JACKSONVILLE, FLA – November 14 saw five different ECHL teams hold school day morning days. One of those was in Jacksonville, where the Icemen were still looking for their first home win of the season against a South Carolina Stingrays team that had already beaten the Icemen twice this season.
After taking Saturday night in Reading off, Jamie Philips (1-5-1) returned to the net for the Icemen while Jeff Jakaitis (5-0-1) got the start for the Stingrays.
The school kids got the see action early but not the good kind for the home fans when on their first shot of the game, the Stingrays scored as Dylan Margonari got his second goal of the season on an assist from Taylor Cammarata at 1:46. That lead would hold till the 11:37 mark of the period when Jacksonville tied the game when Garet Hunt scored his third goal of the season on an assist from Jimmy Lodge and Dylan Blujus.
The tie was broken by the Icemen on the power play when with South Carolina’s Marcus Perrier off for roughing, Jimmy Lodge scored with 33 seconds to go in the period. Jacksonville took a 2-1 lead into the locker room and also outshot South Carolina in the frame 9-8. SC had six miniutes in penalties in the first while Jacksonville had just two.
It took take over half the second period for someone to score again but when it happened, it was Jacksonville going ahead 3-1 when Tyler Coulter got his first goal of the season at 10:40 on assists from Dajon Mingo and Bobby MacIntyre. Five minutes later, the Icemen extended the lead to 4-1 when Emerson Clark got his third goal of the season, on assists from Lodge and Alexandre Goulet. The scoring for the period ended there. Shots were even in the second at 9-9 with Jacksonville holding the overall game advantage after two at 18-17. Each team had four penalty minutes in the stanza.
Starting the third, the Icemen did their best to snuff out any hopes of a Stingrays rally when at the 3:17 mark, they went up 5-1 on Clark’s second goal of the game and fourth of the season. Assists on the score went to Goulet and Elgin Pearce. The Stingrays got one back at 8:47 when Steven Whitney scored his fourth goal of the season on assists from Kelly Zajac and Frankie Simonelli. However, that is where the scoring ended and Jacksonville garnered their first home win of the season, 5-2.
IceChips: For the second time this season, the Icemen were awarded a penalty shot at home. However, Emerson Clark did not score… South Carolina outshot Jacksonville 14-9 in the third period and 31-27 for the game. Jacksonville had eight penalty minutes in the third, South Carolina had four. Both teams ended up with 14 for the game… Attendance for the game was 7,464. Capacity is 8,500… The three stars of the game were all from Jacksonville. Emerson Clark got the first star, Jimmy Lodge the second and Jamie Philips was named third star… Jacksonville will finish their short two game home stand when they play the Florida Everblades for the first time this season. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m… South Carolina heads home for a Saturday night game against Greenville before heading off on a four game road trip.
Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews.com
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