JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Friday night, the Jacksonville Icemen faced the Savannah Ghost Pirates in the last matchup between the two teams in the 2023-24 season. The Ghost Pirates will not continue into the post-season, as they currently sit in sixth place in their division. Jacksonville wore specialty Green Lantern jerseys and inducted their mascot, Fang, into the Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame with a giant bobblehead. The first 1000 fans also received a mini bobblehead version of Fang. Jacksonville took a 4-3 overtime victory to secure themselves a top-two finish in the South Division, giving them home advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
The Icemen got on the board halfway through the first period on a goal from Matheson Iacopelli for his 27th on the season. Savannah answered back less than a minute later with a powerplay goal from Matthew Boudens setup by Simon Pinard, to tie things up. Jacksonville’s Garrett Van Wyhe also scored a powerplay goal to end the first period up 2-1. Jacksonville dominated the period, outshooting Savannah 17-6.
Savannah came back in the second period, outshooting Jacksonville 13-4. Simon Pinard scored and Logan Drevitch scored a powerplay goal, putting Savannah up 3-2. Jacksonville regrouped and hit the reset button in an evenly matched third period, outshooting Savannah 11-8. Jerry D’Amigo tied the game up at the 14:31 mark of the period on a pass from Jacob Panetta to force the game into OT. Garrett Van Wyhe scored the game-winning goal for Jacksonville, for his third OT goal of the season.
Jacksonville faces the Atlanta Gladiators, who are out of playoff contention, on Saturday and Sunday. Jacksonville are currently in second place in the South Division and could take first place away from Greenville, as they are only one point behind.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
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