Photos by Trina Kirk
JACKSONVILLE, FLA – Saturday night was a very active night at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL. The day started out with the annual Guns and Hoses Game. Following that, the host Icemen held an ugly Christmas sweater party (the Icemen were wearing ugly sweater jerseys for the night). Finally, was the ECHL game with Icemen hosting the South Division leaders, the Florida Everblades. While the Everblades outshot the Icemen by a 3-to-1 margin, Jacksonville doubled up the Everblades where it counted the most, on the scoreboard with the Icemen winning 4-2.
Ken Appleby got the start of the Icemen Saturday night while Jamie Phillips got the start for the Everblades.
It took half of the first period for the scoring to start and it was Jacksonville that scored first when Kayle Doetzel beat Phillips at 11:32. Assists went to Wacey Rabbit and Maxime Fortier on Doetzel’s second goal of the season. Jacksonville extended the lead to 2-0 at 16:56 when Nikita Korostelev beat Phillips with a backhanded high from in front of the net for his second of the season. The unassisted goal gave Jacksonville a 2-0 lead after one.
Florida cut the lead in half at 6:16 of the second period when Ben Masella recorded his second goal of the season off assists from Logan Roe and Tommy Thompson. Jacksonville would get the lead back to two just over three minutes later, at 9:20, when Cameron Critchlow recorded his third of the season, off assists from Garet Hunt and Tyson Fawcett. Scoring ended for the second with Jacksonville leading 3-1.
The Everblades cut the lead back to one in the third period when they scored on a shorthanded situation. While Shane Walsh was off for slashing, Michael Neville would record an unassisted short-handed goal at 11:06. Florida dominated the third period, outshooting the Icemen 19-4, but were unable to tie up the game. Jacksonville would end the scoring with four seconds left, as Kris Newbury would score an empty net goal on the power play. For Newbury, the unassisted goal was his eighth of the season (and third in two nights) that gave Jacksonville a 4-2 victory.
STATS: As mentioned earlier, Florida outshot Jacksonville by a 3-to-1 margin, the final margin being 52-17… Florida went 0-for-3 on the power play while Jacksonville went 1-for-4… Florida was called for 17 penalty minutes, Jacksonville 15… Announced attendance for the game was 7,784… Kayle Doetzel lead all players in plus/minus with a plus-3. The three stars of the game were all from Jacksonville. 1st—Ken Appleby, 2nd—Cameron Critchlow and 3rd—Kayle Doetzel.
IN THE FUTURE: Florida continues its in-Florida road trip Thursday night when they travel to Orlando for games with the Solar Bears Thursday and Friday night. Jacksonville will end their current homestand Wednesday night with a game against the South Carolina Stingrays.
Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photojournalist at trina.kirk@prohockeynews.com
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