and partake in some team-building activities. It was Jacksonville who struck first though, with a goal from Craig Martin who tipped and redirected the puck on net from a pass from newcomer Luc Brown. For Martin, this made him the all-time points leader in Jacksonville Icemen history.
In the second period, Jacksonville took a 2-0 lead on a goal by Matherson Iacopelli, who scored right off of the face-off, at the 4:11 mark of the period. With 30 seconds left in the period, a four minute penalty by Orlando would give Jacksonville an advantage to start the third period.
With two more penalties given early into the third period, Orlando had three of their players sitting in the penalty box. Jacksonville captain Christopher Brown scored on a two-man advantage to give the Icemen a 3-0 lead. Just over a minute later, Matherson Iacopelli also scored a power play goal, for his second of the night. Orlando ruined the shutout bid of Michael Houser, with a goal by Patrick Newell to make it a 4-1 game. With just over a minute left in the game, Jérémie Biakabutuka scored the second Orlando goal, making it a two-goal deficit for the Solar Bears. With the Orlando netminder pulled for the extra attacker, Christopher Brown scored his second of the game, on a face-off win deep in the Jacksonville end, sending the puck the length of the ice and straight into the net to seal the win.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
