Icemen rally falls short, Jacksonville falls to Greenville 5-4

JACKSONVILLE, FLA – Even when things are going great, they are going to be periods when they are going to be a bit off. For the first half or so of their game last night against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, the South Division leading Jacksonville Icemen were in one of those “A bit off” situations, finding themselves down 4-0 at home to the Rabbits. The Icemen would rally back but it would not be enough, eventually falling to the Rabbits at home 5-4.

Facing a stretch of four games in five nights, Mikhail Berdin got the night off and Tanner Jaillet got the start for the Icemen. Greenville started Chris Nell in goal.

The first period started off innocently enough, with only goal in that period, and it was scored by Stephen Pierog of the Rabbits. For Pierog, it was his third goal of the season and it came at the 9:38 mark of the period. However, it was the first part of the second period, where the Icemen dug themselves a hole that ended up being too deep to recover from.

The first goal of the period for the Rabbits came at 4:07 and it came from Austen Brassard, who scored his eighth of the season. Greenville would increase their lead to 3-0 at 6:53 of the period off Will Merchant’s third. At 11:01 of the period, Greenville increased their lead to 4-0 off Thomas Ebbing’s 3rd of the season. However, that deficit would not last long as the Icemen started to work their way back.

Just fourteen seconds later, at 11:15, the Icemen would start their attempt at a comeback when Kole Sherwood recorded his first goal of the season to make it 4-1. The lead for the Rabbits shrunk to 4-2 when Maxime Fortier recorded his first goal of the game (and second of the season) at 14:51. The period would end there with no more scoring, Greenville leading 4-2.

The Icemen would get even closer in the third when Fortier recorded his second of the game at only 1:26 of the third to get the Greenville lead down to one. However, Jacksonville would not be even the score as Greenville, while Cameron Critchlow was off serving a roughing minor, would move the lead back to two just 62 seconds later, when Brassard scored his second of the game. The Icemen would be back to get the deficit back to one at the 11:24 mark when Justin Woods (while Brassard was off serving a delay of game minor) recorded his third of the season. However, the Icemen would not be able to get the equalizer, losing to the Rabbits 5-4.

IN OTHER STATS: Shots on goal were at a premium for the game, both teams only recording 23 for the game… Penalties were a different story. Fourteen different penalties were called in the game, with Greenville being assessed eight for 22 minutes and Jacksonville six for eighteen minutes. Four of the penalties were a pair of fights in the first period… Three players would end up the game with a plus minus of +2. Two were from Greenville (Trevor Owens and Jake Bolton) and one from Jacksonville (Jacob Cederholm)… Game attendance was 4,562… Greenville’s Austen Brassard and Will Merchant would be awarded two of the three stars of the game. Jacksonville’s Maxime Fortier was awarded the third star.

TRIVIA: The win by Greenville was the first against Jacksonville in four meetings this season.

UP NEXT: Greenville and Jacksonville conclude their two games series Saturday, November 24th at the Arena in Jacksonville.

Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews.com