JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Saturday,March 7th, the Jacksonville Icemen hosted the Atlanta Gladiators on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles night at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. After taking down the Florida Everblades the night before in overtime, the Icemen again had to work a little bit extra but they summoned all their superpowers at the right time as Chase Lang’s tally early in the extra frame was the difference as they prevailed 3-2.
The Icemen got on the board first late in the opening period when Mike Hedden set up John Albert for his 8th goal of the season. Atlanta was able to even things up a little over two minutes later when Zach Malatesta notched his 14th of the year off a feed from captain Derek Nesbitt.
Jacksonville netted the lone goal of the middle frame in the closing minutes when Adam Dauda beat Gladiators goalie Sear Bonar for his 15th of the season with 1:08 to go before the second intermission. Bobby Lynch picked up the lone assist on the score.
The Gladiators were not going down without a fight and summoned up a game-tying goal midway through the final period. It came off the stick of Eric Neiley off of helpers from Chris Forney and Malatesta. For Neiley, it was his 24th goal of the year.
Neither team could find a tally over the remaining time in regulation, sending the contest into a seven-minute sudden death period. Less than a minute in, Wacey Rabbit got the puck to Lang who beat Bonar for his 19th tally of the season, setting off a celebration both on the ice and in the stands.
Icemen netminder Adam Carlson was solid, stopping 31 of 33 Atlanta shots to pick up the victory. On the other side, Bonar suffered the loss despite making 29 saves on 32 Jacksonville shots on net.
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