JACKSONVILLE, FLA – In the wake of Wednesday’s overtime win, the Jacksonville Icemen hosted the Florida Everblades at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena on Friday, November 26th looking for yet another victory over their in-state rival. It was deja vu all over again as Ben Hawerchuk netted the game-winner 23 seconds as the Icemen came away with a 3-2 victory.
Friday’s battle started just like Wednesday’s did. The Everblades jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Joe Pendenza started the scoring when he turned a mistake by Icemen goalie Charles Williams behind the net into a score at the 10:06 mark. Just under three minutes later at 12:55, Alex Aleardi roofed a shot under the crossbar from the top of the crease to double the margin.
Following a scoreless second period, the Icemen roared back with a pair of scores in a span of 3:16 to even things up. First at 7:20, Hawerchuk and Craig Martin helped set up Jacob Friend who beat Florida goalie Cam Johnson to cut the margin to 2-1. Then at 10:36, Martin tied the score off an assist from Christopher Brown.
Neither team could find another goal during the final 9:24, sending the game to overtime. It took less than 30 seconds for Hawerchuk to take a pass from Jeff Taylor and speed up ice on a two-on-one break. Hawerchuk drove toward the net and placed a shot to the short side over Johnson’s left shoulder for the winner.
Williams made 20 saves on 22 shots to pick up the win for the Icemen while Johnson turned away 22 of 25 shots in suffering the loss.
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