JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Wednesday, December 22nd, the Jacksonville Icemen hosted the Atlanta Gladiators in the final ECHL contest before the Christmas break. It took more than sixty minutes to get a result but thanks to third period comebacks and, a wild overtime and a shootout, the host Icemen maintained their lead in the South division with a 4-3 victory at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena.
There was just one goal scored in the opening period. It came off the stick of of Jacksonville’s Craig Martin, who buried a shot in the top corner over the glove of Atlanta goalie Tyler Parks at the 8:14 mark. Luke Lynch and Zach Berzolla drew the assists on the score. Travis Howe and Berzolla did the dirty work on the boards before Berzolla sent the puck to Lynch who in turn set up Martin for his 10th tally of the season.
The second frame belonged to the visiting Gladiators in the early going. Just 4:29 in, a steal led to a breakout by Atlanta’s Gabe Guertler, He eventually set up Derek Topatigh who beat Jacksonville netminder Francois Brassard for his fourth of the season. Then less than a minute later at 5:24, a goal mouth pass by Greg Campbell was broken up by an Icemen defender, sending the puck skidding toward the post. Veteran Michael Pelech was in the right place to push the biscuit across the goal line for his seventh and a 2-1 Gladiators lead.
Right off the ensuing faceoff, Icemen forward Travis Howe challenged Atlanta’s Michael Turner to a bout. Both players got in some shots before Howe ended up on top of Turner. The fight woke up the crowd but it didn’t ignite any more scoring in the stanza.
Jacksonville tied the score early in the third. Abbott Girduckis separated the puck from a Gladiator along the end boards, leaving it for Ben Hawerchuk to gain control. He took it above the goal line before sliding a pass through the crease to Jake Elmer on the other side. Elmer finished off the play by shoveling a backhander past Parks for his ninth tally of the year.
The Gladiators regained the lead at the 7:12 mark while on a power play. Elijah Vilio and Dalton Thrower picked up the assists when Tyler Kobryn put a shot into the back of the cage for his third to make it a 3-2 lead for Atlanta.
Girduckis, who had been called for the penalty that helped the visitors go up by one, made amends seven minutes later. Hawerchuk bulled his way to the net, shoveling a shot that Parks stopped. Girduckis was standing on the doorstep and scooped the rebound over the goalie’s right shoulder for his sixth of the season and a tie game.
Neither team found a goal in the final six minutes of regulation so off to overtime the contest went. The teams went up and down the ice, forcing Brassard and Parks to work hard. Each team posted four shots on net but had no goals to show for it, meaning the outcome would come down to a shootout.
In the skills competition, neither side lit the goal light in round one. In round two, Jacksonville’s Martin whistled a shot top corner that beat Parks. Brassard then stopped Cody Sylvester in round two and Luke Nogard in round three to give the Icemen their seventh straight win and putting Jacksonville eight games above .500 (both franchise records).
Brassard made 17 saves plus three in the shootout to grab the victory. On the other end, Parks stopped 26 shots and two more in the skills competition in suffering the loss.
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