JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Friday, December 10th, the Jacksonville Icemen played host to its South division rival, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Trailing 3-2 after 40 minutes of play, the Icemen rallied for four goals in the third to skate away with a 6-4 victory in front of an announced crowd of 6,213 at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Greenville started quickly in the first period. The Swamp Rabbits connected for a pair of goal in a span of nine seconds to grab the early lead. The first score came on a power play when Max Zimmer netted his eighth goal of the season during a power play. Then off of the ensuing faceoff, Dallas Gerads redirected a pass from Ben Freeman for his fourth of the year and a 2-0 lead 9:17 into the contest.
Jacksonville responded with an equal strength goal by Abbott Girduckis, his third of the season, at 13:15 only to see Greenville regain its two-goal lead 31 seconds later when Nikita Pavlychev netted his sixth of the year. Before the period ended, the Icemen clawed back within one at 3-2 when Jake Elmer struck for his sixth during a Jacksonville power play.
After a scoreless middle frame, the Icemen came out of the gates in the third determined to take control. They netted three unanswered scores, starting with Derek Lodermeier fourth of the year 1:10 in to even the score at 3-3. Jacksonville then took its first lead of the game at 11:49 when Girduckis pocketed his second of the night and fourth of the season. Ara Nazarian followed with a power play tally for his fifth at 15:54 to give the home team a two-goal margin at 5-3.
Not ready to give up, the Swamp Rabbits pulled goalie Evan Fitzpatrick (32 saves) for an extra attacker. The plan worked when Diego Cuglietta scored his seventh of the season to cut the deficit to 5-4 with 2:35 left in regulation. Jacksonville’s Craig Martin sealed the victory with an empty net goal for his eighth of the year with 1:30 to go.
Icemen goalie Charles Williams made 24 saves on 28 shots faced to earn the win.
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