JACKSONVILLE, FLA – The Jacksonville Icemen have a tough time when they play the Orlando Solar Bears on the road. But when the Icemen get the Solar Bears on their home ice at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville can make life really difficult for their in-state rivals.
Saturday was one of those nights in the River City for the team from the City Beautiful.
Paced by a three goal outburst in the second period, Jacksonville (3-6-1-0) ran away and hid from Orlando (5-4-0-0), coasting to a 4-1 victory in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 3,572. Four different Icemen lit the goal light as they evened the season series at one win each as both teams have now won on its home ice.
Coming off of a loss to Florida on Wednesday, Jacksonville needed a win to regain its confidence. Coming at the expense of their rivals from Orlando would make it that much sweeter.
Late in an evenly played, back-and-forth first period, the Icemen got the game’s initial power play and did not take long to make Orlando pay. Off the opening offensive zone faceoff, the puck was worked to Joel Messner who unleashed a wicked shot that beat Solar Bears goalie Clint Windsor through a screen at the 15:23 mark, a mere six seconds following the penalty call. For Messner, it was his first as a member of the Icemen.
Up 1-0 starting the middle frame, Jacksonville turned the space of time between the 7:44 and 16:27 marks into an offensive outburst that decided the contest. It began when Brendan Warren stuffed a loose puck at the side of the post into the back of the net for his first score of the year to double the home team’s lead to 2-0.
Eight minutes later, the Icemen effectively finished off the Solar Bears. Following a steal at the Orlando defensive blueline, Nick Saracino tested Windsor with a shot from the slot. Windsor made the stop but Mike Szmatula got behind the defense and rifled the rebound home for his third to give Jacksonville a three-goal lead.
Just 32 seconds after Szmatula’s tally, another flurry by the home team led to yet another goal. Wacey Rabbit had the initial shot on net that was stopped. When Orlando failed to gain control of the first and second rebounds, Pascal Aquin was in the right place to cash in on the third try for his first score in a Jacksonville jersey. The scoreboard at the end of forty minutes was Jacksonville 4 and Orlando 0.
Icemen fans were excited about the potential of a shutout thanks to the way netminder Eamon McAdam was playing between the pipes. He was rock solid, having turned away all 25 Orlando shots he faced in the first two periods and was well on his way to registering a clean sheet. His teammates did their part, holding the Solar Bears to just two shots in the first 13 minutes of play in the third with tight defense.
Orlando finally broke McAdam’s bid for a shutout with 2:41 remaining in regulation. It came when J.J. Piccinich converted the rebound of a shot by teammate Alex Kuqali for his second of the season but it was way too little to overcome the deficit the Solar Bears were in. A fight between Orlando’s Jake Coughler and Jacksonville’s Trevor Hamilton with nine seconds to go put a cap on the evening’s festivities and sent the fans home happy.
McAdam finished the night with 35 saves to pick up the victory while Orlando’s Windsor made 12 saves before being relieved by Michael Lackey for the final 21:15 of play. Lackey stopped both shots he faced.
The Icemen are off until Wednesday when they head down to Estero to face the Florida Everblades at Hertz Arena with puck drop set for 7 p.m. Orlando gets most of the week off before heading back up to Jacksonville for a return matchup on Friday at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena at 7 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.