JACKSONVILLE, FLA – Led by two goals by Austen Brassard and multi-point nights from Will Merchant and Michael Pelech, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits defeated the Jacksonville Icemen 5-4 at the Veterans Memorial Arena on Friday, November 23rd.
Stephen Pierog opened the scoring 9:38 into the first period when he beat Icemen goalie Tanner Jaillet.
Brassard began a wild second period with his first score of the night at 4:07 off assists from Merchant and Pelech. The Swamp Rabbits upped their lead to three at the 6:53 mark when Merchant lit the goal light. Greenville then made it a four goal lead when Thomas Ebbing scored at 11:01.
Kole Sherwood started a comeback for the Icemen when he beat Swamp Rabbits netminder Chris Nell at 11:15 with the assists going to Everett Clark and Jack Glover. Maxime Fortier then cut the deficit in half at 14:51 when he scored with the helpers going to Sam Vigneault and Justin Woods.
Fortier scored his second of the game 1:26 into the third period to pull the Icemen within 4-3. The assists on the goal were credited to Kris Newbury and Vigneault. Greenville bumped its margin back to two just over a minute later when Brassard netted a power play goal from Pelech and Merchant.
Woods later followed with a power play goal at 11:24 off of assists from Fortier and Vigneault to bring Jacksonville within 5-4 but it was as close as the Icemen would get.
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