JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Saturday night, the Jacksonville Icemen faced off against the Savannah Ghost Pirates to round off the Thanksgiving weekend and their fourth game in five nights. Jacksonville came away with the win, taking a 4-1 victory.
After a scoreless first and second period, Jacksonville’s Chris Grando netted the first goal of the game at the 5:02 mark of the third, on a rebound shot from Dominick Mersch. Grando’s goal gave Jacksonville a spark, and twenty-five seconds later Craig Martin scored, to give the Icemen a 2-0 lead. Ivan Chukarov would make it 3-0 for Jacksonville at the 12:52 mark, with the puck taking a weird bounce off a Savannah player and into the net. Elijah Vilio hit the back of the net for Savannah with just over five minutes left in the game, yo make it a two goal game. Just before this at the other end of the rink, Jacksonville’s Rilley Fiddler-Schultz went down on the ice, lost his helmet, and was holding his face with a potential injury. Players from both teams, stopped playing, expecting a whistle, but the referee allowed the play to continue. Savannah jumped on this opportunity with Simon Pinard charging down the ice, and Vilio picking up the rebound on the blocked shot, putting the puck past Jacksonville’s Michael Houser. With over three minutes left in the game, Savannah pulled their netminder for the extra attacker. Garrett Van Wyhe scored an empty net goal, to give Jacksonville a three-goal lead again and seal the victory for the Icemen.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Andrew Fielder, for highlights from the game.
