JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Friday, January 21st, the Jacksonville Icemen returned to league play after hosting the 2022 ECHL All Star Classic by taking on the South Carolina Stingrays at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. In what turned into a classic defensive battle, the Icemen got goals from Luke Lynch and Jacob Friend in the first period and 27 saves by netminder Justin Kapelmaster to take a 2-1 win.
Lynch opened the scoring at the 7:50 mark of the first period during an Icemen penalty kill. He and Derek Lodermeier broke out and into the South Carolina end. Lynch sent the puck to Lodermeier and busted for the net with a defender hot on his trail. Lodermeier waited for the right moment to saucer a return feed to Lynch who, while being taken off his skates, redirected it past Stingrays goalie Ryan Bednard for his seventh goal of the season.
South Carolina evened things up less than five minutes later. A trio of Stingrays attacked the Jacksonville end with Ben Holmstrom carrying the puck in the middle. An Icemen defender engaged Holmstrom but not before he was able to leave the disc in a lane for Nick Isaacson to skate into. Isaacson unleashed a wicked slap shot from just above the hashmarks, beating Kapelmaster cleanly for the rookie’s first professional goal at 12:39.
Less than 30 seconds later, the Icemen responded with what would be the game-winning tally. After winning an offensive zone faceoff, Ben Hawerchuk had a shot blocked but the rebound found Bauer Neudecker in the mid-slot. Neudecker turned and sent a pass to Friend at the point. With a load of traffic in front, Friend’s drive avoided the sea of legs and beat Bednard for Friend’s second goal of the season.
From there, Bednard (28 saves) and Kapelmaster battled it out, matching save for save over the remaining 46:56 of playing time, giving the Icemen their 21st win of the season and possession of first place in the South division thanks to Florida’s loss to the Atlanta Gladiators in Estero.
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