JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Wednesday, February 23rd, the Jacksonville Icemen hosted the Norfolk Admirals in the first of two games in four days at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. Led by two goals from Brendan Harris and six others who scored once, the Icemen went wire to wire to earn a 7-3 win in front of an announced crowd of 4,684.
The Icemen dominated the first period, outscoring the Admirals 3-0 to take control. The scoring began at the 3:32 mark when Brandon Fortunato set up James Sanchez for a shot over Norfolk goalie Dylan Wells for his seventh goal of the season. A couple of minutes later, it was Luck Lynch’s turn as he grabbed the rebound of a shot by Craig Martin and stuffed it home for his eighth of the year. Jacksonville then finished the frame when Jake Elmer made a pretty behind the back pass to the slot where Abbott Girduckis fired it home for his 14th goal.
The Icemen onslaught continued in the second with two more tallies before six minutes had been played. At the 1:12 mark, Girduckis and Fortunato teamed up to set up Ben Hawerchuk who netted his 10th to push the margin to 4-0. Then at 5:55, Harris bagged his first of the night and fourth of the season off of helpers from Pavel Vorobei and Vladislav Mikhalchuk to make it a five goal game.
Norfolk finally struck back with two goals of its own. First, Sam Thibault picked up his second goal of the 2021-22 campaign assisted by Chase Lang and Noah Corson at 6:56. Corson folled soon after with a power play goal from Eric Williams and Lang for his ninth, cutting the deficit to 5-2.
Early in the third, the Icemen got a man advantage tally of its own when Girduckis and Derek Lodermeier set up Harris for his second of the night and fifth of the season. At 8:37, the Admirals scored once more when Christian Hausinger beat Jacksonville goalie Charles Williams assisted by Chase Harwell and Colton Heffley for Hausinger’s third of the year.
Vorobei finished off the scoring in the game with his fifth of the year off of assists from Joey Sides and Sean Giles.
Contact the photojournalist at trina.kirk@prohockeynews.com
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