JACKSONVILLE, FLA – The season series between the Florida Everblades and the Jacksonville has been a tight one so it was no surprise that when the two teams met on Friday, February 25th at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, the seventh in-state battle was more of the same. In the end, it was a goal in round one of the shootout by Blake Winiecki that carried the Everblades to a 3-2 victory over the host Icemen.
On a weekend that the Icemen turned back the clock to the days of the ECHL Jacksonville Lizard Kings, it was the gators from southwest Florida that opened the scoring. A mere 13 seconds after the opening faceoff, Ben Masella sent a pass from the right circle to Jake Jaremko who buried the puck behind Jacksonville netminder Francois Brassard for his 12th goal of the season.
Seconds later, a penalty gave the Icemen/Lizard Kings a power play and they answered. In the closing half minute of the man advantage, Ben Hawerchuk cleaned up a loose puck off of a carom from the slot, sending the biscuit past Florida goalie Parker Gahagen for Hawerchuk’s 11th tally of the year. The game was only 2:09 old but the scoreboard was knotted at 1-1.
A couple of minutes past the midpoint of the frame, the Everblades regained the lead. Michael Neville, who had scored twice in a Florida win over Orlando on Wednesday, picked up his fourth of the season with a redirect of a shot by Joe Pendenza that eluded Brassard. It was the final goal of the period as the teams began to settle into a defensive battle.
There was only one goal scored in the second period. It came 7:31 into the stanza when Abbott Girduckis and Vladislav Mikhalchuk advanced deep into the Everblades end after Pavel Vorobei kept the puck in at the far side point. Mikhalchuk collected the feed from Vorobei and proceeded to drop a pass to Girduckis in the faceoff circle. Girduckis did the rest, rifling a shot past Gahagen for his 15th to even the score at 2-2.
From there, Brassard and Gahagen locked their cages down, denying everything thrown their way. Jacksonville pounded the Everblades netminder with 20 third period shots, several of them golden opportunities, but nothing lit the goal light. Brassard was only called on to turn away three Florida shots in the final frame.
In overtime, Gahagen faced six Icemen/Lizard Kings shots while Brassard saw half as many at his end of the ice. Once again, the goalies ruled, sending the game to the penalty shots to decide a winner. In round one following a stop by Gahagen on Jacksonville’s Derek Lodermeier, Winiecki beat Brassard (31 saves) to the stick side for what proved to be the winning tally. Gahagen (45 saves) proceeded to stop Jacksonville’s second and third shots to get the win, which was the Everblades first victory over their in-state rival in five trips beyond regulation time this year.
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