JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Friday, November 19th, the Jacksonville Icemen faced off with the Maine Mariners for the third time in four days looking to end a losing skid. For a while things looked bleak but the Icemen dug in, scoring three unanswered goals including a game-winner by Ben Hawerchuk late in overtime to defeat the Mariners 4-3.
It took well into the first period before either side could put a goal on the board. At the 14:32 mark, the Icemen opened the scoring when Jeff Taylor cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Derek Lodermeier for his second goal of the season. Christopher Brown picked up the secondary helper on the tally.
Maine responded quickly, netting a pair of scores in a span of just under a minute to climb in front. Mathew Santos picked up his third of the year off a setup by Nate Kallen at 15:14 to even the score. That was followed by Cam Askew’s fourth of the season at 16:12 to put the visitors in front. Assists on the score went to Keltie Jeri-Leon and J.D. Greenway.
The Mariners expanded their lead to 3-1 when Victor Berglund and Santos set up Pascal Laberge for a power play goal 3:05 into the second period. For Laberge, it was his seventh goal of the year.
Jacksonville began its comeback 57 seconds later thanks to a man advantage of its own. James Sanchez provided the tally, his third of the season, to cut the deficit to 3-2. The helpers on the goal went to Taylor and Brown.
It remained a one-goal game until the 11:22 mark of the final frame when Jacksonville’s special teams connected once more. Taylor and Sanchez did the work, combining to set up Joey Sides for his second of the year, knotting the score at 3-3.
Neither team found a winning tally before regulation time ended, sending the contest into overtime. With less than a minute to go before a shootout, Hawerchuk made an end-to-end rush. Once in the Mariners end, Hawerchuk cut to the net and stuffed the puck past Maine goalie Jeremy Brodeur for his second of the season and the winner.
Jacksonville goalie Tyler Wall made 23 saves on 26 shots faced to earn the victory while the Mariners Brodeur stopped 33 of 37 shots in suffering the loss.
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