JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The Jacksonville Icemen faced off against the Orlando Solar Bears on Tuesday night, with the Icemen taking a 3-1 win.
Both teams seemed evenly matched throughout the first period. Jarrett Lee put Orlando up 1-0 at 12:25 of the period after a steal from Alex Frye from behind the Icemen’s net, who fed the puck to Lee, who one-timed it past the left shoulder of Matt Vernon.
Olivier Nadeau tied the game up at 5:13 of the second period on a three-on-two play. Chris Grando took the puck across the blue line and fed it to Garrett Van Wyhe, who passed it back to an open Grando, whose shot attempt was blocked by Orlando netminder Ryan Fanti. Nadeau swept in to pick up the rebound and slammed it into the back of the net.
Orlando thought they had taken the lead with just over seven minutes left in the third period, but the whistle had already been blown seconds before the puck crossed the line due to Jimmy Mazza trying to start a fight with Ty Cheveldayoff. Jacksonville would score on the proceeding power play, with Brenden Harris, who was back after being out due to injury, scoring the goal at 7:25. With just over four minutes left in the game, Peter Tischke scored his first goal of the season to give Jacksonville a two-goal cushion. With their netminder pulled, Orlando was unable to make up the deficit.
Jacksonville faces the Florida Everblades for three back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday in Jacksonville and Saturday in Estero. Orlando plays the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Friday in Greenville.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder for highlights from the game.
