JACKSONVILLE, FLA – While the first season of the Jacksonville Icemen ended with the team on the outside of the playoffs looking in, off-ice, the team was much more successful. In their first season, the team finished fourth in average attendance, trailing only Fort Wayne, Toledo and Tulsa.
Beginning the second season at home on October 13th against South Carolina, the Icemen will again play a 72-game schedule, split evenly with 36 games at home and 36 on the road. While the longest home stand of the season for the Icemen will only be five games (February 20 to March 1), there will be three huge stretches where the majority of games will be at home. Six of the first eight games will be at home, followed by a seven of eight stretch in November and a nine of ten stretch from February 20 to March 10th. The Icemen’s longest road stretch will be 11 games from December 29 to January 25. While most of those games will be against division foes, two will involve a trip to Newfoundland (more on that later),
Jason Christie returns for his second season as the head coach of the Icemen. The team will again serve as the affiliate of the NHL Winnipeg Jets and AHL Manitoba Moose.
Of the thirty six home games, 11 of them will be on Friday, 10 on Saturday, 7 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday and Sunday and one each on Monday and Tuesday. There will be two afternoon home games. The annual school game on November 8th and the following Monday, November 12th, a 2 p.m. Veterans Day start against Norfolk.
Here now are the 2018-19 opponents for the Icemen, in alphabetical order. The H will stand for Icemen home games, R for Icemen road games.
Atlanta Gladiators
First season: 1995 (Mobile 95-02, Gwinnett 03-15)
Kelly Cup Titles: 0 (lost to Alaska in 2006)
Brabham Cup Titles: 0
Head Coach: Jeff Pyle (1st season, second tenure as head coach)
Arena: Infinity Energy Arena
NHL Affiliate: Boston
AHL Affiliate: Providence
2017-18: Atlanta won series 7-4
2018-2019: H-6 R-4
The Icemen will play an afternoon game in Atlanta this season, the annual MLK Jr. Day game on January 21st.
Florida Everblades
First season: 1998
Kelly Cup Titles: 1 (2012 against Las Vegas, lost in 04 to Idaho, 05 to Trenton and 18 to Colorado)
Brabham Cup Titles: 3 (2000, 2008, 2018)
Head Coach: Brad Ralph (3rd season)
Arena: Hertz Arena (formally known as Germain Arena)
NHL Affiliate: Carolina
AHL Affiliate: Charlotte
2017-18: Florida won series 14-1
2018-19: H-7, R-6
Five of the six games Jacksonville will be played in Estero will take place between November 9th and December 29th. Five of the seven home games for Jacksonville against the Everblades will take place basically during the same period (November 2nd-December 26th). For the second season in a row, Jacksonville will play more regular season games against Florida than anyone else.
Greenville Swamp Rabbits
First season: 1988 (Johnstown 1988-2010)
Kelly Cup: 0 (lost to Carolina in 1989)
Brabham Cups: 0
Head Coach: Kevin Kerr (1st season)
Arena: Bon Secours Wellness Arena
NHL: Independent
AHL: Independent
2017-18 Results: Jacksonville won series 5-4
2018-2019: H-5 R-4
The games between the Icemen and Swamp Rabbits will be played in two groups. Five of the games will be played in late October/November. The last four will not take place until March.
Idaho Steelheads
First season: 2003 (played in the WCHL from 1997-02)
Kelly Cup Titles: 2 (2004 vs. Florida and 2007 vs. Dayton. Lost 2010 to Cincinnati)
Brabham Cups: 1 (2010)
Head Coach: Neil Graham (4th season with club)
Arena: Century Link Arena
NHL: Dallas
AHL: Texas
2017-2018 series: Teams did not play
2018-2019 series: H-0, R-2
During the 2017-18 season, the only time that the Icemen played a team from the western conference is when the Allen Americans came east. This season, the Icemen travel to play the other conference and visit the westernmost club in the league in Boise, Idaho at the very end of November for a two-game series.
Manchester Monarchs
First season: 1993 (Huntington 1993-00, Texas 03-08, Ontario 08-15)
Kelly Cups: 0
Brabham Cups: 0
Head Coach: Doug Christiansen (1st season)
Arena: SNHU Arena
NHL: Los Angeles
AHL: Ontario
2017-2018: series tied 2-2
2018-2019 H-1
After facing each other four times in 2017-2018, the Icemen and Monarchs will only meet once this coming season, Wednesday, February 13th in Jacksonville.
Newfoundland Growlers
First season: 2018
Kelly Cups: 0
Brabham Cups: 0
Head coach: Ryan Clowe (1st season)
Arena: Mile One Centre
NHL: Toronto
AHL: Toronto
2017-2018 series: did not meet
2018-2019: H-1 R-2
The expansion Growlers will come once to Jacksonville this season, the day before Thanksgiving. Jacksonville will then play two games in St. John’s, Newfoundland…back to back on December 4th and 5th.
Norfolk Admirals
First season: 2003 (Bakersfield 2003-15)
Kelly Cups: 0
Brabham Cups: 0
Head Coach: Robbie Ftorek (3rd season)
Home Arena: The Scope
NHL: Arizona
AHL: Tucson
2017-18 season: Jacksonville 5-3
2018-19 season: H-5 R-6
While the Icemen and Admirals will play each other eleven times during the season, only one of those games will take place during 2018 (November 12th in Jacksonville). The remaining games will all take place in 2019.
That single game in 2018 will also be the 2 p.m. Veterans Day Holiday game.
Orlando Solar Bears
First season: 2012
Kelly Cups: 0
Brabham Cups: 0
Head coach: Drake Berehowsky (3rd season)
Arena: Amway Center
NHL: Tampa Bay
AHL: Syracuse
2017-18 season: Orlando won series 7-2
2018-19 season: H-5, R-7
Four of Orlando’s five visits to Jacksonville will take place during 2018, with only one game (February 9th) taking place in 2019.
South Carolina Stingrays
First season: 1993
Kelly Cups: 3 (1997, 2001, 2003) lost in 2015 to Allen, 2016 to Colorado
Brabham Cups: 1
Head coach: Spiros Anastas (1st season)
Arena: North Charleston Coliseum
NHL: Washington
AHL: Hershey
2017-18: South Carolina won series 7-3
2018-2019: H-5 R-5
The 2018-19 series between the Icemen and Stingrays will be a tale of two half seasons. The first five games will be played in 2018 and four of the five will take place in Jacksonville. The last five take place in 2019 and four of the five take place in North Charleston.
Wheeling Nailers
First season in ECHL: 1989 (Carolina Thunderbirds 1989-90, Winston-Salem Thunderbirds 1992-93) Wheeling Thunderbirds 1992-95)
Kelly/Riley Cups: 1 1989 (lost in 1990 to Greensboro, 1993 to Toledo and 2016 to Allen)
Brabham Cups: 3 (1990, 1993, 1995)
Head coach: Mike Bavis (1st season)
Arena: WesBanco Arena
NHL: Pittsburgh
AHL; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
2017-2018: did not meet
2018-2019: H-1
The Nailers are the oldest continuous playing franchise not in the NHL or AHL, starting play as the Carolina Thunderbirds in the ACHL in 1981. The Icemen and Nailers will only meet once during the regular season, in Jacksonville the Friday before Thanksgiving.
Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews.com
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