JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Sunday, February 20th, the Jacksonville Icemen defeated the South Carolina Stingrays 5-2 with goaltender Francois Brassard making 22 saves in the win. Icemen forwards Jake Elmer (2), Derek Lodermeier and Abbott Girduckis along with defenseman Pavel Vorobei picked up the tallies in the contest.
The Icemen got off to a great start in the period as they had all of the early momentum. After killing a Stingrays power play, the Icemen had a power play of their own and with a few seconds left on the man advantage defenseman Vorobei shot a snapshot from the top of the left faceoff dot and scored to make it a one goal game.
Moments later, the Icemen would go back on the power play, this time a double minor, and forward Ara Nazarian centered the puck and forward Elmer buried it to make it a two-goal game.
About eight minutes into the second period, the Stingrays would get on the board on a goal from Lawton Courtnall to bring their deficit back within one. Moments later, the Icemen would head back to the penalty kill but the defense came up big and did not allow them to capitalize.
Jacksonville received a late power play opportunity and was able to capitalize as forward Girduckis caught a pass in the slot and buried it to regain the two-goal lead. Following 40 minutes of play, Jacksonville leads 3-1 while outshooting South Carolina 22-18.
In the third, the Icemen picked up where they left off and had another strong start to the period. A few minutes in, Icemen forward Elmer collected a pass in the slot and buried his second goal of the game to take a commanding three-goal lead.
Moments later, Courtnall scored his second to bring themselves back within two. The rest of the period featured fast paced, back-and-forth play with each team playing well defensively.
Jacksonville forward Lodermeier would seal the deal with an empty net goal to regain their three-goal lead. The Icemen won the game 5-2 while outshooting the Stingrays 31-24.
Game recap courtesy of Jake Wheeler / Jacksonville Icemen
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