PHN’s Best Shots of the Game: Szmatula leads Icemen to win over Solar Bears

JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Thursday, April 15th, the Jacksonville Icemen hosted the Orlando Solar Bears in the 11th meeting between the two Sunshine State rivals during the 2020-21 ECHL season. This time around, Mike Szmatula played the role of the hero for the Icemen as he scored a pair of goals, one of them being the game-winner in overtime, as Jacksonville slipped past Orlando 4-3 in extra time.

Following a scoreless first period, Jacksonville got on the board first at the 4:48 mark of the second. Following a save by Orlando goalie Kris Oldham on a shot by Abbott Girduckis, the rebound ended up behind the net. Szmatula tracked the puck down and sent a pass to the bottom of the right faceoff circle where Girduckis was waiting to slam his second shot into the net for his 7th goal of the season.

Six minutes later, the Icemen lead grew to 2-0 when Pascal Aquin converted the rebound of an attempt by Ara Nazarian. For Aquin, the goal was his 11th of the season.

Orlando began a comeback during a power play that occurred a little over a minute after Aquin’s tally. Off the ensuing offensive zone faceoff, Mark Auk teed up a pass to Aaron Luchuk who blasted a one-timer past Icemen goalie Charles Williams for his 17th tally of the season.

A little over two minutes into the final frame, the Solar Bears evened the score at 2-2 when Joe Garreffa set up J.J. Piccinich who netted his 9th of the year. It stayed that way until the 16:18 mark when Szmatula was in the right place to redirect the rebound of a Girduckis shot into the open side of the net for his 10th goal, putting Jacksonville ip 3-2.

In the waning seconds of regulation, Orlando’s Luchuk took a one-touch feed from Garreffa in the slot and beat Williams with 8 ticks left for his second of the game and 18th of the season to send the game into overtime.

In the extra period, Szmatula and Trevor Hamilton broke out on a two-on-one rush. Szmatula held onto the biscuit and beat Oldham between the legs for his second of the night and 11th of the year to secure the win.

Williams stopped 30 of 33 Solar Bears shots to pick up the win in between the pipes for the Icemen while Oldham made 34 saves in suffering the loss.